7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

(By Sean Covey but modified)

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Teens should never get too busy living to take time to renew themselves. When teens “sharpen the saw” they are keeping their personal self-sharp so that they can better deal with life. It means regularly renewing and strengthening the four key dimensions of life—body, mind, heart and soul

1) Body. Eat wholesome foods, fruits, vegetables, legumes. Avoid illegal drugs, smoking, alcohol, tobacco products, tattooing. Exercise regularly and effectively. Get plenty of rest at night. Get to bed early at night and get up early each morning. “Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

2) Mind. Think positively. Read. Study. Think. Analyze. Seek to read a good book each month. Then each week. Ask intelligent questions. Observe. Develop your mind through positive “self-talk.”

 

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7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

(By Sean Covey but modified)

Habit 6: Synergize

Synergy is achieved when to or more people work together to create something better than either could alone. Through this habit, teens learn it doesn’t have to be “your way” or “my way” but rather a better way, a higher way. Synergy allows teens to value differences and better appreciate others. Synergy is the reward, the delicious fruit you’ll taste as you get better at living the other habits, especially at thinking Win-Win and seeking first to understand. Learning to synergize is like learning to form V formations with others instead of trying to fly through life solo. You’ll be amazed at how much faster and father you’ll go. Synergy doesn’t just happen. It’s a process. You have to get there. And the foundation of getting there is this: Learn to celebrate differences.

A good band is a great example of synergy. It’s not just the drums, or the guitar, or the sax, or the vocalist, it’s all of them together that make up the “sound.” Each band member brings his or her strengths to the table to create something better than each could alone. No instrument is more important than another, just different.

 

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7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

(By Sean Covey but modified)

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, and then to be Understood

Because most people don’t listen very well, one of the great frustrations in life is that many don’t feel understood. This habit will ensure your teen learns the most important communication skills there is: active listening.

Why is this habit they to communication? It’s because the deepest need of the human heart is to be understood. Everyone wants to be respected and valued for who they are—a unique, one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-cloned individual. People won’t expose their soft middles unless they feel genuine love and understanding. Once they feel it, however, they will tell you more than you may want to hear. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Listen with your eyes, heart and ears. 7 percent of communication is contained in the words we use. The rest comes from body language (53 percent) and how we say words, or the tone and feeling reflected in our voice (40 percent).

Most people are eager to talk and had rather talk than listen. We have one mouth and two ears. This means we should listen twice as much as we talk. We actually learn more while listening rather than how much we talk. Learn to listen and listen to learn.

Listen, really listen, for understanding.

Seek first to understand then to be understood—LISTEN.

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7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

(By Sean Covey but modified)

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Teens can learn to foster the belief that it is possible to create an atmosphere of Win-Win in every relationship. This habit encourages the idea that in any given discussion or situation both parties can arrive at a mutually beneficial solution. Your teen will learn to celebrate the accomplishments of others instead of being threatened by them. Win-Win is a belief that everyone can win. It’s both nice and tough all at once. I won’t step on you, but I won’t be your doormat either. You care about other people and you want them to succeed. But you also care about yourself, and you want to succeed as well. Win-Win is abundant. It is the belief that there’s plenty of success to go around. It’s not either you or me. It’s both of us. It’s not a matter of who gets the biggest piece of the pie. There’s more than enough food for everyone. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Win-win always creates more. Perhaps the most surprising benefit of thinking Win-Win is the good feelings it brings on. The true test of whether or not you are thinking Win-Win or one of the alternatives is how you feel. Win-Lose and Lose-Win thinking will cloud your judgment and fill you with negative feelings.

Win-Win will fill your heart with happy and serene thoughts. It will give you confidence. Even fill you with light. Think Win-Win or no deal.

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7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

(By Sean Covey but modified)

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind

If teens aren’t clear about where they want to end up in life, about their values, goals, and what they stand for, they will wander, waste time, and be tossed to and fro by the opinions of others. Help your teen create a personal mission statement which will act as a road map and direct and guide his decision-making process.

“Keep your eyes on the prize.” Determine your desired prize and don’t quit until you have realized the achievement of your prize. Then set another prize, another goal or desire that you would really like to achieve. Begin with the achievement of your prize in mind. Visualize and then realize. Start by having a target in mind; know where you are going.

One prize or goal you definitely need to establish for yourself is the prize of an honorable graduation from high school—that you will receive your diploma honestly and with integrity—that you earned it with perfect honesty.

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7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

(By Sean Covey but modified)

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Being proactive is the key to unlocking other habits. Help your teen take control and take responsibility for her life. Proactive people understand that they are responsible for their own happiness or unhappiness. They don’t blame others for their own actions or feelings. Proactive people realize that the ball is in their court, that they are the captain of their own ship; that they are in control, control of their decisions, thoughts, choices, decisions, goals, actions, and priorities. Proactive people are self-starters; they don’t wait to be told what to do, they press forward with enthusiasm toward the achievement of their assignment, their duties, their responsibilities, their obligations. Choosing to do what is right is a proactive decision. Obey the rules. Obey the law. Obey the coach. Obey the school policies. Obey your parents. Obey with exactness, and great things will come to you. Be proactive and take initiative.

 

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7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

By Sean Covey

 

For teens, life is not a playground, it’s a jungle. And, being the parent of a teenager isn’t any walk in the park, either. In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, author Sean Covey attempts to provide “a compass to help teens and their parents navigate the problems they encounter daily.”

How will they deal with peer pressure? Motivation? Success or lack thereof? The life of a teenager is full of tough issues and life-changing decisions. As a parents, you are responsible to help them learn the principles and ethics that will help them to reach their goals and live a successful life.

While it’s all well and good to tell kids how to live their lives, “teens watch what you do more than they listen to what you say,” Covey says. So practice what you preach. Your example can be very influential.

Covey himself has done well by following a parent’s example. His dad, Stephen Covey, wrote the book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, which sold over 15 million copies. Sean’s chips off the old block, and no slacker. His own book has rung in a more than respectable 2 million copies sold. Here are his seven habits, and some ideas for helping your teen understand and apply them:

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