Our generation is full of teens trying to live life to the fullest.  YOLO has become the biggest phrase, “You Only Live Once”, and living in the moment seems to be most teenagers’ biggest goal in life.  Sean Convey’s second habit in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens is to begin with the end in mind.  He is not saying to only focus on the future, but you must have an end plan in mind for your life to go somewhere.  Imagine going into high school or college without the idea of graduating with good grades at the end of your four years.  Do you think you would even graduate or would partying and friends get in the way of that?  You do not have to only focus on that goal once it is established, for having fun and enjoying yourself is part of that journey.  That goal is there to help keep you on track.  What if you just went with the flow of things and let life takes its’ own course?  Where would that take you?  Most things that flow go downwards and your life would probably head that direction as well.  No one wants a life that will end up in the drain.

Coming up with your end goal can actually be fun.  Day dream about something you would love to achieve.  Think about your special talents; could any of them get you somewhere in life?  Remember that you’re the leader of your own life.  Create a mission statement and hang it somewhere you look every day to remind yourself that all of your dedication will pay off one day.  Once you have done these things, then all that’s left ahead is the great adventure of life that you have now set out to discover.

When I started searching for a college my junior year of high school, I had no idea where I wanted to go.  “Do I want to go to a small or big school?”  “Do I want to be an orthodontist or a history teacher?”  “Will I fit in?”  I had no clue what I was getting myself into.  One night I sat down in my room with a piece of paper and wrote down everything I want to find in a college.  I also wrote down pros and cons about my different career choices.  Soon enough, I had a clear picture of what I wanted to become and what type of school I wanted to go to.  Now that I have found my dream school, a small private university, I have my heart set on becoming a high school history teacher in the next four years.  As I sit through all of my boring history lectures, I remind myself that each class is helping get one step closer to my goal.  Although it can be tough, having an idea about your future will make a worlds of a difference.  It makes walking down the path of life a lot easier.

Elizabeth Jones, 19