Overcome Challenges: Living in the now

If you would of told me ten years ago that the future view from my road bike was going to be my furnace I would of told you that you were crazy. To think I road my bike 500 miles from Minneapolis to Chicago and now I ride in my basement.  All my life I've worked out religiously. It was my escape and my companion. 

Now I ride on my trainer when I sneak in 30-45 minutes of energy while my husband is entertaining my 2 year old as they play air guitar to the hairband music I play as I ride.  Not sure if this is still considered an escape!

I struggle mentally and physically to figure out how to be all things - mom, wife, homemaker, teacher, daughter, sister, friend and most of all I struggle to make time for myself. Many women have gone through the same stress, the same balance, the same journey.  I am constantly trying to work on this life challenge.

My mentor reminds me to stop blaming others, stop living in the past and stop worrying about the future.  Live in the now! Be grateful for what you have and look at the now as an unpaved path.

Now this life challenge is really not that big when you compare it to other challenges people face- disease, job loss, tragedy, and death. I've seen my family struggle through all of it and it breaks my heart. Why so much pain? Why is life so hard? But that's exactly the problem. We can't look at it as pain. We can't see it as a challenge or a fight. We have to see it as a journey and we are at a fork in the road. We choose the path. Do we see this as defeat? Or a lesson? A closed door? Or possibilities of a new opportunity? It's our choice if we let it defeat us or if it makes us stronger.

My best advice: Choose your life, don't let it choose you.

Someone inspired me to write this post who is going through a hard time right now. They connected to the lyrics of Eminen's song "Loose yourself" which I hope you'll find inspiring as well.. Music is a great way to get inspired and stay grounded in the now - what music have you been inspired by?

Comment on the blog and join in the conversation.

Get Out of Your Environment For Inspiration

If you're new to Motivate To Inspire you'll see my reflection on life experiences.  My hope is that these reflections help you live better, do better and be better to have a more fulfilling life.

This week I attended a workshop on collaborative group teaching strategies.  My brain was in hyperactivity mode.  Can I complain about having SO many ideas?  Of coarse not, but it's always overwhelming trying to digest everything you learn at a conference.  It's hard not to think, "how am I going to find the time to incorporate all these new strategies?" Or, if I didn't have four or five preps maybe I'd have more time? Or, if it wasn't for...X...Y...Z.  OK, STOP RIGHT THERE!  Sure, stress can create those crazy thoughts but let's think about the big picture here.  Getting out of your environment shouldn't be overwhelming it should be inspiring! 

Whether the four walls in which you work are called school, a place of business or a home office - getting out of your environment point blank makes you BETTER.  Before teaching, I sold advertising for eight years, ending my sales career at MTV Networks.  Each year MTV Networks would take its entire sales staff to Puerto Rico for the ultimate, multiple day, sales meeting.  Of coarse I have fond memories of the social aspect of the trip but I got a lot more out of trip than that.  The best way I can describe it - it's like you're pumped up on a six pack of Red Bull.  You leave the conference with passion for the brand and new ideas to grow your business.

But have you ever turned down an opportunity to go to a workshop, conference or training? Often times we feel we can't afford the time away from the office or we don't want to deal with playing catch up.  Now, think of all the times you have gotten out of the office for workshops - are you glad you went?  Sure, not every workshop has been as beneficial as the next but I ALWAYS feel that I grow as a business professional or as an educator.

Now you come back from a workshop with all these new ideas and you're on that imaginary Red Bull buzz, how do you deal with it?  A veteran teacher gave me a piece of advice at the workshop this week, "pick one new idea you really like and try to incorporate it."  And that's how we grow.  We crawl, we walk, we run.  One little moment at a time.

REFLECTION: Take every opportunity you are offered to learn and be open minded to who and when you can learn.  Leave the four walls where you work - get out and live and you'll find the inspiration to move you forward.

3 Life Lessons You Can Learn From A Dog

If we take the time to observe, simple life lessons are right in front of us.  Here's three things we can learn from a dog:

1st Lesson: Soak in the sun
My dog could sit outside for hours on a beautiful day and just bask in the sun.  I see her close her eyes and enjoy the moment of the sounds of the outdoors.  Now, I'm an outdoorsy person so I can totally relate to this.  On every vacation where I've taken a hike, I find a few moments to stop, sit and think.  Even if you aren't into the outdoors, there's a big take away here - we need to take moments out of life, not just on vacation but every day of our life.  Whether it's our good fortune or our health, our family or our friends or all of the above - Appreciate all that you have, even the little moments in life like a sunny day.



2nd Lesson: Rest
If there's one thing my dog does is sleep.  To often we are running around in this busy game called life.  We juggle all the things we need to do - family, friends, work, home.  It's easy to run yourself until your immune system literally exhausts itself. Let's learn from our pets: Play hard and then sleep it off.  If you don't have time to sleep in or take a nap then do what ever you need to do to rejuvenate.  The more you can carve out time for yourself, the more energy you will have to accomplish all your goals in life.


3rd Lesson: Love life
Every day when I get home, my dog comes running with toy in mouth and tail wagging.  I always tell my dog, Brandy, that she's my first love. I adopted her during a time in my life when I was ready to start taking care of someone - before I met my husband and before I had my son.  But more than all the love I have for her amazing spirit, she loves me and most of all she loves life! She loves her family, she loves the hunt and she loves the simple things in life.  Be joyful, see the spirit in all things, open your hearts AND your mind - and just LOVE LIFE because it's there to love.

(Photo: My dog Brandy in the backyard)

Stop Blaming Your Environment - Create it!

Purpose, Motivation, and Choice - three topics I'm really passionate about so when I read Ryan Bretag's recent post on Metanoia it really lit a fire in me.  I urge you to read his thoughts that were sparked from Seth Godin's post "Are you doing a good job." We've been discussing topics such as these in the high school Management & Leadership class I teach so I posed Ryan's question to my students and I did some personal reflection as well.

PURPOSE:
Godin's post connects with Daniel Pink's research and how he states "What's your question?" I agree with Godin that people need to think about their mission. Does it tie into what they are doing in their environment? If there isn't a connection, are we truly going to be happy? This is the exact reason I changed careers from advertising sales to teaching and again connects with one of Daniel Pink's big mentions in his book Drive, you have to have "Purpose."

MOTIVATION:
My Management & Leadership students discussed the questions Bretag posed on his blog and here’s a google doc from our classroom discussion. We read, discussed and every student participated in an engaging discussion.   It was very inspiring to see students connect their thoughts from previous discussions (including various management/leadership philosophies and 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey). The students' ideas could fit any organization including business and education. From a room of 22 high school students, three main ideas came from our discussion.

Focus on making things fun and challenging : Create an engaging environment

Focus on the people: Truly listen to the needs of your stakeholders

Focus on being happy: Connect to the purpose

CHOICE:
On Bretag’s post I commented, “When are we going to stop blaming the environment and start creating it? My motto is to live better, do better and just be better. It's all about choice and the perspective we take. I agree with you, as leaders, isn't it our job to motivate and inspire others to be better? I think as leaders we can help our colleagues or students see they have a choice in their perspective and providing them with opportunities to create and fulfill these ideas.”

After writing this comment on Bretag's blog and then having my classroom discussion, I was hoping to see my students make more of a connection with the idea that each person has the choice of the way they view their environment.  As Bretag mentions, “When I’m bored, I start doing the job” but I was hoping to hear more individuals turn this statement around and take ownership of their life. When I posed the question to my students “what motivates you?” (see google doc for all responses) one female student stated it best – “BEING BORED.”  And while that was a great beginning connection that was made, it wasn't followed through with the rest of our motivation and leadership discussion.  We need to take ownership for ourselves, be empowered and change our perspective.  We need to stop blaming others for our environment and know that we have the power to create it ourselves.





At the same time, as leaders we need to provide opportunities and a better environment to help people create!  I’m truly inspired by the leaders of the Glenbrook High School District in which I work.  Dr. Michael Riggle and Ryan Bretag show  how leaders build a foundation for their staff and their students to provide choice and growth in their organization.

What have leaders done in your organization to create a better environment? What motivates you? Do you have a take a ownership perspective or a blame others mentality?  Let's challenge ourselves and our environment - Let's play a part in our community and our organizations - And in the end, we will create amazing things.

(Image: ENVIRONMENT, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (2.0) image from Enokson's photostream)