Just show up!

I know that I've used Ryan Holiday's Discipline Is Destiny for a few posts on this blog (and Wozza's Place), but this book hits bull's-eyes for so many things.

This list of instructions is well worth pinning to a wall in my classroom. It will work for me and my students!

Show up...

...when you're tired

...when you don't have to

...even if you have an excuse

...even if you're busy

...even if you won't get recognised for it

...even if it's been kicking your ass lately.

It's tough to do. Showing up. But because it's hard - most people don't. It's why many NZ kids who want to grow up to be an All Black, never make it. 

Many of my students tell me they want to be professional league players in Australia. 

They'll need to show up. Every day.

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work (Gustave Flaubert)

Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton on Unsplash

I helped our school's very patient, calm and biddable caretaker to re-position a teacher's desk the other morning (I'm first to school remember). We chatted as we did so, and I remarked how I got out of the habit of using a teacher's desk back in my Woodford House days.

Conferencing with students means moving around the classroom and not sitting at a teacher's desk, plus these desks in Tier (the building I teach in) are huuuuge.

At OneSchool Global the thrust was very much away from teacher desks (they were removed with extreme prejudice by order of the Regional Principals).

Ryan Holiday has no such problem with desks existing, as he suggests - the laptop desktop has largely surplanted an old style desk - he just advocates them being cleaned up. Ordered.

I have always made sure my desk is free of papers and clutter at the end of every day - that continues to the present day, with my teacher's standing desk and my huuuge teacher desk that is in the corner of my classroom.

The last word goes to Ryan: Clean up your desk, make your bed. Get your things in order.

Sweat the small stuff

Photo by Branimir Balogović
on Unsplash

Yes, I know I'm a fan of the Don't Sweat The Small Stuff message from Richard Carlson, but Ryan Holiday makes a great point in Discipline Is Destiny.

He uses the analogy of coach John Wooden's lesson in how to put your shoes on correctly very effectively.

The basic message is to get the little things right.

In a way it's a mindfulness lesson. One of my routines each morning when I put my watch on is to say aloud 'Be mindful'.

I learnt that lesson when I was sloppy one morning - the watch slipped off my wrist as I was attaching it, and dropped to the floor - dislodging the second hand. Without it my watch stopped working. That meant a cost me a lot in terms of discombobulation and a repair bill.

So now I look at it each morning and say, 'Be mindful'. I haven't dropped it since.

In my career as a teacher and as a leader, I have aimed to employ that approach - nip things in the bud, get the basics right, fix the broken windows, deal to the graffiti, sweat the small stuff.

That does not mean I micro-manage others or lose perspective though.

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

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

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.

I'm caught in a fold as the moon holds the sea (Mostly Autumn)

Photo by SOULSANA on Unsplash

Cover. Relief. Substitute.

I need to be away from my school for a few days next week, so the boys will have a reliever to cover my classes.

Like many teachers, I hate being away from school. Particularly for an extended period.

It means I have to set relief, which is not an exact science because I can't gauge the boys' day to day progress, nor can I leave material for the reliever that needs actually teaching because they won't be expecting to do that. 

Frinstance: if I relieve another English teacher I'm fine and I'm not useless in humanities/arts/P.E., but if it's a science or maths class - fergetaboutit. It's the luck of the draw.

Therefore, it's a baby-sitting exercise by necessity. That's the unfortunate reality, but I do need my students to progress during the week because time is tight. Neither they nor I can afford to waste a week.

However, needs must. Family comes first. Every time. So, they'll just have to manage the best they can without me. I'll pick the pieces when I get back.

Meh. Afterall, graveyards are full of indispensable people, are they not?

I've been workin' so hard (Van Morrison)

Photo by il vano on Unsplash

According to four-star Marine Corps general and former secretary of defense James Mattis:

'If I was to sum up the single biggest problem of senior leadership in the information age, it's lack of reflection. Solitude allows you to reflect while others are reacting. We need solitude to refocus on prospective decision-making, rather than just reacting to problems as they arise'.

Solitude for me comes at regular intervals during my workday.

First thing in the morning is when I'm the only person awake. This routine started when the kids were young and I needed some part of my day without noise and bustle. Now, it's because my back is sore every morning when I wake up, and I need to get up and move around. I've always been an early riser so this hasn't disrupted things too much. This equals to about 1 hour usually.

The commute to Hastings takes an hour so I have two hours a day of listening to music, thinking my thoughts, driving on State Highway 50. Out of nowhere, the weirdest things pop into my head on the commute. 

I arrive at school before others get there. At Hastings Boys' that means I arrive at 7.00am (the time Andrew turns off the alarms). I've done this early arrival thing since the late eighties so it's an ingrained routine. This equals to another hour usually.

During the day I can sometimes head off for a walk during a non-contact period. I walk from school into the CBD and back. It roughly takes about 40 minutes. I don't take my earpods - instead I pay attention to my surroundings as best I can, and think.

My final solitude experience is at night before going to bed. I need some time to myself to write my journal entry for the day. This equals to about 15 minutes usually.

That's quite a bit - at most about 4 hours of me time a day. Nice.

Rewards

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

The reward of our work is not what we get, but what we become.

(Paulo Coelho)

No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.

(Jim Morrison)

You can't always get what you want but if you try sometime you'll find you get what you need.

(Mick Jagger)

Brains, like hearts, go where they are appreciated.

(Robert McNamara)

There are two things people want more than sex and money: recognition and praise.

(Mary Kay Ash)