Be successful in life. Beyond health, a number of skills are needed to bring all areas of life together to create a fulfilling life with
enduring relationships and career success. M³ works with black boys to
ensure that skills like self-discipline and networking are fostered and
enhanced to enable the creation of networks and execution towards a
personal vision.
Any person who has a vision and would like to see this become reality has to discipline himself to first create a plan and then to execute this plan over time. During planning and
execution, obstacles will have to be overcome and alliances created to
ensure final success. In M³ we work with boys to help them realize that
the only path to success is through long-term vision, planning and
execution. As KG Charles-Harris often emphasizes, "the only difference
between rich and poor is the length of their planning horizon".
Self-discipline, or the ability to delay gratification to achieve a future goal, is a central facet of success. Black boys, having been fostered in a culture of immediate gratification
and "bling-bling", are wont to be short-term in their thinking. As a
result the concept of sacrifice or delayed gratification is foreign to
them. We work with the boys to help them understand that to achieve
their longer-term goals, they need to prioritize their present endeavors
to ensure that they focus on what will give them long-term reward. We
also illustrate what the consequences of neglecting to prioritize the
long-term are.
One way that we motivate the students is by bringing accomplished black men (business, sports, art, entertainment, politics, etc.) from the
community to interact with them. This enables them to hear from persons
they can identify with what was required for these men to accomplish
their dreams. It also gives them the opportunity to network. We seek to
involve men in the community, whether this be through fraternities at
universities, men's groups or individuals, to help foster the next
generation of leaders.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Tuesday, December 7th 2010 at 9:54PM
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