Stop and Think. What Is Your Job?

All opinions expressed in this blog are solely my own.

What are your 'tasks' in adolescence? You navigate the choices to become a 'functional adult'. The better you choose, the better you become.

From your 60,000 or so daily thoughts, filter the ones that advance your story. Run into a minefield, you will hit a mine. 

A few passages from J.A. Baker's The Peregrine, scaffold the advice. 

The best advice comes from your parents. Nobody loves you more or wants more for you. Your first task is taking care of business at home. 

Academic excellence follows. "There is no ability without eligibility." Melrose volleyball has a great tradition of scholarship and leadership. "You own your paycheck." The only place success precedes work is in the dictionary. 

You make your choices and your choices make you. Sometimes you can't see progress. That doesn't prove its absence. Running stadium stairs, lifting, or platform 'wall drills' don't register in a newspaper column or a friend's text. All they do is build champions. 

Extracurriculars are the third leg of your development stool. They deserve your full attention in the moment. "Do more to become more and become more to do more." The coaches don't assign the minutes and the roles. The players do. The coaches put players in the position to succeed. 

The players write a narrative of hope, joy, and prosperity. The coaches' task is advancing and editing that story. 

Lagniappe. A lot can interrupt the progress of the story. 

• You choose whether to invest your time or spend it. 
• "You lie down with dogs, you get fleas." 
• You tune out the director, you get no lines in the play. 

I was talking with a college professor. She said the level of entitlement boggles the mind. Students don't turn in assignments; they want an 'A'. Student do poorly on a test. They want a retake. Students party and they expect a good job will drop like manna from heaven. That is not how life works. 

Lagniappe 2. Work on your setting fundamentals:

• On time hands
• Jumping early
• Better footwork to avoid back-pedaling