Happy first-Friday-back-from-break Friday!!!
I love my breaks. I love traveling, being with my kiddos, sipping coffee with my wife in mornings . . . and later morning . . . and afternoon . . . and later afternoon . . . and in the evening. But, I also love coming back to work. And standing outside this week, greeting our kiddos and high-fiving all of you, it felt great to be back. We are a great school, and I just love coming to work and getting after it with all of you. It's a great time to be a Longhorn!
Over the break, my brother in-law (an ex-military guy) recommended a book to me and I started it on the train ride home. It's entitled, "Turn the Ship Around: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders" and is written by a retired U.S. Navy Captain who helped turn the nuclear submarine Sante Fe into one of the best performing submarines in the Navy. The other day, he dedicated a chapter to a short phrase, "We learn (Everywhere, All the Time)," and it really resonated with met. It's so simple. So true. And a great reminder of how to live life, interpret failures, and hope for the future.
Another quote that I connected with was, rather than "focusing on avoiding mistakes, to achieve something great." We tend to get so caught up in being perfect, at avoiding mistakes and embarrassing ourselves, which only limits our ability to grow and learn and accomplish great things. This quote reminded me - encouraged me - to get after trying to achieve great things. And when a mistake occurs, learn. Everywhere, all the time. Or, to refer back to our Tuesday morning meeting, make better ships!
As we head into the New Year, each with our own way of planning, resoluting, and evaluating life and the coming year, I hope we can all be encouraged by the idea that while we pursue greatness, while we strive to do awesome things, we must not be discouraged by the mistakes we make or fear we will for they are merely moments that allow us to learn, to continue on towards greater greatness and, consequently, more failure and therefore more learning! Because as teachers, as educators, as a person, that is what we do. We learn (Everywhere, All the Time). And that - hopefully - is an encouraging thought.