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Linchpin – Applications For Teenagers

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One of the ways that I can bring value to my reading audience is by exposing them to great information and resources when I come across them. I just finished the book Linchpin by Seth Godin, and I wish that I had this information much earlier in my life. This is one of those books that will benefit teens and their parents alike, and you can buy Linchpin through my Amazon affiliate link at no additional charge to you. I’ll give you a little background on Seth, the top 8 ideas that you need to hear today, and links to additional resources.

Seth Godin has one of the longest-running blogs on the internet. He has been posting faithfully and regularly since January 20o2. To put that in perspective, this is long before Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or iPhones existed. You won’t find Seth’s follower information on his blog, but it’s safe to say that he reaches hundreds of thousands of readers each month. Godin doesn’t need statistics because he regularly publishes invaluable content that inspires others to read. He is an artist.

According to Godin’s website, Linchpin is the book that brings all of his ideas together. In the next few points, I’ll give you some excerpts from the book that spoke to me the loudest, and need to be heard by your teen. I believe this is the best manner for me to convince you why I think you need this book.

  • Linchpins make up the third category of teams in the workplace, along with management and labor. Linchpins are indispensable. The invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order our of chaos. (inside cover)
  • We are not born to be cogs in the machine, yet that’s what many of us settle for by how we were trained. Cogs perform a job. (p. 6)
  • We are all born artists. Artists inspire and change others. Artists create gifts, not commodities. (p. 32)
  • The job what you do when you are told what to do, following instructions and adhering to the rules. Your art is doing what you do when nobody can describe what needs to be done next. It is taking personal responsibility, challenging the status quo, and changing people. Those who are willing do the work (the art), which is much different from doing the job, are linchpins. (p. 97)
  • The resistance is what keeps us from doing our best work, taking a chance, unleashing the artist. And much of the resistance comes from our own brains as it operates in survival mode. (p. 110)
  • True leaders are linchpins; they forge a path and discover a route to a destination not yet visited. They show others the way to get there. (p. 174)
  • Linchpins exert emotional labor and they make a map. (p. 218)
  • Linchpins persist, they do the work, they create the art, and they ship. (p. 235)

Rediscover the artist in you. Change the world. Ship something remarkable. Get this book and read it, and share it with your teenager. It just might change the trajectory of their life, and yours as well.

Application Question – What if your son or daughter can find their genius, their true artistry, and deliver that to the world? How might their life differ from yours? How can you overcome the resistance and find your true art? 

In addition to the book and the video above, here are a couple of additional Linchpin resources that you might like.

Seth’s blog

The Linchpin Sessions Audio

Andy Traub’s unofficial Linchpin podcast

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You’ve Got Your Diploma, Now What?

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In the last couple of weeks, high schools across America have graduated the class of 2012. As the tassels were moved to the right side of the cap, thoughts about “what next” drifted through the minds of graduates and their parents alike. In this article, I’ll look at five of the most common scenarios for each year’s graduating class and give some tips that you might not have thought of for each.

An interesting article came out a couple of weeks ago on MSN Careers about what happens after high school. According to the article, fully 68% of all 2011 high school graduates were in college as of October 2011. Among black, white, and Hispanic students, each category averaged between 66% and 67%. However, 86.7% of all Asian students were enrolled in college, speaking to the cultural importance of education among the Asian community. As I build out my list below, I’ll work from what I perceive as the most common scenario to the least common.

You’re going to college in the fall. You’ve been admitted and orientation is just around the corner. Some points of consideration for students in this category revolve around how to pay for college and how to get off to a good start. I recommend enrolling for classes as soon as possible and buying books and required materials in the most economical manner. School-based scholarship deadlines have passed but students should continue to seek other resources like private scholarships to lessen the financial burden for the fall. Begin to look for part-time work; according to the article mentioned above only 38.8% of those in college were working or looking for work.

Not going to college, working instead. There is no shame at all in going straight to the workplace. According to the same article mentioned above, 68.7% of those students who did not continue on to college held some type of job. If you are working at this age, it likely is not the dream job that you someday hope to hold. However, don’t let that deter you; be taking stock of your talents, skills, abilities, personality traits, dreams, and passions and be proactively moving towards a career that matches all of those. Check out these books, both on my Resources page: 48 Days To The Work You Love (for job hunters) or No More Dreaded Mondays (for budding entrepreneurs) both by Dan Miller.

Wanting to go to college but no solid plans. Maybe you didn’t perform as well as you would have liked in high school. Perhaps you were not admitted to your school of choice and gave up at the time, but now you’ve regrouped. Or, the money just isn’t there to go to your number one school. A great solution for those in this situation is to go to a local community college in the fall. The cost is much less than a four-year university and there are programs to ensure that your credits are accepted when you transfer. Please, whatever you do, don’t take out a student loan to cover any deficits. Read this article for reasons why.

Military. An excellent option, this one overlaps the working category. And if you have college plans, the Post 9/11 GI Bill is an AWESOME plan to go to school after you separate. While you are in the military, if you can choose a specialty that lines up with your talents, skills, abilities, personality traits, dreams, and passions, rather than simply taking the recommendation based on your ASVAB scores.

Service and volunteerism. The motivations and intrinsic rewards from service can be excellent, and everyone should be involved at some level in serving others. Especially since you’re giving your time away, choose something that you are passionate about and love doing. Be careful, though, not to hide behind your volunteer roles to avoid moving into the workplace and becoming independent. Reference the same books listed above to find work that fits you.

All in all, in whatever path you choose you are entering a new phase of life. College is certainly an excellent option but is by no means a guarantee of success, so if you aren’t starting in the fall then don’t let that discourage you. In fact, if you aren’t ready for college or don’t yet know what you want to do with your life, then exploring one of the other options will be much better than spending all that money to “find yourself.” Congratulations class of 2012 – go out and change the world!

Application Question – Are you or your new graduate accepting college without a plan? Have you considered the options listed above and the tips associated with each?

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selfserviceOne Not So Smart Way to Pay for College

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In an article reposted on MSN Money last week from Kiplinger, the authors did a good job discussing some of the various options available to pay for college. However, they mentioned student loans as one of their seven “smart” ways to pay for college. I respectfully disagree. There is nothing smart about student loans. Five reasons follow:

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Summer Activities For Your Child, Part 2

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In my last post I explored some of the more structured summer activities that are available for kids. Many of these are very time-intensive and require a level of commitment to participate, and others can cost quite a bit of money as well. As we wrap up this two-part series in today’s post, I’ll look at some activities and ideas that can be tailored to suit you and your child’s needs if you aren’t ready to commit to a formal program.

The local library has summer reading programs geared generally towards younger kids. These are also free and provide your child with some motivation to meeting the goals set out by the program. And it’s a great fallback to have when there’s rain. A way to bond with your child – you can participate along with your child and set a good example for them. Check out the post that I wrote last year on this topic.

Summer is also an excellent time to volunteer. Your teens in particular are probably building their resume for college applications and many of the activities listed above are always looking for volunteers. There are also community service projects and mission work opportunities that your child can participate in and do some good for others. Check out “Twelve Service Opportunities For Your Child” for the list that I compiled earlier this year.

For families who have the luxury of a stay-at-home mom (SAHM), you can get creative without breaking the bank. Run a mini neighborhood day camp with other SAHMs. Each home can take turns being host for the day and run different games and activities, giving the other moms a break for the day. Or explore your city with your child – attractions that are right in our own back yard are often the least visited by local residents. Many of these have free admission, so pick out two or three of these for a day and pack a picnic lunch.

Finally, it might be time for your child to work. You might cringe at the idea but the reality is that someday they need to learn what work is all about. Summer is an excellent time to introduce work without interfering with school. I named off a couple dozen work ideas in “Twenty-Six Jobs for Teens” back in February. And the best paying job for older teens just might be in the scholarship search process, discussed in this post.

However you decide to handle summer activities, be intentional about it. Without a plan, you’re likely to spend more money on a last-minute activity that isn’t exactly what you had in mind for your child. And remember, kids need time to be kids. Part of their growth and maturation process is in unstructured play and free time where they have to be creative in how they spend that time.

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Dad, I Need Some Money – Allowances, Work and Your Child

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Kids need to understand that work is how money is earned. Allowances are a common theme in childhood but they may send the wrong message. The biggest problem – when they come without work or chores attached.

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IQ Doesn’t Matter

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That’s a strong statement – IQ, or Intelligence Quotient, doesn’t matter. But we all know people who are brilliant, maybe even absolute geniuses, who don’t have enough common sense to come in out of the rain. This post will look at several questions, including:

  • Does education improve your IQ?
  • Does your IQ level equate to success?
  • Can a high IQ be a distraction?
  • If IQ is not important, what does matter instead?

First of all, can education improve your IQ? Absolutely. This doesn’t necessarily mean formal education in school, but a general exposure to educational topics and exercises will improve your cognitive ability. On a typical IQ test there are several questions related to math, words and reading, logic, and reasoning. By being exposed to a variety of problems, reading, challenging your mind, and so forth, your brain gets a workout. Just like your muscles, the more your brain is put to the test the better it will perform.

Does your IQ level equate to success? This is a tricky one – success has many different connotations. Let’s say that success means a good job with a good income. In these terms, IQ is no indicator or predictor of success at work. What about success in the classroom? Those with a higher IQ have better tools to succeed in the classroom, but just like the raw talent that any person might have in another area of their life that talent has to be put to use. In The Millionaire Mind, author Tom Stanley writes that test scores and IQ have very little to do with financial success.

Can a high IQ be a handicap or a distraction? That depends on the person possessing the high IQ. If a person decides that they don’t need to do the hard work or that they understand because their IQ is that much higher than others, they may find themselves quickly falling behind in school or at work. IQ is a test of general intellect, not of a specific subject matter. One with a high IQ may also be less open to solutions or possibilities other than ones that they have formulated simply because they feel that they have a superior intellect. So, a person with a high IQ might have interpersonal issues that they have to deal with which impedes their success at work, in school, and in relationships.

Which leads me to my final question – if IQ is not important, what matters instead? It is a factor known as Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Quotient, or EQ. Quite simply put, EQ is a measure of a person’s ability to relate with others, with themselves, and with the world around them. Components such as relationship and social awareness, adaptability and stress management, overall mood, and general awareness of one’s own feelings are essential to EQ.

In an upcoming post I’ll take a look at a classic book that describes ways you can improve your EQ. In the meantime, please chime in with your thoughts on IQ and EQ. Which one do you possess more of and where do you struggle? How does either impact your work or personal life? What are you doing to improve where you have challenges?

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Parents struggling to save for college – now there’s a news flash

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You know, some things are just obvious. I doubt that we needed a study to tell us that parents are struggling to save for college. But, apparently someone had money to conduct a study so here goes. According to a study commissioned by Allianz Life of North America (who sells life insurance and annuities), one in four Americans have reduced or stopped their college savings plan. The article goes on to make recommendations on how to alleviate the pressures of saving for college. If you’d like to read the full article, you can find it here.

Let’s take a look at this. The article starts out with the presupposition that this situation is the economy’s fault. However, parents have always struggled to save and pay for college. The fact that the economy has been lackluster for the past three years is simply a coincidence. Honestly, each and every family has their own individualized micro-economy. While someone in the home next door may be out of work, their situation has little to do with what happens in your home. If 25% of Americans are slowing their savings rate, and 44% are not saving at all, that just doesn’t equate to a 9% unemployment rate and an inflation rate hovering around 3%.

I believe that the big reason that parents struggle is the debt load from other purchases that they’ve made. The average American household with credit card debt carries a balance of $15,799 as of May 2011, averaging 15% per year. That means that these households average paying over $2,300 per year in credit card interest alone. The average outstanding  balance on automobile loans is $12,902 and the interest rate averages 5% per year on a five-year loan, meaning that another $600 per year in interest is paid on vehicles. Another reason that parents struggle is that they are unwilling to sacrifice lifestyle. A family of four who eats out three times a week can spend $400 per month on eating out. If they reduce that time to once per week and buy additional groceries to eat at home, they could save an additional $200 per month or $2,400 per year. Those dollars spent on interest and lifestyle could be put towards college savings.

The recommendations that are outlined in the article make the assumption that the student has no obligation to pay for their college. I believe a student can actually put themselves through college, shocking as that may be. Even with no college savings, through careful college selection and an intentional work schedule, a student can still manage to pay for college without the assistance of savings or student loans. It won’t be Harvard, but unless you’re a doctor or lawyer then the school name behind your diploma doesn’t matter.

Parents always have struggled to save for college, and the vast majority always will. There are alternatives to those pointed out in the article and even in my blog post. The question is what will you do about it? If you plan to save at all for college, the most important thing is to create your plan and start as soon as possible.

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Depth or breadth?

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When looking to round out an admission or scholarship resume, one of the categories that comes up is involvement in activities.  Is it better to go wide and be involved in as many activities as possible, or go deep and be heavily involved in a few choice activities?  While it might look more impressive to list as many activities as possible, sometimes too much is, well, just too much.

As you can imagine some of those activities really don’t add much clout to your resume.  Instead, they just take up room on the which, at some point, leaves the reader a little weary. Many of the clubs, activities, and organizations that you might list are really open for membership to anyone who wants to join or who is willing to pay money to join.  The more of those that are on your application or resume, the more clutter you have added.  Those don’t add meaning or depth to your credentials.  Instead, they just tell the reader that you were very busy.

Volunteer activities are always good to list on your resume or application.  Committees love to see applicants who serve others without expectation of compensation or benefit.  The longer that you’re involved in the volunteer organization, the better.  If you held any leadership positions or coordinated any volunteer activities, be sure to highlight those.  Paid work experiences can be good; they indicate an ability to handle work alongside of school.  If you’ve done any entrepreneurial activities, those are excellent for describing your initiative, work ethic, and creativity.

If you’re an academic type, do you think it helps to list every math team meet, scholar’s bowl competition, or science olympiad?  My recommendation on these types of activities is to only list those where you were a winner or runner-up of an event; I don’t think it really helps to list all of those fifth and sixth place finishes.  If you were a team captain, then that should be stated as well.  This gives the reader some indication as to previous leadership responsibilities that you might have held.

For all the clubs and organizations that you were in, the vast majority of those are simply filler on a resume or application.  Band, sports, and other mass-participation activities don’t really add value unless you are applying for a talent-based scholarship related to that activity.  If you were an officer in one of these organizations, be sure to include that for the leadership points.  If the organization is one of the honor societies, then those are also good to put on the form.  Religious affiliation and activities may not be of value on the application unless they support the other items (likely leadership or volunteerism) that are on your form, or unless the application is for a religion-based school or scholarship.

The key is that you be prepared to tell the story behind the information that you include.  You may be called upon to submit an essay or sit for an interview so be sure that your application backs your story.  It’s my opinion that scholarship and selection committees are looking for substance over quantity, so choose depth.  They want students who are committed to a cause, show passion for that cause by their activity and involvement, and have been profoundly impacted through their activities.  The more that your application reflects the person you are, the easier it will be to tell your story.

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Why are Japanese students so smart?

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When we think of where the best students come from, we often think of Japanese students.  If we take a look at Japanese education, there are some things we can pick up on that might give our children an advantage in school.  Here are a few observations:

  • Japanese educational structure very closely follows the American system.  There are six years of elementary education, three years of junior high, and three years of high school.  However, entrance into high schools is competitive and is based on examination, interviews, and so forth, much like college.
  • Japan enjoys 100% literacy because of their emphasis on elementary education, and over 90% of children graduate from high school.
  • Japan does not segment classes based on ability or aptitude.  The only exceptions to this are schools that cater to those with disabilities (blind, deaf, or major mental handicap). 
  • Children are promoted each year, almost without exception.  Those who struggle are given extra attention and instruction.
  • Japanese students are taught a life curriculum in addition to the academic subjects.  They learn morals and instruction on how to interact properly with society and the environment around them.  Principles like manners, politeness, and respect for adults are all taught in the classroom.
  • Japanese students work in groups and are largely self-directed in terms of discipline and responsibility.  Student leaders organize groups to maintain appearance and cleanliness of the school, instilling a pride in ownership. 
  • The assumption is made that all children have equal potential to learn academically and to develop good habits.  Differences in achievement and progress are attributed to level of effort and self-discipline.

Our American classrooms, in general, fall short in teaching and developing some of these habits.  So, what things can we do as parents to approximate this experience?  Here’s what I see:

  1. Work to teach your children good habits.  Organizational skills, study skills, self-discipline and attention to detail can all be taught through example and appropriate positive reinforcement.
  2. Expect them to excel.  Don’t make excuses or concessions for them.
  3. Teach and expect manners, respect, and politeness.  Model these in your own behaviors.
  4. Teach and adhere to your moral principles.  It’s hard to expect something of a child that you’re not willing to conform to yourself.
  5. Continually talk about the importance of school.  Be involved in your child’s education.
  6. Give them the help that they need when they are struggling.  Help them focus on the behaviors and activities that will help them succeed.
  7. Teach them about work.  Give them chores and accountabilities in the home.  Show them the value in accomplishment and completion of a task.

All of this comes back to the parents playing a key role in the education of their child.  Children are a huge responsibility, no doubt about it.  If you’ll teach these things to your child, then you are preparing them for life regardless of their level of success in the classroom.  It’s never too late – start today!

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Does school serve it’s students well?

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Seth Godin published a masterful post on Monday entitled “Back to (the wrong) school” where he discusses the history of formal education and how it evolved in the United States.  His premise is that the educational system is broke for the needs of today.  Whereas almost 100 years ago it served the purpose of equipping factories with compliant workers to address the challenges of rapid expansion in the Industrial Age, today’s educational system has not done much to keep up with the trends of the Information Age.  Seth talks about schools creating compliant, rule-following individuals trained to solve the same problems that have existed for years in all the same ways.  This worked to improve productivity in factories across the United States and led to a breakaway for the US in terms of becoming the world’s dominant economic superpower. 

With the maturing of the Information Age, there are a whole new generation of problems (known and unknown) yet to be solved.  We know a lot more today about things like personality types, learning styles, and what school administrators like to call “behavioral disorders”.  With a broadband Internet connection and a $200 computer, more information resides at our fingertips for instant reference than ever before.  The ability to connect, collaborate, create commerce and problem-solve with people all over the world at any time of day or night is a reality in the majority of homes in North America.  How has the educational system kept up with these advances?  What inventions are never created, what art is extinguished before it ever comes to the surface and what problems are never solved because we continue to teach children using antiquated principles? 

It’s time for an educational revolution, and that should start in the home.  Because our kids are individuals, we should do everything we can to embrace their individuality and we should require the same of our schools.  We should no longer tolerate that the only way to success is through the following formula:

 12 (years of school) +4 (years of college) +30 (years at work) = success?

[you'll find a discussion about this in Dale Callahan's book Resumes are Worthless]

That train of thought needs to be eliminated from our schools and replaced with something that addresses the changes in how real work, work that matters, gets accomplished.

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