Just One Chance: Assuring Your Child's Success And Happiness In School And Life | Richard Rossi

Children? Yes, children. They are everywhere. You might not have any yourself, or if you have, they might be grown now and on their own. No matter your parenting status, you have people in your life who do still have children under 21. Nieces, nephews, cousins, friends or employees. Children, how do you ensure that the child in your life succeeds and is happy? You listen to what my very close friend. He's been a member of Genius Network since the very beginning. An amazing guy, Richard Rossi has to say. Because Richard has studied over 650,000 of the highest achieving children in America for over 30 years. His title is Just One Chance assuring a child's success and happiness in school and in life. Please welcome one of my best friends in the world, Richard Rossi.

Guys, are you good? All right, do me a favor. If you have a child, please stand up and remain standing. Now, if you think it is possible, even metaphysically possible, that you might have a child someday, stand up and. And remain standing. All right? Turn to the person next to you and say, your child can be so much more than you ever thought possible. Overnight. So having kids is hard work. Can we all agree by show of hands that sometimes we feel like we're just making it up as we go along? Well, cut it out, because this is the most important work you're ever going to do. And you need to be just as strategic about this as you are in your own business. So this really is a presentation about a million dollar idea for your children. And really, at the end of the day, what do we want? We want them to be happy and successful in life. That's it. And actually, if you even drill down further, as I've done with thousands and thousands of parents, really all you want them to be is safe and. And happy. And if they are, you're happy. And you're only as happy as your least happy child. But there is a problem here. And the problem is that there are a couple of things that are conspiring against you ever achieving that goal. Now, the first is something that Peter Diamandis talks about a lot, which is this exponential, unknowable future. And what that means is that you cannot tell your child what their future is going to be. Like 100 years ago, you could have well within this range or that range, honey, this is probably what your life's going to be like. You tell me what the world's going to be like in 20 years and in an exponential future, and then tell me what your child's dangers and opportunities are going to be. You can't so that's the first thing. The second, I'm going to ask my friend Dr. Cherry Murray, who's the Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering, winner of the President's Medal of Technology and now just was appointed to be head of the Department of Energy, to explain to you.

Thank you so much. I don't think I've been in a room with so many smart people. It is amazing just looking at you. Well, I thought as I was thinking about my talk today that what I would do is tell you how I got to where I am today. It was a pretty bumpy road and it took me a very long time before I understood that I wanted to be a scientist and then an engineer. So before I start my story, I have two pearls of wisdom for you. The first is shit happens. The second. The second is when shit happens, look for an opportunity. If you see the opportunity, seize the opportunity.

That was Dr. Murray speaking in front of my last event for 10,000 high school students in Boston, Massachusetts. So what makes me unique, the one thing I have that's unique is that over the last 30 years I have worked with over 650,000 of the highest achieving young people in the country. That's my niche, that's my world, that's my love. That's the thing that I've devoted my life to, which is the high achieving child. And within that I've asked myself and really studied over the last 10 years the 1% of that 1%, what has made the 6,000 kids that I've worked with that are the greatest of the greatest, as wonderful and as happy and as successful as they've been in high school, in college and after. And in 4 minutes and 40 seconds I'm going to tell you the answer to that. The first is that they have the courage to, to act in the face of discomfort. And I see this all the time with these young people. Discomfort does not in any way discourage them. They just move forward. Number two, they are self managed, they're self directed and they're self motivated. Mommy and Daddy do not have to tell them what to do all the time. Mommy and daddy are their role models and leaders, but they don't have to manage them all day long. They are goal setters, inveterate goal setters, little big, medium sized goals. It comes naturally to them. They just know that that's one of the greatest secrets to their. They are really, really good at managing their time. Do they play video games? Do they hang out with their boyfriends and girlfriends? Sure they do. Are they Regular kids, yes, but better than most of us and almost all of their peers. They are strategic about how they use their time. They have great speaking and listening skills. They are able to look you in the eye, shake your hand, smile as you're talking to them, at least give the illusion they're interested in what you have to say. And then they're able to speak articulately back to you. And along with that, they have great negotiating skills. So if they want something from you, they have the ability to kind of get their way. And as we all know, if we have kids, they're born as wonderful negotiators and they are very consistent in their action. In fact, in a lot of ways, they're pigheaded. They just are determined they are going to move forward regardless. They also understand what all of us in this room have to understand to reach our full potential in life. And that is that failure is not optional. The one thing you're never supposed to do in school is fail. You get an F. The one thing you have to do in life over and over again in order to succeed is fail. They got that message. And they also know that failing does not make you a failure. They just get that. They understand that failure is you. Failing is just something you tried to do and it didn't work. So University of Chicago did some amazing research and they found that if you have these skills, if you are willing to accept discomfort, you're self managed, self motivated and self directed. You're a goal setter, your time manager. Speaking, listening skills, negotiating skills, Determination, not being afraid to fail. Guess what? Your grades and your test scores go up. Shocking. Obviously they would right now. The other thing is that this is also based on all the research. What makes you really happy and successful after school. And by the way, all those attributes, how many of you in the room would like to hire people with those attributes? In a heartbeat. Right now, in 28 seconds. I cannot tell you the exact steps to help your own child achieve those goals. However, I've spent several years decoding exactly how they do it and then trying to translate it into a way that you can help your own child actually achieve these attributes. If you work with your child, I absolutely guarantee you because I've seen it over and over in thousands of children. They can develop these skills. You can be strategic about raising your child to be happy and successful in life. It is an honor being on this stage today with all of you and I thank you very, very.