Six Strategies for Being the Author

It will be a mix of both, but the challenge is to consistently increase how much you are the author and decrease how much you are just on “auto-pilot” or along for the ride.  Sometimes you will just be swept along by life because being a teenager is sometimes like being in a raft in a whitewater river – in the fog.  That’s unavoidable for most people, but the key is to commit to being the author as much as possible in as many settings as possible.

These are Common Strategies – But Customized by Everyone

Although these six strategies provide a solid common model, they will look different for everyone as everyone gets to design the steps for him or her-self. These steps won’t restrict you at all and they aren’t a step-by-step prescription. These strategies just provide a focus for your attention and actions, so that you can act with increasing confidence.

How well you take on these six strategies will say a lot about how well and how fast you become the author of your life.

Each of these strategies can be a source of power and influence in becoming the author of your life and managing your journey as a teenager. They also apply to adult life, so if you get good at them as a teenager, you will be well positioned for adult life.

These strategies are designed to decrease the busyness of life and focus attention and action where it can make the biggest difference for you. If you focus on them, you can be confident that you’re probably doing your part to manage your journey.

Talk with Others

The key is to determine for yourself how to go about implementing these strategies – making them work for you. Everyone will do this differently, but talking with others can make a dramatic difference in how well you do this. Being a teenager is best done as a team sport – even if a team of as few as two.

You and the President of an Organization Have Many of the Same Challenges.

That may sound weird, but it’s true in many ways. There are six strategies required of a President and they are the same ones that will support you in being successful on the heroic journey. But, like the President of a company, you have to craft the strategies to fit your reality – and then persevere to implement them.

Presidents must be the author – that’s what being a president of an organization revolves around. Presidents have to understand and face their challenges directly. They need to have a vision for their organization. They need to plan well and revise their plans as they progress. They need to generate a web of support because they can’t achieve their vision alone. And they need to persevere and be resilient because the path is never straight and never without surprises and setbacks.

So, getting good at this as a teenager is good preparation for being an adult or the president of an organization.