Keep the Mosquitos Away, Taking Action, and Reinventing Yourself

 

I am horrible at New Year’s resolutions. I have expectations of grandeur and inevitably succumb to the inevitable and I stop doing what I wanted to do. I fail. A lot. So, this year, I’m trying to work more on developing habits instead of some lofty goal. I’m going to continue my One Word ritual because it’s simple. Well, coming up with the word is simple. Following through is the hard part. This year’s one word is Action.

Action, as in not stagnant. Keep the Mosquitoes Away. (More on that later.) Action, as in pull those pistols. (Josey Wales reference) Action, as in intentional action. Saying, “No.” sometimes is a good thing. Action, as in see the need, fill the need. Action, as in the pursuit of progress, not perfection. Action, as in not waiting. Procrastination is something I struggle with. Action, as in aligning to the big picture. Action, as in do worthwhile stuff. Action, as in waking up a little earlier for some reflection time. Action, as in “You can’t defeat, what you can’t define.” Action, as in tracking something to see how you’re doing. Action, as in being efficient and effective. Action, as in not doom scrolling. I struggle with this. Action, as in investing time, not spending it. Action, as in controlling time. Each of us has 24 hours in a day. I know we’re still in the middle of COVID. I know life is tough right now. I know teachers are working their butts off: covering classes, managing blended learning, having half of the class gone one day, and the other half the next, etc. etc. etc. I’m not downplaying any of these tough times. I see your exhausted faces. I see your will to just get through the period, the subject, and the day. I also can’t dismiss the fact that great things always come out of struggle. Through the struggle is typically where the strength is found. Keep going. ……..

….which brings us to... Know you’re doing hard stuff. Know you’re in the trenches. Know that it’s difficult right now. As if you didn’t already know all of those things. But also know that we unlock our greatness during these times. The following are small changes/activities/habits you can make to continue pushing through. Start small. Whenever I think of being stagnant, I think of standing water. Standing water brings mosquitoes. Mosquitoes suck the life out of you. Keep the mosquitoes away. Keep moving forward. Maybe it’s something small that you will change in your delivery style? Maybe you’ll change the way you plan lessons after listening to student feedback? Maybe it’s how you’ll lean into relationships and share more about the things you love? Maybe the doldrums got you down, and you are choose to be more happy? Maybe you’ll let go of some control, so that you can control the things you want to: family time, hobby time, the weekends, etc. Maybe you had some goals, but they didn’t work, so you’ll focus on what you don’t want and make Anti-Goals? Maybe you are stuck in a rut, so you expand your mind? (Possibly not appropriate for students) Maybe you’ll repurpose an assignment into something that benefits others and involves your community? (see PBL) Maybe you’ll decide to change the way you talk to yourself? Maybe you just say, “Lets do this!” and get into the biggest state of flow you or your students can get into? Maybe you’ll embrace the chaos and are still moving forward? Maybe you didn’t want to come to school today, but did anyway. Maybe you’ll implement research-backed brain-based strategies that work so you know your teaching will be effective? Maybe you’ll sign up for some EduProtocols PD that will change the way you teach? Maybe you’ll add more visuals and will learn how to draw faces quickly? Maybe you’ll start a deeper reflection period to help manage and understand yourself like talent-based branching, like they do in the Army? Maybe you’ll ask more questions? Whatever it is, keep trying new things. Keep leaping. Keep finding ways to reinvent yourself and your systems (I’m reading this currently). Cut the fat. Focus on the main things. Try to find times for yourself. Keep going. Keep being awesome, because you are.

Maybe the struggle has benefits, even if we don’t want the struggle? Put one foot in front of the other. When you’re tired, rest. When you’re rested, pick up where you left off. Ask for help when needed. Lean on others.

May your day be great. Stay Curious. Give more than you take. Try something new. Matt

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2020 Was Hard, One Word:Future, Refill the Cup

 

2020 was hard. There is no way around that. As much as we’ve needed to live in the moment because we didn’t know what the next minute held, it’s good to take some time to wrap up the last year. What went well? What didn’t go well? What needs to change? What needs to stay the same? What needs to be thrown overboard with a ton boulder tied to it? What are we grateful for? What are you leaving in 2020 and what are you claiming in 2021?

After looking back, I then decided to think about the new year. I’ve done a One Word theme for around the past 8 years. Some words I’ve used before: pursue, still, curious, joy, present, sail, Most of the time I chose them at the beginning of the school year, but hey, 2020 was crazy. Why not do one at the turn of a new year. My word for this year is future.

The rationale: I wrote down some things that I want future-me to be like in a year from now. I’m not off to a great start, but at least I have plan :) I’m trying to build habits. I also said I was going to journal daily and that hasn’t happened, yet. :( Half full or half empty?

Either way, it doesn’t matter. It’s refillable. - Neil Pasricha You can change the amount. You can take a drink. You can add more. You have agency/autonomy to choose. Take hold of what you want to do. Take a risk. Buck the system a little. You get to decide how your day will go. It’s on you. So let’s fill up our cups and fill up others’ cups because:

This has been the hardest thing for me during C.E.(COVID Era). I’m an introverted extrovert. Even though I’m fairly quiet and need alone time to recharge, I love being around people, even if I’m just watching. So I'm hoping to connect more this year, too.

2021 Planning - Some things I’ve found about building habits - Why Small Habits Make a Big Difference Moving Beyond the Status Quo Systems vs Goals, endings, and the importance of leverage Reflecting the Past Year - 3 Things to let go, 3 to keep and 3 wishes for the future. 21 Tips for a Positive New Year May your day be great. Stay Curious. Give more than you take. Refill the cup. Matt

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2017-2018 One Word: SAIL

Every year, I choose One Word to be my driving force. Some make resolutions, some choose three things. I typically choose one that can encompass a lot. It's me trying to make things more simpler.

 

Here are some from the previous years. 

 Pursue things that matter. 

 Be present in each moment. 

Be joyful.

 Shift my thinking. 

Building off of the previous years, I'd like to take what I have learned these past couple of years and SAIL. 

The Word: Sail

The Quote: "A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for." John A. Shedd

The Verse: "Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go." James 3:4

The Logo: It's a boat made out of the letters in Sail. S for the bottom. A is a sail. I is a pole. L is another sail.

The Meaning at School: Over the past couple of years, I've really been able to change the way that I taught. I've placed more emphasis on creating and innovating and less on content. I've been blessed with a position that lets me do this. While reading and diving deeper into how students learn today and presumably in the future, those that merely know content are going to be left behind. No more is the go to college, get a great job, have a great pension, retire with a lot of money the norm. There are young entrepreneurs making a lot more money than I am. I was listening to Tim Elmore on the EntreLeadership podcast the other day and he always blows me away with insight into the young generations and how they learn, communicate, and are successful. It's time I embraced more of that mindset in my teaching. I'm going to do a little more PBL this year. I read Hacking PBL over the summer to get a better idea of PBL.  Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy do a great job of breaking it down into 10 hacks to help you on your journey. I do some already, but I'd like to incorporate more of that into my current things. I want my students to sail. I have always thought that it's interesting that a very small rudder can steer a huge ship. (I've also watched Moana a ton this summer. So that may have influenced the word Sail.) I'm just a mere rudder. A catalyst. Showing the way. Aligning my students to the path. Take risks. Go deeper. Innovate. Create. Do stuff that really matters.

The Meaning at Home: The OneWord is geared to encompass all your walks of life. SAIL will be used in the same format in my personal life. I need to sail in my marriage, with my own kids, and in learning personally.

The Meaning while Coaching. I'm already looking at ways to help my basketball team come this winter. How can I tailor my system to meet the needs of my players for this year? How can I mold leaders? How can I help my team SAIL?

The Meaning while Designing: This past year, I started working doing a lot of sports graphics in Photoshop. I'd like to continue that. I come alive with that. I'd also like to combine my sports photography and design work a little more this year as well.

We can get by and play it safe while just being mediocre, or I can choose to SAIL and make a huge impact on others.

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Joy: My One Word for 2016

Joy.

That will be my #oneword for this year. 

Past year's one word is HERE AND HERE.

The Word - 

The word joy means to bring great happiness. 

The Logo - 

What's better than they word and a smiling balloon to represent joy?

The Verse - 

Nehemiah 8:10 The joy of the Lord is your strength. 

The Why - 

I struggle with being positive at times. Yes, most people probably see me as happy a lot. I like to joke. I like to make people laugh. Internally though, I'm a pretty negative person. I plan to seek the joy in everything that I do. I plan to see the joy in my kids and get off my phone. I plan to spend quality time with my wife without any distractions. I plan to see the great things that my students are doing in the classroom and try to look past a lot of the negative things that go along with teaching. I plan to not only push my basketball players, but to show them that I see their joy as well. I plan to focus on relationships and try to see what makes others joyful. I plan to work on how I use my joy to help others' joy. How can I spread joy? How can I make life meaningful? How can I not postpone joy? 

I my own life lately, I've noticed me being grumpier. I don't want my kids to see me as grumpy. If I happened to pass away tomorrow, would that all they remember me as? My wife and I watched a movie last night and a guy was searching for his grandfather. He didn't know a lot about his dad, either. I want my kids to remember me and know me. Not as someone who is grumpy, but someone full of joy. 

A couple weeks ago, the senior pastor at church spoke on James 4:13-17. These were his main points.

• None of us know the future
• Life is brief
• Live with eternity in mind. 

I think that we should bring joy to our lives and others lives to help live with eternity in mind. I need to focus on the root and not the fruit. 

Also, my friend, Dean Shareski's keynote at the Clark Connected Connected Conference put on by my friend, Brett Clark, was centered on finding and celebrating joy. One of the biggest messages was a sticker on his laptop that said,

DON'T POSTPONE JOY. 

That pretty much summed it up. He also mentioned counting smiles instead of grades. I like that. One other thing that I have noticed about Dean after getting to know him more is that he truly lives joy. He seeks out joy in others. He wants to really get to know someone on a deeper level. That's something I'd like to try and work on this year. He also challenged the audience to be interesting adults. No one likes boring. Joy can help that. Another takeaway was that the amount of silliness you let in to your lives determines your amount of happiness. I know a lot of people that think I'm silly. All of the 6th grade teachers in our building went out to eat and enjoy the company of each other and their significant others before Christmas. One of them told me I was acting weird. I wasn't sure what that meant until after dinner we were waiting for a small group of the large group to leave and I pressed my body up against the window. She then said, "Ahhh. That's better!" I tend to be reserved in public places. Maybe I need to work on that more.

I got a drink at a gas station last night. I paid. The lady behind the register, in a boring, blah voice says, "Have a good night." I replied quite happily, "Thanks! You as well! and Happy New Year!!" She cracked a smile. That's joy.

Here's to year a seeking joy, seeing joy, and being joyful.

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2014-2015 One Word (It's actually two)

Last year my One Word was Pursue - You can read about it here.

Well, this year's One Word is...a hem... actually two words. I couldn't find something that meant the same but in one word, so I went with two words.

Be Present. 

I struggle with being in the moment. Sometimes my hands and my eyes are attached to some electronic device. I miss things. Important things. I'm missing important dad things. Husband things. Classroom learning opportunity things. Coaching things. You name it. I miss things because I struggle with being "in the moment." My mind wanders. I do other things. I'll check my phone incessantly. I stare off into space. I wonder about whether that stain on the carpet was there yesterday or not. I don't focus on what I'm currently doing. Actually, I've probably gotten up about 15 times while writing this. I have a "present" problem. I also have a problem with being selfish and can be very me-first. I'm more me-first at home than I am at school. It's something that I'm working on and I'm hoping that my One Word will help me in this.

I watched this by Alan Stein, basketball training guru, a couple of years ago and it really resonated with me. Yes, it's basketball related, but it can be translated to life. We need to play present. We need to give all we have to this exact moment. No matter what it is. Whatever we're doing at the very minute, we should be giving that our undivided attention. Alan states to focus on the process, and the two things that you have absolute control over - your attitude and your effort.

The logo -

Pretty simple really. Just "be present" in a script font. Nothing too fancy. I did add the Google Maps (or most maps now, I guess) location dot thing though. It's a reminder that I need to "be" right where I am. It's like I need to "check-in" and actually be present and not just existing in the same space as others. Moments needs to get all of me.

The picture - 

A map of Medieval Europe. Not really sure why, but it's my tie-in to my social studies classroom. My One Word is supposed to encompass all facets of my life. From home, to school, to coaching, to the weekends. All of it. It's a reminder that no matter where you go, there you are.

The verse - 

Honestly, I struggled with coming up for a verse for this year, but Romans 12:10 is the verse I chose. This verse is going to be my guide this year as I hope to turn my attention away from myself and onto my family, students, colleagues, and players. Devoted is a strong word. It invokes a lot of action. Love. I just read The Carpenter by Jon Gordon for the second time. You should read it as well. Love, Serve, Care is the success formula that J. Emmanuel shares with Michael in the book. This verse speaks to that. Honor.It speaks of humility and placing the needs of others before yourself.

It's going to be a daily battle for me. It's going to be a challenge, no doubt. But the benefits are going to far outweigh the struggles as I hope to get more closer and develop more meaningful relationships with those who are closest to me.  If you don't think I'm following my One Word, you have permission to call me out on it.

Be Present is my One Word for my school year 2014-2015. What's yours and why?

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Pursue - My One Word for this Year

http://getoneword.com/ is where I got the idea. Jon Gordon is a phenomenal author. I highly suggest reading his books.

The word. 

Pursue.

I found my One Word for this year. Some people do this at the new year in January. I choose to do it in the summer because my "years" tend to go from August to June because of school. I had it down to two words. Seek or Pursue. Then I spent a week at Camp Allendale with the 225 middle schoolers of Hazelwood Christian Church and Plainfield Christian Church. As Keith Parker headed up the week with the theme of "Pursue," it made the decision pretty easy. God pursues us. We pursue him. We screw up and become selfish. He is selfless. I want to be more like him. Decision made. Pursue. 

The logo.

I used the "s" in pursue as what I would consider a crossroads. It's life. It's the decisions I make on a daily basis. It's messy. It's curvy. It's filled of wrong choices and setbacks. It's anything but straight. In each decision I make, I make a choice of where I will head. I want to pursue Christ. This year, I want to be closer to Him. This year, I want my decisions to make Him draw closer to me.

The verse.

Matthew 6:33. "He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern." NLT. I like how the NLT words it. He is the provider of only of what I need over what I want. Pursue him. He's first. I am second. All of my decisions should be based on the Kingdom.

The picture.

A hiker in the woods. Pursuing whatever he is after. No one hikes without a destination and a guide. My destination is closer to who created me. My guide is who created me. The path is laid down.

Pursue.

Education wise - 

How does Pursue fit into my classroom? 

I think it goes as showing love through Christ to my students and fellow educators as much as possible. It's probably not What is Love from Night at the Roxbury . Ha.  

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