© Shutterstock.com (x4)very parent wants their kids to grow up
to be successful. But everyone defines
“success” differently.
Jeff Bezos learned to not spend
time deliberating over decisions that are easily
reversible. Warren Buffett learned that success
means the people you hope will love you actually
do love you. Steve Jobs learned about the power of
asking for help.
All of which is great advice, but what about
the actual skills your kids will need to succeed?
Which skills pay the greatest lifelong dividends
regardless of pursuit?
Here’s my list of things every parent should help
their children learn:(^) How to sell
To many people, the word “selling” implies
manipulating, pressuring [or] cajoling.
But if you think of selling as explaining the logic
and benefits of a decision, then everyone needs sales
skills to convince others that an idea makes sense.
In essence, sales skills are communication skills,
and communication skills are critical in every
business. And career. And relationship.
(^) How to ask for help
Steve Jobs said, “Most people never ask, and
that’s what separates, sometimes, the people who do
things from the people who just dream about them.”
When you just say “Can you help me?” several
powerful things happen, especially for the
other person.
One, you show respect. Without actually saying
it, you say, “You know more than I do; you have
experience or skill that I don’t.”
Two, you show trust. You admit to a weakness,
you make yourself vulnerable and you implicitly
show you trust the other person with that knowledge.
By showing they respect and trust other people,
and by giving those people the latitude to freely
share their expertise or knowledge, your kids don’t
just get the help they think they want.
They also get the help they really need.
u by Jeff Haden / © 2019, Mansueto Ventures, LLC.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
PAGE DESIGN BY OLIVE CHU
Want to raise successful and happy kids? Teach them these basic principles
Work-life balance
Everyone talks about it. And everyone struggles to
achieve it. Partly that’s due to faulty math. Many people
assume the only way to achieve work-life balance is to
spend the same number of hours on work as they do on “life.”
But for most people, that seems impossible.
Instead, teach your kids to do a different kind of math.
Teach them to focus not on the number of hours they spend
on “life” but on the quality of those hours.
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Parenting
2019 SEPTEMBER 23, 24
Topic TalksReadings