I'll try to sail the sea, ride wild and free (Quicksilver Messenger Service)

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It's worth repeating this pearl of wisdom from James Clear:

"Strangely, life gets harder when you try to make it easy.

• Exercising might be hard, but never moving makes life harder.
• Mastering your craft is hard, but having no skills is harder.
• Uncomfortable conversations are hard, but avoiding every conflict is harder.

Easy has a cost." 

Paradoxically, the easy life comes at a cost. 

I am very fond of that saying, "There's always a price to pay".

Through sacrifice - bliss (Joseph Campbell)

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Poet Ellen Sturgis Hooper reveals a little secret of life:

"I slept, and dreamed that life was joy;

I woke, and found that life was service.

I acted and behold, service was joy."

Source: The Dial (July 1840)

Courtesy: James Clear

Wrapping paper in the gutter, moving slowly as the wind on the sea (Cream)

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Interesting thought from James Clear:

"Your teaching ability is constrained by your writing ability.

If you can’t write it down, it will be nearly impossible to teach it well."

As an English teacher, I initially nodded in agreement, but I'm not sure my P.E. colleagues would necessarily go for that. It's one of those quotes that needs some context around it.

It has had me puzzling on it for a few days, which is good.

Eager and curious

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"If you're eager to learn—even if you aren't particularly talented—then you can make it a long way despite your shortcomings.

But if you're not eager and curious, you'll find your natural abilities often fall short of what is required."

James Clear

Being that guy!

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You can carve out a very good career simply by being the most reliable person on the team. You would not think that always showing up on time, hitting every deadline, and responding quickly and professionally to all communication would be such a differentiator, but these traits are always in short supply.

James Clear

Big me to talk about it, I could stand to prove, if we can get around it, I know that it's true (Foo Fighters)

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Wisdom from James Clear:

"You'll probably surprise yourself with what you can accomplish—if you're focused on one thing.

You'll probably frustrate yourself with what you fail to accomplish—if you're doing 5 or 7 or 10 things.

Nobody performs well when stretched in a half dozen directions."

Forget about peak performance.

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"Forget about peak performance. Would your results improve if you simply focused on being reliable in the normal moments?

Show up when it's easy to skip. Do the fundamentals and do them well. And so on.

Before you make it complicated, remember there are always simple improvements waiting to be made."

James Clear

When you're a charmer people respond; they can't see the hidden agenda you got going on (Aimee Mann)

 

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James Clear on daily routines:

"Many people view their habits and routines as obstacles or, at the very least, obligations to get through. Making the morning coffee, driving your kids to the next activity, preparing the next meal—we often see our routines as chores to be completed.

But these are not moments to be dismissed. They are life. Making coffee can be a peaceful ritual—perhaps even a fulfilling one—if done with care rather than rushed to completion. It’s about the amount of attention you devote to these simple moments, and whether you choose to appreciate them or bulldoze through them on the way to the next task.

Find the beauty and joy in your daily rituals and you will find beauty and joy in your daily life. To love your habits is to love your days, and to love your days is to love your life."

I'm very much a routine guy and part of my routines at work involve loading and unloading the dishwasher, topping up the hot water urn, emptying the staff room rubbish bin, and putting chairs up for the cleaners on Friday afternoons.

Yes, I'm also the Campus Principal but I have no problem following these routines.

As I explained to my wife when she visited the campus on Friday afternoon - I'm always the first to arrive at school in the morning. Why would I not unload the dishwasher? I'm often the last to leave so topping up the water and putting the dishwasher on are just sensible routines.

But I also enjoy the routine.

I like being mindful while I'm doing them - I have set places where certain plates and cups go, and I put up the chairs in a certain order each time.

I certainly find beauty and joy in those routines.

Being larger than the situation

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James Clear: 

A valuable skill in life is to be larger than the situation.

When you're feeling stressed or rattled, the situation is consuming you. It feels bigger and more important than it needs to be. This is when your emotions are likely to get the best of you.

But when you are larger than the situation, you can mentally "step outside and above it." Yes, there are problems to be solved. Yes, you need to take action. But the chaos is happening externally and you are still in the driver's seat internally. You're in control of the moment, the moment is not in control of you."

James is onto something here.

The idea that the chaos is happening externally, and you are still in the driver's seat internally is a very powerful one.

Worth passing on in fact.

The first cut is the deepest (Cat Stevens)

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This quote from James Clear almost works for me:

"First or last?

Sometimes the first move is the most important. The first set in the gym. Now you're working out. The first sentence. Now you're writing. The first call. Now you're in the game.

Other times, the last move is the most important. The last brick. Now the building is built. The last line of code. Now the app works. The last round of revisions. Now you can ship it.

What do you need to focus on right now? First or last? Do you need to start or finish?"

I get it but I don't think it's an either/or situation.

The first and last track on a record are equally important but for different reasons. One sets up the mood, grabs attention, hooks the listener and the other seals the deal, finishes on a climax, leaves you breathless with wonder and exhilaration or wanting more.

Take the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album for instance. The first track could only be Sgt. Pepper's. The last could only be A Day In The Life.

In my opinion, the same holds true for books, films, poems, essays and projects that are undertaken.

The start has to be planned, worked on, drafted, polished for maximum impact and the conclusion has to satisfy in some way.

Literature and film are full of things that have a weak start or ending. 

Both are crucial.

Leadership begins with your behaviour

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James Clear on leadership:

"Leadership begins with your behaviour.

What’s more powerful? A manager or coach or teacher who tells you the right thing to do? Or one who shows you how to live and work by example?

People gravitate toward the standard you set, not the standard you request."

Did this meeting of our minds together, ooh, happen just today, some way? (Chicago)

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A phrase that has long been adopted by OneSchool Global, is 'Learning To Learn'.

It's a key attribute to have for life. In a way it symbolises all of those soft skills that are so important post compulsory schooling. 

Employers are not necessarily interested in what you did in a Year 11 mathematics assessment, but they do want you to be adaptable, use your initiative, have integrity, problem solve and ask questions.

Neil Postman says this in his seminal work, Teaching As A Subversive Activity, on the value of questions: 

"Once you have learned to ask questions – relevant and appropriate and substantial questions – you have learned how to learn and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know." 

Learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think

 

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Writer David Foster Wallace on the importance of controlling your attention:

"Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about "teaching you how to think" is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed."

Source: This is Water (courtesy of James Clear)

Don't rush, but don't wait (James Clear)

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Today's message comes from James Clear, who makes a distinction between speed and rushing (I can't begin to tell you how many times I heard the phrase 'more haste, less speed' when I was growing up!) 

But anyway - over to James:

There is a difference between moving fast and rushing.

You can move fast and be thoughtful. When you rush, you sacrifice thoughtfulness.

Conversely, when you are thoughtful but not moving fast, you are overthinking it. Procrastination in disguise.

Don’t rush, but don’t wait.

Minutiae vs polish

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People who excel tend to obsess over the details.

People who struggle also tend to obsess over the details.

The difference is what details they focus on. Minutiae vs polish.

Most things don’t matter—but when it does, you want to get the details right.

James Clear

What education is going to be about

Linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky on seeking what is significant:

You can't expect somebody to become a biologist by giving them access to the Harvard University biology library and saying, "Just look through it." That will give them nothing. The internet is the same, except magnified enormously.

...

The person who wins the Nobel Prize in biology is not the person who read the most journal articles and took the most notes on them. It's the person who knew what to look for.

Cultivating that capacity to seek what's significant, always willing to question whether you're on the right track, that's what education is going to be about, whether it's using computers and internet, or pencil and paper and books.

Source: The Purpose of Education (hat tip to James Clear and Bret Victor)

It's easier to learn than your ABC's, so come on, come on, do the locomotion with me (Little Eva)

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Out of 16 New Zealand OneSchool Global campuses in 2020, the two campuses I am Principal of (Gisborne and Hastings combined) had the best NCEA pass rates.

Amazingly, 78% of our combined Year 11 to 13 students gained a merit or excellence pass.

That is some feat. All of the staff at my campuses have a share of that glory, as do zoom teachers from outside of my campuses.

We celebrated (briefly) and moved onward. We're motivated.

We want to do better in 2021. We're aiming for 79%! 

With the NZ wide change in resubmissions policy (only not achieved grades can gain a resub) that will be tricky. Not impossible, tricky.

How do we accomplish that?

James Clear has a brief guide to improvement. I love less-is-more!

Here 'tis:

1) Lots of research. Explore widely and see what is possible.

2) Lots of iterations. Focus on one thing, but do it in different ways. Refine your method.

3) Lots of repetitions. Stick with your method until it stops working.

Research. Iterate. Repeat.

I'm with him for 1) and most definitely for 2) and I'm not too sure about 3).

At the moment I'm all about one and two anyway, three can wait.

Part of the research phase is my own Teacher Inquiry into what motivates students. 

I'm currently at the thinking and design stage of this project.

I'll keep you updated.

Making progress

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"The challenge for anyone interested in making progress is to simultaneously have (1) the confidence to go after what you want and (2) the humility to accept who you are right now and (3) the willingness to build skills that bridge the gap between 1 and 2."

James Clear

Baby's got blue skies up ahead (U2)

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A great question from James Clear:

Has the most important thing changed? Am I chasing an outdated target?