Teen Help Wanted! Save part of your energy for your family.

Your energy is a resource similar to your time. It is limited and needs to be used wisely. Do not overlook the importance of expending your energy on a few things that benefit your family. Here’s an important point: Being younger, you are likely to have more energy to spare than your parents. And quite likely, you can do many things quicker and easier than your parents. And you may even be stronger in some cases.

Here’s the main point. Your help is needed. That includes your time, your energy, and your expertise about certain things; i.e., tech items, computers, etc. And providing these resources to your family when needed would likely be greatly appreciated.

Here is a tip to help you become skilled at utilizing your energy: Practice getting more efficient at completing certain tasks. Take cleaning and straightening your room as an example. First, organize your stuff in a manner that you can quickly return things to their proper place. Then, as part of your daily routine, practice tidying up your space in five minutes or less. It can be done without sacrificing neatness. It’s that simple. Within a few minutes, you can hustle and have your space looking great.  And you do not have to sacrifice much time or energy to do it well. (Obviously, it does not help if your race to clean your room leaves a new mess behind).

Learning to be effective is another important tactic that deserves your attention. It is critical to be both effective and efficient. Here’s the key difference. You are effective when you choose to do your most important tasks first, before less important ones. In simple terms, effective means you are doing the right job; whereas efficient means you are doing the job right. For example, if studying for a test is a high priority, but instead you play a game on your computer, you would not be tackling your most important task first. That would be considered an ineffective use of your energy and your time. Note that even if you could finish the game faster than before (more efficiently), you would still not be effective in the sense of completing the right job.  Successful people are usually good at being both effective and efficient.  That is, they choose to do the most important jobs first and get better at completing the work to be done.

There are times when it may be better to delay an important task until after a less strenuous one. For example, you may be able to focus better on schoolwork after supper rather than right after school. In that case, it might be helpful to complete tasks requiring less strain before supper to allow you to better focus after you eat.

Use common sense and be aware of your energy level and how it affects your performance. The goal is to make sure to save enough energy to meet the demands of important tasks. If you have to study for a test, do not spend all of your energy on a less essential activity. Try to adjust your timing to match your priorities and the effort that will be required to successfully complete them. Think of a professional athlete. Spending all of their energy before a basketball game would likely lead to a poor performance. The same applies to your daily priorities.

For further ideas, blogs, and tactics, check the information available at our website: hightouchlearning.com.