It may be tough for younger individuals to see the large image. They don’t have the life expertise and perspective of adults. That is the place mother and father will help their little one perceive alternative price.
Alternative price: Once you say “sure” to 1 factor, you are saying “no” to one thing else.
There are solely 24 hours in a day. Some teenagers need to do ALL THE THINGS, and that’s really one thing I really like about them. However on the adverse aspect, being unfocused can lead to unmet objectives. Some college students spend an excessive amount of time on actions that don’t transfer the needle, and never sufficient time on issues that do.
Permit me as an example with a case examine from a scholar shopper I labored with a number of years in the past…
Carrie was a Canadian highschool scholar getting into grade 12. She and a mum or dad contacted me in August as a result of knew she needed to win scholarships for college, and so they needed to do some prep work earlier than faculty began. Carrie had stable grades, and a very good roster of actions, together with two part-time jobs. She was actually busy.
Carrie understood that grade 12 is her finest alternative to win scholarships — ever. if she needed to get right into a aggressive program in college and win scholarships, one thing needed to give. She couldn’t do all her actions, preserve her grades, full college purposes and private statements, and discover time to go looking and apply for scholarships.
Carrie took motion. She stop considered one of her part-time jobs and considered one of her actions. These had been two of her lesser favorite actions. She already had sufficient expertise in these areas to placed on her purposes; she didn’t want them. Then she re-assigned the time she spent in these actions, placing extra time into working in the direction of her massive objectives – admission and scholarships.
She created some wonderful content material for her purposes – an actions listing, a number of essays based mostly on generally requested questions, and a roster of some individuals to name on to offer her an wonderful reference. This was primarily a “content material financial institution” of supplies that she might use time and again in lots of purposes. BONUS: Among the supplies may very well be used on each admission private statements and on scholarship purposes.
Then she utilized herself to the work of discovering scholarships (her mum or dad helped her with this half) and writing the purposes. As she accomplished purposes, she obtained higher and quicker at it.
Carrie received over $60,000 in scholarships.
She additionally obtained into her first-choice program.
It’s essential to notice that scholarships are usually not nearly cash. These awards are invaluable not solely due to the cash she saved, they’re additionally wonderful credentials for her to have on her report.
Did Carrie have stable grades and good actions? Sure. Did she have somebody to assist her discover scholarship alternatives? Sure. However many college students have the identical place to begin as Carrie.
The distinction is that Carrie prioritized her time based mostly on her objective. She mentioned “sure” to scholarships and “no” to issues of lesser worth to her.
Whereas I understand not all college students are in a position to surrender part-time jobs, or sure actions, I do encourage you to guage how you’re spending your time.
Ask your self, “Is that this the very best use of my time based mostly on my objectives for this yr?”.
Grade 12 is busy. There will probably be plenty of issues competing in your time. The primary precedence is to concentrate to your bodily and psychological well being (it’s OK to take time to have enjoyable!). Then your teachers. Then ensure you’re utilizing the remainder of your time in one of the best ways attainable, saying “sure” to the essential issues, and no to the others.
For extra data on serving to teenagers with objective setting, prioritization, and time administration, I like to recommend you recommend this e book to your little one: 7 Habits of Extremely Efficient Youngsters. There’s a improbable part on this subject referred to as “Put First Issues First”. You’ll be able to typically discover this e book at your native library without spending a dime.
Janet MacDonald is a Scholarship Coach with mycampusGPS Training Consulting. She is a former Canadian college admissions officer. For seven years, she was the coordinator of a scholarship program at a serious Canadian college. Janet has helped her scholar shoppers win tons of of hundreds of {dollars} in scholarships.