What Kids Need to Succeed

Sandi was a successful direct-seller who was well-liked by both her customers and the rest of the sales team.  One day, she left her office to run some errands, one of which was a doctor’s appointment.  She returned to her office at about 2:00 p.m.

She walked in, announced to everyone that she was expecting, resigned, handed over her brief case and passed out her lead cards.  Then she left and went home to fulfill her lifelong dream: to be a full-time, stay-at-home Mom.  It wasn’t the end of the work week or even the end of the day.  She was barely 30 days along.

Her life changed in that moment.  Her dream had come true.  Her ultimate goal was being realized.  She committed 100% of her most precious and irreplaceable resource — her time — to her most important priority.  She instinctively knew that to be successful, her priorities and her behavior had to match.

Years later, I interviewed her adult son.  He had always been sure of his parents’ love for him.  “I don’t think there’s anybody in the world better at verbalizing unconditional love and support than my Mom.  She told me, both out loud and with her actions, every single day.  My Dad does it differently but the message is still pretty clear.  He worked very hard but always had time for me.  Over the years the two of us have developed some great traditions.  I’m pretty sure that he looks forward to our annual ‘guys weekend’ as much as I do.”

Messages of love from Sandi and her husband are intense in their power because they are irrefutable.  Every day of his life their son saw his parents ‘walk the walk.’  They made spending time with  and preparing him for life ‘in the real world’ a high priority.

But the point is not so much that Sandi and her husband had planned and were able to follow through just the way they wanted — it has more to do with consistency between our words and our actions.

Our kids generally believe our actions far more than our words….  How are yours adding up?