Anyone who is a connected educator knows, once you get
started using different resources and tools to stay connected, it can be hard
to stop. Participating in Twitter chats,
Voxer groups, utilizing Facebook and Instagram to connect, blogging, reading
blog posts and education articles, attending conferences and attending EdCamps
to name a few, all take time. But like
anything else in life, when we want to be good at something, we need to get
involved, practice and devote the required amount of time necessary to be
successful.
When you invest the time, focus, passion and energy to be successful,
you demonstrate to yourself and others what you value. When I first became an administrator and
began to invest time in learning more from others so I could improve, I can
honestly say it became addicting. I continue
to spend hours upon hours investing my time in chats, reading blog posts,
asking questions, and connecting with educators from around the world.
While my time management isn’t the best and the balance
between my growth and personal life constantly needs adjusted, the people
closest to me identify why I do what I do.
They see my passion and love for what I do. They can see what I want to help my students
and staff become. Its not a question of
whether I love what I do everyday. For
the people closest to me, the question is, “How can I love what I do?” or my
kids say, “Whatever I do in my life, I want to love it as much as Dad loves
what he does.”
As an educator, do you love what you do? Your answers to the questions below may help
determine if you do:
Is getting better a priority for you?
Do you want to get better?
Do you feel a need to get better?
If you love what you do, you make getting better a priority in your
life. In education, we not only want to
get better for ourselves, we look to get better so others can be great. We make getting better a priority in our
lives because we love what we do.
Do you invest time to get better?
If you want to get better, as stated above, you have to put
the time in. If you love to workout, you
find time to workout. You plan for it
each day. You make the time. If you want to be a better educator or a
better leader, you need to invest the time to get better.
Are you consistently investing the time to get better?
If you love something, you consistently invest time to
improve. You don’t do it once and then
wonder why you didn’t get better. When I
was younger, I used to be a pretty good golfer.
I practice and played everyday.
When I occasionally play now, I know I am not that player anymore. Why should I expect to be? I don’t consistently invest the time to be
good. If you love what you do,
consistently invest time to grow as an educator.
Does getting better drive you in your craft?
People who love what they do are passionate about their
craft.
People who love what they do have
an enormous sense of pride about getting better and being the best.
People who love what they do know “why” they
want to get better.
As Eric Thomas says, You need to have a
“why” to love what you do.
Your “why”
will drive your passion and pride.
When
you have that drive and others see that drive, everyone knows you love what you
do.
It’s not an act.
It’s genuine.
Do you enjoy helping others? Does it excite you?
When you love what you do, you know helping others get
better only makes your field stronger.
In education, when we help students and staff, it makes culture of
education in our buildings, districts, and learning network stronger. When you love what you do, you give back to
others. At that point, people who love
what they do realize it is not about them, it’s about others.
Do you reach out to others to get better?
People who love what they do have no problem asking others
for help. They know others can help them
grow. Successful people build a network
to get better. None of us can be the
best in anything without help from others.
When you love what you do, you make it a point on a daily basis to let
others help you grow.
Are you giving your craft everything you have to offer?
Loving what you do means you bring everything to the table
each day. As educators, it doesn’t
matter what your job description or position is. Our students, parents, and communities
deserve our absolute best each day.
Are you willing to change and encourage others to change when
necessary?
You always here the line, “Change is scary,” or “People fear
change.” When you love what you do, you
don’t fear change, but look forward to it.
When you love what you do, you invest the time to change and innovate to
improve yourself and others. When you
love what you do, you realize change is a part of the process towards overall
success. You model change so others the
people around you will change for the better.
When you love what you do, you help improve the culture by your
willingness to change and visualize the benefits of doing it differently than
before.
If we are going to make a difference in the education field,
we need to love what we do. I find it
hard to believe that when people get into an amazing field like education, they
don’t have some type of love or passion for the field and want to help
students. If you read these questions
and don’t believe you love what you do, you have two choices: You can look to
do something else with your life or you can find your “why” and invest the time
to begin to love what you do again. If
you choose option one, don’t feel ashamed.
Go find your passion and what drives you. If you choose the second option, as a fellow educator,
I need you start today. Please invest
the time to get better and make it a priority to love what you do. Not only do you owe it to yourself, but also
you owe to all of the students’ lives you touch each day.
What questions do you think people need to ask to know
if they love what they do?
