Good morning! That's when I am writing this anyway. If you are reading later, then I hope you are having a pleasant day, a splendid evening, or lovely night. You probably desire it.
Yesterday, I read a Tweet that caught me a little off guard, not because it was argumentative or controversial, not because it was political or vulgar. It caught me off guard because its sentiment has been expressed and bounced around my circle for some time, but yesterday, it made me think, and I decided a reply on Twitter would not allow me to hash out my thoughts. I always tell my students that if a piece of literature makes you think, then it has done is job, so I guess the Tweet did its job.
The Tweet came from Simon Sinek and had popped up on my feed because it was liked and replied to by some of the educators I follow. I have no beef with Mr. Sinek. He encourages positive, optimistic leadership, and I like a lot of what he shares. The Tweet that caught my attention is incredibly positive as well, and the replies were full of different ways it can apply to those people's lives. So, why was it stuck in my head, bouncing around my mind trying to form a coherent thought?
We've spent ELA Team time and district PD time discussing our WHY. I have written about my WHY more than once. We encourage one another to remind ourselves of our WHY, especially when we are struggling or frustrated. We have taken the "Why I Teach" selfies. We even encourage our students to begin exploring their WHY. So, what besides a "Yeah, I get it" thought would stop my scrolling and make me hit the W at the bottom of the Tweet so it magically transported itself into my Wakelet?
Well, as a person who deals daily with language, it bothered me. I think I get his point and understand what he is trying to convey philosophically. However, that is not what it said to me when I read it. I don't know if anyone is aware of this, but the last year has been somewhat difficult, not only in education, but life in general. However, the thought that was forming in my head is not restricted to this unique (hopefully) period in time. 2020-2021 has made it clear, as it has with so many other things, but the issues have been here long before the dumpster fire of a year began. What struck me in this little message on Twitter was that it is unfairly unrealistic, especially at a time when so many educators are struggling to get something, let alone everything, to consistently fall into place.
Knowing your WHY is vital. It will be what drives you. It will focus your efforts. It will give you energy. I am blessed as a teacher to have my WHY greet me on a daily basis (receiving a dab of hand sanitizer each day this year), and it is what keeps me going. However, to say knowing your WHY means "everything will fall into place" is kind of ridiculous. And it is a little bit dangerous. Let me explain. Each day, I am fortunate to work with amazing people. Award-winning teachers, championship-winning coaches, Kansas Teachers of the Year, Horizon Award winners, State and National Coaches of the Year, student-inspiring mentors, people who make a different each and every day in countless ways. I often say that I just ry to keep up with them. We work each day with extraordinary young people, we see our former students celebrate academic, professional, and personal successes, and that lifts us up. But guess what? I have witnessed every single one of these amazing people question themselves and what they are doing, often on a daily, and sometimes on an hourly, basis. These people KNOW THEIR WHY. They focus, refocus, and rededicate themselves each day. And yet, somehow, things do not simply fall into place.
To say that they will simply fall into place, if you really know your WHY, is in short, unfair. When we say things like this, we set ourselves up for failure. When we shower fresh teachers with these nuggets of philosophical "truths," we are encouraging them to doubt themselves when things don't just fall into place despite their conviction to and passion for their WHY. It tells our more experienced teachers who are making attempts to grow and develop to do what is best for their students that they just need to WHY harder. It makes those same new and seasoned teachers and administrators question whether they should even be in the profession because let's face it, sometimes no matter what we do, things are not falling into place.
I don't think the sentiment Mr. Sinek was trying to convey is the problem. As I said, I appreciate Mr. Sinek's positive approach and sentiment. The problem is the 280-character world we live in, where everything has to be a bite-sized platitude or sound-bite nugget of knowledge. It reminds me of the old saying "If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life." Great sentiment, but completely false. You will work harder than you can imagine each day, but you will want to because you love what you do. This is similar. Knowing your WHY is vital. It is a key component to finding success. Each of us needs to have that WHY in clear focus. But it is not going to make everything magically fall into place. Knowing your WHY will drive you to pick up the pieces, to fish them from under that furniture and brush them off to see if they fit better in a different spot. Your WHY will cause you to stay with that piece that doesn't seem to have a place to fit, and push you to carve out a new opening, a little larger or in need of sanding perhaps, or maybe a completely in new shape, previously not part of the board, one that didn't seem obviously necessary before but is now. Your WHY will make you want to learn how to construct your own board from scratch because the old one isn't what will work best now, or lead you to find someone who can see the board form a different angle and can help you see it differently too. Your WHY won't make everything fall into place. Your WHY will make you love finding a way to help things fit together.
So, find your WHY. Bring it into clear focus. Find ways to consciously remind yourself of that WHY as often as possible. Some days, things will fall into place; on most days, they won't. And it is on those days that that WHY is the most important.
