A mother called me this Sunday morning. She had received from her daughter a few workbooks I developed she thought might help her son prepare better to get out of prison.

If you wonder if adding Plans for School & Life to school lessons and writing assignments could be valuable to the development and decisions made by people, especially young people, ask the mother of a prisoner is she wishes we would add that preparation to education and what it means to be prepared for citizenship.

This mother is also thinking of how life may be different for her son if he had thought more, wrote more, and prepared more for the plan he desired for the person he wanted to become and the life he wanted to lead.

Do you think a student with even a bit more hope and direction will be more likely to succeed as well as avoid trouble? Of course, you do.

Have your read or heard of the power of goals or other components in plans? Of course, you have.

We can take action now and improve the lives of many. Perhaps you or someone you teach or know needs a better plan for life. Or,  perhaps you would benefit from not having to pay so much in taxes to support those former students who are in prison.

What if the prisoner, that’s mom’s son, and a former student had been more inspired and informed of positive possibilities, would he have been more likely to focus his time and energy toward callings instead of be tempted to do drugs–and the things he did while impaired by drugs, which sent him to prison?

If he had outlined what he could do to achieve possibilities and to solve problems instead of repeatedly think of his problems, would he have had more hope and reason to do good things leading to a better life?

All of us can identify what we do need to do to become our best-selves. Most of us already agree, if you do those things more people will spend their time positively and less people will end up in prison, homeless, or worse.

If we added Best-Self Leadership and Plan for School & Life to K-college and/or career plus help those already in communities, how much better could we do and how much could we save in human capital and in costs for law enforcement and incarceration of too many lost souls.

A country song of the past comes to mind with a line in the lyrics,

“You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

If you want people to improve how well they stand for something good, we can invite and reward them to write their callings and choices.

We can reward students for the effort with grades in school and steps to graduation.

We can include this positive action to earning a way out of prison. “Marking time” can help a man learn the value of freedom or it can kill his spirit and numb his conscience to inspired possibilities. Time without freedom is not the only answer. Some people plan and prepare better in a year than some who exist in the system for a decade. Some veterans making comebacks I have taught and coached made more progress in a month or two than some who stayed in the system for years–with little purpose, planning, or action.

If you value this thinking, you could write an inspired idea in your plan. And, you could support Life Leaders as we seek to help educators prepare our students with plans for school and the seven areas of life. You are invited to follow this blog. David