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7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers (Part 1)
Introduction
A teenager's life is not easy. One is neither a child nor a grown up at this age. We go through so many physical, mental and psychological changes. We are required to make life altering decisions. We struggle to find our place in this world and in society. All this can get really overwhelming.
So it is important to have a support system. A blueprint you can follow to make your life a little easier. ' 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens' by Sean Covey is a book that provides a clear blueprint.
Habits
Our future is a result of the things we do on a daily basis. We perform activities based on our habits. So habits play a vital role in our lives. Good habits can take us to great heights. At the same time, bad habits can destroy our lives. Hence, we need to pay attention to the things we do on a daily basis. It is important to consciously form habits that will serve us well. Read on to find out more about the first habit.
Put first things first
Prioritization is a key word that every teenager must remember. You have to manage so many things like studies, social life, family, hobbies etc. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and confused. It often feels like 24 hours are not enough. So it is important to have clear priorities. This ensures that you don't compromise on things that are important to you.
Willpower
Willpower is the ability to do things even when you don't feel like doing them. In order to grow, one must learn to exercise this power. Willpower is just like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. It is required to adopt desirable behavior.
Will power is not just about doing things that are uncomfortable. It is also the ability to say no to bad/unimportant things. It requires you to refrain from doing things that you want to do. It is required to eliminate undesirable behavior.
Willpower is extremely important in prioritization. The reason we don't have time is that we keep saying yes to everything. It is important to identify what is important to us and strongly say no to the rest.
Example
You are preparing for a test and your friends call you to hang out. You must learn to say no to them. Exercise your won't power to resist that temptation.
The Einsenhower Matrix
Dwight Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States. He was an American army general too. He came up with a matrix on how to prioritize your activities. It is based on the factors of urgency and importance
Urgent and important
These are activities that require your immediate attention. This could be preparing for a test which is on the next day. It could be helping out a close friend who really needs you. It could be completing an assignment which is due in two days.
These activities must not be postponed. We should not make it a habit to procrastinate. When you identify that something is urgent and important. just do it immediately.
Not urgent and Important
These are activities that matter but not at the moment. This could be studying for your exams which are approaching in a month or two. Starting a regular exercise regime is an activity that falls under this category. The family vacation that you all really need can also be classified under this.
It is important to start planning such activities. Remember that failing to plan is planning to fail. Something that is not planned never happens. One must not wait till these become urgent. A little planning will definitely go a long way in making you more successful.
Urgent and Not important
These are activities that require immediate action but are not very important. Most of the time this happens when someone asks you for a favour. They might need some help but not on something that's very crucial. Often this won't be something that requires to be done specifically by you.
In these cases you must learn to delegate.
Not urgent and not important
These activities are called time killers. This could be tasks like scrolling through social media feeds or watching television. I am not saying these must be fully eliminated. Stress busters are really important. But often, we spend more time on these than we should.
So it is important to identify these activities and eliminate them to the extent possible. This will give us more time for more important tasks.
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