There are four big lies out there that are like crashing waves, and your teen might feel like they are drowning.
The American economy has changed radically over the past few decades with globalization and the move from a manufacturing economy to a services economy.
Unsurprisingly, the American workforce has had to change radically to keep up with current trends. As a result, how a person chooses their work has also changed.
It used to be that you were likely to take a job in your hometown if you weren’t bound for a university and degree for bigger and better things. That meant working in the town mills, factories, and industries that your parents, and perhaps grandparents, also worked in when they came of age.
Now, with most American manufacturing taking place overseas, those mill and factory towns no longer provide those opportunities. Add to that the assumption that only good work comes from a college degree and that the high price of an education is worth the long-term gains in annual income.
So now American students are told several lies.
Lie 1: You can be anything you want to be.
Lie 2: You have limitless choice.
Lie 3: All the problems created by your parents and grandparents must be taken care of by your generation, or the entire human race will suffer cataclysmic events.
Lie 4: You must have a positive, global impact to matter.
These lies have led, in part, to a mental health crisis for students that don’t know where to start with making these weighty decisions of choosing a college, a degree, and a follow-on career.
They are anxious and depressed about the future. And their parents are fairing much better, because they find themselves in jobs that they don’t enjoy and don’t use their natural strengths and talents.
Fortunately, I have four big truths to counter the lies!
Truth 1: You possess unique strengths and talents that will make you amazing at some, not all, work.
Truth 2: You must understand your strengths to narrow the number of options available to you for education and future work.
Truth 3: You are not responsible for the problems created by your ancestors – but you can find work to help make the world a better place.
Truth 4: You must work in a way that has a positive impact on those in your sphere of influence. Strive to be a good person, community member, and citizen.
By limiting choice, you provide the student with a narrowly defined set of options that work to their unique strengths.
Then the anxiety goes away because they feel empowered.
Are you ready to inspire your student?
Of course, you are!
But how do you, the parent, teach these skills to your child if you don’t have these tools at your disposal?
You find someone that does.
I went through my own life-changing transition moment when I retired from the military and was told a lie – I can be anything I want to be with my 22 years of leadership experience and program management skills.
Just because I could be anything I wanted to be didn’t mean I knew how to choose what that future career looked like.
Until I found life design tools and ways to discover my strengths and talents that helped me to narrow the list of possible careers and future.
That is how I found coaching and how I designed a life that allows me to help others on a similar journey of discovery and life design.
I help your student create a compass that is right for them.
I help them chart a course that will avoid shallow water and rocks.
I can help them reach their destination (education/career) with greater ease and more joy and fulfillment when they do work that uses their strengths – giving them energy throughout the day.
You are ready to help them win at life and succeed!
You are ready to help them navigate life and reach their destination!
Schedule a Discovery Call with me right now.
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