Scott Schimmel (00:06.958)
When I was growing up, probably the least, math starter.
Scott Schimmel (00:13.614)
You might be wondering about your kid. Will he or she ever kind of develop the work ethic that they need to be successful, even to be self -sufficient someday. You look at this kid, they don't clean the room. They don't remember books that they have to bring to school. They don't remember the uniform to bring for practice. Will they ever figure out how to take responsibility and drive forward? I'm Scott Schimmel. I'm the president chief guide of the U school and I've been working with
young adults helping them transition confidently to adulthood for the past 20 years. We're gonna give you resources through the You school, how to have better conversations, more thoughtful discussions with your kids along the ways so that they get everything that they need. And you have everything you need to coach them and guide them through this process. Now, if you had kind of observed me back when I was a teenager, you probably would not have predicted entrepreneur.
CEO vibes. It's not really the vibes I was giving off. I was a decent student, got good grades, but not compared to my older sister, who was one of those freakishly high GPA kids. Kind of the kid in the middle, more or less. Not really going after any sport, not really going after any student club or organization. And it wasn't until a summer job that I had three jobs in, my third job, where I feel like I learned the value.
of a strong work ethic. Not because my parents nagged me, not because of anything else, but because I learned it on my own. The first couple of jobs were super simple. I made sandwiches for summer. The next summer I was in an office, cushy office job, air conditioning. It was 40 hours a week, but I swear I probably worked two and a half hours a day out of those eight hour days. But the third summer I had this kind of bizarre job in hindsight had some serious like sweat shot.
vibes going on. It's a large room, brightly lit, no windows. I had the early shift from 5 .30 in the morning until 2 .30 in the afternoon, five days a week throughout my entire summer. I was working at Oakley's Sunglasses in their repair shop. So people who had broken sunglasses under warranty or not would mail in their broken glasses and I would open up a box and process and fix. So the entire kind of this whole station workstation.
Scott Schimmel (02:38.19)
open up, figure out what's going on with the issue is figure out the paperwork, what they processed, is this valid under warranty or not. And then I'd actually go and repair the glasses and in my repairing, my replacing, I had all the parts, everything you needed. And the first time I went, they gave me the rundown. Here's the job I was working with adults twice my age, at least sometimes three times my age, I was 17 year old kid.
And they said that you should be able to process work up to about eight of these per hour. You do the math. And it took me a few days, but I got it. I started to get into a groove. And then I kind of had this moment a few days in, like a week into my job looking around. I've got three months of this and the pay was pretty decent. Definitely more than making sandwiches. But man, I mean, not no one talked. Everyone had headphones on. It was a quiet room.
kind of a bizarre thing. Like is this I can't get I mean, and hitting eight became actually pretty easy per hour. I was so kind of aggivated. I don't want to quit. I'm not that's not kind of my DNA. But I can't do this. I can't keep going at this pace. And so one day I had this idea, what if I could try to kind of challenge myself and see how many I could get done. So I showed up that morning 530 still dark out.
and I get after my job and what I started to do was every single hour tried to kind of optimize my workstation. And I would start trying to get up to could I get nine an hour? Could I get 10? I started to over a few days get up to 14, 15, 16. I think my record was 19 in an hour. At that point, I'm moving fast. I mean, not and I'm literally sweating in the sweatshop.
which was funny to me back then. There was a moment, it's probably like a month into the job, we're on a break, one of the older guys was there, came grabbing by the shoulder and he's like, hey, we know what you're doing. And I thought I was getting like a pep talk and I was like smiling and he's like, slow it down. You're making us all look bad. We're not trying to set records here, was the comment. And I got the message, slow down.
Scott Schimmel (04:58.99)
So I still go fast, faster than I normally would. I wouldn't try to sprint and get paper cuts and break a sweat, but somehow, somehow I learned that it's better to give something my all. It actually feels better. I felt proud of myself. I felt good about the paycheck. I felt like I earned the money I was getting, which did not, was not the case in the previous couple of jobs. I really feel like that was a turning point for me. And I, my parents, yeah, were a part of that.
And we're gonna get to like, how do you as a parent cultivate an environment so that your kids pick this up? But they might not in some ways, because the problem is with adulthood, so many of these things, the kid has to choose for themselves. They have to choose for themselves, which is essentially the problem. Psychologists would say that teenagers, really people in general, teenagers have a strong yearning.
for autonomy, they want freedom to ordain their steps, to be in charge of their life. And when we are trying to set for them the responsibilities that they have to do, the tasks that they have to do, here's the work ethic, they're gonna push against that. They don't wanna be told and managed. They wanna choose for themselves, but will they choose a strong work ethic? Here's what you can do, three thoughts for you if you wanna cultivate.
a strong work ethic in your kid. Take and choose whatever works for you. Number one, lead by example. Don't just assume that they know how hard you work. Give them a glimpse. Talk about it. When they say, how was your day? If they ask you that, tell them about the different things you had to accomplish. Show your commitment to what you're doing, your punctuality, your perseverance. That will pay off. Talk about why you do that as well. And not in a preachy way.
But I just, when I go to work, I want to make sure that I'm giving it my all. Help them hear the narration inside your head until it becomes theirs. Number two, set clear expectations. It's helpful to know what you expect from them. Define the responsibilities, give them chores, outline what you expect from them, given their abilities regarding their schoolwork and other responsibilities. Give them goals, help them set their own goals. Encourage them to set their own goals and then meet them. And talk about how it feels along the way.
Scott Schimmel (07:23.086)
Ask them what does it feel like when you're barely paying attention? In a class doesn't it feel like the time just just drags on forever Which is different than leaning forward being engaged? Talk about your own moments where you learned your work ethic If you got a kid where this is no issue, they probably got other issues like slowing down dealing with stress
learning coping mechanisms, maybe some anxiety. But chances are if you got more than one kid, one of them for sure is someone that you're like, I don't know if they're ever going to make it. I don't know if they're ever going to find a work ethic. I don't know if they will either. You probably know adults. You probably got relatives. You probably got friends you grew up with and never learned to work hard. They're still mailing it in. So it's a real concern. It's a real worry. But there are things that you can do. Love to hear from you what you're thinking. If you like these videos, please subscribe.
and or if you're listening to this audio, hit the subscribe button. If we're offering you some good resources, please like, give a review that helps us and we'll be back soon with another conversation for you to guide your kids confidently into thriving adulthood.
