FOCUS - Part 2

Following on from yesterday's video with Tony Robbins, I am trying to put into practice the art of focus in my own life.

 Image - etienoetuk.com

We all have so many things going on in our lives that often it is easy to get completely sidetracked or bogged down by the sheer amount of things we have to do.

At the moment I am looking at ways in which I can move forward from my current teaching position.

How can I be properly remunerated for my skills and experience? 

How can I use those skills and experiences to help others, but at the same time bring a better balance to my own life and that of my family?

It is not easy.

There are so many possible options.

I can continue to jump around from one idea or opportunity to another.  I have been guilty of that for some time.  I know that there is something else there for me, but had not really found it until now.

However after a great deal of thought and reflection, of study and undertaking courses, I feel that I am much closer now to where I want to be going.

I still have a lot to learn and do.  So the most important thing to do is to focus on what is in front of me and to follow the instructions of those who have been along the road before me.

Focus is not easy.  There are so many distractions.  Yet it is the best way to move forward into the future we want to have.

As I move along this journey, I look forward to sharing my resources and aha moments, my successes and my failures with you.

The Best Motivational Videos 2016 ► FOCUS ◄ This Will Change Your Life

Tony Robbins has had an effect upon a huge number of people - from huge life-changing to small 'aha' moments.

In this 7-minute video Tony talks about focus and the six human needs - in his own inimitable style!

 "How do you make sure what you do really works?

Model someone who is already successful."

There are so many examples out there that we have to decide which one suits us individually.

Yet there are also universal truths:

" Why reinvent the wheel?  Success leaves clues."

So if we are going to focus on things in our lives we need to make sure that they lead to positive decisions because "decisions shape destiny."

How would your life have changed if you had made different decisions?  What changes can we make now by having a different focus?

Over the past 2 or 3 years my focus has been changing.  That change has begun speeding up more recently and I know that more major changes are happening in my own life.

That is why I shall be modelling someone who is already successful.

What about you?

Forgiveness

Today is Day 1 of the Happiness Challenge.  See my blog post about it here - it's not too late to join!

It starts with forgiveness and is something we all have to face in different ways.

The email from Luminita tells us:

REMINDER: For today, the focus is on forgiveness. When was the
last time you truly, deeply forgave someone? It can be someone in
your past or present, or it can even be yourself.

Ouch!  That last phrase hurt!

How often do we forget to forgive ourselves?

As a teacher I struggle sometimes with forgiving some of the students who seem to delight in making a lesson difficult for you and the other students in the room.

Today, in one of my lessons, I had a student who lies regularly to my direct questions.  I asked him to get out his planner and he told me that he didn't have it.  I asked another adult in the room to check with the student that he didn't have it in his bag.  It appeared that he didn't. 

Yet when I checked later on in the lesson when he told me that he hadn't sprayed his body spray (which was chokingly obvious and he was the only student near his bag!) I found him only half opening his bag and holding his planner out of the way so that it couldn't be seen!

The fact that students lie to me is not new.

Neither is the fact that they are often rather bad at lying.

As a mum and a teacher, I have heard enough lies to know when someone is trying to pull the wool over my eyes!

What really upsets me though is the fact that this student can cause regular disruption to the lesson through his lies.  Sometimes I get drawn into a backwards and forwards conversation with him - usually when I am tired or frustrated by his behaviour.

Afterwards I am cross with myself for allowing him to cause disruption yet again.

I find it difficult to forgive myself for that.

Yet I am human too.  I want to do the very best I can for these students.  They have often struggled for a long time, both in school and in the subject.

I become frustrated sometimes that they don't see or accept the help which is offered to them.

Yet I know that if I am consistent, they may realise that they did receive some help and support and one day in the future, they may thank me for it.

I love teaching, though it can be very hard work and frustrating.

Most of all I need to love myself and forgiving myself for my humanity is part of that.

Who should you forgive on this first day of the Happiness Challenge?  Let me know what you think.

21-Day Happiness Challenge

Today I had an email from Mindvalley entitled "The Story of the Most Viral Happiness Article on Facebook".

I always open emails from Mindvalley because their content is consistently excellent, but this definitely intrigued me. 

The email told the story of the blogger and writer behind the PurposeFairy.com blog, Luminita Saviuc.

"Over the summer a few years ago, Luminita wrote a blog post on happiness. It was a casual post called "15 Things To Give Up To Be Happy". The post stayed on her blog attracting a few visitors for many months. And nothing much happened as she continued her amateur blogging career while working at Mindvalley as a course designer. 

But then something weird happened.

That post began to touch a nerve. People started sharing it and sending it to their moms, friends, lovers and co-workers. The 15 Things Luminita suggested we give up to be happy - seemed to resonate with a LOT of people.

In a few short weeks the post got shared 1.2 MILLION times on Facebook. Making it quite possibly the most shared personal growth article on social media.

And more than that - she was asked by Penguin books to turn the ideas into a book."

"Now Luminita's book is coming out soon, and she's launching another 21 day challenge. This time on happiness. And open to you. 

She calls it the 21-Day Happiness Challenge."

http://purposefairy.leadpages.co/21-day-challenge/ 

The original article she wrote was: http://www.purposefairy.com/3308/15-things-you-should-give-up-in-order-to-be-happy/ 

I have decided to sign up for this challenge.  After all we all deserve to be happy! 

It starts on 1st March (less than 48 hours from now).

Let me know if you have decided to join in too!  

Why I Was Terrified of Tony Robbins

We all have our fears.  Some are greater than others.

Some of those fears are a mere inconvenience, but others can severely restrict how we function or move forward in everyday life.

So initially the title of this 5-minute video from John Assaraf surprised me.

Until I listened to what he had to say.
In 2000 John was looking at himself as a comparative beginner alongside Tony Robbins who was already an established and successful motivational speaker and coach.

I look at the work done by both Tony Robbins and John Assaraf, from which I have learned so much.  I am currently in that place of being afraid that I am not good enough or able to do what they do.

Yet I know that with dedication, hard work, continual learning and especially knowing how to overcome the tricks that our minds play on us, we can retrain our brains to recognise these fears, reframe and release them and so move forward to take action.

I have been following Neurogym (of which John Assaraf is the Founder and CEO) for several years.  Over the past year or so I have been following the Winning the Game of Money program.

This has opened up my knowledge about brain retraining and is a subject I shall return to frequently.

This video, though, ended with a call to sign up for a encore presentation of his Winning the Game of Fear program.  Although I have been aware of this and followed some of the short videos which accompany the program, I have decided that it is time that I take full action on this.

I have plans to make quite dramatic changes in my life.  It is exciting yet scary at the same time.

However I know that with the right help, education and support I can and will move forward.

I think John's words are giving me another kick in the right direction:

"Fear is one of the silent killers holding most people hostage."

I am not prepared to be held hostage any longer.  I wish to fly!


Have you used any of Neurogym's programs?  Do let me know what you think about them.  I look forward to your comments.

You Can Change - Motivational Video Ft Secret Entourage

Fear is the green light not the red light.  

If you feel fear then you need to do it.

You are in control of what happens.

You can change.  

This week in my teaching I have had some quite difficult classes.

Some of the students have been rude and argumentative.  They have disrupted the lesson so much that they have prevented other students from learning.

The concepts that I have been teaching have not been particularly difficult, yet because of the disruption, it has been difficult to convey them properly, making sure that each student understands them.

At the end of the lesson I have felt discouraged, worn out and yes a little fearful about whether I can manage the behaviour enough to have a lesson where the students really learn.

Do I need to change the whole structure of the lesson, or just some of the elements?

Do I need need to change the way I teach and react less to the behaviour which some of the students probably design to upset me and cause disruption?

The answer is definitely 'yes' within certain parameters.

Am I afraid of that?

Again the answer is 'yes'.  

It means more work and more trial and error with this particular group.  

It will demand more time and effort when I am planning my lessons.

I will need to continue my own professional development, researching, studying and putting into practice strategies and ideas to break the cycle of poor behaviour.

And the further fear?

That the demands of the education system and the inspection regimes are such that I am not supposed to get this wrong.  That each student should seemingly be on an ever upward learning cycle.  That it could affect my appraisal result, my ability to teach.

Yet I feel the fear and so I need to do it.

For the sake of my students and their learning.

For the sake of the education system.

But most of all for my own sake.  

For the knowledge that I have done the very best I can and that at some later stage, some of my students may have cause to thank me for the way in which I helped them through a difficult time.

Life is not easy.

Teaching is not easy.

Learning is not easy.

But we must all feel the fear and do it anyway.

I CAN change.