“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” Joyce Brothers
This post will not be long. I want to apologize for not being able to submit a post for May. I had an unfortunate incident that cause me to have a break in a bone within my right hand which made it a bit difficult to do tasks as it affected my dominant hand. With that being said, in this post I am simply going to present a couple of things that young people may want to think about and maybe consider doing while on summer break.
Summer is always a time to get involved in activities that can enhance what one has been learning during the year in their school study. It is a time that students, high school and college level, can enhance those skills that going to be so important in the work world. Those skills would include developing effective communication, problem solving, networking and meeting new people, learning more about a particular profession, enhancing their resume, time management, independence, enhancing their financial resources and money management. That is why, during the summer months, students should seriously consider entering the work world via either an internship, apprenticeship or summer employment.
Places that are known to readily hire high school students are places such as fast food restaurants, and retail stores. But in addition to those, high school students can also create their own job opportunities by utilizing some of the following methods:
- having a landscaping or lawn mowing business
- babysitting business
- tutoring
- creating web page or face book presence for others
- dog walking business
- being a summer camp counselor.
Volunteering in the community in establishments such as nursing homes, hospitals, animal shelters, etc. is also an excellent way for high school students to gain valuable work experience as well — even though they may not receive a paycheck. Other avenues may be that of seeking out apprenticeships to learn a particular skill. Some companies may also have internships designed just for high school students.
A number of city and county governments create opportunities for summer hiring of high school students. Those opportunities may exist within the city or county government agencies or they may be in companies that the city and county has coordinated with to provide summer employment to students in their area.
College students have many opportunities available to them to expand their skills during the summer months and gain valuable work experience. They have to be diligent and seek out those opportunities early. Major corporations, federal government, and state government make paid and unpaid internships available that, in many instances, can lead to permanent employment once a student graduate.
Examples of some of the major corporations providing internship opportunities to college level students are Facebook, General Electric, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Apple, Coca Cola, Amazon, Under Armour, Quicken Loan, Google, and Microsoft. Within the federal government, agencies such as the CIA, FBI, NASA, HUD, Department of Homeland Security, Defense Intelligence Agency are a few that provide summer opportunities to students. A major incentive with a number of these companies and government agencies is that they also provide an attractive salary and, in some instances, benefit packet to the students during their employment.
Whether in high school or college, in order for students to obtain any type of internship or summer employment, they have to be extremely diligent in seeking out those opportunities early.
Following I want to share with you a parable that I originally came across on the website reality101.com, then I heard a speaker in my church tell this same parable as she was doing a presentation. That prompted me to recall it and also to share it with you. The message within the parable is one that is beneficial for any of us. So here goes.
Shake It Off And Step Up
A story was told of a farmer who owned a mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer realized what had happened when he heard the mule “braying”. After he carefully assessed the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth saving. Instead, the farmer called his neighbors together and told them what had happened and enlisted their help to haul dirt to bury the old mule and put him out of his misery.
When the farmer and his neighbors began to shovel the dirt into the well, the mule initially became hysterical but as the dirt continued to hit the mule’s back it suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back—he should shake the dirt off and use it to step up. So that is what he did. He shook of every shovel load of dirt that landed on him and used it to step up further out of the well. He simply continued to encourage himself by continuing to repeat — “shake it off and step up,” No matter how painful the blows or distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought “panic” and just kept right on “shaking it off and stepping up.”
It wasn’t long before the old mule, even though battered and exhausted, had shook of enough dirt and use it to step up, that he was able to step triumphantly over the wall of the well. What seemed as if it would bury the old mule actually blessed him….all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.
The Lesson of This Parable
For all of us, young and old, if we face our problems and respond to them positively and refuse to give into panic, bitterness or self-pity — then the adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the potential to benefit and bless us. All we have to do with the dirt is “Shake It Off and Step Up!”
(image from books.google.com)
With that being said, I want to provide a book suggestion that young people, as well as old, may want to add to their summer reading list. The title of the book is Reallionaire and it is about a young man by the name of Farrah Gray. This young man became a millionaire at the age of 14. The amazing thing about this is that this young man was raised in a single parent home in the projects of Chicago, Illinois. In my opinion, he is an excellent example of a young man who did not let the adversities he faced in life stop him from achieving his goal. He actually used those adversities to his advantage and was able to realize success that was beyond what many has only dreamed of.
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