Peers and Teachers Look Down on Young Einstein

Imagine that as a child, you began talking later than other children. You are viewed as a freak by your classmates because of your lack of interest in sports.  Your teachers consider you dull because you are poor at memorizing facts. One teacher tells you in exasperation that you won't amount to anything, are wasting everyone's time, and should drop out of school immediately. Would you be tempted to give up on school and sink into depression? I hope not, because these were the experiences of Albert Einstein during his school years. 

This week, let's remember that we're all still in process. Most of us know very little about what we're really good at. If life looks pretty grim to you this week or even this year, don't give up! Remember that Einstein's success wasn't evident during his high school years. And neither is most of your future success visible to you now. (Facts from Albert Einstein: A Life, by Denis Brian, 1996, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Written by Steve Miller,  © 2002 - All Rights Reserved)

Discussion Questions:

1) How could Einstein's genius go unrecognized by his teachers and classmates? (He was poor at certain subjects. His ability to remember facts wasn't good.)
2) Why is it wrong to assume that people of great intelligence will necessarily make the best grades? (Some are brilliant, but can't organize themselves well enough to do well with homework. Others are great thinkers or creative geniuses, but can't memorize well.)
3) Why is it wrong to judge people by their lack of success during their school years?
4) How can understanding Einstein's failures keep us from getting discouraged by our own failures?

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Vin Diesel Finds His Niche

One day 7-year-old Mark Vincent and some friends slipped into an open door at Manhattan's Theater in New York City and began to play around, disrupting the workers. When Artistic director Crystal Field took notice, Mark feared she was going to call the police. Instead, she said, ''If you guys want to play here, come every day at four o'clock and learn your lines.'' He took the challenge and began acting. Today, he's known as Vin Diesel and stars as the bigger than life action figure in the movie "XXX."

What can we learn from Vin Diesel's early experience? Many of the students we're tempted to label "losers," the ones who seem to always be failing or in trouble, simply need to find a positive channel for their energy. Perhaps they'd respond to a challenge better than a threat. Perhaps they've never found a challenge that appeals to them. Why not invite them to help with the stage crew (set up and take down) or learn a musical instrument or serve in a community service event? Like Vin Diesel, the challenge to service might just change their lives. (Written by Steve Miller, Copyright August 16, 2002. Facts from Vin Diesel: From nightclub bouncer to action hero 'XXX' appeal, August 12, 2002, People.com, CNN.)

Discussion Questions:

1) How do you think Vin Diesel's life might have been different, had nobody given him a chance to act?
2) Why do you think it's important for all of us to find positive outlets for our energy?
3) How can we help people find activities that help them blossom as people?
4) What keeps us from trying new activities at school or in the community?
5) What's one new activity that you'd like to get involved with during your school years?

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Jon's Failures Lead to Success 

Ever feel like you aren't good at anything that really counts? Jon knows the feeling all too well. In high school, his older brother James excelled at academics - maintaining a 4.0 average. Today James directs cardiothoracic imaging at Emory's medical school and teaches biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech. Jon felt pretty dumb in comparison with his 2.0 average. According to Jon, ''people thought something was wrong with me.'' When they got into shouting matches, after Jon might call James a geek, James might come back telling Jon that he was just smart enough to one day be his chauffeur - just what Jon needed to hear.

Not being adept at making good grades, Jon's passion was sports. But here his self-esteem hit another wall. It wasn't bad enough that his older brother got the brains. His younger brother Jay got the athletic talent. In college, Jon was determined to be a great quarterback, lifting weights in the off-season, throwing endless passes, consistently running and lifting weights. While in his best condition ever, after running five miles, he'd taunt his less disciplined younger brother, now a Junior in high school, who spent his hot summer days watching TV and munching microwave popcorn. Finally, when Jay had had enough taunting, he challenged Jon to 2-mile race. In the last 2/10 of a mile, Jay took off, leaving a humiliated Jon behind. That's when he finally faced the facts: he was a loser not only at academics, but also at athletics.

His dismal college career confirmed his fears. Except for three attempted passes and holding the ball for place-kicks, he was a perennial benchwarmer, watching the game from the sidelines.

But Jon wasn't destined to be a star player. He just hadn't yet found his niche. Today he's in his niche, and life couldn't be grander. He makes his living watching from the sidelines. In fact, Jon will receive a cool $17.5 million dollars over the next 5 years to strategize and motivate the players from the sidelines.

In 2003 we saw him lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl. This former bench warmer is the youngest head coach to win the Super Bowl ever, the hero of Tampa Bay.

But it makes you wonder…. What if John had become disillusioned because he was seldom allowed to play more ''significant'' positions in college? What if he simply concluded, like many do, that he was destined to be a failure, when he was actually gaining valuable experience for the future?

My point is simply this, it's so easy for us to think that life as we see it now is all there is. We think that if we're failures now, we'll be failures in the future. But Jon was actually gaining valuable training from his failures. Since athletics didn't come naturally to him, he had to reflect on the game and study the game more than those who were naturals. His weaknesses led him to develop his strengths. 

You can go either of two ways with your failures and hurts. This week, let's resist getting depressed and giving up when we fail. Instead, let's hang in there and keep moving forward, learning from our failures as Jon Gruden did. 

(Written by Steve Miller, Copyright January 30, 2003. Sources: A Wise Investment, 01-23-2003, The Tampa Tribune, by Ira Kaufman; Coach Chucky: The Buccaneers' Jon Gruden has all the qualities of the perfect NFL coach: He's tireless, hypercritical and, occasionally, scary as hell, 09-09-2002, Sports Illustrated; by S.L. Price)

Discussion Questions:

1) Why did Jon Gruden feel like a failure when he was in high school?
2) How did his weaknesses in high school help him when he became a coach?
3) How could his life have been different today if he'd let his failures cause him to give up? 
4) What failures or weaknesses get students down?
5) What failures or weaknesses get you down?
6) How might those weaknesses actually help you in the future?

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Jon's Inadequacies Fuel His Drive 

Sometimes we can use our low self-esteem to work in our favor. Last week we began talking about super-successful football coach Jon Gruden.  Although he's no doubt a brilliant coach, he doesn't see himself that way.

In this year's (January, 2003) Super Bowl, Gruden led his Buccaneers to a masterfully orchestrated win over his former team, the Raiders. Since a year ago he was with the Raiders, having built them into Super Bowl material, some people called this match-up ''The Gruden Bowl.'' 

In order to be the best at coaching, he works a grueling schedule, "beginning each day at 3:17 a.m., often ending it near midnight." 

What motivates him to work so hard? One writer theorizes that it's because "when he was a teenager a lot of people thought he was stupid, and he has never gotten over it. Jon once told his father that he works so hard because he's not as smart as other NFL coaches.'' 

When we think about it, some of Coach Gruden's greatest assets are his shortcomings. Because of that nagging feeling that he's not as smart or as talented as other coaches, he feels he has to go the extra mile to make up for it.  

This week, let's resist getting jealous of those who seem smarter or more talented than us. Instead, let's let our weaknesses motivate us to try harder, even if it's years before we see that hard work pay off. (Coach Chucky The Buccaneers' Jon Gruden has all the qualities of the perfect NFL coach: He's tireless, hypercritical and, occasionally, scary as hell, 09-09-2002, Sports Illustrated, S.L. Price)

Discussion Questions:

1) In what ways can a poor self-esteem hurt us? (We're afraid to try new things, give up too easily, feel inadequate, etc.)
2) In what ways can people's high estimation of their own abilities actually hurt them? (It can turn into pride. We can feel that we don't have to try hard to accomplish something.)
3) In what ways can we use our low opinion of our abilities to actually help us? (We try harder and might go to greater extremes to not fail.)
4) In what ways did Jon Gruden take his low estimation of his abilities and use it for his own advantage? (It made him think he had to try harder to out-perform "smarter" coaches.)
5) How can your own weaknesses make you more successful in the end? 

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Steven's Heartaches Develop Empathy

Steven didn't feel like he fit in at Middle School. Everyone thought that to be important you had to be good at sports like baseball. But Steven was a terrible player. To make matters worse, his ears stuck out and his peers nicknamed him ''Spielbug.'' He retreated into the photography club, which he called his ''leper colony." And his problems didn't stop at school. His family life wasn't always that secure either.  His parents divorced when he was 19. 

But out of these struggles Steven came to understand the aches and longings of people's hearts. That paid off big time when he began to produce movies for a living. His name is Steven Spielberg. Because of the heartaches of his early years, he was able to produce movies that were not only artistically superb, but also tugged at our hearts. Today he reigns as history's most successful filmmaker. The same people who laughed at him in school would probably love to have his autograph, or even more, a week of his salary! . 

So remember, the way people see you now isn't necessarily the way people will always see you. Find an interest or a hobby and some others with similar interests. What seems like a leper colony now may pay off big time in the future. (Written by Steve Miller,  © Copyright Aug/Sept, 1998)

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Discussion Questions:

1 - How many films can you name that Spielberg produced? (Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, Schindler's List, etc.)
2 - How do you think young Steven felt when fellow students laughed at him and called him "Spielbug?"
3 - How do you think being put down in school help Spielberg as a filmmaker?
4  - How can being put down by others help us develop character? (We understand how it feels to be put down. That can motivate us not to put others down. We can learn to empathize with others.)
5  - How can learning empathy help us in our careers? (People who understand the feelings of others tend to have better relationships and thus are better able to keep good jobs.)
6 - How can understanding Steven Spielberg's school days help us in our lives today? (It can keep us from getting so down when others put us down.)

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Why Michael Jordan Took Cooking Classes

Ever feel that you'll never make it in life because you're so geeky? Michael Jordan reigns as the most popular athlete in the world. But he wasn't always popular. In fact, when he was in high school he felt so unpopular with the girls that he thought he might never be able to find a wife. That's why he took a cooking class. He thought he might never have anyone to cook for him. 

Many of us understand exactly how Michael felt. Because others sometimes see us as nerds, or losers of other types, we often feel that we'll never amount to anything. Sometimes it helps us to see that many famous people felt geeky in their school days. This week, let's try to resist viewing ourselves as we think other students view us. Rather, let's realize that all of us have great potential and worth.  (Written by Steve Miller,  © Copyright Aug/Sept, 1998, All Rights Reserved; Source: Sports Illustrated, Kids Edition, Aug/Sept, 1998.)

Discussion Questions:

1. How in the world could a person as talented and handsome as Michael Jordan feel that no girl would ever fall in love with him?!? (Our perceptions of ourselves are often way off base. The way we're perceived during our school years is often not how we will be perceived after graduation.)
2. How would you have treated Michael if you'd been his age, going to his high school? 
3. Knowing that people's talents often don't blossom until after high school, how should we treat our fellow students?
4. How can understanding Michael's feelings of inadequacy during his high school years help us in dealing with our feelings of inadequacy?

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Lincoln Viewed Self as Blockhead

A guy asked a girl named Mary to marry him. Yet, his self-confidence was so low that he added, ''My opinion is that you had better not do it.'' After she turned him down, he wrote to a friend, ''I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason – I can never be satisfied with anyone who would be blockhead enough to have me.'' 

Do you ever feel that bad about yourself? Does your self-confidence seem to be at an all-time low. Well, you might be encouraged to know that this guy with low self-esteem became one of the most beloved and respected figures in United States history. His name is Abraham Lincoln. 

If this morning you're feeling like a blockhead, you're in good company. Many of the greatest people this world has ever known felt like blockheads during their high school years. Some of the greatest people this world has yet to see are in a school classroom today feeling like blockheads. Sometimes I feel like a blockhead. But I'm glad that Lincoln pressed on in spite of his feelings of inadequacy. Let's try to follow his example this week.  (Written by Steve Miller,  © Copyright Aug/Sept, 1998, All Rights Reserved; Sources: Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People; The Friendship Factor, by Alan Loy McGinnis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1979)

Discussion Questions:

1. How did Lincoln express his feelings of inadequacy during his proposal to Mary?
2. Lincoln was a brilliant man with tons of potential. What are some reasons that such people can feel inadequate?
3. Why do you think many, if not all students struggle with feelings of inadequacy?
4. What are some ways we can keep our feelings of inadequacy from holding us back in life?

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Cruise Battles Insecurity

As one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, charming and spontaneous, you'd think that Tom Cruise is just one of those lucky guys who everything comes easily to. But according to Cruise, his ''drive and determination go back to difficult times as a kid.'' He had all these barriers to overcome, and had to discipline himself to overcome them. When he started school, he had trouble reversing letters, and was always put in remedial reading classes. Problem was, he was dyslexic. To make matters worse, his father moved from job to job as an engineer, which made Tom attend 15 different schools, so that nobody could diagnose his dyslexia. So he could never seem to catch up with the others and felt ashamed. Fortunately, his mom taught him to create mental images in order to remember what he read. 

Besides academic challenges, Tom felt that he never quite fit in socially. His family didn't have enough money to outfit him with the right clothes, he was in a new school almost every year, and he felt like a lonely outsider. But the real blow to his security was that his parents divorced when he was 11. In his own words, ''I just felt very, very insecure.'' 

So, if you feel insecure, you're in good company! Hang in there. It doesn't mean that your life won't count for anything. Many of us go through feelings of insecurity and inadequacy during our school years. It doesn't have to always be that way! (In order to show how cool Cruise is now, you could show a clip of him. I'd recommend the cliff-hanging scene at the first of "Mission Impossible II". ) (Written by Steve Miller, © Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved; Source: (Parade Magazine, 1-8-89, pp, 10,11) 

Discussion Questions:

1. What are some reasons that Tom Cruise felt insecure during his school years?
2. How do you think that this early insecurity may have helped him in later years? (He felt the need to try harder than others, etc. He may have learned to empathize for others who feel inadequate.)
3. How can understanding what Cruise went through help us to treat other struggling students with more respect? 
4. How can understanding what Cruise went through help us to endure and understand our own inadequacies?

You were born an original. Don't die a copy. (John Mason)

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Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

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Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. (Oscar Wilde)

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Your self-confidence is directly connected to how much you feel you are making a difference in your world. (Brian Tracy)

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According to a July, 1985 issue of Reader's Digest, only 13% of American women consider themselves pretty and 28% of men consider themselves attractive.

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''Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, 'Make me feel important.'  Never forget this message when working with people.'' (Super-successful business woman Mary Kay)

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No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

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The best mirror is an old friend. (George Herbert)

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The older a man gets, the better he was as an athlete in his youth. (Source Not Found)

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I think I can even go so far as to say that you can never genuinely know yourself except as an outcome of disclosing yourself to another. (Alan Loy McGinnis, in The Friendship Factor,Augsburg Publishing House, 1979, p. 34)

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People build most nobly when limitations are at their greatest. (Frank Lloyd Wright, one of America's most creative and innovative architects.)

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The secret, Joey, is to know you're somebody without thinking you're somebody. (Dennis the Menace)

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The most important words we'll ever utter are those words we say to ourselves, about ourselves, when we're by ourselves. (Al Walker)

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Those who say they can and those that say they can't are usually both right.'' (Henry Ford)

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''Parents need to fill a child's bucket of self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can't poke enough holes in it to drain it dry.'' (Alvin Price)

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I have come to realize more and more that the greatest disease and the greatest suffering is to be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, to be shunned by everybody, to be just nobody to no one. (Mother Teresa, in 'My Life for the Poor')

I AM in shape. Round is a shape. ( Bumper Sticker)

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I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific. (Lily Tomlin)

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Some people just don't know how to be encouragers, like the wife who offered her husband some advice before he went out to speak. She said, ''Don't try to be charming, witty or intellectual. Just be yourself.'' 

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Sometimes the way we view ourselves is reflected in how we refer to what we do. A city banker was visiting a customer's farm. Nodding toward a figure in the farmyard, he said, 
"I suppose that's the hired man.''
The farmer replied, 
''No, that's the first vice president in charge of cows.''

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You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same. (Unknown)

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, ''Who would like this $20 bill?''

Hands started going up. He said, ''I am going to give this $20 to one of you; but first, let me do this.'' He proceeded to crumple the bill. He then asked, ''Who still wants it?'' Still, the hands were up in the air.

''Well,'' he replied, ''What if I do this?'' He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe, crumpled and dirty.

''Now who still wants it?'' Still the hands went into the air.

''My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in the eyes of those who love you. You are special - don't ever forget it! (Can't find source. Let me know if you find it!)

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Who Am I?

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My kids and I love the cartoon Johnny Bravo. (Tape a couple of shows and you will find plenty of clips of what we are NOT talking about when we refer to a healthy self-esteem.) Bravo is the ultimate in being hung up on himself. He constantly tries to impress people with his outward appearance, but it never works. Get a clip of him praising himself in the mirror, or trying to impress a girl. Then ask, ''Do you know students who, like Johnny, are totally hung up on themselves? The good part is, he doesn't have a bad self image. The bad part is, he's gone to the other extreme and doesn't have a HEALTHY self esteem. And although some people are initially impressed with Johnny's muscles and looks, it doesn't take long till they're turned off.''  Although we want to have confidence in ourselves and our abilities, we don't want to become proud and boastful so that others despise us. (© Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved)

What Cool People Were Like in School

Most students think they're not very cool, not very good looking. They wish they looked like adult movie stars, and probably envision that these stars looked like miniature stars when they were in school. Well, the good news is that many of those people they so admire looked pretty geeky back in their school days. 

Search the Web for pics of current stars (including people like Bill Gates, Stephen Spielberg, etc.) when they were kids. Put them on overhead sheets. Put up each picture and have students guess who the person is. At a time in their lives when physical beauty is so critical, it's encouraging for kids to see that they might not always be as awkward and gangly as they are now!

General Stuff

Little Bill was a classic geek. He was small for his age and skinny, spoke with a high-pitched, squeaky, nasal voice, wore his shirts buttoned to the top and his pants hiked way up above his waste. One of his 7th grade schoolmates would later call him a ''prototype nerd''. In high school, students enjoyed bumping him while passing in the hall and generally giving him a hard time. But no matter what he looked like to others, he charted his own course and did pretty well.

His last name is Gates, Bill Gates. Today he's the wealthiest man in America and the world's greatest entrepreneur. Don't ever give up just because your peers don't accept you or because it seems that nobody else understands your dreams. (Written by Steve Miller. Source: Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews, Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented An Industry - And Made Himself The Richest Man in America, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1994, p. 16, 24, 34)

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Eddie Van Halen, the lightning-fast guitar player for Van Halen, may be adored by the crowds, but by his own estimation, he sometimes sees himself as dumb and goofy looking. At the height of his popularity, when an interviewer reminded Eddie of the thousands of kids who dream of being Eddie Van Halen, playing the guitar with the seeming ease of a virtuoso playing the piano, he responded, ''Oh, I am so much geekier than any of those kids dreaming about being me.'' (Written by Steve Miller, © Copyright January, 2002, All Rights Reserved, Source: Rolling Stone, 5-21-84)  

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Tom Brady, the super-successful quarterback for the New England Patriots, doesn't try to be "just another jock." Elwood Reid, one of his college professors, noted that Brady was his own person. The other jocks in his class were too cool to do homework or act interested in his class. Not Brady. He was polite, sincere, did his reading, brought his books to class. Reid expected the other athletes to treat him with contempt, making fun of the skinny athlete.

But to Reid's surprise, "the most disruptive guys in the class did more than leave the quarterback alone. They seemed to look up to him. In fact, they seemed to look up to him more because he wasn't following their lead." I suppose you can't very well lead the crowd if you're following it. [Moving the Chains: Tom Brady and the Pursuit of Everything, by Charles P. Pierce (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006), pp. 4,5].

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Tim Berners-Lee has been credited with inventing the World Wide Web, because he gave us the ability to mouse click on a link and jump uninterrupted to sites around the globe. Without his technology, we couldn't surf the web. The idea for the development sprang from his inability to remember random things like names and faces. So, he wrote some software to keep track of these links, sort of a memory substitute for what he lacked. (Time Mag., 5-19-97) So don't get discouraged by those areas you seem to lack. They may turn out to be your greatest asset as you find ways to work around them.

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If your view of yourself is too highly, you may slack off and not work as hard as you should. One reason that Microsoft employees kept pushing themselves, even after they became the undisputed leaders in the industry, was that they always felt someone else was about to beat them out and that they could fall at any time.

As one Microsoft employee said, ''We've always had an inferiority complex. We always believed that we could have done it better. …We have low confidence that we're the best guys. We always believed that somebody is over the horizon doing it ten times better, and that philosophy still carries.'' (Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews, Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented An Industry - And Made Himself The Richest Man in America, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1994, p. 441)

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Have patience with all things but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You're a perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that. Unconditional self-acceptance is the core of a peaceful mind.'' (St. Francis de Sales)

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Ever feel a little odd? One young child was considered abnormal by relatives and neighbors. Nevertheless, he was sent to school, but diagnosed mentally ill by his teacher. His mother withdrew him from school in her anger and vowed to teach him herself. The child? Great inventor Thomas Edison. (Cradles of Eminence, p. xiii)

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Our early emphasis on human relations was not motivated by altruism but by the simple belief that if we respected our people and helped them respect themselves, the company could make the most profit. (Thomas J. Watson, Jr., past president of IBM)

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''Having spent a career trying to understand and help young people, I am convinced that one primary cause of the tragic self-destruction of so many of our youth is that they do not know the work and satisfaction of living for something larger than themselves. The human psyche cannot stand up against moral neutrality. If nothing is truly good, right and worth striving and sacrificing for, life is meaningless and no course of action can build a sense of one's own worth. Without large goals, life is barren, life is a burden.'' (John A. Howard, past President and counselor of the Rockford Institute, in ''The Rotarian'' July 1989)

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Have you ever wondered how some of history's most famous people looked when they were growing up?   

Houdini was puny and bowlegged.

Tolstoy thought no one would ever be able to love him because of his weird eyes, big lips and enormous ears.  

As a teenager Franz Kafka walked around town in ratty clothing, with his back bent and his hands all over the place because of his "inescapable ugliness."

Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and Bertrand Russell were scrawny, ugly boys.

George Orwell said, "I had no money, I was weak, I was ugly, I was unpopular, I had a chronic cough, I was cowardly, I smelt."

When reading the book Cradles of Eminence which describes famous people's childhoods, you realize that most people struggle during their early years and fight poor self-esteem. 

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The Potential of Young People

Great violinist Yehudi Menuhin was studying the violin seriously at the age of three and a half and was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory at seven. Sousa organized his first band when he was eleven. Schweitzer played the organ for church services when he was nine. Norman Angell was editor of a newspaper at fifteen. Marconi began working on his idea for a radio when he was fourteen, sent his first message when he was twenty-one. At five, Steinmetz could do multiplication and division with fractions. After finishing a book on mathematical physics, schoolboy Enrico Fermi remarked to his sister that he had not noticed it was written in Latin. When Fermi was in elementary school he also designed electric motors which worked. As a child Marie Curie spoke German, French and Russian with equal ease. At eleven, Albert Einstein was reading philosophy and also textbooks on science and mathematics. For recreation he played the music of the great composers on his violin. (Source: Cradles of Eminence, pp. 244-246) 

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In the 1970's Pro tennis player Torben Ulrich landed five passes to a Deep Purple concert for a night out with his friends. When one backed out, he brought his 10-year-old son Lars instead. Totally impressed with the band, Lars and his friends became ''Deep Purple'' in his bedroom, using a broomstick and tennis rackets for guitars and a table soccer game for the keyboard. Lars made a cardboard-box drum and played it with a set of paint stirrers. At 13 his grandmother bought him his first drum set.

Eventually he met James Hetfield and bassist Ron McGovney to form a new band that they called Metallica, which became one of the most respected bands ever. The point? The seeds for his future were planted early, at the age of 10, when his dad took him to a concert. That early impression changed the course of his life. Teachers, although your students may be young, never forget that the impression you make on them may last for a lifetime.  (Written by Steve Miller, Copyright April 26, 2002. Source: Metallica: the Frayed Ends of Metal, by Chris Crocker, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1993, pp. 16,17.)

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When successful businessman and former richest person in the world John D. Rockefeller was seven years old, he was raising turkeys for profit.

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At 15 years of age, Arnold Schwarzenegger decided he wanted to be the best body builder in the world. And when he saw a massive bodybuilder named Reg Park in a movie, he knew he had found his hero. In Schwarzenegger's own words, ''From that point on I was utterly dominated by Reg Park. His image was my ideal. I found out everything I could about Reg Park. I bought all the magazines that published his programs. I learned how he started training, what he ate, how he lived, and how he did his workouts. I became obsessed with Reg Park; he was the image in front of me from the time I started training…. I pasted his pictures on all the walls of my bedroom. … I studied every photograph of him I could get my hands on – noting the size of his chest, arms, thighs, back and abdominals. This inspired me to work even harder. When I felt my lungs burning as though they would burst and my veins bulging with blood, I loved it. I knew then that I was growing, making one more step toward becoming like Reg Park..'' (Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder, by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Douglas Kent Hall, A Fireside Book, New York, pp. 18-20. Used by Permission.)

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Tiger Woods makes for good illustrations since he is extremely popular, appeals to many races and is an astonishing athlete. Here are some illustrations you can use…

On June 18, 2000, Tiger Woods rewrote the record books with his astonishing domination of the US Open. There was no competition. He blew away second place by 15 points, the largest lead any golfer ever established in a major golf championship. He's now the first player in the U.S. Open's 106-year history to finish the 72 holes at double digits under par – 12 under.

Woods developed his incredible game from his early years, showing us the potential of youth. Often, we don't expect much of students or think that they can only take on significant tasks when they become adults. But Tiger started making waves early, very early.

While he was still wearing Pampers, he would play the Los Alamitos Navy course. His mom recalls him pulling down his pants to relieve himself in the sand trap between shots.

At three years of age he shot a 48 from the red tees and won a Pitch, Putt and Drive competition against 10 and 11-year-olds. (p. 17)

At 8 he won his first Junior World Championship, shooting a five under par and beating five of the pros who participated.

At 13, before entering the 8th grade, he played his first national tournament, a Junior tournament where he was up against 18-year-olds. Juniors were paired with professional players and Tiger played with professional John Daley, who would later win the British Open. After the first nine holes, 13-year-old Tiger was beating Daley by four strokes. (p. 24)

So why do we so often treat youth like ''tomorrow's leaders,'' rather than "today's leaders?" Do we give them responsibilities equal to their potential? Do we give them challenges worthy of their callings? (Written by Steve Miller, Copyright April, 2002, all rights reserved. Sources: ''Tiger earns historic win at U.S. Open'', Associated Press; Tiger Woods: The Making of a Champion, by Tim Rosaforte, St. Martin's Press, NY).

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Bill Gates was an 8th grader when he learned on his own the programming language called ''Basic.'' Later he would develop his own version of ''Basic,'' which gave Microsoft the lead in operating systems and the software revolution. One of the main programmers for Microsoft Windows was 20 years old. (Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews, Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented An Industry - And Made Himself The Richest Man in America, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1994, pp. 27,261,273, 274)

When Microsoft was young, they needed someone who understood Apple computers to develop software for them. They ended up hiring Neil Konzen, a high school senior who'd already written a program editor for the Apple and was selling it through the mail.

A couple of years later, he'd be one of the main guys to write Microsoft Windows, today's dominant operating system. Don't ever underestimate the potential of youth. (Written by Steve Miller, Copyright Feb., 2003. Source: Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews, Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented An Industry - And Made Himself The Richest Man in America, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1994, pp. 136,137,274)

Without an insatiable thirst for understanding computers that began at 13 years old, Gates could have never led the computer revolution, become a millionaire in his 20's, and a multi-billionaire in his 30's the wealthiest man in America. He's been called ''The world's greatest entrepreneur.'' He was so motivated to learn computers that as a youth he would act like he was going to bed at night, only to sneak out and take a bus to an office which allowed students access to their computers.

When he was 19 or 20, he started MicroSoft. You know them by their operating system and programs -  Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, etc. In the early days of Microsoft, Gates was so young that when he flew into cities to market his software, he couldn't even rent a rental car. He was too young, and looked even younger. A year later, Steve Wood, general manager for Microsoft, hired a secretary who was instructed that a couple of rooms were off limits for visitors. It wasn't long till she spotted someone who looked like a teenager, complete with mess-up hair and blue jeans, rummaging through the president's office and heading for the off-limits computer room. She dutifully ran to warn Woods, who calmly instructed her, ''That's Bill.''

''Who?''

''Bill Gates. The president. He's your boss.''(Gates, pp. 116, 117)

The next year, when Gates was 22, Microsoft would have its first million dollar sales year.(p. 128) While in his 30's, he became a billionaire.

Want more resources for the theme "Self-Respect"? Check out the related theme, "Self-Confidence" .