What does it take to stay in the game when things get tough? Rockport’s Will Trepp joins NSCF Founder Sunil Weeramantry and Grandmaster @GMHikaru to talk about the role of failure, plateaus, and persistence in building real resilience.
From the chessboard to the boardroom, early setbacks shape how we lead, adapt, and grow.
Watch how lessons from the game prepare students - and professionals - for whatever comes next.
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I think for myself, when I hit those plateaus, it's just this inner confidence or belief that I'll be able to overcome them. And, but I will say, I think that having those barriers very early in my career were, very important and this monumental really. I think one of the things that separates me when I look at my brother, for example, is everything came very easily time from the time he began until he sort of hit his first major plateau. It was just a straight path.
There were no like, stumbling blocks along the way. It was very clear and simple. But having to struggle at the very start helped me a lot because I had learned that this will happen. And, so for me, I think having had that early in my career and just learning along the way, was invaluable. With my brother, he never improved, once he hit the plateau, he never improved again. So pretty much from the time he was like five years old until about 11 or 12, no difficulties.
Then he wasn't able to sort of deal with that adversity. Adversity never improved. But for me, I think it's just you get used to it. And so, you view it as something normal, as natural, and you just keep trying to overcome it. And whether that’s just believing in yourself from playing more and more, if you just study, thinking that it’s going to come together. And in some cases, it will and in some cases it won’t. But just believing in yourself, I think, is the most important key in terms of overcoming the adversity and the plateaus that you will hit in the game of chess.
That’s a classic sort of mental resilience. Toughness theory. Which is the people who struggle early often end up going the furthest because they're not afraid of that. They don't see it as a block. It is a step in that path. So now what about you? I, obviously, many of your students have hit plateaus I have had plenty. How do you coach them through it? No, you know, there’s no magic formula. It’s almost like hitting a batting slump in baseball, you know, what do you do?
Sit the player on the bench? I mean you’ve got to play him, you know? So, if you are going up against some kind of, you know, if you hit some kind of plateau, then you have to play yourself through it. You know you have to go back in, and you have to be willing to keep playing until you break through. Just have the conviction that you can break through and that this is some kind of temporary setback. But there is no shortcut really.
A lot like life. You know. You get hit by things. And if you stop, you have much worse outcomes than if you just keep going till the world changes. Yes.