My Recipe for Success

I have had the privilege this week of volunteering with the 44th annual Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute. As most who read my blog know, this is a summer leadership conference for middle and high school students throughout Illinois. (We also have participants who come from out of state.) This was my 17th Teen Institute. This year I was a part of the Headquarters Staff. You can read more about my experiences in this role here.

The speakers we had for our opening session are good friends of mine, Matt Matkovich and Phil Januszewski, both educators in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, who offer inspirational and motivational messages as M&P Presentations. I first met them five years at the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute and, through the power of social media, have been able to keep connected. Their keynote this year was about their recipe for a happy and healthy life.

During their presentation, they suggested that everyone to consider what their own personal recipes. I've been thinking about this a lot since then. Before I go on, I feel like I should make a huge disclaimer: this is a list that I generated while brainstorming and it is very much subject to change in the future. That being said, I would like to think that these are some of the things I try to do consistently and are things that I have noticed contribute to me feeling happier and healthier. So, Matt and Phil, if you're reading this, here's my recipe:

• Read for 15-30 minutes every day.
• Listen to the music.
• Keep connected with family and friends.
• Make new connections with others.
• Whenever possible, simplify.
• Serve others.
• Choose kindness.

Now, each of these seven points have some pretty important caveats:

• Reading for work or school doesn't count; it can be related to work or school, but if you are required to read it, you need to read something else, also. I know that this can seem like a lot of time for reading, but you can be creative and find ways to fit it in.
• The type of music you listen to matters a great deal. Whatever your musical taste is, try to make sure the music you listen to feeds your soul. Uplifting music isn't necessarily happy music. (I feel greatly uplifted by the song "Reflection" from Disney's Mulan, not because it is a happy song but because it reminds me that many struggle with figuring out who they are and what they want to be and that is okay.) I do think that music full of vulgar, profane lyrics is not likely to be uplifting and would suggest staying away from it. (You may disagree; this is my recipe, though.)
• Keeping connected isn't just liking and commenting on posts on Facebook; keeping connected means phone calls, personal visits, Skype or FaceTime, etc. I challenge you to go through your social media networks and do a 26-day purge: each day, go through a letter of the alphabet and remove anyone who you don't remember. Not only will it clear up the clutter, it will help you maintain your connections with people who matter.
• It may seem counter-intuitive to purge your connections on one hand and turn around and add new ones on the other, but, really, it isn't. You are hopefully engaging with new people in your life through work, mutual friends, religious or service organisations, and conferences. Make new connections with people who will challenge you and support you. (I love doing this through Twitter chats; pick a hashtag, join in a chat, and start following people who will help inspire you to be a better person and a better whatever-it-is-you-do-for-work.)
• My go-to strategy for simplifying is the two-pile method. (The piles are sometimes metaphorical.) Earlier this week, I had to alphabetise a stack of nearly 500 applications that were not even remotely organised. It could have been a long, tedious, and daunting task. To simplify it, I made two piles: A-L and M-Z. Then I separated the A-L piles in A-G and H-L, then  I separated A-G into their respective letter piles, alphabetised those, and then used the same idea for M-Z. The entire process took about 75 minutes. So here's your challenge: pick a daunting task and find a way to break it into manageable chunks. Maybe the two-pile method works for you. Maybe it is colour-coding. Maybe it is only doing a part of the task each day. Whatever strategy works for you, try it out.
• Serving others does not mean always putting others' needs before your own. Rather, it means finding opportunities to do small acts of service throughout the day. As a Boy Scout, I learned to Do a Good Turn Daily; I would argue that you should do several good turns each day: hold the door for another, pick up some trash on the sidewalk, help someone with a task. If you are always putting others' needs before your own, though, you may end up burning out or burning up, neither of which is useful. So find balance while you do that.
• Choosing kindness means to give others meaningful compliments to smile, to avoid speaking ill of others and not participating when others do. I admit that this is something I sometimes struggle with, especially in regards to certain prominent public officials, but I swear, I really do try to choose kindness in my words and my deeds.

So there's my recipe. Like I said, I don't always follow it. (Sorry.) And maybe it won't work for you. That's okay. Find the ingredients you need for your life. And hey, if you need some inspiration, check out the M&P Recipe; these guys are amazing! (And no, they did not pay me to say that.)