Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

Help Your Child Discover
I’m going to completely contradict myself today, so hang on. In a previous post I stressed the importance of 10,000 hours of practice in order to achieve mastery in a given field, implying that if you are a student that wants to succeed in a particular arena, or if you are a parent wanting to help your child become successful, devote most of your time to a single effort.

Is a singular focus in the teen years the right thing? Does this set a child up for career success? I’m beginning to think not.

A singular focus in one thing may not be helpful in helping our children master life. Maybe a better alternative is to expose our children (and ourselves) to a wide variety of things, so that we can actually discover what we want to actually devote 10,000 hours of practice towards.

Here are some reasons why:
- Exposure to variety of things naturally sets us up to fail. We can’t to be good at everything, and time and time again research shows that we learn more from failure than success.
- Exposure to a variety of things naturally exposes us to a variety of people, which helps us grow as individuals and as contributors to society. There is lots of value in realizing not everyone has the same skills, background, socioeconomic status, etc, and the younger we learn this, the better we are able to interact with others in a way that reflects a desire to build relationships with others.
- Exposure to a variety of things gives us to opportunity to find out what we do like. I wish I had a dollar for every time I got the response “I don’t know” when I asking a student who has come in for career and college coaching what they like to do, and if they do give a response it is something like “playing video games” or “cheerleading” that isn’t going to be a lasting skill for their lives.
Maybe we need to become masters of discovery by practicing life and all its variety at an early age. Maybe this focus will help us truly get to the business of practicing a craft in a way that leads us down a path that takes us beyond work and into self-fulfillment because we truly know ourselves, and we’ve learned from the best teacher: experience.

How have you helped your child discover him or herself
January 9, 2014
A New Take On Time Management

I’ve been asked by a friend to write a post on time management. It seems fitting at the beginning of each year to look at how we manage our time and “resolve” to manage it more appropriately as we begin anew.

But other than this one tidbit of time management advice, I’m not going to write today about time management: How you spend your time should be based on your purpose, and your purpose should be captured in a mission statement to govern how you spend your time.

Instead, in considering time management, I think it is worth reflecting on this quote from Raising Self- Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World by H. Stephen Glenn and Jane Nelsen:

“Studies of successful, healthy people show that they are consistently good finders who see lemonade in lemons and glasses that are half full rather than half empty. Incidentally, such people, who are quick to celebrate any little movement in the right direction, have very few problems with burnout and stress. People who look at what they failed to accomplish during the day, not what they did accomplish, and who go to bed and burn themselves out in stress tend to invalidate themselves and others. We need to be encouraging to ourselves as well as our children, and celebrate our own incremental successes as we go through life.”

So if you want to manage your time wisely, my advice this year: Celebrate your successes, your “little movements in the right direction” and try to do more of it one day at a time. Don’t beat yourself up when you haven’t checked everything off today’s to-do list. Move what hasn’t been accomplished to tomorrow, and go to bed knowing that you did get something accomplished today. My hope is that you celebrate the accomplishments of each day and purposely connect them to something that connects to your personal purpose.

What is the best advice you have received on how to manage your time?

Want some more traditional reading on time management? Here are some recommendations:

Books: Ready Covey: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, First Things First

Blogs: Joseph Lalonde’s How to Improve Your Time Management Skills (the comments on this post are also good reads)

January 6, 2014
College Prep Checklist

Have no clue what to do when to prepare for college admissions? You’re not alone. Recently, two parents and their high school senior were in our office seeking our assistance in vetting different college programs. They were shocked to hear that most admission deadlines in order to be considered for scholarships were less than two weeks away. In addition, they had already missed a few early acceptance application process deadlines to schools that were at the top of their list.

Preparation for college can be a daunting process, with many students and their parents caught at the last minute with so much to do and so little time to do it or overwhelmed with all there is to do and how early the process really should start.

We’ve taken dozens of college preparation checklists and compiled them into one list by grade. We hope that this will help you navigate what to do when as you prepare for and make decisions about college.

Horizon Point College Prep Checklist

January 2, 2014
2013 Year In Review

This year, I made my professional and personal goals public in order to demonstrate one effective characteristic of goal setting- going public with them.

So, did going public help? Here’s how this year shook out:

Goal 1. Maximize productivity in the morning.

Result: Accomplished, but room for improvement. I didn’t get up as early as I had planned, and I really owe more credit to this happening to my running accountability partner and my early-bird three year old than I do myself. But, mornings have gone a lot smoother this year.

Goal 2. Grow company revenue by 30% or more in 2013.

Result: Accomplished. Revenue growth was 58% (gross profit), Net Income growth was 38%. We have been so humbled this year by the trust our clients have put in us, and the exciting and fun work we are getting to do!

Goal 3: Cook dinner and sit down as a family to eat at least four times a week.

Result: A complete flop. One, I didn’t track it, so I couldn’t tell you how many times we did or didn’t do it specifically, and two, I know we didn’t come close to doing this. We sat in front of the TV with crap food more than I would like to admit.

Goal 4: Be committed (as I have been the last two years) to one day a week at home with my little boy.

Result: Almost, but not perfect. Stuck to this for the month of September where so many things hit at once work wise. He went to school three of the four Thursdays in September.

Goal 5: Express gratitude to those closest to me.

Result: Accomplished in the sense that I tracked it this year and was more conscious of how I express appreciation to others, particularly those that interact with daily. On average, I sent one handwritten note to a person each week.

Goal 6: No debt except our house by the end of the year.

Result: Accomplished! Accomplishing goal #2 made this happen.

Goal 7: Read 30 books.

Result: Accomplished (just barely). Read 30. See Year End Book Review.

Other year-end review notes:

Our top blog post of 2013: With almost 25,000 hits: 2 Questions for Striving Servant Leaders

December 31, 2013
Horizon Point Holiday!

At Horizon Point, we work to instill hope by creating passion and productivity in the workplace. This holiday season, we wish you all the joy and hope that this time of year can bring.

Card design by Kayla Riggs. To view her work or order products, email her at KRiggs06207@gmail.com or visit:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dibble-Dabble-Designs/247841588572483?ref=hl

Thanks!

December 24, 2013