- How will I measure "success" in my life?
- What character traits will I model to others?
- How will I build strong relationships and work effectively with others?
- What role does faith play in my life?
- How will I persevere through life's inevitable hardships?
- How do I become a masterful decision maker, goal setter, and time manager?
- How will I succeed in college academics?
- How will I select and thrive in my career?
- How will I know he or she is "the one" and prepare for a lasting marriage?
- How will I achieve my financial goals and manage my money?
- How will I measure "success" in my life?
- What character traits will I model to others?
- How will I build strong relationships and work effectively with others?
- What role does faith play in my life?
- How will I persevere through life's inevitable hardships?
- How do I become a masterful decision maker, goal setter, and time manager?
- How will I succeed in college academics?
- How will I select and thrive in my career?
- How will I know he or she is "the one" and prepare for a lasting marriage?
- How will I achieve my financial goals and manage my money?
Equipping Young Adults for Real World Success
ADDRESSING THE NEEDDennis Trittin founded LifeSmart Publishing to help address the life skills deficit hindering today’s younger generation. Observation and research suggests this looming crisis is rooted in several cultural and institutional forces:
1. increasing fragmentation of family life
2. immature or absent parenting
3. schools viewing character/life skills as the domain of parents and therefore focusing primarily on traditional subject matter; parents incorrectly assume schools are fully covering key life subjects (e.g., finance)
4. inadequate youth employment opportunities
5. harmful cultural messages from the media and entertainment industries
The end result is that our society is producing a generation of young adults largely unprepared to negotiate life, develop and maintain healthy life-long relationships, demonstrate honorable and effective leadership, build stable households, and succeed in a--- Read More
Our Top Tech Tips for Teens Who Are Glued to Their Phones
6/18/2021 5:09:17 AM
The school year keeps teens very busy. Even with fully remote or hybrid schedules, they wake up early, take classes for the majority of the day, do their homework, participate in sports or extracurricular activities, and get as much as sleep as they can. So, fortunately for them, the summer can be an opportunity for them to have a little breathing room, relax, and simply be a teen. However, I think the parents who’ve been home with their kids over the last week or two can all agree on one --- Read More
Two Words for a Fulfilling Life
6/5/2021 12:13:02 AM
An annual highlight of mine is visiting an area 8th grade class that uses our What I Wish I Knew at 18 curriculum for its Life Skills class. The students submit their questions in advance, and I answer as many as I can. They have an uncanny knack of asking great questions, and this year was no different. My favorite one: “What are your two tips for a fulfilling life?” Simple as that! Yet profound and deserving of my best thinking, for sure. After some s--- Read More
How Can You Show More Professionalism?
5/23/2021 4:43:04 AM
A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait." ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it." ~Alistair Cooke For young adults who are just entering the workforce, it can be an eye-opening experience. In a culture that has grown more coarse and casual by the year, and where parents and educators expect the other to take responsibility for building employability skills, many em--- Read More
Parents of High School Seniors: Your "To-Do" List for May
5/11/2021 4:37:06 AM
Time is flying by, isn't it? It’s finally May, our college selection is complete, and it’s time to relax (at least a little bit). Now, our students need to focus on finishing strong while also enjoying what they can about this weird, pandemic-stricken year. Hopefully their schools have come up with creative ways for them to enjoy some camraderie during the final days of high school. There may be a couple of forms to complete for their chosen university (if university is their next st--- Read More
April "To Do List" For Parents of High School Seniors
4/5/2021 8:32:53 PM
Parents of high school seniors: Now that we are already in April, it’s a good time to start talking about their looming transition from high school to college (or career). Few transitions bring as much joy, tears, and anxiety to parents as when their children leave home and begin life on their own. In many ways, this milestone is a parent’s defining moment. How will they do? Have we prepared them well? How will we adjust? In what ways will our relationships change? It’s a--- Read More
Become a Masterful Communicator: Part Five
3/9/2021 2:13:10 AM
Conquering Communication Conflict “In a conflict, being willing to change allows you to move from a point of view to a viewing point—a higher, more expansive place from which you can see both sides.” ~Thomas Crum “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” ~Winston Churchill “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” ~Dr. Mar--- Read More
Become a Masterful Communicator: Part Four
3/1/2021 6:32:09 PM
Written Communication: Issues and Fixes “I didn’t mean it like that!” ~ Everyone All of us, at one time or another, have had the big written communication fail. Sometimes we’re the “messor,” and other times, we’re the “messee.” My earliest recollection was in seventh grade when I received a note from someone that said, “(so and so) told me to tell you she wants to break up with you.” Now, what exactly was I suppose--- Read More
Become a Masterful Communicator: Part Three
3/1/2021 6:28:42 PM
Oral Communication Essentials “Two monologues do not make a dialogue.” ~ Jeff Daly In this, the third segment of our five-part series on mastering communication, I’ll tackle what sometimes seems like a lost art—oral communication. Our growing dependence on technology in our communications has come at cost, it would seem, to our verbal communications based on observation, pervasive complaints, and employer concerns. It needn’t be this way. A--- Read More
Become a Masterful Communicator: Part Two
2/22/2021 8:32:05 PM
Making a Winning First Impression “A stunning first impression was not the same thing as love at first sight. But surely it was an invitation to consider the matter.” ~ Lois McMaster Bujold One of life’s greatest adventures is what becomes of the people we meet for the first time. Every relationship has its beginning, but we don’t know what will come of it at the time. Who knows, it might be a future spouse, BFF, boss, reference, mother (or father) in law, c--- Read More
Making a Winning First Impression
2/16/2021 1:43:39 PM
“A stunning first impression was not the same thing as love at first sight. But surely it was an invitation to consider the matter.” ~ Lois McMaster Bujold One of life’s greatest adventures is what becomes of the people we meet for the first time. Every relationship has its beginning, but we don’t know what will come of it at the time. Who knows, it might be a future spouse, BFF, boss, reference, mother (or father) in law, client, or--- Read More
Becoming a Masterful Communicator: Part One
2/16/2021 1:07:04 PM
“The art of communication is the language of leadership.” ~ James Humes With the benefit of 66 years of hindsight, I can safely say, “We’ve come a long way, baby,” to borrow a line from a Loretta Lynn song. Surely, we can all agree we’re not there yet, but our world has seen progress on a number of fronts during my lifetime. At the same time, I think we’ve regressed in some ways. While those of us in the “older --- Read More
