Denny Strecker’s Blog

Here are my all-time favorite 10 Strategies for RAISING the Self-Esteem of your children!

Please take the time to review these ideas with your children!

1. Always, always tell the truth

2. Take responsibility! If you did something you shouldn’t have, admit it! Don’t blame others, or make excuses!

3. If somebody gives you a compliment, smile and say “Thank you!”

4. Complete assignments early

5. Avoid negative people; pick friends who have high self-esteem

6. Help raise the self-esteem of others!

7. Dream big dreams about your future!

8. Be organized, both with time and things, at all times

9. Be healthy! Exercise regularly; eat only those foods that are good for you!

10. Pick a couple of activities that are important to you, and MASTER them!

7. Laugh and laugh heartily every day. Heard a good joke? Tell your friends or family about it. As they also say, “Laughter is the best medicine.”

6. Express your feelings, affections, friendship, and passion in healthy ways to people around you. They will most likely reciprocate your actions. Let go of pent-up anger and frustrations, as this is bad for your health. Instead find ways of expressing them in a way that will not cause more injury or hurt to anyone.

5. Working smart instead of hard brings tremendous personal satisfaction. It gives us a feeling of being competent in finishing our tasks. Accomplishments are necessary for all of us; they give us a sense of value. Work on things that you feel are worthy of your time. And don’t forget to celebrate them once they are completed!

4. Learning is a joyful experience. Try and learn something new every day. Learning also makes us expand and broaden our horizons…and could also give us more opportunities in the future.

By Larry Crane 

Almost everyone has heard the hit single “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin. The song has a very catchy way of conveying its message of being happy to everyone. Bobby Mcferrin’s simple message surely made a lot of people focus on happiness by simply telling them not to worry or fear, and just BE happy.

Living a happy, resilient, and optimistic life is wonderful, and is also good for your health. Being happy actually protects you from the stresses of life. Stress (anxiety and fear) is linked to top causes of death such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke. It is also what is keeping you from having total abundance on every level.

One of the better things ever said is “The only thing in life that doesn’t change is change,” and in our life we have the power to make the necessary changes if we want to. Even if we find ourselves in an unbearable situation, we can always find solace in the knowledge that it too invariably must and will change.

Social networks or relationships are essential to happiness. People are different. The key is accepting people for who or what they are, avoiding clashes and constant arguments, and LETTING GO of all of your resentments, fears, and negative habits that are holding you back.

To be happy is relatively easy; it begins with a decision. Simply decide to be a happy person.

Abraham Lincoln observed that most people for most of the time can choose how happy or stressed, how relaxed or troubled, how bright or dull their outlook to be. The choice is simple really; choose to be happy.

There are several ways by which you can do this:

11. Being grateful is a great attitude. We have so much to be thankful for. Thank the taxi driver for bringing you home safely, thank the cook for a wonderful dinner, and thank the guy who cleans your windows. Also thank the mailman for bringing you your mail, thank the police officer for making your place safe, and thank God for being alive. Whatever you can find to be grateful for, find it.

10. News is stressful. Get less of it. Some people just can’t start their day without their daily dose of news. Try and think about it — 99% of the news we hear or read is bad news. Starting the day with bad, fearful news does not seem to be a sensible thing to do, does it?

9. A religious or spiritual connection is also recommended. Being part of a spiritual or religious group with its singing, sacraments, chanting, prayers, and meditations foster inner peace.

8. Manage your time. Time is invaluable and too important to waste. Time management can be viewed as a list of rules that involves scheduling, setting goals, planning, creating lists of things to do, and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine-tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.

To be continued tomorrow…

Parents Beware! There is a thief near you! And that thief is not after your money or your VCR. This thief is after something far more valuable. The thief is after the Self-Esteem of your most precious possession…your child.

My friends, we live in a largely negative world. And, unless you are vigilant, that negativity will drain the Self-Esteem from your son or daughter.

Protecting the Self-Esteem of your child is an ongoing, never-ending task. The responsibility falls to you. If you don’t undertake this urgent responsibility, who will?

Here is a 10 step approach I use to develop and protect Self-Esteem. You can use these strategies, too!

1. Always remind your child of their past victories and accomplishments. Let their self-image be built upon a recollection of past successes. Let the memory of failures and disappointments fade away.

2. Help your child strive for improvement….not perfection. Help them to create reasonable expectations for performance.

3. Develop a family heritage. Teach your child to be proud of your family. Tell them about the achievements and sacrifices of their parents, grandparents, and other relatives.

4. Do provide feedback; don’t be overly critical. If you do have to give negative feedback, especially to an older child, always criticize privately; on the other hand, always praise publicly!

5. Teach him the value of telling the truth. Lying steals Self-Esteem!

6. Appearance counts! Guide your child into taking pride in their appearance.

7. Try to guide her toward friends who have high Self-Esteem. Help her to avoid negative people.

8. Paint the big picture with your child. Help her to dream big dreams about her future!

9. Be healthy! Exercise regularly; eat a balanced diet.

10. Become an expert! Pick a couple of activities that are important to your child and help him to MASTER them! Don’t allow them to flit from activity to activity.

Transformation Truth #6:

Transformation Truth #3:

Whenever I interview parents who are interested in becoming clients or students of mine, I always ask them some background questions to learn what they are looking for, what is missing, and where they have come from. It always surprises me that parents fail to make the connection that kids model behavior. If your child is showing an unwanted behavior, it is either because:

1) the parents allow the behavior or
2) the parents demonstrate the behavior

Once you understand the simplicity of this process, it begins to make sense when I give the parents homework. If you want me to help you with your child, I have to help YOU first. YOU are the source of the challenge! If you don’t fix the source of the issue, it will continue to be an issue and you will have to work ten times are hard to help your child. It’s like taking aspirin for a heart attack - it can help, but by no means is it the cure.

This takes us to today’s homework. There are eight transformation truths that Brendon Burchard writes about in his book “Life’s Golden Ticket”. Read them, think about them, and make sure you are using them. Then, you can repeat the process with your child.

Transformation Truth #1:
Either you are truly moving forward or you aren’t

We were all born to move forward: to crawl, to walk, to run, to grow, to push ourselves diligently toward our destinies and dreams. Unfortunately, many of us have let our fears and the need for safety weigh us down. We’ve stopped taking the leaps and bounds and chances needed to get us closer to the life we desire. Tragically, too many of us have settled into jobs that lead nowhere, relationships that sink our spirits, and habits that hold us back. To prevent that or become more focused, ask yourself these simple questions on a regular basis: Have I been charging ahead in life, standing still, or falling behind? Am I truly moving forward toward my dreams, or am I simply conning myself into believing that I’m just “waiting for the right time to make my move”? What do I need to do today to boldly start moving forward?

Transformation Truth #2:
Either you’re doing work you truly enjoy or you aren’t.

Most of us know that our life’s purpose is more than just a paycheck, and that a life of meaning is not limited to a life of means. Yet many of us suffer the self-imposed misery of doing unfulfilling work simply to make ends meet. Is what you are doing something that you whole-heartedly enjoy? Do you get happily lost in your work on a regular basis and feel like you’re truly growing, contributing, and making a difference? If you cannot answer with a resounding “Yes!” to these questions, then you already know it’s time for a change. It’s time to face that and take action.

To be continued tomorrow…

Many of the difficulties people find themselves in are the result of neglect.

You neglect to take proper care of your car or your home.

You neglect to balance your checkbook.

You neglect to give your family and friends the time and the attention they deserve.

You neglect these things, that is, until a crisis occurs. Then, running around like a crazy person, you make an often-too-late attempt to repair the damage.

Most of these self-induced crises can be avoided by spending time solving problems BEFORE they occur!

Finances in a mess? Spend fifteen minutes a day ( each day!) working on them.

Relationships in the tank? Devote a full hour each day to repairing them (at first), and then continue investing that time in maintaining and enhancing them!

US President Theodore Roosevelt has been described as founder of the Bull Moose Party, the man who led his troops up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, a big game hunter, family man, civic servant and a host of other things.

His life story indicates that he was not only an extraordinarily successful man, but surely one of the busiest and best organized ever. However, with all of his “busy-ness” . . . he still retained some of those human qualities that made him so successful.

Simple example: He never forgot to thank others who did things for him. On his whistle-stop tours during his campaign trips, he always left his private car to thank the engineer and fireman for a safe and comfortable trip. True, it took only a few minutes of his time, but when your minutes are so few, they are quite important. He felt that those minutes were well invested and he enjoyed meeting the people who had served him so well. In the process he made friends for life. Doing simple little things endeared Roosevelt to people all across America, which certainly was a significant reward for the few minutes it took him to say thank you.

Someone once said that you could always tell a “big” man by the way he treated a “little” man. By that yardstick alone you would have to agree that Theodore Roosevelt was a “big” man.

Message: Take time to be kind and to say “thank you.” The returns can be so great that you will be amazed!

This lesson starts with you - the adult. Model this behavior and your child will be certain to pick up the good habit you have created.

It has long been known that the powerful emotions a parent has for their child can easily overcome any struggle or complication you can throw at it. During my research, I came across this father and son team who prove this theory ten times over and serve as an example to everyone single one of us. The article originally appeared in Sports Illustrated and the video is one of dozens about them on YouTube.

Their motto is “Yes, I Can” and once you read their story and watch the video I attached you will understand what Committment and Love truly are - and hopefully you will take their message and teach it to your children and loved ones.

Click Here to read their story and watch the video

Post your thoughts here after you watch the video and let me know what YOU are going to do as a parent to create the “Yes I Can” thinking in your family.