Step Two
Put YOU first!
Teens assume every waking moment of their day must be spent studying. But that's just not true.
This step shows your teen that the majority of their spare time over the next few months will actually be spent NOT STUDYING – yes, you read that correctly.
It will give them much needed downtime to spend chatting with their friends, going to work, playing sports, socialising or playing on their games console, as well as revision.
Your teen’s school might only want them to revise two or three hours each day* – some might be happy with just one!
Time To Study shows them that, actually, most time outside school is for them.
* You should seek advice from your teen’s school to see how much study they recommend (and if they have suggested length and structure for study sessions).
Activity:
1. Print (or draw) four copies of the Time to Study weekly planner template and get your teen to tape them together and write on their own times and days.
2. Then get them to write each of their downtime activities on a BLUE sticky-note and put each on their weekly planner at the intended time. This should include evening or weekend jobs, after school clubs, sports, walking home from school, hobbies, time with friends and time by themself (e.g. on their console).
This effectively reserves their personal time – the time they need to recharge.
NOTE: Try not to restrict what they want to add to their calendar here. The point is to help them see how much (or little) time they end up with once they’ve decided on all their personal time. If, when they finish this step there’s no time to study, that’s the time to talk about it with them.
3. Also get your teen to put GREEN sticky-notes on their weekly planner to represent school.
This is about showing them that their time is mostly about NOT study, but resting, so they can get more from their study.
And this is a really good habit for them to learn for the future world of work. No one wants to spend ALL their time working. They’ve got to spend some of their time living as well.
There's actually very little time in comparison that’s needed to revise (see the white spaces).
As mentioned earlier, if there’s no time left, now is the time to talk with them about their choices and what (if anything) they’d like to do about it.
Why is Time to Study free?
As adults, our relationship with time is broken, and we believe it starts at school, when we’re kids.
Schools teach young people that unless you're sitting at a desk you're not working. And as they move into the world of work that’s the only thing that’s valued - doing stuff.
Sure, we need to spend some time ‘doing a job’. But we also need to look at where we are going and make sure we get there - leadership.
But we also need downtime, rest.
Our mission is to create a world of better led people. While we work with organisations all over the world to eradicate accidental management, we believe the first step is to show young people that the journey to leadership begins at school - by learning to lead themselves.
