This morning as I was doing a quick scan through Facebook, I spotted an article that a friend had posted: Regina Brett’s 45 Life Lessons and 5 To Grow On. As I read through Regina’s list of life lessons, I couldn’t help but think about how much I would like to share a few of them with today’s students. She makes several powerful statements that relate to our students’ success both while in school and in their careers.
One of the life lessons was “Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.” So often our students are waiting around for success. I hear excuse after excuse, “once I get my license,” or “once I get that first job,” or “once I get a raise.” What I want them to take from Regina’s advice is to SHOW UP AND MAKE THE MOST OF IT NOW!
Educators, I challenge you to take this idea of sharing tips or advice back to your classrooms. Start or end your theory class each day by sharing one bit of advice that you would love your students to really get. What is that one thing that will make the biggest difference in their future? It can be discipline driven, industry driven, content driven, attitude driven or simply, life driven.
If you aren’t sure where to find these bits of advice, Milady Standard Textbooks are a great resource. They have boxes located within the margins such as “Did You Know?” or “FYIs” that contain tips and additional information. These can be a good source for content driven advice. Or, simply google “Success Habits,” “Life Lessons,” or “Business Tips” and find those that appeal to you and share what you feel would be the most beneficial to your students.
After you share the tip, have a short discussion about what it means. Ask the students if they feel they are currently doing a good job within that area or if it is something they need to improve on. Also, don’t be shy – share with your students when there is one you need to work on too. Help them realize that success and life is a process and we are all on that journey.
Just for full disclosure here… the piece of advice from Regina’s list that resonates most with me right now is “get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.” I think I’ll go clean out a closet!