Thursday, October 27, 2011

Habits of Highly Effective Teens, Part III



On my dresser in my bedroom is a little 3x5 card from my six year old that reads, "Dear Daddy, I love you. I miss you. Are you coming home tonight? When are you coming home tonight? I'm ready to play." While she can read, those words were penned by my wife so that I could actually read the note! While cute, this is actually a very sobering reminder to me every day that it's really important I live by this principle of, "Make the first things first." Or, simply put, make sure the main things in life are the main things.

Many people give "lip service" to what's really important to them but their verbal communication is not an accurate story teller. How a person spends their time really reveals what is truly important to them. I'm reminded of what I often say, "You do and say what you really believe." Time is the more accurate story teller. If my family is truly number one on my list of most important things in life, my time with them will be the evidence of how truthful I am about this.

With teens, this principle is no different. I remember a "speech" I gave my sophomore basketball players one morning as a small number of them "forgot" about the weight lifting practice the day before. I reminded them we don't forget about those things that are important to us.

The challenge for teens is establishing disciplines and habits that truly reflect what is really important. Researchers say habits can be created in a small amount of time, a few weeks even. This principle of keeping first things first challenges teens to evaluate, "What is really important in those teen years?" Before you give lip service like so many do, take inventory. Where do you spend the majority of your time? If it doesn't line up with what you think should be most important, changes are needed.

Finding teens who truly live by principles and plan their weeks around what is truly important are not easily found. Take the challenge. MAKE first things first in your life!

11 comments:

  1. You need to realise what is most important thing in your life and as soon as you know that everything will be easy from there.For me,most important thing is my family but not only for me,all of the kids in world too!
    Some of them dont know how to appreciate that but on other hand some of them do and that is me.When you go away miles and miles away from you family that is the moment when you learn how much you love your family and how they made impact in your life.
    Sometimes in life hurry you forgot what is important to you and you never really figure that before it is too late.You need to take action and make first things first in your life and be ready to go with it like true leader ! :)

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  2. we need to make the things that are really important to us our priorities in life if not we are not being true to ourselves.we need to make the most important things in our lives first because they constantly remind us of who we are and what we stand for and if we do not make them the first things in our lives we lose sight of them.

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  3. Spending time on what is truly important in your life. What ever that may be then you spend the most time on and improve it and make it the very best. In life put the most important things first because you never know when you time will end and you may not have treated the most important things first first.

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  4. We need to have things that are important to us. If something is really important to us then we'll spend time on that. A lot of times we get busy and forget about the things that matter to us, but we come back and remember what's really important to us.

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  5. I think we need to spend time doing things that make us happy and spend time with the people that make us happy. We usually rush things and are busy, but we need to realize the important things in our life, and they are different things for different people

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  6. The challenge of planning my schedule around what is really important sounds kind of intimidating, but I believe that if a person wants to accomplish what they're working for and feel satisfied with themselves that that is what they have to do.

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  7. It is very important to know what is most important to you and that you put those first in life. Many teens need to know that whatever they think is important they should do that, for example if you think lifting in the off season like you said about your basketball team is important, then you really care for the sport you are working for. If you don't know what is important to you, it's up to you to change that and put those things first in life.

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  8. What really struck home with me was people don't forget things that are important to them. for example, I think getting better in the off-season is very crucial to success in the regular season and the playoffs. If everyone had that same mind set its scary to imagine what our school athletics could be. Some students at our school don't want to lift/condition to make themselves better. I just want to motivate people to take the off-season serious. I will have to figure a way to do it.

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  9. We all have things that are important to us and we need to put those things first. We need to find out what the truly important things are and why they are so important so we can stand strong in our practice of them. I know that it is important for me to spend time with my family so it is something that I try to do. I know that religion is important to me so I think about GOd and go to church. There are other things that are important to me an I make time for them as well just as other teens should.

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  10. Everyone has different things in their lives that are important to them. You should be able to look at a person and figure out what is important to them by their actions. Like family for example, you would always talk about your family and spend your time with them if they were important to you. Also, people won't forget about things that are important to them. Yes people forget things, but if it really means a lot to you and is important to you, you will make sure to remember it somehow.

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  11. First of all we need to determine what is really important to us. After we do this we should focus on that but still have time for the other things in life. If getting a good education and becoming successful is important then you should always try your hardest in the classroom. I remember one time in kindergarten I had told a kid something and my teacher heard me and said, "Remember Tanner, practice what you preach," at first I didn't know what this meant but as I grew up I started to realize what she meant. So that has become very important to me that I do as I tell others to do and that will come easy if it is really important to you.

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