One of the 24 Values In Action from Positive Psychology research is Persistence (Perseverance and Industriousness)(p.229). This weekend I stopped to buy a glass of lemonade from two children in my neighborhood. I had backed out of my garage and did not notice the lemonade stand until I was about turn the corner. I pulled over – not because I needed lemonade – but because they had taken the time to ask their parents to set the stand up for them.
I like that for whatever the reason we live in a country with a ‘lemonade stand’ metaphor. When some business person wants to prove they were industrious from a young age, they like to talk about the newspaper routes and lemonade stands they started. As they get older and traverse greater challenges in less safe business environments, there are lots of stories of turning ‘lemons into lemonade.’ The metaphor of turning something naturally sour into something sweet and enjoyable is the perfect metaphor for teaching resilience. Resilience is the attribute that supports persistence, perseverance and industriousness. We are never too young, or too old, to learn to build such great attributes.
