362. The Road to Success - Christina Sinclair: Salty Sam's Fun Blog for Children

January 21st, 2022

Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children

Number 362

The Road to Success

Hello Everyone

At the beginning of the universe was the Big Bang, scientists tell us.

Ever since that moment, the universe has been expanding.

And as we humans are part of the universe, we too have it in our nature to expand.

ln fact, if we don’t keep expanding, we often get into a rut and then can even sink further down into a depression.

Welcome to the third part of my series on how to be successful…

STEP ONE – setting goals

Setting goals and achieving them is what makes us happy.

Sometimes life gets too comfortable and it seems too scary to shake things up a bit. But if you don’t have anything new to look forward to, if you don’t have the excitement of working towards things you want to achieve, life gets a bit boring and samey and downright dull.

Humans are naturally goal-orientated. There is a special word for this.

lt is teleological.

lt means that we like to always have goals to work towards. This is what fires our passions and stirs our creative juices. This is what makes us want to achieve our dreams.

STEP TWO – the little steps make the journey

You can keep adjusting your upper level of achievement all of your life.

The trick is, to constantly be working on your plan – and it is little steps make the journey. These little steps can be woven into our day with all the other things that we have to do.

STEP THREE – patience is a virtue

Some tasks are achieved quite quickly. We can make a cup of tea in a couple of minutes. We can microwave a meal in a few minutes.

We can learn to knit in one evening and make a toy from this blog in an afternoon.

We can read a book in a day.

We live in a very fast world where we want things done quickly or even instantly.

But some things take a long time to achieve, and it is difficult to keep going when we don’t see instant results.

Some things take a long time to happen and we just can’t change that.

Things like getting trees or vegetables to grow, or losing weight.

So sometimes you need to show patience.

STEP FOUR – the compound effect

The only way to realize ambitions that will take time to achieve, is to do things every day or every week to move you towards your goals.

Your everyday habits will put you on the right road to achieving your dreams.

You need to feed and water your vegetable patch and pot plants.

You need to eat the right foods and take exercise to lose weight.

A masterpiece or a legendary project always takes time to create.

Don’t underestimate all the little achievements – they add up to make big differences.

This is what is called the ‘compound effect’.

Small actions completed consistently over a period of time can add up to create massive changes or developments.

Success rarely comes from doing just one big thing, but making lots of small, smart choices from day to day.

STEP FlVE – watch your progress

Slow, methodical, controlled growth is usually the best kind of growth there is.

‘Get rich quick’ schemes rarely work.

Success can come when preparation meets opportunity; and preparation can take a long time.

lf you think you have no patience, and will lose interest in a project that will take a long time, there is something that you can do to help yourself.

Start a progress sheet or project book.

Ticking off things on a list of things to do can give you a huge sense of achievement.

Taking photographs of the progress of weight loss, or growing a garden can remind you of your starting point and how far you have come.

You could start a file on a computer and add the photographs to journal entries or an ongoing report that you could write about all your efforts.

STEP SlX – focus

Focus on what you are doing. Don’t give in to distractions and don’t put things off when you know you have to do them.

Sometimes, you just have to do things when you don’t feel like doing them in order to get them done. Get control of your own mind, emotions and actions. Act with purpose. Be self-disciplined.

Finish what you have started, and when you have finished your tasks, chores, homework, tidying up, you can have fun with a clear conscience.

STEP SEVEN – celebrate success

You can reward yourself with a treat once you deserve it.

STEP ElGHT – good new habits

lf you have a bad habit, the thing to do is find a new habit to replace it.

Let me explain.

lf you drink a lot of sugary drinks you can start drinking water or milk instead.

Or if you don’t have bad habits but you want to add a new one into your life you can ‘hook it onto’ a habit you already have.

Let me explain.

lf you want to do yoga stretches every day, for example, you could do them between cleaning your teeth, which is already a habit you have, l am sure, and going to bed which is also a habit that you already have.

Scientists say that if you can force yourself to do something for 21 days, after that it will be a habit. You won’t have to think so much about needing to do it – it will just come naturally. lt will be your new habit.

You need to find time for your new good habit as well. So if you decide that you want to read more, then you can go to bed half an hour earlier and read for half an hour before you go to sleep – this way you can educate yourself more, learn more useful words, get ideas about what you want in life and understand more about the world.

The books you read at bed time don’t have to be story books.

They can be books about hobbies or interests.

Do you want to take up judo? Do you want to improve your football skills? Do you want to learn about survival in the wilderness? Do you want to learn how to paint with water-colour paints? Do you want to learn how to look after horses?

When you grow up, do you want to travel and explore? Do you want a career which will enable you to help people? Do you want to improve the environment or design beautiful buildings?

STEP NlNE – learn how to listen to your intuition

Another thing you have to do on your road through life, is to listen to your internal compass. We are all born with one. lt gives good guidance.

Some people call it having a gut feeling; some people call it intuition, some people call it the quiet voice within. Sometimes it is hard to explain how you know something – you just know it. lt is not reasoning or being logical – it is just knowing.

Your intuition tells you about your own life like no other person could.

lt is in the still moments that you make for yourself that this internal compass tells you which direction to take. The more you notice it working, the more you will trust it.

lt may tell you to do something or not to do something.

But it won’t tell you why! You just have to trust the guidance.

Sometimes you have to take risks to go forward. You may have to think carefully about them first and weigh up the advantages and disadvantages – people call this taking a ‘calculated risk’.

You think about what can go right and what can go wrong and what you will do if things do go wrong. You can often change your mind about something later if you want to.

The truth is, that you can’t always know all the places any path is going to take you.

STEP TEN – don’t make assumptions

lf things don’t work out how you hoped they would, you have to think again about what to do next and readjust your path. And don’t make assumptions – you always have to check your facts.

Things may not be how you think they are!!!

How do you spend your money? Where does it go? Make a list.

How do you spend your time? How much is spent doing what? Keep a log.

Why did you not get something done? What were you doing instead?

When you check up on these things – the truth may surprise you.

lf you check up on these things – the answers may stop you getting yourself into trouble.

STEP ELEVEN – fight fear with a plan

And if you worry about things a lot, this is a bad use of your imagination.

Bad thoughts like worry can make your body ill.

The antidote to worry and fear is purposeful action towards achieving your goals or solving your problems.

Turn worry and upset into creative thought. Think about ways you can change any situation that you are in into a different and better situation.

STEP TWELVE – ask for support

Ask for help if you need it. Adults can be really helpful sometimes.

lf you like my blog, please support it by telling all your friends and followers about it.

Thank you!

And see you again next Fun Friday!

Love and kisses

Salty Sam

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www.christina-sinclair.com

Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week

Bill: Why are you eating all those chips Bob?

Bob: You said that eating extra fries was good for your health.

Bill: No! l said that doing exercise was good for your health!

Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.

Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com

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Picture Gallery

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desk THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK

Well, firstly I have to tell you that our Rocky Bay Wassail Night went very well and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

The children performed their song wonderfully, which came from putting a good amount of practice in.

Bill and Bob said that they were looking forward to spring now.

They wanted to think about plans for the new season on their vegetable patch.

Auntie Alice had taught them that when you have a vegetable patch in production over a number of growing seasons, you have to use something called crop rotation.

This will help you successfully grow lots of vegetables from your ground.

One crop should follow another in rotation.

If you start with legumes which are peas and beans, the next year you should grow onions, leeks and garlic in that ground. These are called allium crops and you should not plant another allium crop in the ground where one has just been harvested.

The next crop to plant in that soil will be tomatoes and aubergines and root crops like: potatoes, carrots, parsnips, celery and beetroot.

The fourth crop to plant in that patch – so we are now in year four, is brassicas.

Brassicas are kales, cabbages, broccoli and cauliflowers. You might not grow these vegetables but instead choose to grow radishes or mizuna greens.

If you want to grow everything every year, you must either have four or more beds or divide a patch into four quadrants.

If a patch of soil is left to rest for a while, we call it being left fallow.

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Quick Quiz

Do you know what these phrases mean?

Sitting pretty
A sitting target
A sitting duck
A sitting tenant
Sitting on the fence
Sitting it out
Sitting on a goldmine

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lt’s the Weekend!

HOW TO MAKE AN ALLEY OF CLOWNS

These three clowns are called Eeny, Meeny and Miny.

They are the three clowns that work for the Rocky Bay Fun World.

Some people think that running away to the circus is not being successful – but if it makes you happy, perhaps it is.

Being clowns certainly makes Eeny, Meeny and Miny happy!

BODY (KNIT TWO FOR EACH CLOWN – SO SIX ALTOGETHER)

Change the colours around when you knit the second half of the clown’s body.

Using 4mm knitting needles and colour 1 dk yarn cast on 8 stitches

Knit 2 rows of stocking stitch

Change to colour 2

Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch

Cast off

HEAD (KNIT THREE)

Using 4mm knitting needles and white dk yarn cast on 15 stitches

Knit 6 rows of stocking stitch

Don’t cast off

Cut off the yarn leaving a length of about 20cm and thread this through the stitches on your needle and pull the knitting needle away

LEGS (KNIT SIX)

Make a list of the colours you want to use before you start

Using 4mm knitting needles and the colour of the trousers dk yarn cast on 8 stitches

Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch

Change to the colour of the shoes

Knit 2 rows of stocking stitch

Don’t cast off

Cut off the yarn leaving a length of about 10cm and thread this through the stitches on your needle and pull the knitting needle away

ARMS (KNIT SIX)

Make a list of the colours you want to use before you start

Using 4mm knitting needles and the colour of the sleeves dk yarn cast on 6 stitches

Knit 4 rows of stocking stitch

Change to white

Knit 2 rows of stocking stitch

Don’t cast off

Cut off the yarn leaving a length of about 10cm and thread this through the stitches on your needle and pull the knitting needle away

TO MAKE UP

Sew up the centre front seam right sides together using over-sew stitching and matching the blocks of colour up
Sew the bottom of the head to the top of the tunic
Sew little pompoms to the front of the tunic BUT if the clowns will need to take a lot of wear and tear in little fingers it would be better to use buttons
Sew up the back seam of the body and head right sides together using over-sew stitching
Turn the body and head the right way out
Pull the top of the head shut then stuff the head and body
Sew along the inner leg seams using over-sew stitching right sides together and turn the legs the right way out
Tightly bind the ankles twice around with shoe colour yarn
Stuff the legs
Sew across the top of the legs and the bottom of the body from behind (lay the legs across the stomach as you work) to attach the legs
Sew a strand of white yarn into the back of the neck and wrap it around the neck a couple of times, pull tight and secure the yarn into the centre back of the neck
Sew along the under arm seams using over-sew stitching right sides together and turn the arms the right way out
Tightly bind the wrists twice around with white yarn
Stuff the arms with the ends of the yarn left over from the knitting
Sew the arms securely to the sides of the body so that they point forward
Embroider a face onto the front of the head using black and red yarn –don’t put it too high otherwise it will not be seen under the hat

POINTED HAT (KNIT TWO)

Using 4mm knitting needles and red dk yarn cast on 9 stitches

Purl 1 row

Knit 1 row

Purl 1 row

Continue knitting in stocking stitch and decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of each of the next 8 rows (1st)

Cast off this last stitch

Sew buttons onto the front of the hat

Sew the front and back together along the side seams with right sides together using over sew stitching

Turn the hat the right way out

Sew loops of green yarn along the bottom of the hat and sew to the clown’s head – you will need about 60cm to go round once and then back the other way to make sure that the stitches do not go just one way

TALL HAT (KNIT ONE)

Using 4mm knitting needles and red dk yarn cast on 16 stitches

Purl 1 row

Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch

Don’t cast off

Cut off the yarn leaving a length of about 10cm and thread this through the stitches on your needle and pull the knitting needle away

Sew two buttons onto the front of the hat

Sew the back seam with right sides together using over sew stitching

Turn the hat the right way out

BOWLER HAT (KNIT ONE)

Using 4mm knitting needles and red dk yarn cast on 18 stitches

Purl 1 row

Knit 6 rows of stocking stitch

Don’t cast off

Cut off the yarn leaving a length of about 10cm and thread this through the stitches on your needle and pull the knitting needle away

Sew a button onto the front of the hat

Sew the back seam with right sides together using over sew stitching

Turn the hat the right way out

TIP

You can just put the hair at the sides and back if you would prefer.

BUCKET (KNIT ONE)

Using 4mm knitting needles and red dk yarn cast on 60 stitches

Cast off

Sew the strip of knitting into a bucket shape

Crochet 10 chains into a length of green yarn and poke the ends of the yarn into the sides of the bucket so that the handle can lift up and down

TICKLING STICK (MAKE ONE)

Wind the three colours of yarn around a pack of cards width ways – 10 times each colour

Slide the yarn off the pack and tie together at the top securely then glue to a lolly stick

Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.

It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.

Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.

Quick Quiz Answers

Sitting pretty – being in a fortunate position
A sitting target – being in an unprotected position
A sitting duck – open to an easy attack
A sitting tenant – somebody already living in a rented property
Sitting on the fence – not coming to a decision/not taking sides in a disagreement
Sitting it out – waiting for a situation to come to an end
Sitting on a goldmine – possessing something that can generate wealth