January | 2020 | Time for Excellence

white-ceramic-cup-2878708 Are your teens/students ready to excel in the workplace? Here is a story from our area of how one teen chose pleasure over work. If you’re a teacher, parent, or guardian, it would be a valuable case to discuss with the adolescents under your guidance. It directly addresses some of the concerns employers are expressing about their younger workers. Here goes. . .

An Italian family moved to Port Smalltown (not the real name) to establish a new restaurant, living out their dream. Because of their incredible food, staff, and service, it quickly became a hit with the locals. This family poured their heart and soul into their business and was very supportive of the community. That included hiring some area high school students to help fund their college education. One such student (not her real name) was Shelby.

With training, Shelby soon became a valuable employee. She received great tips due to her exceptional service and was given additional hours as a reward. Go Shelby!

But one day, at 4:55 p.m., Shelby called in sick for her 5:00 p.m. work shift. Not surprisingly, the owner was very disappointed with this news. Somehow, they would have to address the problem. Customers were lining up outside to dine, anticipating a great experience.

Then, imagine the owner’s surprise when a co-worker announced 20 minutes later that Shelby was posting pictures on Instagram from a nearby beach party. Judging by the pictures, Shelby was having the time of her life.

The next day, Shelby arrived at the restaurant at 4:45 p.m. to begin her evening shift. She was promptly taken aside by the owner and fired on the spot.

Assignment: Decisions have consequences. Make a list of Shelby’s infractions with the actions she took. What leadership and character qualities did Shelby fail to exhibit and why do you think she was fired over this? What attitudes do you think guided her behavior? What did she lose by her actions and what lessons do you hope she learned?

Some readers may think examples like this are rare, but trust us, they are not. The greatest complaints we hear from employers involve work ethic, dependability, and professionalism. We encourage you to explore our What I Wish I Knew at 18 book and curriculum which holistically builds the leadership and soft skills young people need to succeed. (And, hopefully, to avoid situations like Shelby’s!).

watering-plants-with-a-watering-can-6442 Those of you who know me well know that gardening isn’t my thing. In fact, my thumb is so brown that you wouldn’t want me near your plants! I’m not sure why, but I think I overdo it with watering and fertilizer. More is better, so they say.

And, so it often goes with our early planning for a new year. I, for one, habitually fall into that trap. It might look something like this:

A five new goals list, complete with a fancy new planner to keep me on task
A listing of a dozen new podcasts or TED talks to listen to
A membership to that new health club in town
Two new magazine subscriptions and a plan to tackle my book backlog
Cut 15 minutes off of my sleep time so I can do more

Compelling new additions to my already full plate, right? Or, back to the gardening analogy, more water and fertilizer applied to a plant that’s already stressed. Here is where moredoesn’t necessarily fix the problem—especially when the first word we use to describe our life is, “busy.”

Or, could this be a year where less may be more? Where we do some judicious pruning in order to bear more fruit? I heard this in a sermon the other day and it really resonated. So, when I returned home, I did what any non-arborist would do, and googled, “Benefits of pruning.” Here were some of the takeaways:

Stimulates a strong network of healthy new growth
Improves fruit quality
Improves root formation
Removes those unsightly sucker branches that stunt growth and nutrition

I rather like these! Instead of always adding, perhaps a trim here and a trim there will stimulate even greater abundance—in our plants and in our lives. Here, a pruning candidate list might look like:

Spending less time on social media and devices
Cutting back or eliminating time spent on reading, listening, and watching programs/content that brings us down or stresses us out
Reducing our consumption of addicting, unhealthy substances
Eliminating toxic elements and relationships from our lives
Trimming anything that wastes our time or resources
Addressing regrets and busyness that’s interfering with our relationships
Reducing spending on non-essentials to improve our financial peace of mind

So, what about you? Could your life use a little more fertilizer or pruning? I think I’m going to try some pruning for once and see how it goes.

Happy 2020 from all of us at LifeSmart! We hope this will be your most abundant and fruitful year yet.