From now on "Strategic Underachievement" is a life skill.
Every school curriculum, every job, and every life is filled with high and low-return activities.
The dominant message in school and life is: "Do More, Better."
This leads to an endless rat race.
A more rational message is, "Do Less, but Better."
Your challenge is to help your child -- and yourself -- decide what to eliminate. This is "Strategic Underachievement."
Some candidates for elimination are obvious:
Email.
Much of Social Media.
Much of the school curriculum.
Anything that is done to improve scores on a multiple-choice test.
(Add your ideas in the comments)
These clutter life and do little to grow what matters most.
High-return activities include:
Deep exploration in areas of personal interest.
Reading broadly.
Travel.
Sleep and exercise.
Discussions with Elders.
Learning about what makes you unique.
(Add your ideas in the comments)
Assess how much of your kids' time is devoted to these...
...Then get aggressive in eliminating low-return activities to make room for the high-return ones.
It's not easy... but it matters.
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