[JaneYoung]

You've mentioned that 5th grade was when you noticed a change occurring. You've tagged it as laziness. It could just be change that manifests itself as self-described laziness because you haven't come up with a plan to deal with the change.

One of the wonderful aspects of being on a FIRST team is time management. The FLL, FTC, and FRC teams all have to learn that aspect of build and of competition. When you are managing build regarding strategy, design, materials, and building the robot - you are also managing time - as a team and as individuals. We hear plenty of stories bragging about how late the team and individuals are staying up, days on end. We hear very little bragging about actually accomplishing excellent management of time and scheduling. This applies to the team goals and to the individual responsibilities and obligations. Everyone on the team has obligations that they must meet whether they are job duties or school responsibilities. The FIRST build and competition season is not a vacation - it is an additional responsibility. How the team and the individuals on the team address the additional responsibility and the time management involved, is a mark of maturity and respect for the obligations and duties that are a part of the daily grind. Time spent on Chief Delphi has to be factored into the discipline of managing your time. It is much easier and more fun (usually) to spend time on CD rather than doing your homework or paying attention to your studies. Those of us who work, have to manage that as well. For example, I get up earlier than I otherwise would so that I can check out posts and threads in CD. It is a lot of fun for me and I always learn a lot - but I try very hard not to shirk other duties because I enjoy browsing and posting in CD. There's a certain amount of support you can get on CD but really, you have to be the one to go the distance.

Jane