220 Youth Leadership

The Power of Routines: incorporating daily intentional activities turns into healthy habits

How are you feeling getting back into your school year routine?

If you want to make the most of each day, here are some routines we recommend based on our own experiments and a lot of research on what top performers do:

☕ Morning Routine: Don’t just wake up at the last minute. Having a consistent morning routine can give you mental focus, time for critical activities and make you feel in control of your day instead of constantly reacting.

🙌 Gratitude: A regular gratitude practice will help you appreciate every day and make you your happiest, most productive self. It can be simple as visualizing 3 things you’re grateful for, and can serve as basic meditation.

💪 Fitness/Nutrition: Getting in at least 20-30 minutes of exercise every day, combined with a consistent healthy nutrition regimen, will improve all areas of your life.

🎯 Critical Activities: Take at least one step each day towards your goals.

💤 Evening Routine: Improve your quality of sleep by winding down 1-2 hours before bed. Eliminate screen time, take a hot shower, drink tea or read fiction.

What are your favorite elements of your daily routine?

TRUTH BOMB: Knowledge by itself is worthless 🤯

Imagine the pilot on your next flight has studied how to fly a plane for 1,000 hours, but this is their first time actually flying a plane.

Or imagine your surgeon has watched over 1,000 surgeries, but this is their first time actually performing the surgery.

Other than winning you an argument or helping you pass a test, knowledge will get you nowhere without action.

In addition to acquiring knowledge, students have to give themselves ample opportunity to practice, try and fail regularly.

And they need to understand that their first attempts will probably be bad. They may look back and even laugh at themselves.

We run into this constantly in entrepreneurship.

For example, we'll stumble across an old blog post or marketing packet or website snapshot from when we started our company in 2015.

And it's totally cringeworthy. But then we have a good laugh and appreciate it, because the 220 of today wouldn't exist without those bad early versions.

You have to be bad before you can be great.

Most people aren't willing to overcome their fear of being bad early on. Or endure that level of vulnerability. Or tolerate that much repetition.

But everyone can, including your students.

We're invested, we're passionate, we're committed.

Thoughtful, consistent practice on the right things will help us get there faster than anything else.

We had a pretty inspiring Monday night.

We got the chance to speak to student entrepreneurs participating in the Missouri AfterSchool Network Youth Entrepreneurship Pitch Challenge!

K-12 students from around the state developed business ideas, submitted pitch videos and actual cash prizes were handed out.

We told them how excited we were they were getting started now, and that their keys to success will be to continue doing things before they're ready and accumulating experiences like this pitch competition.

Doing these things over and over is what most people aren't willing to do, but it's what these students can do to take them places most people will never go.

What inspired you this week?

If you're anything like us, you want to help students think differently about their future, develop real world skills, and accomplish their most important goals in life.

Here at 220, we strive to give afterschool directors everything they need to help their organization, staff, and students thrive.

If you want to…

✔️Grow programming and funding opportunities (without constantly applying for grants)

✔️Create a standout program recognized by funders and partners

✔️Stop worrying about hitting your regularly attending participants (RAPs) and focus on impact

✔️Produce powerful, sustainable outcomes for your students

✔️Help students who are struggling, disengaged, and/or overcoming trauma

✔️Standardize the quality of your staff without spending a fortune or your own time on training

✔️Reduce your dependency on individual staff while increasing the quality of your program and outcomes

✔️Stop feeling burned out, get some work life balance and find more joy in your daily work

✔️Be seen as a leader and innovator in your community and leave a lasting legacy with your organization

You’re in the right place!

After working with afterschool organizations across the country for the past 10 years, we get it.

The 220 Online Platform was designed with you, your staff, and your students in mind.

We focus on giving your entire organization ready-to-implement programs to reduce staff burnout, increase student engagement and expand funding opportunities.

Our ready-to-implement Learning Tracks will give you evidence-based curriculum to teach the skills students need to succeed- while reenergizing your staff and reducing burnout.

We have multiple content tracks to help you teach what’s most relevant for your program and your funders that you can implement overnight.

Book your free demo to learn how you can join the thousands of students and organizations using 220.

Visit 220leadership.com

Minimize Regret: The Rocking Chair Test... Years ago, we picked up a super useful decision-making tool from Jeff Bezos, Founder & CEO of Amazon that we like to share with students and educators alike.

If you find yourself on the fence about something, ask this question:

"When I'm in my rocking chair at 80 years old looking back at my life, how will I feel about this decision?"

It provides great clarity for decisions big or small. We find that it helps you stay true to yourself and your values and prioritize what really matters.

Our learning portal features comprehensive programs that can be implemented in person and online.

But we've also compiled some of our favorite training content available for you and your students, and it's totally free!

Check it out at 220leadership.com/resources

Incredible example of being creative to help your students love learning:

In case you missed it, last week we challenged our 220 community to think about how we can create this kind of excitement in our classrooms and programs.

That's why we were so excited to read this article.

The school told Joe Vercellino, "we don't have a budget for a music program."

Many teachers would have stopped there.

Instead, Vercellino created a music writing class from scratch, helping his students publish dozens of original songs and music.

Look at what can happen with some creativity, engagement and project-based learning?

This Detroit teacher’s classroom might be the hottest music studio in the city Joe Vercellino wants his students at Voyageur Academy in Detroit to feel that "they are part of something big." His classes have created dozens of songs and music videos.