Life keeps score.
We can say it however we want to, but there is no doubt that our behaviors absolutely lead to our outcomes. Yes, it is profoundly true that not everyone has the same opportunities. Everyone, however, does have the same opportunity to make positive changes in their life based on the choices they make.
If you are wondering how this applies to you, I ask you to look inward. Take a minute to deeply examine the six core areas I often speak about in our personal lives: faith, fitness, finances, friend relationships, family relationships, and our profession.
When looking at these six areas are you fundamentally in better condition than you were three months ago, six months ago, three years ago?
Most people’s lives do not look demonstrably different and better than they did a few months or a few years ago. If yours does not, I would most likely contend that you are in a circle of sameness. Most likely you set a goal (formally or informally) and begin to work toward it. Then after a few days, weeks, or months you revert back to the behaviors that feel comfortable. Next thing you know, you look up 6 months later and your bank account, your scale, and your joy looks very similar to how it looked when the whole process started.
The challenge is to own these pieces of data and then have a frank conversation with yourself where you declare that you will either change your default behaviors or change your goals. To be clear, if you are struggling with living the circle of sameness—you are almost certainly choosing to adhere closer to the behaviors that got you where you are than the goals you state are important to you.
Choose wisely.
REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS TO GUIDE SOME THINKING
- Are you more committed to your own goals or your own comfort?
- What are you willing to actively deprive yourself of in order to reach your goals?
- Do you thrive on being disciplined or do you need outside motivation? If your answer is motivation – you are likely stuck in a circle of sameness.
- In what ways are you self-sabotaging yourself right now?
- What internal work do you need to do in order to move past the things you are allowing to hold you back?
THE BEST THING I READ/WATCHED THIS WEEK
How Administrators Can Help Ensure Teacher Success
by Joe Mullikin
Joe is a great leader, educator, and friend. He paints a clear and actionable vision for what administrators can do to help teachers become the best versions of themselves.
“If you don’t like the job, there’s the door” is a line I have heard more times than I’d care to. It’s common for educators to hear it in opening convocations, faculty meetings, and evaluation meetings. Statements like “Leave your baggage at the door” and “Don’t bring your issues with you to school” still permeate the educational system. But what if the issue isn’t staff bringing their baggage or struggles with them, but rather the fact that administrators have never attempted to provide them with a better way of carrying it? What if the issue isn’t about what they’re doing but more about what we as educational leaders aren’t doing?
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
NEW COURSE ON ED LEADERS NETWORK