Smart Ass Art Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
But I’m even a firmer believer in sharing with others. Whether it’s clothing, money, food, or advice – we should never hold onto anything that could help another person. That’s why I thought of an idea that might be kind of cool. If you have a blog, I propose that you do this: In an upcoming post, write about One of the Smartest Things You Ever Did. Then, encourage your readers to do the same.
Take out marrying the right person or having great children. Those were at the top of my list, and I’m sure they would be yours, as well.
Hopefully, you’ll have many, many “smartest things” to choose from. Just pick one that you think could help another person. After you’ve written your post, let me know and I’ll link to it….after I’ve read it and gained the wisdom for myself, of course!
I’ll get the ball rolling:
One of the smartest things I ever did was instill a love of reading in my daughters. They have been very, very successful in their studies and they score way above average on any test set in front of them. I think a lot of this comes from the fact that they’ve always been voracious readers.
I believe that’s what’s lacking with a lot of kids these days. We need to get back to when a book was a child’s primary handheld.
It’s not that tough to instill a love of books and reading. Here’s what seems to have worked for us:
- When our girls were tiny – as early as 6 months – I’d read to them. I went all out, did the crazy faces and voices. We made a production of it! By the time each of our girls were 4, they were already reading. They wanted to be a part of all the fun – so, soon, they were reading to me as often as I read to them.
- I made Library Trips as big a deal as going to the zoo or park. We’d go out to eat right before going to the library, and we’d talk about the kind of books they wanted to find. Then, we’d go and lose ourselves in the library for about an hour.
TheyWe still get excited about going to the library (and eating out). - When our girls were between 4 and 6, they had to be in bed at 8:30 (that may seem early, but you should have seen what time they liked to get up!). However, we’d always tell them, You can either turn the lights off and go to bed now, or you can stay up and read for 30 minutes. Always…always…always, they chose to stay up a little longer reading. As they got older, of course their bedtime was moved back – but the same deal was always in place, turn the lights off and go to bed now, or stay up and read for 30 minutes.
I’d check back in 30 minutes, and if they were in the middle of a book or a chapter, I’d give them a little more time. It was rewarding to have a child asking to stay up a little later because they were enjoying a book so much.
I’d always talk to them about what they were reading, too. Ask questions, probe for their opinions, etc. I’d often ask them to draw me a picture of how they pictured the main character(s) to look – anything to show that I was interested.
Books are a wonder, in themselves. If you can just get them into your child’s hands, the book, itself, will win them over. For a lifelong love of reading. That, of course, is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children.
And one of the smartest things I ever did.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
This is really cool.
Ok.
One of the smartest things I did was asking people if they wanted to opt-in to my newsletter on a form for a paper.
It served as a platform for a 20,000 reader newsletter, a forum, a book and now a blog.
Never underestimate how one smart choice can have huge consequences down the road.
Mike
Great idea, I will write a post on a smart thing I did to further the cause.
This challenge was relatively easy.
In High School, I was open to take a chance. Took it, did well, and it set me in a “rut” / “groove” for the rest of my life.
When I was in Manhattan Prep High School, one of the Christian Brothers from Manhattan College came in towards the end of my junior year and said he was interested in hiring some of us to work in the Manhattan College data center. To qualify, we had to learn something called a “computer language”. He’d teach us for an hour in the morning before class, we’d have to give up our lunch, and a few Saturdays. After 6 weeks of torture, we’d have an exam. He’d hire the top people for his datacenter at the stunning sum of $4 an hour. (It was a long time ago!). We could then have up to forty hours a week assuming we got working papers. (I already had my for my various summer jobs. My Mom thought “idle hands”! And I got to keep HALF of what I earned. I called her share GRAFT! The split was AFTER tax. Any wonder I HATE taxes!) Despite all my peers telling me I was nuts to “give up” all that time, I signed up. (Surprising since I was very subject to peer pressure.) I was motivated by the money! I jumped thru his hoops, and surprise surprise, despite being a smart but mediocre student, I was the top scorer in his test with a 98. I later learned that this was CDC’s Systems Programmming Test, CDC used to decide if they would allow customers to touch their operating system. The Brother had only gotten a 96 on it. (I still think the question I missed was ambiguous. And, told everyone why! NO good.) From there it was like I was in a groove. I made lots of money, met the Engineering Faculty of the College, decided to go Electrical Engineering, and was the Number #2 guru of the computer center. Sophomore Year of College, I met the fellow running the AT&T Treasury datacenter and found out that they were paying $14/hour. So I started to do both. I graduated (surprisingly) with the lowest index 2.0106 [It was the 6 that won!], won the anchor pool (~$400), and had the highest starting salary (AT&T made my a Senior Systems Programmer making 65k PLUS OVERTIME!?!) I was happy. The best time in my life! It set me on a path that I have been following ever since. I wonder how things would have been otherwise?
But clearly, it was one of MY first conscious decisions (i.e., sacrifice time for training that translated to earning power). And, it turned out well? So I’d call it the best decision I ever made.
Thanks for letting me play in your “challenge”.
I’m beginning to think that the smartest thing I ever did was start my blog idealadvice.blogspot.com
Only a week old and I’m loving it!!!
Learn how to use Photoshop, I believe.
Stopped believing in god.
Great answers!
Hi Stephen! Actually, the smartest thing you’ve ever done has yet to come. When you realize that there is, indeed, a God and that He loves you more than anyone on earth ever could – that’ll be your smartest moment.
I hope you find Him very soon. I’ve experienced life WITH Him and WITHOUT Him and I promise you that live with God by your side is so much sweeter. I promise!
Thanks for commenting! – Joi