Every misconception is a poison, there are no harmless misconceptions (Tolstoy, paraphrasing Schopenhauer)

Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash

Ryan Holiday uses the above quote in his book Wisdom Takes Work.

Interestingly, when I searched up the quote it emerged as 'Every lie is a poison; there are no harmless lies. Only the truth is safe'.

A lie and misconception are not the same thing, but I see why Holiday uses it. It's the truth that he's wanting to promote. Plus, a life-long pursuit of the truth, despite our many pre-conceptions, opinions and misconceptions.

As we age, the tendency is to get wrapped up in all of those things, but even my young students can get fixated on their own versions of events.

Part of my job as a teacher is to work towards them finding the truth away from their biases.

Positive thoughts bring positive outcomes (Raisa Jimenez)

Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash

The school holidays have kicked in, which means a change of pace and routine.

The alarms on my phone have been put on hold for two weeks, the family time has already begun with the Denver and Melbourne branches joining us at Maple Grove, and the school work is put away until the second week.

The FIFA World Cup, Joan Didion and Ryan Holiday books, and my records all beckon and jostle for attention as we look to visit family in New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Wellington in the first week.

Raisa's message will be front and centre during this time.

The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings (Dave Weinbaum)

 

Photo by Eilis Garvey on Unsplash

Right from birth, life is a series of both things. Along the way are milestones and a succession of various starts and finishes.

Iona College, where I teach, goes from Year 7 to 13. Many girls start at Year 7 and go on to leave, seven years later, at Year 13. My senior students are all heading for an exit and a new start somewhere doing something. That's exciting, and scary, for them.

Watching the NZ football team exit the World Cup after the group stage's three games was difficult, but so many nations (like Italy) failed to even get to this 2026 version.

I'm sure they'll immediately start thinking about 2030 and begin a new campaign. 

Only two teams will be playing in the final match of the FIFA World Cup. All of the others will have their own dramatic endings along the way. Food for thought.

The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply (Denis Waitley)

 

Photo by Massimo Sartirana on Unsplash

I'm not sure about that. I just watched the Democratic Republic of Congo lose one nil to Colombia in the FIFA World Cup.

The effort they all put in was immense, yet they lost the game.

That hardly seems fair, Denis.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 edition has started and with it a host of great lessons to be learned for educational leaders, coaches, football players, and spectators.

Spain are one of the favourites to win the World Cup but the small African Island nation of Cabo Verde held them to a scoreless draw. It was a totally engrossing game that showed a really well organised team holding the line against a team of superstars.

Yesterday, Sweden and Germany had big wins against much lower ranked nations but that doesn't mean much at this stage. In fact, I can remember plenty of examples of teams winning big at previous cups, but not building and sustaining that success.

I'm definitely not writing off Spain, and you can never write off the Germans. It should be a really interesting tournament. I'm loving it!

Be bold - and mighty forces will come to your aid (Basil King)

Some weeks zip by, others are a slog to get through. This week has felt like wading through molasses.

I can put this down to a few things - it's week eight in an eleven-week term; Monday was a long day with online parent interviews; Wednesday was a Jammies for June fundraiser; that meant I had two days to go.

The Jammies for June day was stressful in that the students dressed in their pjs and dressing gowns for the day, and staff were expected to participate. Well, expected is over egging it, but I did feel pressure to join in with the other staff. Which I did. It's a worthy cause - to supply pjs to needy kids, but I felt really out of my comfort zone all day.

Luckily, no photos were taken (to my knowledge). In the end it wasn't too bad now that I think of it. Basically, I shouldn't have thought too much about it on Monday and Tuesday.

Anyway, it's now Thursday (a five-period day) and Friday has the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony - that will gee me up for the weekend.

Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day (Thornton Wilder)

A trendy, new agey approach to Thornton Wilder's idea may be 'Nourish the soul'.  

We all need to be inspired by something each day. It's pretty easy for me to do that because I read every day, listen to music every day and I'm often inspired by things I see.

The recent Guardian Weekly had an excellent article by Jonathan Freedland - Arsenal's title win should be studied by politicians everywhere.

He explains why in the article, via ideas like vision, stability, perseverance, patience and cheering success.

That approach by Mikel Arteta and the Arsenal board applies to education as well.