Why You Are Causing Youth To Fail

You can be whatever you want, all you have to do is put your mind to it. We’ve all heard this numerous of times. But honestly, is this a true statement? Is the secret to success as simple as just thinking and working towards something? Well… yes and no.

To be successful, all we have to do is set a goal and do the work to reach it. But what happens when we set a goal and pursue it without understanding what it really takes to get there?

The answer to this question is what many of our youth in America do every day. They chase goals that eventually fizzle out because they didn’t do the “right” work to get there. In other words, they don’t reach their goal because they didn’t fully understand what their goal required.

Where Does It Go Wrong

How often have you heard a young person say they want to play professional sports or obtain a high-profile career when they get older? All the time right…yes.

Whether they obtain this goal or not, this shows that there is no shortage of ambition amongst our young people. So what’s the problem? Where does it go wrong? Two words…. The Adults.

Are you saying that "Adults" are the reason youth don’t reach their goals? Yes, This is exactly what I’m saying. How many times have you heard a young person’s goal and thought something like this:

 “You’re not doing anything to reach that goal, so I don’t think you will get there. I can’t tell you this because it’s the wrong thing to say to a young person, so I will just smile, nod in agreement, and try not to say anything that will kill your dreams”

This one stream of thought is the reason why our youth may not reach their goal. Everyone needs help at some point in his or her life. By staying silent, as opposed to guiding the young person onto the right path, you contribute to their blind pursuit of the goal. 

Curing Blind Pursuit

Most young people live their entire youth hoping they reach a goal only to be disappointed in later years when they find out that they were not doing what they needed to be doing the whole time. Many make statements like “ If someone had only told me, I would have done it.” or "I wish I knew this or that. I would have done things totally different”.

Are you starting to see my point?

So how do we solve this problem? How do we help youth not blindly pursue goals for years? We simply point them in the right direction.

If you are an expert in the field the youth desires, teach them the way. If you aren’t an expert, help them find someone that can teach them the way. After all, this is how all of the players in our professional sports got there, all of our doctors got into med school, our lawyers into law school and how many of others reach goals of obtaining very high profile careers. Essentially, you have the power to change a young person life… don’t let them keep failing. Thoughts?