How do you raise a smart child?

Meet new people and develop life-long friendships. Likely the and most importantly, meeting new and exciting people and establishing life-long friendships are specific life goals well worth striving for, and learning another language is a sure way to speed that process. Plus, learning a language is FUN!

Improve your employability. We live in a global world, and companies are constantly expanding overseas and dealing with clients from all over the world. Examine two candidates with similar skillset and experience. The bilingual person is arguably much more likely to get the job.

Impress people around you. Learning a foreign language and talking with the locals in their native tongue is bound to impress friends, acquaintances, and more than a few people around you. You will likely get plenty of compliments on your unique skill, and a few curious glances from passersby here and there.

Of course, impressing friends should not be the reason why you choose to learn a new language, but it’s a nice benefit!

Everybody has good reasons for learning a language. But by now, I hope you’re inspired to give it a try.

2. Talk to them from day one

You must always talk to your children about their likes. Passions, desires, and dreams. Children are a lot smarter than we give them credit. They may lack wisdom and experience, but they have an uncanny ability to solve problems and provide simple solutions to complex problems. I find the more I talk to my children, the more open I become, realizing  I could take time to learn from the. When you validate your child by talking with them, you encourage their intelligence and unique skills. This does not mean you do not discipline your child or correct them, but only that you talk and establish credibility with them. Doing so will allow your words to carry more weight.

3. Provide books and learning resources

A gifted child must always have resources such as books to delve in to. Their minds want to learn and desire for more information. You must give your child the resources to nurture this willingness to learn new things.

5. Praise effort, the consistency as well as results

Always praise and encourage effort and commitment to their tasks. The results will come if the proper energy and commitment to excellence are the method of operation.

6. Set expectations

Try to set expectations, while it is good to allow freedom of expression and individual thinking. Encourage completion of tasks and meeting the requirements.

7. Encourage Fitness

A healthy body will allow you to benefit from a powerful mind. To run this race of life, we must be mentally healthy, physically fit, and have a stable belief system that does not allow us to be uprooted and tossed at anytime time. Implementing a robust physical fitness routine will teach discipline and encourage a well-rounded life.

8. Seek out qualified teachers and wise counsel with experience and intuitive teaching skills

Think experience, wisdom over academic credentials. I am not minimizing academic credentials. Be we in the United States have placed too much emphasis on degrees and not on doing real-world work. If you desire to learn a unique skill, take on a new role, or move to a different company organization, it is wise to look around for someone who has already done it. Then simply watch what they do and copy it. Find what works for you and modify it to your abilities and style. Often success is found in the details, and a good mentor can reveal information or keys to success that you never considered.

7 Ways a mentor can help you:

1. Wise counsel is willing to share their wisdom, knowledge, skills, and expertise.
2. Good mentors will stay positive.  They can help you through tough times.
3. Great mentors are concerned about you and your career success. In addition, to be knowledgeable, they are empathetic.
4. Good mentors have a track record of success and are usually skilled in many areas.
5. Good mentors are usually are organized and disciplined. They also work on themselves and find it easy to be curious and inquisitive about others, which allows them to be very helpful in solving problems.
6. They will be clear and concise in giving direction and feedback.
7. Mentors will value the opinions of others.

Mentorship – How to find a mentor

Do you want to find a wise counselor? Just look around your circle of influence. Who are the people you look up too, admire and want to learn from? Watch what they do, they say, their daily activities and do the same. I’ve had several counselors who never even realized they were teaching me. I’ve also used books as my mentor. A mentor can be found anywhere, but it is best to seek out a career mentor that you can meet with one on one. You can ask a friend to refer someone to you or email someone you desire to learn from.

Seeking wise counsel should be a positive experience.

Any teaching and counseling relationship needs to focus on the person being counseled. Wise counsel should be a positive experience for both parties. That means you need to avoid situations that make you feel incompetent. Your mentor should look at you as part of his/her legacy and cherish your growing process. Criticism is good when it is honest, supportive, and points you in the right direction. But criticism that tears you down will hurt the relationship and usually limit the honest communication that is needed for maximum growth.

9. Implement some for of Homeschooling

You must always get involved with your child’s learning development cycle. I am a product of private and public school instruction. A gifted young child is different in many ways than their classmates. Often it is hard for school districts to identify or nurture a gifted child because schools are looking for test scores and not unique skills that set children apart from their peers.

When parents get involved, they can better assess their children’s skills and talents; thus creating an environment that can help nurture and development these talents. Public schools are still useful, but parents must implement some form of homeschooling curriculum to support their children. We cannot rely just on schools to develop our children as we have seen countless situations where they have failed. Furthermore, given the current state of America, Homeschooling may seem like a better option for parents with gifted children.

10. All learning should be ungirded with a spiritual foundation

Definition of Souletics: noun \ soul – athletic\

Souletics is the combining of two words soul and athletic. Souletics has the mind, body, and soul in harmony. It is the consistent acknowledgment and active work feeding those three parts of humanity.

The word “soul” is defined as the spiritual part of a person that gives life to the body and is the part of the existence that has internal life. It is the immaterial essence and the actual cause of an individual life.

True Athlete Performance: The word “athletic” is defined as strong and well-developed, adaptable, fit, and all body parts moving in conjunction. Very well rounded.

Bringing these two words together, now Souletics means to move from the eternal essence of your humanity, having the ability to adapt, bend, and withstand your circumstances without breaking.

Souletics is in harmony with your environment, your body, your mind, and your soul. Souletics is being developed, fit, and equipped with the internal makeup to create the life you want. Souletic individuals move from the soul. They’re adaptable, flexible, focused.  That living souletically include surfers, rock climbers, activist, soul savers, basketball players, football athletes, parkour practitioners, break-dancers, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters… those who create the world from the inside (heart) out!

Are you living souletically?

11.  Spend time outdoors

If not, carve out fifteen minutes of your day and learn how a nature walk could benefit you and your child. Being outdoors is a natural high Generations of brilliant minds, leaders, athletes, and authors have documented the benefits of spending time outdoors in nature. Nature has played a critical role in the pursuit of happiness and personal success and prosperity.

Purpose Being in nature also provides a feeling of grounding, connection, and purpose with the world, even when we are in the middle of chaos. Right now, we are facing COVID-19, racism, deconstruction fo law enforcement, yet we still must find a sense of purpose while in the middle of chaos.

Stress Reduction More than 100 studies have proved that outdoor recreation reduces stress. By witnessing the ever-changing environments in nature, individuals find renewed attention, mindfulness, and sensory awareness.

Physical Activity Outdoor settings foster for activity rather than a sedentary lifestyle, which is in direct opposition to health and wellness.  Research suggests outdoor exercise has an even more beneficial effect than indoor use.

A Nature-Deprived Youth Culture American children have been deprived of quality playtime outdoors and, as a result, are overweight, less physically competent.  The great outdoors stimulate children’s imaginations and creativity, and playing outdoors enhances cognitive flexibility, problem-solving ability, and self-discipline. From my experience with my two-year-old, she can have one of her “freak out” tantrums, but if I take her outside in nature, she calms down and completely changes her mood. She becomes happy and joyful.  It works… try it! Get Your Swagger Back!

 12. Teach organization

Given that most of us need to work, It’s important that we organize our day around your body’s natural rhythms. Tackle complex tasks when your energy’s at its highest level. For many, this may mean first thing in the morning, after you’ve rested and eaten. Save less critical tasks that use less energy for periods when you’re energy dips. Bust most importantly, you need to have methods to maximize your workday so you can get the most out of your career.

Be More Productive at Work –  Here are five ways to make your work time more efficient and productive.

1. Prioritize tasks based on importance and timetables.  Tasks that are due sooner than later should be done first with tasks that are lower in importance done later.

2. Establish healthy routines.  Take regular 5- or 10-minute breaks to get up and move around.  Eat a healthy lunch – maybe even at your desk so you can use your lunch break for a workout or nature walk.

3. Avoid multi-tasking.  Instead, try to finish once task at a time…Devoting yourself to one thing and completing it will most likely lead to higher quality work and more efficient use of time.

4. Try listening to music. Listening to music removes you from office gossip, chatter and can allow you to ease through the day, quite possibly finding what some athletes refer to as the “zone.”

5. Work evaluation.  Truly evaluate what type of work you’re doing and how it’s being done. This assessment may foster a better way of doing things that not only impacts you but your office and the entire organization.

 13. Learn how to overcome rejection

Rejection is a powerful force and often the root of any number of emotional hindrances, especially in the context of relationships.  Fear of rejection can cause people to behave in guarded and detached manners, inhibiting their ability to ever get close to someone or enjoy the fullness of a healthy relationship.

With more people living their lives online, the opportunity for rejection has increased substantially while also creating an imaginary haven against it. Before social media, we were limited to the number of people you could come across during the day. And most often, those people you came in contact with were people you had some typeface to face of relationship with. With the internet craze, Twitter mania, YouTube videos, Facebook requests & denials, Instagram, Pinterest, Google + and so and so on, people now have the ability to forge relationships from the safety of their own homes and on their terms, creating their own “safeguards” against rejection.

 

Yet the threat of rejection is still alive and well, and while online interaction can create a false sense of security, often the subtle actions or inactions of the online community can stir up and magnify those old feelings and fears.

The daily interaction with people can be exponential, while this can be good for business. The personal effect is still questionable; many people are now internalizing Facebook friends, youtube likes, and comments. They internalize the social media interactions so much that they determine their value through people that don’t really know them – or more realistically, they only know the facade they have posted through photos and posts crafted to display the life they want to display. The world we live in is quick to criticize, quick to judge, and fast to reject whatever doesn’t line up with their pop culture-induced expectations.

Nevertheless, rejection can be stinging, to say the least, and depressing when it happens repeatedly. Whether you’re a social media connoisseur or a regular guy, here are some clear steps to deal with and thrive in the face of rejection.

1. Rejection is part of life. Remember that some of the greatest men and women on earth faced tremendous rejection and criticism. Think of the hate and rejection of Martin Luther King Jr or Nelson Mandela. Sometimes your rejection may have less to do with you and more to do with the other person. Sometimes people reject what’s good for them, if everyone ate well, exercised, and lived a more conscious life, America would have less disease and depression.  But sometimes we reject what’s right. The mainstream has rejected many prophets, spiritual leaders, and wise people.  We shouldn’t take it so hard when they reject us, too.
2. Don’t take it personally; many times, people reject what they don’t know or understand. Maybe the circumstances have not been ideal for fostering a relationship that would merit more acceptance. Stay on the path of your goals, of self-respect, love for yourself, and eventually; the RIGHT people will not only accept you but roll out the red carpet for you.
3. Don’t let your imagination do the driving. After a rejection, it’s easy to allow the imagination to wonder as to why what or if certain things had happened. But unless you have psychic abilities, listening to your imagination will not serve you in this instance. People are people, imperfect, complex, and unpredictable at times. If you ever had a conversation about why someone did something, you will realize many times what seems like a quick one-line reason can be traced to things much deeper and complex than you can imagine. Allow people the space to make their choices.