You want your child to live a meaningful, fulfilling, happy life. This is a good dream to have for your children, not overbearing or selfish in any way, but genuinely seeking the best for them in everything. But so many people grow up unhappy, unfulfilled; how can you help your children achieve this dream? Teaching them to focus on what matters most is a forgotten art, but one that will impact every part of their lives. When is the best time to teach your child about what matters most? Right now.
1. How would you rate your happiness? Happiness isn’t something that will just happen to you. It’s something you must achieve. How do you achieve it? By focusing on what matters most, what brings you joy and fulfillment. If you would like to experience more happiness, focus more on the things that matter most.
2. It’s not easy. In order to achieve something most people never achieve, you have to be willing to do something most people are never willing to do: sit in silence, reflect on your life, and get to know yourself deeply and personally. Only then will you truly discover what matters most and what doesn’t matter much at all.
3. What matters most? The things that matter most are different for each of us but are almost always related to some form of faith, family, friends, and/or meaningful work. Whatever it is for you, don’t let anything distract. You were made for what matters most.
4. How do you know? There are so many distractions in our lives that it can be hard to figure out what reallymatters most. How can you tell? The things that matter most fill us with energy and joy of life when we focus on them. They are the things that make us better-versions-of-ourselves. How will you know? You’ll just know.
5. Essential purpose. We all have something we were made to do, something we were born for and can do better than anyone else on the planet at this time. This is called our essential purpose. This is who you are, who you want to be, and what you were created for. This is what really matters most.
6. Energy. No matter how young or old you are, you need energy in order to get the most out of life. The more you learn to focus on what matters most, the more energy you will have, and the more alive you will feel. This is your greatest superpower. Grow your energy.
7. Feed your soul. The greatest threat to your happiness is your unmet spiritual needs. Whether or not you believe in God, you have spiritual needs for silence and reflection, meaning and purpose in life. Focus on what matters most, it will help you in more ways than you know.
8. Stop doing what matters least. It should go without saying, but the truth is that we all waste time doing things that don’t really matter. But these things don’t help us. Stop doing the things you don’t want to do anyways, they’re robbing you of your happiness!
9. Grow. As you spend time in silence, write down the things you discover really matter. Add to this list as these things change, but don’t cross things out that no longer matter so much. Instead, look back over them from time to time and appreciate how much you’ve grown.
10. You. Focusing on what matters most, all of the time, might seem selfish and self-centered, but it’s not. You have to love yourself before you can love someone else. You have to know happiness before you can help someone else find it. Figure out what matters most and focus on these things, then go and share your joy with the world.
This is a big task, so help your child to come up with a list of the things that matter most to his or her life. Don’t judge, but offer challenging questions like, “why is this on your list?” or “why is this not?” Few things can help us become the-best-versions-of-ourselves more than discovering what matters most and prioritizing these things in our daily lives.
This is wisdom that will affect every part of your child’s life and happiness forever. Give your child the wisdom of what matters most.
Other Resources on this Topic:
10 Inspirational Quotes About What Matters Most
What Matters Most – Book for Children