Act When You are Ready

How Ready are You to Manage Your Journey?

Which Group are You in?

You may or may not be ready to really take on the challenge of managing your teen journey. And at some times, you may be ready to focus on managing your experience and other times you may be tired or distracted or just not motivated.

There is no single “right way” to be a teenager and to manage your experience.

Although the heroic journey is the common path for teenagers, everyone’s journey unfolds in a unique way.

There are no “shoulds “

There is no guilt if you are not ready to fully engage with these six strategies for managing your experience. Everyone develops at their own pace.

However – life won’t wait

It’s important to at least be curious about what’s here and what you might do. You don’t need to be fully committed right now, but you do need to be engaged at some level.

This “what to do about it” section provides a way to integrate all of the thoughts you have captured throughout the site in a way that can dramatically increase the influence you have over your experience. The six strategies are surprisingly powerful in helping to become the author of your life. Start using them when you are ready.

“You are the author of your life. Write with bold strokes and bright colors, and add only those characters who make it better. You can’t erase mistakes, so let them go and just keep writing.” Unknown

Whichever Group You Find Yourself In – Follow the Actions for that Group

Group #1 – “Look out world, here I come.”

You are ready to go full speed – ready to go solo or in a group – ready to go after one or all three of the core challenges and develop your strategies to manage your journey. A surprising number of people will fall into this group, but it will definitely be a minority – mostly older teenagers that are starting to feel more powerful.

This is the warrior approach – being fully committed. Warriors of any kind go all in with excitement without any guarantee of immediate success. It’s the full commitment, sense of purpose and adventure that matter

Actions

Work through this section to create your vision, heroic code and plan.
Develop a support network and pay attention to the mastery process (“learning to love the plateau”).
Find another person (peer or trusted adult) to work with – or a group.

“To embark on the journey toward your goals and dreams requires bravery. To remain on that path requires courage. The bridge that merges the two is commitment.” Dr. Steve Maraboli

Group #2 – “Pretty much ready to go, but not quite ready to go full speed”

You may be ready to focus on one of the core challenges or the nature of the journey. You may be curious and ready to experiment, but not ready to be really disciplined in working with the six strategies. Most people will fall into this category – and that’s fine.

Actions

Explore the different sections in the site and see what strikes your interest.
Try creating a simple vision, code or plan and see what a support network might look like.
Act where your interest lies and see what starts to unfold.
Talking with others or engaging with a group can help a great deal.

“Have a bias toward action – let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.” Indira Gandhi

Group #3 – “On the sidelines”

You are finding topics of interest on the site, but not ready to start pulling things together and acting in an organized way. But, you might engage if in a strong relationship with someone that is already engaged or in a group that is going forth together. This is a category that a lot of people fall into, particularly younger teenagers. Even on the sidelines a lot can be going on that prepares you to engage more actively. This is kind of a “preparing to go forth” group.

Actions

Just be curious and poke around to see what might be of interest and see where it leads you – trust that you will act when you are ready – just stay engaged in exploring your journey.
At some point, someone or some experience will probably come along and cause you to think, “OK, time get more serious about this stuff.” Be ready to say “yes” to that opportunity.

“I have no special talents. I am just passionately curious.” Albert Einstein

“Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity.” Unknown

4. “Not going to engage”

You are blaming others or “life” for your problems. You are letting life happen to you. You are reacting to what happens vs. making things happen.

Almost everyone will have some of this experience, but most people move beyond them. Those that don’t are in trouble – and so are the people around them. Sometimes an event will help people get out of this rut and sometimes someone will intervene, but some people never get out

Being in this group is not a failure. Staying in this group for too long will be.

Actions

Use the site even if you don’t feel like it. Sometimes you just have to act even if you don’t see the point.
If you run into someone willing to help you, accept the help.
If you can join a group that is taking on the journey – do it because the group can supply the energy you may not feel.
If you get into trouble or are victimized in some way, use the site to help turn things around for you.

“Don’t compare yourself to others. There’s no comparison between the sun and the moon. They shine when it’s their time.” Unknown