I have not been practicing what I preach.
I always tried to reward my students for taking risks. Yes, I would admit, our school system beats the ‘risk-taker’ out of them. Yes, I would admit, teachers and tests look for ‘right’ answers. Yes, I would admit, it’s difficult to take risks when our school system prescribes what’s to be learned.
I would, however, do my best to explain that the real world has a wonderful way of rewarding risk-takers. People who ‘put themselves out there,’ who try something new and different, who fight the status quo … these are the people who end up being celebrated and revered by the masses. And who are the masses? The people who were too afraid to take risks themselves. Who else would they be?
It’s a weird paradox, isn’t it?
I try as much as possible to reward my students’ risks. I tell them that within every set-back there is always a seed of equal opportunity and benefit. I explain that mistakes are magical because they tell us what we need to do differently.
And I have not been practicing this myself the past month. It’s been over a month since my first post. I’ve been waiting for the features and configurations on this blog to be perfect before I really got started. I wanted things to be perfect first. I was using perfect to avoid a risk. I was making up excuses to avoid putting myself out there.
I was also waiting to write something profound. I wanted to write something that would light up the blogosphere. And then I reread a quote I have hanging on my bulletin board above my desk:
“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start were you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” – Napoleon Hill
How can I (or any of us) ask things of others (especially our students) when we’re not willing to do them ourselves?
