The path to sustainable performance is not universal. Guidance to this end is not as simple as “start time-blocking your day” or “just be positive” or “jump in an ice bath every morning.” While any of those might have the potential to be good advice, the advice is only good if it’s effective. And it’s only effective if it suits your personal needs. The podcast-sphere has been fantastic in many ways – it has also led to a lot of one-size-fits-all jargon. You’ll have to decipher good information from bad and, ultimately, what works for you from what doesn’t. Individualization matters.
High performers are intentional. They understand the concept of confounding variables – that is, the interplay of multiple factors that influence one another. When utilizing the High Order Performance Framework, leaders begin to understand that each level has the potential to influence the rest. That understanding allows for clear(er) decision-making – maybe you don’t need to send another email, maybe you need a snack – or, the other way around. The levels of the framework interact.
Did you know that exercise might impact empathy? Or that the combination of sleep and grit might influence your overall well-being?
This past winter, we took a deeper look at how the layers of the framework intertwine in relationship to an important factor for us all… happiness.
Awareness and Integration
Educators (and leaders of all kinds) are rightfully concerned about the well-being of those they lead. The rhythm of a school year affects mood, stress, motivation, and performance. Teachers notice these shifts in passing conversations. Coaches see them in practice. These informal observations matter. In 2024, we ran a quick round of field research for a more thorough check-in.
A group of 67 students completed a battery of survey questions rooted in validated social and emotional learning research. The goal was simple. We wanted a clearer picture of how students were feeling and what might be influencing those feelings. Using what we call the SELf Awareness Survey, we were able to gain insight into a range of social and emotional skills. To explore the growing research on sleep and mental health, we also included items from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Students reported their sleep and wake times and estimated their typical nightly sleep.
One question from the survey stood out. Borrowed from the Harvard Human Flourishing Study, it asked students how happy or unhappy they usually feel. It is a simple question, yet it points toward a fundamental idea: happiness, or life satisfaction, should not be considered a luxury. It influences learning, participation, relationships, and long-term health. At a time when student mental health concerns are rising across the country, it seemed important to understand what might be supporting or limiting students’ sense of well-being. The survey was not designed to provide scientific “proof” of any kind, but the responses provided a useful insight into their experience and encouraged us to rethink aspects of our curriculum.
Sleep and the Happiness Response
This might not come as a shock… sleep mattered in these responses. That finding aligns with decades of research. Chronic sleep deprivation undermines emotional stability and cognitive function. Khan and Al-Jahdali (2023) describe the physiological alarm responses that develop when sleep falls below healthy thresholds. These responses include irritability, decreased attention, and impaired memory. Conversely, extending sleep has beenlinked with improved cognitive performance, sustained attention, and emotional steadiness.
In a 2021 study using data from over 270,000 adults, Blackwelder and colleagues found that individuals who slept six hours or fewer per night were about two and a half times more likely to report frequent mental distress. Our student data followed a similar pattern. Those who averaged 6.5 hours or fewer reported happiness scores that were about 18 % lower than their well-rested peers.
The pattern was clear enough to confirm what many of us already suspected. The foundational physiological inputs matter. Students who are under-rested might struggle to access the emotional and cognitive steadiness required for daily life. This part was not surprising. But there was one unexpected detail… a small group of students who slept 6.5 hours or fewer still reported relatively high happiness scores. We wanted to understand what separated these students from their low-sleep peers.
Where Grit Might Fit
Students in the low-sleep but high-happiness category reported significantly higher grit scores. Their grit scores (measured using questions from Angela Duckworth’s grit survey) were about 36 % higher than others in the same sleep range. This led us to revisit the research on grit, mental health, and student wellbeing.
Grit, as defined by Angela Duckworth, is the combination of sustained passion and perseverance toward long-term goals. It is not mere toughness or blind endurance. It reflects a person’s ability to commit to something meaningful and stay engaged over time.
A growing body of research connects grit with positive mental health outcomes. Musumari et al. (2018) found that college students with higher grit scores reported lower levels of depression and anxiety. Yang et al. (2022) reached similar conclusions, noting that grit buffered the negative effects of interpersonal stress. High school students with strong grit profiles demonstrated more psychosocial stability. NCAA athletes with higher gritreported less anxiety during demanding periods. Studies by Sharkey et al. (2018), Zhang et al. (2018), Mullen and Crowe (2018), and Kannangara et al. (2018) all reinforce the idea that grit aligns with lower stress and better emotional outcomes.
Grit is not a cure-all. Critics remind us that grit has been misapplied in some settings. Fair. Developing grit cannot compensate for structural inequities or replace community and institutional support. It is unethical to say that someone should forget the fact that the classroom window is broken, and they should just be “gritty” during the frigid Chicago winter. Still, the weight of the research suggests that grit is psychologically protective. It may help students maintain a sense of direction even when life becomes difficult.
Our small data set did not prove anything definitive. But it did show that within this group, grit appeared to soften the negative effect of inadequate sleep on happiness. This finding encouraged us to take one more close look – this time, at how sleep and grit combine.
The Power of Alignment
The survey results revealed that both sleep and grit correlated with higher happiness. Students with high sleep averaged 8.0 on the ten-point happiness scale. Students with high grit averaged 7.4. The most striking scores came from those who reported both high sleep and high grit. This group reported being 18.67 % happier than the rest of the respondents, and nearly 29 % happier than their peers with both low sleep and low grit.
These results echo the structure of the High Order Performance framework. The framework suggests that physiological stability provides the “bedrock” for advancing skills in language, communication, and relationships. Those two levels funnel toward the GAP level, which includes social-emotional skills like perseverance and grit. When these layers interact (in this case, high quantity of sleep and high levels of grit), individuals are more likely to experience steadiness. But when one or more layers falter, people become more vulnerable to stress and emotional disruption.
Sleep represents a basic physiological variable. Grit represents a higher-order psychological skill. Happiness scores were strongest when the two worked together.
Alignments like these are common in our research and practice. We have run multiple studies connecting exercise (a Bedrock component) to language (an LCR component) to the utilization of GAP level components like empathy, collaboration, and the ability to focus. With this holistic understanding, can exercise improve one’s ability to tap into empathy? To focus for longer? In small studies, yes.
In other small groups, we have found data aligning the sensation of “hanger” to communication challenges in the workplace. Then there’s the famous 2011 study of 1,112 parole decisions which found that the likelihood of a favorable ruling dropped steadily as judges worked longer without a break, and then rose again after meals. Early in a session, about 65% of rulings favored parole, but the rate fell close to zero just before breaks.
The levels of the High Order Performance Framework interact. Using the Framework to understand otherwise complicated situations can be a great way to understand their interaction and make thoughtful decisions that align with that understanding. It takes work. But it’s worth it.
Teaching Steadiness
Steadiness seems to be the common thread in these findings. Students who approach their days with a stable physical base and a clear psychological commitment have an easier time staying regulated. They navigate challenges with less emotional turbulence. They remain oriented toward goals. Sleep and grit do not guarantee happiness, but they appear to support it. They help students maintain the internal stability required to feel well, learn effectively, and relate to others with clarity.
If educators want to improve student well-being, a steadiness curriculum may be a helpful starting point. Such a curriculum could teach students to protect their sleep, build consistent routines, and develop the psychological skills associated with sustained pursuit of long-term goals. Instead of glorifying exhaustion or praising students for sacrificing sleep,educators could emphasize grit in the service of healthy routines. Grit becomes a tool to support well-being rather than a badge of suffering.
A practical starting point involves asking students three simple questions:
- What are your motives and goals?
- What is currently undermining your sleep?
- Are you willing to commit to a process that prioritizes consistent sleep and wake times?
These questions encourage students (or teachers, or parents, or professionals in any industry) to align behavior with purpose. They also lay the groundwork for routines that require effort, discipline, and persistence. With this information, our hope is to support the creation of bedtime and morning routines. These routines will require novel levels of structure and rigor (challenge) that they must navigate over time. By asking about motives and goals, we hope to kindle reminders of the “goals” for which they can maintain “sustained passion” and, through their new routines, challenging situations which will require “perseverance” – that is, the components of grit.
Along the way, we will include stories of grit in the performance realm and ask athletes to research and present to class on an athlete in their sport who demonstrated grit, in a manner that aligns with the definition found in Duckworth’s research.
A steadiness curriculum could also integrate reflective writing, discussions about mentors and role models, and structured opportunities for students to examine their habits. The goal would not be to create perfection, but to help students develop the internal conditions required for higher order outcomes such as performance, character, and happiness.
If the aim is healthier students – healthier people – then sleep and grit are reasonable places to start. They are not the only factors that matter, but they are factors students can influence. When environmental pressures fall outside their control, the steadiness they bring into those environments becomes even more important. It might be the first step to improving the environment which has caused the challenge.
Helping students cultivate that steadiness is not simple. But it is worthwhile. The data points us in this direction. So does our experience as educators. The work begins with a commitment to understanding the whole human being, integrating across the High Order Performance Framework, and supporting the habits that allow them to grow.
