Creating desired results as educators

My first year of teaching I would regularly stay in my classroom until 10:00-11:00 at night rearranging furniture, setting up new centers for the next day, laminating, cutting, hanging, grading, cleaning, creating, thinking, planning. Now after having been in Education for 15 years (gasp! 15 years already?) I think, “That’s because you were young, single, didn’t have any kids yet.” Those reasons for working so many long, unpaid hours are true, but that’s not what drove me to work so late so many nights. What drove me to do that was my FEELING. I was excited. I thought having my own class of second graders would be fun. I was building a little community; a little classroom family. The THOUGHT of making little books, folder games, and cute anchor charts made me FEEL excited. When I feel excited I take action to create.

The same is true for you. What drives you to work and the end result is not driven by anything external. Your RESULTS come from ACTION you take when you FEEL a certain emotion. And your emotion is created by a thought you have. This is great news because this means you can create excitement or motivation or peace or any other FEELING you want to create no matter what is going on outside of you. You’ve got new curriculum to learn? PLCs take forever? New student with an extensive IEP? Admin assigned you to the worst duty times? You still get to choose the thought that will produce your desired emotion and then eventually your desired result. You might not even have to work until 11:00 PM. You’ve got this.