I talk about ownership quite a bit. I talk about ownership with my Leadership Team. I talk about it with my family. I talk about it when I am speaking, coaching, or consulting.
The issue with ownership is that it is not easy. Ownership is a lot like accountability – it seems like a great idea until it has to be applied to one’s self. That is when things get complicated.
The reason it is hard is because personal ownership is composed of two key things – your behavior and your results. This makes it VERY tough to look in the mirror and to answer the bell of ownership. If you don’t believe me, think of ownership in terms of these five key areas of your life.
FAMILY, PROFESSION, FINANCE, HEALTH, FITNESS
If you are thinking of these areas and your own behavior and results and still not making the link to ownership, let me help you by adding one simple question for each area of your life to facilitate thought. To be clear, there are hundreds of questions I could ask – but let’s start here:
FAMILY
Right now is your relationship with your significant other the strongest it has ever been and if not what are you actively doing to get it back to that level?
PROFESSION
Is the trajectory of your career ascending right now and how do you know?
FINANCE
Do you either have the strongest financial position you have ever had (overall amount in your bank/investment accounts) OR do you have the most clear financial plan of your life?
HEALTH
Are you actively and conscientiously taking all available steps to keep yourself healthy including making all regular and preventative doctor visits a priority?
FITNESS
Are you in the best cardiovascular shape of your life or are you the strongest you have ever been in your life?
When you start to ask yourself questions like this it becomes impossible to NOT OWN exactly where you are at. If your answers to some of these questions were not ones you were particularly proud of, that is fine. The point of this exercise is not to lead to self-judgment. Instead, the point of this exercise is to bring awareness to your current situation. With awareness comes responsibility and ownership.
Why is ownership important? Simply, we must be able to tell ourselves the truth about where we currently stand if we ever want to take steps to move forward.
REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS TO GUIDE SOME THINKING
(I include this section in most newsletters, but for this edition I will ask additional questions that could have been asked above)
- Am I dating my spouse or significant other?
- How many times do I choose my phone over being present with my family?
- How often do I complain in 24 hours? (Complaining is antithetical to ownership)
- If you know what to do to get into better shape, why aren’t you doing it?
- What is preventing you from having a real conversation around financial goals with those people you love the most?
THE BEST THING I READ/WATCHED THIS WEEK
The Stubborn Myth of Learning Styles by William Furey
A quick, scholarly-written article that attempts to debunk the popular notion that learning styles exist and how that is impacting the educational environment.
Teacher educators and preparation-program administrators should not want to propagate a myth that has negative effects on student achievement and motivation. However, if they want to keep certification rates high and see students’ dreams of having their own classrooms come to fruition, they’ll need to prepare candidates fully for licensure exams. So, until the content of licensure exams more accurately reflects evidence-informed practice and principles from learning science, teacher educators are left with a less-than-ideal strategy to minimize the damage.
RECENT PIECES OF MY WORK
PODCAST
Teach Better: Aspire Podcast – Manage Your Time or Time Will Manage You
WRITINGS
Parenting an Athlete – Featured in GenParenting
Leading a Digital Transformation – Ed Tech Magazine