What is one of the most common traits of successful people? According to a 2007 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, it’s the ability to persist at challenging tasks. And it makes sense. Those who don’t allow obstacles to get in their way have a better chance of accomplishing what they set out to do. But being persistent is not always easy. Here are 7 tips to help develop persistence in our kids:

1. Break the task into smaller, manageable pieces. It’s easier to learn an entire piano piece one measure at a time. 2-3 measures practiced each day means that by the end of the week, the whole piece is mastered. This is true for any assignment we take on.

2. Offer encouraging words. When tasks become hard kids often become afraid of failing. Your positive words of encouragement is often all they need to keep going. Let them know how proud you are of their effort and that you believe they can complete the task.

3. Create an environment conducive to new learning. We learn best when our surroundings are calm, our bellies full, and we’ve had plenty of rest. These give us the energy we need to work on tasks that require a little extra hard work.

4. Don’t bail out your kids. It’s hard for a parent not to want to step in when the I-can’t-do-it’s begin. Take a moment to evaluate the situation. Is the immediate task manageable? Is the environment conducive to learning? If so, then it’s time to offer those encouraging words and let your child struggle a little. There is simply nothing like the sense of satisfaction for having made it successfully through to the other side. That said…

5. Stop when your child becomes too frustrated. There’s no sense in pushing through a task when you can see real frustration take hold. No learning happens this way. Close shop and re-visit it on another day.

6. Look for opportunities to have your child practice persistence. Pull out that 200-piece jigsaw puzzle, grab a bowl of pretzels, and spend the afternoon working on mastering those pieces with your child. Along the way, talk about how overwhelming the project seemed at first, but by taking it one step at a time and being persistent, your efforts are paying off.

7. You. You are your childs biggest role model. Talk about the things you are doing that are difficult and require hard work and persistence. Give examples of how you succeeded in the past. Let them know that you understand how difficult it can be but not giving up is something to be admired.

The Money Connection: A great way to help develop persistence in our kids is to have them create and work towards a personal financial goal. Help them figure out the steps needed to accomplish the goal and offer words of encouragement as they make progress. Let them know you admire their stick-to-it-ness. And when they finally arrive at success, let them know that their persistence and determination got them there. Remind them that persistence is what helps people get what they want out of life.