“We do hard things”

This morning at the breakfast table, my eldest daughter “needed” help with her food. We helped her get started, but for finishing the challenging task of stirring her oatmeal, her mom encouraged her: “We do hard things.”

Without premeditation, we’ve started using this phrase recently in our family. It may not be as hardcore as Sara Blakely’s “What did you fail at today?” question, but it’s a lovely phrase. It encourages a growth mindset: “hard” is good, not bad. It makes it a part of our daughters’ identity, much like saying “I don’t” instead of “I can’t” re-wires the brain to help with goals. And it builds a shared identity–we, the Iwashige family, do hard things!