Young students
Confidence means: “I believe in myself!”
Older students, teens, adults:
Confidence means trusting ourselves and knowing that we can do it.
Living with Focus
I have made this post in My Journey blog also. I feel like the resources mentioned here may be helpful to anyone who reads this:
One thing that has been on my mind recently is how so many of the things we learn are so related and support each other. This past week I completed the one day Time management workshop with a Steven Covey facilitator. The need to be certain of your values, roles and mission was emphasized throughout the workshop. This is about Focus
This ties in so much with work I have been doing with goal setting using the Tony Robbins material. In his material he talks about using the RPM method. What are the Results you want, Purpose- why do you want this, and then creating a Massive Action Plan. This is about Focus.
This ties in so well with my desire to live my life as simply as is reasonable. I have been thinking and practicing the mental exercise of asking myself is this something in my life that is essential – before I do it, buy it or take time for it. Recently I began reading a book called The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta. I have not read anything else this author has written, but his writing is all about Focus.
The quality of our life is determined by our focus. So many have written about this. Our living with focus will help us reach our goals that match our values, roles and mission if we are honest with ourselves.
If you want to work on focus or if you have a child or teen that needs to focus more, please feel free to come and lets work together on making that happen. Simplified, focused living, creates happy children and families.
Trustworthiness: not cheating or stealing
Being trustworthy is one of those qualities that we expect and want in our children. As a parent we want our children to do what is right, to tell the truth and to be fair by not cheating or stealing. Due to the busy schedule everyone has today though, we sometimes overlook the idea of deliberately teaching the virtues that we would like to see in our child.
If we wait to discuss with our children the character trait that leads to not cheating or stealing until there is an incident, we will find that the emotions are too high to make any inroads on that subject. It is the reason that we at Balanced Life Skills are committed to discussing these with our students when there are no obvious reason to do so.
Cheating and stealing is what we will be discussing this week and the affect it has on our ability to be trusted by others. As many times in the past, we will be emphasizing that the consequence of cheating or stealing is the loss of trust and we practice trustworthiness because it is the right thing to do.
This would be a great time for parents to tie into our discussions at home by asking your child what they would do if they saw one of their friends cheating in a game, or copying off of someone’s paper. Or what would they do if they saw someone taking something that did not belong to them? These type of short conversations where we listen deeply and express our family’s belief on this subject will have a great impact on their conduct later in their life.
Giving to others
After coming back from vacation I had a week of being sick like I have not seen for a very long time. On one of the days at home, afraid to move a muscle, I laid with the television on. There was a show where someone fixed up a car for a young teacher who was still in school and just barely getting by, driving a car that was on its last leg. Tears welled up in my eyes.
Have you ever noticed that when we see someone doing something nice for someone who really needs it, how good it makes us feel. Ever seen Extreme Makeover? Ever been to Alabama? We sometimes get this overwhelming good feeling for both parties. In fact we feel great.
When we step up and demonstrate compassion for others, perform an act of kindness, the feeling we receive is even more overwhelming. It makes us feel so good to be a positive part of community. Our family, school, town, state, world community.
The Greensboro Alabama project
Please check out this video about a project I am involved with and one of my personal living heroes, Pam Dorr. The members of the Ultimate Black Belt Test (UBBT) will be making their 5th annual visit to Greensboro, Alabama, March 25-29, 2009, this year to restore a historic educational and architectural landmark.
To learn more about the 2009 Project and why a group of martial artist would do this please go to My Journey page and you can see how I am involved and how you can help. If you want to know what Pam did in her previous life, ask me. It is so different from what she is doing now!!
Successful goal setting
Our goals must be about us. They cannot be about others or what we would like to see them do or accomplish. When we know the results we want and why we want them then that is our goal.
Then we should ask ourselves if this goal is Real. Is it possible to reach this goal? There is a difference in setting high goals for ourselves and setting a goal that is not attainable. I also believe that after we set a high goal that it is good to break it down into smaller chunks. If we want to lose 40 pounds this year, maybe we break it down into 2 or 3 month increments. Then we can see the progress we are making and get the good feeling of accomplishment.
Finally what is the time frame for reaching the goal. is it this week or this month, year, 5 years or 10 years. Goals are only dreams if they do not have a time table set to them. When we have a time table we can then start setting smaller goals so we can reach our bigger milestones.
What is your goal? Set a goal for your school, home, job or your physical training. Let me know what it is and I will be here to help you reach that goal. That is one of my goals this year – to help others reach their goals.