Short useful messages from Respect Yourself, the guidance site for young people to help make good decisions in life.
Wasting time can be addictive; the more you do it, the more excuses you find to keep doing it. Being able to resist short-term pleasure creates time for you to work towards long-term goals.
You are the sum total of your life experiences so far – so you don’t need to relive negative past experiences or carry them around with you any more. Take the lesson from each one, and learn to release it from your thoughts.
Practising something over and over improves your skill at it in both your body and your mind. It can be applied to anything – playing music, an important speech, sports technique, creative writing, cooking, Geography homework or anything for an exam.
Take your sat nav with you out of the car and take the mount off the windscreen. Thieves also look for the suction mark on the windscreen where they attach, so ensure you clean it.
Everyone knows people who seem to be naturally good at everything. Instead of being jealous or envious of them, learn from them. Ask if they can help you learn to do something the way they would do it, and practice until you accomplish it.
The earlier you do homework or chores, the sooner they are complete. This allows you to use the remainder of your free time for relaxing or other activities without running out of time before the deadline.
Micromanaging someone – managing their every thought and move – denies them of the opportunity to learn from the experience themselves and become self-sufficient at the task.
Knowing someone else’s personal motivation for wanting to do something allows you to work towards a win-win situation if you can match it to yours.
If you feel you are not performing well at work, find out how you can do it better. Ask for help and support. This also shows your boss that you want to do well.
Sometimes we try to criticise others just to make ourselves look or feel better. Taking someone else down for your benefit is destructive, and makes an enemy when you could be making a friend.