The Habit of Passion

-

"Passion makes us stronger than we are. 
Love makes us better than we are. 
Be passionate about the things you love."
- Galen Watson

After participating in the "Kids Deserve It" video podcast, I challenged myself and others to participate in a "Passion Project," which includes creating, working on, or practicing anything that we truly love. Lately, through self-reflection, it has been apparent that my actions have revolved around daily duties and busy work instead of the things I value the most. Through the everyday routines, a question arose:

Has my energy and time been spent on improving initiatives that I believe in and are passionate about?

In review, it was apparent, my habits were constructed on managing and responding to inconsequential demands. The focus was on the immediate tasks and the operational functions of the campus instead of participating in activities of conviction and devotion. We all have responsibilities and requirements, however, our lives desire a sense of purpose, which positively impacts the environment around us.

As an educator, we get pulled in a million different directions. Each day, it is far too easy to be side tracked, interrupted, and derailed from our intended actions and planned events. How do we combat the busyness of everyday life to work on the things we value the most?

In the discovery and maturation of our "Passion Projects," valuable time and energy is required to develop and contribute to our core beliefs. Establishing healthy habits are crucial in constructing a system to provide the needed attention to grow our ambitions. As I have participated in this challenge, there have been three essential aspects, which create a circular process, to cultivate our passions.


1. Reflect
Through self-reflection, we are able to assess our past experiences to determine the strengths and weaknesses of our actions. During the reflection stage, we're able to identify the areas of change, set a direction, and recommit to our values and beliefs. To consistently grow and improve as an educator, we must continuously review, analyze, and examine our previous decisions.

2. Create
When we are passionate about an idea, there is a strong desire to plan, design, and create. As we focus on what we find important, producing things we love is not viewed as work. Instead, we desire to solve problems, construct innovative concepts, and improve prior projects. During the creative stage, the largest obstacle is our focus and discipline of our time. Too often, I have found my attention drawn away by distractions. To establish consistency, it is imperative to develop a habit to guard your schedule and designate a certain amount of time each day to create.

3. Share
After we create, it is important to share our work and ideas with others. Through the sharing process, we are able to get feedback, connect with our community and be inspired to move forward. As we share, we place ourselves in a state of vulnerability with the chance of criticism. Although criticism is difficult to hear, it allows us to be challenged and pushed to grow further through reflection.

As we experience the cycle of passion, our purpose and inspiration will flourish in our habits and production. Although the initial challenge began as a one week charge, I encourage each of us to find our "Passion Project" each day.

"Kids Deserve It" Podcast on iTunes: https://itun.es/i67t38V

Comments

  1. abealarconApril 8, 2017 at 7:36 AM

    Joshua ... thank you for sharing. I agree! As a VP I spend lots of time doing "work" that I do not find passion for BUT it's work that HAS to get done by me. That's part of being a "servant" leader ... doing what others find difficult, challenging, or less desirable and doing it the best I can. I am always reflecting and your post helps put things into perspective. Sometimes I skip the reflect part and go right into the create phase. Thanks again for the share and helping me think about what I am most passionate about. Be well and hope you have a great end of the school year!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the Face of Trauma

-
Image
My wife, Leslie, and I were foster parents for 5 years. During those years, we had a couple foster placements who were able to be reunified with their family, and three of our five children were adopted from foster care. I invited my wife to join me on this blog post to add her voice and perspective to the necessary awareness of meeting the educational and emotional needs of children who have been impacted by trauma. A few weeks ago, 60 Minutes had a segment on the impact of trauma on children. An increasing amount of research, literature and media around trauma-informed care, trauma-informed classroom management, Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) and Adverse Childhood Experiences surveys (ACEs) has been made available to the public and incorporated into mainstream practices in pediatricians offices and school classrooms over recent years. We've implemented trauma-informed care in our home for years, starting when we first became licensed as foster parents.
Read more

Mindset of a Lion

-
Image
"I never lose. Either I win or I learn"- Nelson Mandela About a year ago, I discovered an inspirational quote from Nelson Mandela on Twitter, which was written on a photograph of a lion walking through long safari grass. The quote and image immediately caught my attention, as it captured important characteristics of success: strength, competitiveness, grit and a growth mindset. As I reflected on the quote, it quickly challenged my past educational experiences, prior educational struggles, and my current beliefs as an administrator. Little did I know, the quote would become the motto I use as motivation for myself, my students and my own children going forward.   As a student, my perspective of education was extremely negative as I often experienced unsuccessfulness in the established learning environment. In my adolescent view, school was a mandatory placement where the material, procedures, and system provided little value. The presented content was often detache
Read more

The Language of Behavior

-
Image
I find it necessary to increase awareness about the academic and emotional needs of children who have been impacted by trauma within the education community. I invited my wife to join me again on this blog post to add her voice and perspective to   continue the conversation  on incorporating trauma-informed care in the classroom . We were foster parents for five years, and during that time were able to adopt three of the children placed in our home. We closed our foster license after our third adoption, but the education, training, and ongoing research on the field of childhood trauma will forever be impactful to our lives and incorporated into our parenting and educational strategies. I (Leslie) have found two practices that we learned in our behavioral management training have been the most helpful to me as a parent. Though these techniques were developed for kids impacted by trauma, they work wonderfully with all five of my children. The first strategy we use of
Read more