Episode 10: Your Actions Shape You
The Power of Today’s Decisions
Have you ever done an action that you wish you could take back, and no matter how many days pass, you’ll always regret that action? Every decision we make, big or small, creates a ripple effect on our future. In this episode of Message for My Kids, the host shares an important lesson with his children: the choices they make today will shape the opportunities, challenges, and experiences they face tomorrow.
Why Every Action Matters
It’s easy to believe that small actions don’t have long-term consequences, but the truth is that even the smallest habits can set the course for what’s ahead. Whether it’s practicing a skill, pursuing a passion, or practicing bad habits, each decision adds up over time.
Parents find themselves guiding their children through these choices, helping them understand that their future isn’t built in a day, it’s shaped by consistent actions over time.
Building a Future with Intention
Follow Your Passions: Engaging in hobbies and interests today can lead to future opportunities.
Take Initiative: Ask yourself what kind of person you want to be? You can help control your future by your current actions.
Make Thoughtful Choices: Every decision has an impact, and thinking ahead can prevent future regrets. Even the smallest action can set off a butterfly effect, shaping outcomes in ways we may not expect.
A Message for Parents and Anyone Seeking Growth
This episode isn’t just for kids, it’s a powerful reminder for parents and anyone striving for self-improvement. Whether guiding children or making changes in their own lives, listeners will find motivation to take control of their future based on their actions.
Listen Now: Why This Episode Matters
What we do today daily changes what’s possible tomorrow. This episode of Message for My Kids encourages listeners to be mindful of their actions and take steps toward a future they’ll be proud of. Tune in to the player at the top of the page to hear how small choices lead to big changes and why it’s never too early to start building your future.
Or…. you may view the transcript of the episode below!
Welcome back to another episode of Message for My Kids. Today I'd like to talk about actions. Actions that affect your future. And I know that not everybody understands how actions can affect the future until it really affects them. Sometimes there's even actions that are done that may never seem to affect the future, but it does. I know it's pretty crazy, but when you understand that the things that you do, even from small to big things, affect your future, you can kind of see what type of person you're gonna be or what your likes and don’t likes, what you don’t like in the future just from doing things when you're younger.
For example, playing video games. If there’s certain video games that you're stuck in and you play those and you like them, more than likely in the future, those are the ones you're gonna like as you get older, being an adult. There’s also the other things, the actions that you do, that affect your future, like the negative ones. For instance, if you're constantly eating candy or cookies and not brushing your teeth, those actions are gonna affect you in the future.
There’s actions that you do that you're gonna regret. I strongly believe that every person in this world does a minimum of three actions that they regret for their whole life, and it affects their future. It affects how they feel, they regret it, they wish they would have never done it. Somehow, some way, it is a ripple effect, a butterfly effect into the future. For the small things that we do, and our actions, they do affect us, either we see it or don’t.
If we're young and we play certain video games or we read certain books, in the future, it's going to affect us. It's gonna be the books that we recommend to our kids, the games that we recommend, the stories that we tell. When I was younger, I would sit around the little fire that your grandpa would make, and your grandma would sit there, and your grandpa and grandma would talk. I would be sitting there and there would be a fire. That’s probably why we do fires or theres fire pit here, because me doing these actions, sitting around and participating, sitting around a fire, really does affect our future.
It's the things that we do when we're young. And when you see that, you can kind of try to do good things, more and more good things. What do you want for your future? You want to save money? You save money at a young age, you’ll be the type of person who grows up saving money. If you want to be a person who lies or steals, in the future, you're gonna create that effect. Either you're gonna be hanging around with people who steals, lies.
So what’s pretty cool is that you get to control your future in a sense. And if you don’t understand that you can control your future by your actions, I’m sure there are probably examples right now that you can think of, the effects of actions, the do’s and don’ts, from borrowing items, going on social media, YouTube, stuff like that wasting valuable time.
I don’t know when this really starts. I mean, I don’t think it really starts when you’re six or five. I mean anything at that type of age, it’s really on the parents on what’s being taught to the child that’s going to affect the child in the future. Each of you guys, we spent a lot of time with you. I wish you could remember, and I wish I would have taken more photos than what we have. At the time, electronics weren’t even good. We could record up to like two or three seconds. There’s a lot of time spent with you guys that I wish you would remember, playing ball, rolling it on the floor, carrying you, walking around.
But we don’t have digital memory for that. What I mean is, we don’t have a lot of pictures or videos of that, and I think that would affect your life in the future. You guys watching certain cartoons already affects your life now. You tell me, "Oh, I like this show. We used to watch it all the time." And I look at it, and I’m looking at it, and I’m like, "What is this?" But I see that you guys are having fun with it, I see that you guys enjoy it. It was already affecting what you like from being younger, and I think that’s pretty cool, I think that’s awesome.
Your actions do affect your future. They really do. I don’t know about the small and big actions. There’s some big actions that were done and they just come and go. The small ones, the small actions are kind of the ones that drag out. They really drag out. The big actions are the ones that cause the consequences either it’s a good effect or bad effect. The consequences just come and go.
It’s pretty cool cause if you ask yourself at a young age, "What type of person do I want to be in the future?" your actions now will affect that. You want to be a good driver? You’ll learn how to drive. You want to be a bad driver? You want to be somebody who wants to go on vacations? You want to be somebody who goes to college? You want to be somebody who can be motivated, self-motivated, motivated by others? It’s all the actions that you do now that are going to affect it in the future.
I don’t know if you guys will ever be in a relationship getting older, I don’t know. What type of actions do you want to do now that are going to affect that? As in truth and lies. Im not talking relationship wise. No. I’m talking relationship, but I’m not talking about go find a boyfriend or girlfriend, that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is, what type of boundaries are you going to accept? What type of boundaries are you not going to accept? Those actions can start now. They can start with yourself.
Every person in this world regrets one thing. Minimum of three, but they regret one thing for sure. Minimum of three I think. That’s my personal belief. And out of these three things, it is a major, major, major action that we regret as people.
And you kids, no matter what happens, you will never be a wrong action that I’ve done in my past. You are not the wrong. You have affected my life in a positive way. I promise you have and you are wonderful children.
So what can you do with this message? Pay attention to more of your actions, but not to the point where you’re thinking what am I gonna do tomorrow? What am I going to do tomorrow, what am I doing now? Just don’t freak yourself out. Just kind of understand what type of person you want to be in the future.
Do you want to enjoy fires? Do you want to enjoy swimming? You want to enjoy ATVing? Kayaking? What games do you see yourself playing in the future? Do you want to be the type of person who likes to knit, play board games, or read certain books? I can almost guarantee that the things you do now, you’ll like in the future.
Do you want to be a positive person? Do you want to be selfish? So, I would say set boundaries. They don’t have to be big they don’t have to be small. They can just be whatever you want them to be, and in the future, they’ll affect you.
Some way, somehow they will affect you, and you’ll remember it. Whether you realize it or not, but you’ll still remember it. From the type of shoes, the way you dress, the way you communicate, and the things you do.
Actions, actions are key in what type of person you want to be.
Love you, kids. This is another Message for My Kids.
