21 Excuses
Earlier today Josh Buckley, my amazing co-host of The Punk Rock Classrooms Podcast, and I recorded our wrap-up of 2021 show. We reflected on how 2021 went, or more so, the last semester of school. We discussed wins, losses, where we want to go in 2022, and all of that other fun stuff you can listen to on the episode itself when it drops on January 3, 2022.
Josh asked me an important question during our recording, “What was my biggest ‘Win’ during this semester we just concluded in 2021?” I responded with how I was proud to have opened up and been honest with my staff that I was struggling and feeling overwhelmed with EVERYTHING about the “job” of being a principal. I was trying to take on tasks and responsibilities of our staff to ease their burden, run a school the way I know a school should run, and also take on all of the extra tasks upper admin, local, and state education departments were throwing at us, PLUS every pitch the world had to launch. And this was just my professional life! With all of this consuming much of my day, I wasn’t performing as the best father and husband for those that are most important in my life and I wasn’t taking care of myself! So yes, I’m not saying my answer to Josh was incorrect or I regret it, it was definitely a win to announce my vulnerability to our staff. They stepped up and helped pick up the pieces that I was dropping and leaving behind. We ended the semester and went into Winter Break on a very positive, collaborative note.
But as I sat here after the recording, pondering the conversation Josh and I had as I usually do, it dawned on me that my vulnerability was not my best “Win” of 2021. It definitely played a part in it, but it’s not my true answer. So, if you’ve already listened to the episode, you’re about to find out what my best takeaway was from 2021, and if you haven’t listened yet, well sorry I just spoiled about an ⅛ of the episode.
Towards the end of our conversation, I began to talk about how many of us have made excuses during this past year, and the entire pandemic for that matter, about why we haven’t or couldn’t meet the goals we set out. While I reflect on my vulnerability with our staff it has helped to open up my eyes and mind that I am my own worst enemy. I am the one, the only one, that determines if my goals are met, chooses my attitude, and my outlook on life. It’s so easy to put the blame on others, on circumstances, on the world rather than take a good look in the mirror and say, “I’m the reason XXXXXXX didn’t happen. I’m the reason XXXXXXX didn’t work out.”
For example, why not keep up this vulnerability I’ve been mentioning. I was supposed to run my 6th Chicago Marathon in October. Over Labor Day, on a 15-mile run, I pulled my hip abductor. I couldn’t run for weeks, missed many long runs, and ended up deferring my running to the 2022 Chicago Marathon. Now, what I failed to mention when this all happened, I wasn’t on top of my game, hitting every training run up to this point. Instead, we had become good friends with some of our neighbors, and Friday and Saturday nights became very social with late-night bonfires, laughs, and memories I will cherish forever. When I pulled my hip abductor, it was because I wasn’t prepared for that 15-mile run, I hadn’t put in the work leading up to it and the result was getting injured. I never admitted it was my choices, my choosing to have some beers and snacks and sleep in the next morning instead of running leading up to my injury that took me out of the marathon. I can admit that now, but at the time I made the excuse that it was my hip abductor that brought me to a deferral. I could have easily rested, got my lifestyle back on track, and had plenty of time to run the marathon. I more than likely wouldn’t have gotten a PR, but I could have finished, an accomplishment in itself. Instead, I used that injury as an excuse for my poor approach and attitude towards training.
This is just one example of the many from the past year. When I reflect back on why I didn’t write as much after my book was published, excuses. Why our school culture was taking a shift down, excuses. Why this school year was horrendous and I couldn’t do any more, excuses.
I’m going to take my vulnerability with my staff as a “Win” because it has helped me to see that everything else in my life that I have set goals for or want, if it wasn’t reached in 2021 it wasn’t because of anyone or anything else but myself. We make time for what we want, and that is exactly how I’m going into 2022.
Please check out my latest book, The EduCulture Cookbook: Recipes & Dishes to Positively Impact Classroom & School Culture with EduMatch Books.
https://www.punkrockclassrooms.com/books-media/educulturecookbook
