More Feature Articles
January 2010
-Creature-Focused Careers
-Former Members Reflect: Dr. Dwight Armstrong
-Levy Randolph
-Safety on Speed Dial
-Preserving Their Culture
-Off and Away
November 2009
-Former Members Reflect: Emilie Bocker
-Turn That Down!
-Car Smarts
-So Much Cooler Online
-Laila Hajji
-The Water Way
-A Greater Cause
June 2009
-Stretch Your Summer Income
-Riley Branch
-Turn That Down
-Behind-The-Scenes Star
May 2009
-Welcoming Women
-Regina Holliday
-Job Interview Jitters
-So Much Cooler Online
-Questioning Your College Choices?
-A Can-Do Attitude
-Former Members Reflect: Michele Payn-Knoper
April 2009
-Hannah Crossen
-Cowboy Book With a Cause
-From FFA to 33Miles
-There’s Cash in Your Future
-I’m Angry…Now What?
-For the Love of Landscaping
-Perfect Balance
-Gardening For A Cause
February 2009
-Blue-Ribbon Banjo Player
-FFA as an Art Form
-Wild About Animals
-Nessie Early
-Be a PAL
-Full Throttle
-Living to Serve
-Special Invitation
January 2009
-All About National FFA Week
-Paul Moya
-Justin Floyd
-Partners for the Planet
-Finding Balance
-Swimming in Aquaculture
-Breaking Records
-Take It Slow
December 2008
-National FFA convention to rotate homes
November 2008
-Dr. Al Snyder
-Scholarship Secrets
-Gear Up for National FFA Week
-Kari Boettcher
-Resist Peer Pressure
-Good to the Last Crop
-All Creatures, Great and Small
-Sparking Interest
September 2008
-Agriculture Accuracy
-Crissa Fruechte
-Brady Revels
-Get Up!
-Proceed With Caution
-All in Good Taste
-Clutch Performance
-Step Right Up
July 2008
-Take It to a New Level
-Deep-Rooted Interest
-Take a Deep Breath
-Tyler Tenbarge
-Inspired by FFA
-On the Right Track
May 2008
-In the Vault
-Your Money: Keeping Records
-National Officer Q&A
-We’re All Unique
-Best in Show
-Grab Life by the Reins
March 2008
-Call to Order!
-Reality Check
-Turtle Power
-By the Numbers
-Dale Darling
-A Token of Appreciation
-National Officer Q&A
January 2008
-National Officer Q&A
-Back Talk: Paul McCutchan
-Building Bright Futures
November 2007
-National Officer Q&A
-Back Talk: Corey Flournoy
-Biofuels Mean Business
-Go, Team, Go
-A Tractor Tradition
October 2007
-National Officer Q&A
-Back Talk: Kristie VerMulm
-Give them an A+
-Cranberry Crazy
-Racing to Indy
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Finding Balance
Overwhelmed? Get back on track with these tips.
January 2009
FFA members are go-getters by nature, but that desire to achieve can lead to an overbooked schedule and lots of stress.
Motivational speaker and writer Grant Baldwin has been there. He talks with teens and holds workshops all over the country to help young people get a handle on their busy lives.
Baldwin’s new book, Reality Check, answers 50 questions teens have about life after high school, including how to balance it all – school, relationships, friends, jobs and other activities – while fitting in some time to just enjoy life.
“Balance is a big deal,” he says. “We all hear stories of people who work all their lives to have a heart attack and die at age 50. Who wants to do that? I want to be 90 or 100 and look back and say, ‘I really enjoyed life.’ What’s your other choice?”
Baldwin offers some practical tips to help find balance:
Determine What Matters.
It’s tough, but it’s often necessary to decide what matters most to you, and let some things go.
“Like a buffet, you may want to try everything,” Baldwin says. “But the reality is you can’t eat every single thing on the buffet. You have to pick the top few things you really want to try.”
Create Boundaries.
The most organized, time-managed person still has limits.
“Like a full glass of water, a lot of us are literally at capacity, and people continue to ask us to do things,” Baldwin says. “We pretend we have no limits, but water is spilling everywhere.”
“The challenge with saying no is we’re all basically people pleasers,” he adds. “We don’t want to let people down.”
Bottom line: It doesn’t mean you’re rude or lazy if you have to turn people down when your schedule is full, Baldwin says. It just means your schedule is full.
Who You Are Is Important.
As a teenager, you are making huge life decisions about who you are as a person.
“If you work your whole life to attain status and titles and money, and you are a shell of a human being, is that worth it?” Baldwin asks. “Is that the kind of life you want to live? There are a lot of wealthy people who are miserable.”
Be true to your own interests, he says, instead of chasing money or status for the sake of impressing other people.
Learn to balance.
“The idea of staying in balance on a daily basis is somewhat of a myth,” Baldwin says. “It is a constant struggle to keep yourself in balance. It doesn’t just happen. You have to be extremely proactive about finding balance and work at it every day.”
And, it’s perfectly OK to take a day off every once in a while just to do something that you enjoy, whether it’s riding a horse or watching reruns on the couch.
“In order to stay balanced, you have to find what energizes you,” he says. “Find those things that give you life, and don’t exclude them from your plans.”
Visit www.grantbaldwin.com for more information.
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