Take Responsibility....

I work with many excellent people at the charter school where I teach.  One of those people has been at the school since its inception back in 1999.  His name is Glenn, and he has been the financial manager from the very beginning, back when we had one building and three modulars (two of which were classrooms when I was a student at Hayden Elementary back in the early 1980’s).  During my first year of teaching at the charter school, in 2001, Glenn said something at a staff meeting that really stuck with me:   “Create your own environment or someone will create it for you.”  What I took that to mean was that we were being empowered to shape not only our classroom environment, but our entire school environment as well.  The shape of things to come was in our hands. 

I have thought often of those words, and it reminds me that the tone and “climate” of my classroom is not something that just happens each year, but it’s something I shape, whether I am aware of it or not.  This week I came across a quote that added to Glenn’s wisdom.  I already mentioned that I subscribe to a neat website called “Habit Forge.”  This week the site sent me the following quote: 

"Take full responsibility for your environment and behaviors. Everything you do sets you up for success or puts another obstacle in your way."  

This quote added another layer to Glenn’s wisdom.  Not only is the shape of our environment in our own hands, but the stresses of our environment are in our hands as well.  This is not to say that nebulous “outside forces” don’t sometimes interrupt the flow of our lives, but I suspect that more often than not, WE interrupt the flow all by ourselves, either because of inaction or because we have taken the wrong action. 

“Everything you do sets you up for success or puts another obstacle in your way.”  There is profound wisdom in this concept.  For instance, I currently have (no joke) two boxes and one stuffed backpack full of papers to grade.    While I would really like to totally goof off all weekend long, I now have to spend probably a good 8 hours at the dining room table plowing through the stacks.  Could I blame all kinds of evil outside forces on my suffering?  Sure.  But when I’m honest with myself, I know that yesterday evening I decided to go to bed early instead of tackling a set of papers.  I was so tired, I just couldn’t help myself.  But as I lay my head on my super soft down pillow, I knew I was now going to have to work on Memorial Day.  But I’ll make it fun, put a good movie on, make some snacks, celebrate each vanquished pile of papers with cheers and pats on my back.  I, in essence, put an obstacle in my own path.  And while I was completely aware of this particular obstacle, I wonder how many barriers I put in my own way without even realizing it.  I would say that most of my personal barriers are due to inaction, primarily because (truth be told) I lean toward laziness and procrastination.  Today I concentrated every free moment, prep period, and break to grading projects, and I was quickly reminded how efficiently I can grade when I stay focused.  All that misery I caused myself worrying about it this week would have been gone if I had just followed Nike’s advice to “Just Do It!” 

I plan to tuck this thought from Habit Forge into my memory bank for future examination.  While it would really be more fun to just blame some external force for all of my suffering, when I get honest with myself I think I’ll find the culprit happens to look just like me, bags under her eyes and all.  And so I think I will habitually ask myself:  What am I doing to set myself up for success?  Keep doing those things!  What am I doing that is creating barriers?  Find and obliterate them!