Mindset

Over the last few years there has been a challenge in the Twitter world to think of #oneword to describe the coming year.  If you think about it, choosing one word to encapsulate an entire year is not an easy task.  After much thought and contemplation one word continues to surface over and over again.  Mindset.
 
Mindset is important to me because I believe that your mindset really shapes your world.  Think about that for a minute.  You see what you look for.  There is good and bad, right and wrong, struggles and success in every situation.  You choose where to place your focus.  

Of course there has been a lot of talk, discussion, and literature about growth mindset and fixed mindset.  I am not thinking of mindset in those terms right now.  I am thinking of mindset more in relation to your perspective, your focus, your viewpoint, your attitude.  All of these influence your mindset in any given situation.
 
As educators our mindset determines how we work with the people we encounter each and every day.  If we have a mindset of wanting to work with students, parents, peers, and community members to meet them where they are and help get them to where they need to be we are more likely to achieve success in our efforts.  If we have the mindset that we have to work with students, parents, peers, and community members but we don’t take into consideration of where they are when they come to us (because they should already know this stuff) then we will not be successful in getting them where they need to be.  It all begins with ourselves and how we choose to approach each day.

Please do not think that I am saying we have to have a “Pollyanna” approach to life because that is not reality.  What I am saying is that when you find yourself in a difficult situation, when you are struggling with a decision, or you seem to be in a repeated bad streak during 2017 take a step back.  Ask yourself about your current mindset.  What are you focusing on?  What are you looking for?  What is occupying your mind during these times?  Are the answers to those questions going to help or hurt the situation you find yourself in?  Do you need to reframe to problem and attack it from a different angle?

I wish you all the greatest successes in 2017. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.”  To me, this demonstrates the correct mindset in our line of work.  You cannot wait for everything to be just right before taking action. Do what you know to be right. Perfection often paralyzes the well-intended; do not wait for everything to be perfect because you may never get started.  With the right mindset you will achieve success, even through failure.

​Think. Achieve.  Succeed.
 
Jeff