#2 Use Your Time Wisely

Use your time wisely.

This is something that I have always had a serious problem with. If I have somewhere to be at a specific time, most likely, I will be late to that place. If I have homework due at a certain time, I have a cram session a few hours before the assignment is due or before I go to bed, such as this one, which is entirely too close to the time that it is due.

The only time that I have something done on time is when I will suffer serious consequences if it isn't done, such as being on time to school this semester because If I am not I don't have a lunch period! 

Part of the reason that I don't get stuff turned in on time is because I find other, more entertaining, things to do such as the following examples.

-Oh my god! I ****** love this song! *three minute concert in my room, by myself*

-*ding dong* the door rings. It's Kimmy Kent with all of her homework that she needs to do too! But instead of doing homework, we watch four movies, eating hummus, and suck helium out of balloons and sends snaps to friends.

-My Guitar: *chanting louder and louder* Play me! Play me! Play me!

- My Heart Will Go On comes on Spotify...

NUFF SAID!

I guess I should really start to try harder at being on time. Sure, it is fun to live a care free life and just go with the flow and it is definitely more fun to have a one man concert in your room by yourself but in the long run, it's going hurt me more than anything. Someday when I have a real job and a real life my boss isn't going to like the excuse, "I don't know, I'm just late!" Excuses like those lose jobs!

For most of us, we don't realize how big of a deal it is to create a habit of being late. My entire high school life I have been okay with it because it never really affected me, I still got what I needed to done and had fun when I wanted to but when we grow up and start living in the real world getting the one assignment we have due, finished, won’t cut it. We will have multiple jobs: dads, moms, husbands, wifes, grandmas, grandpas, and last, professionals in our real job fields. Taking care of our children only when it is most needed isn't going to work. Doing our job at the last possible second will get to hard to keep up with. As for being a grandparent, well I guess that's the pay off for working hard because you can spoil the grandchildren and send them back home to their parents, therefore you only have to be a grandparent sometimes. Oh the perks of being old ;]

Cramming at the last second isn't something that will allow for successful, happy futures so it is time to use our time wisely because in the very near future we will be taking off into that new world of jobs and bigger and badder lives. So it’s time for us to put on our big kid pants and use our time wisely!

#1 Confidence Is Key

Confidence Is Key.

Yesterday my good friend Andy and I tried out for UCA (Universal Cheer Association) which is essentially professional cheer leading. This tryout was something Andy and I had been stressing about for weeks. This opportunity is a huge one for the two of us. If we make it in, we leave a week after graduation and drive around the country getting paid to do what we love. Cheer. This weight on our shoulders left us extremely stressed. What if everyone is better than us? What if we didn't learn the right material? So many questions and worries were running through our minds. They were just the right questions to ruin our confidence, to make us feel like we didn't have a chance.

Last night around five fifteen we decided we had better find a UCA instructor so that we would know where to check in before tryouts which was supposed to be at five thirty. We approached a woman in UCA staff attire and she informed us that the cheer competition they were hosting was running a little behind so the check ins wouldn't start until six o'clock. That was somewhat relieving because it gave us a chance to stretch a little bit before the tryouts and go get changed into different clothes. When it came time for tryouts we walked over to the corner of the convention center where a bunch of people with white papers were. We went over and immediately began talking to the other people trying out.

As we talked to the guys, we began to realize some things. First of all, we were some of the only high school guys trying out. Second, we were two of the only guys that took time to learn the cheer before we attended tryouts, and last, we had better skills than most of the other guys! That made me feel really good that we, the high school kids, stood out like soar thumbs amongst these male college cheer leaders!

As we continued to talk to people and meet new friends we figured out that we learned the right material which was extremely comforting in itself. When it came time for us to try out in our separate groups, my confidence was right where it needed to be and everything went perfectly. I couldn't have been more proud of my tryout.

The example of my UCA try out shows that without confidence, we have nothing. We may be the most amazing athletes with the most skill and technique but when you throw low confidence into the situation, it can destroy. Lacking in confidence can make you into someone you are not and strip you of all skill but having confidence can make your skill and technique look sharper than ever before!

So remember kids, along with many other things, this year to be successful in all that you do make sure you have a healthy dose of confidence because in the end confidence is key!