This post is a prideful personal post. I have no apology for you and am at least being up front about it. For those of you with kids, you know how your kids can be awesome in the company of others, but still baffle you with their behavior within the home? I have had my fair share of this experience.

Friends and peers will share stories of upbringing, and there is generally a consensus that if the offspring are behaving well for others… you must have done something right. Well, I am over the moon lately with the results of our upbringing. Not only are the kiddos behaving well for others, but they are growing into productive, critical thinking young people. The rest of this story will focus on Rainey – my daughter.

Years ago, I instituted a program in our home. If they read a self-help, leadership type book and write me a one page report, followed by a verbal exam – I pay them. I wanted an incentive to clear the indoctrination of our school system from them. While I am most certain there is value in the education received through school, I also believe there is baggage in the package that needs competition. I want to raise balanced, independent-thinking adults. Sometimes that independence is a bit much, but that is the price of admission – right?

Rainey took to this challenge (with about a year delay) and has been running through my John C. Maxwell library. She has also been witness to the work I do for Mañana No Mas!, Powersport Academy, and the Challenge Connection. She began consuming some of the content I create and sitting in on meetings, off to the side. As she has had the opportunity in the pandemic, she has been able to witness other leaders in the community. However, she now has a distinct gift for discernment in leadership style and technique. The talks we have had have been enlightening for me because I am seeing that she gets it. “All things rise and fall on leadership”.

One of her passions is Figure Skating. She began posting on social about the skating, her generation’s mode of communication. Her following is growing. She then asked me about podcasting. I have been running the Mañana No Mas! Podcast for a couple of years from Anchor.fm. I gave her the link and directed her toward the directions.

This blew me away!

Within a week, she had her first podcast up. I wasn’t even aware it had been published. We used to have rules about minors playing on the internet in my house – but remember the part about raising independent thinkers? After she had shared the podcast with peers and begun to start inviting guests, she then again returned to me for some guidance. We talked a bit about strategy and then I went off in my own little quiet space to spy on this new podcast. She knocked it out of the park! It’s no wonder people want to be her guest. Her cadence and inflection in the production is something people work years to attain. I am blown away…

This is a direct seed to harvest example of what I have been writing and speaking about. Do the work. Do the work. Do the work. Even if you don’t readily see the gains – do the work. The more seed you plant, the bigger potential your harvest will be. Just the hope that I have prepared my kids a little better for the world out there gives me hope. That hope energizes my “Now”. That energy now, produces my family’s future. I pray you find your hope today or get busy manufacturing some. The time is now and you are just the person to do it.