Teamwork

Never give up; you never know until you try.

The old saying goes that no man is an island. I always knew that to be true, but during the last couple years, I've had it emphasized more times than I can begin to count. My job search was certainly a team effort, and my job as a GED instructor is most definitely a team effort.


Of course, I certainly mean that my teaching partners, our colleagues at other sites, and our administrative staff on campus are part of the team. I also mean that the students we serve are teammates, too. We're in it together.

As I noted in my post "Affirmations," we all need encouragement to succeed in life. It's just how we're made; some need more encouragement than others and some seem to need less, but we all need it.

Sharing new information, reviewing information already encountered, providing a listening ear and/or a few words of encouragement, instructing, grading, studying and completing assigned work--it's all teamwork. Just as in Scripture--someone plants the seed, God sends rain, someone waters manually, and then eventually there's a harvest.

I'm glad to be a part of some of the teams I'm involved with, and I try to be a good teammate. How about you?

Eat That Elephant!

Never give up; you never know until you try.

I passed this bit of advice on to a student this week.  I heard it years ago and use if often, even reminding myself that it's true.  A task may seem insurmountable--hard, disgusting, too time-consuming; but if we concentrate on just one small part of it, a spoonful if you will, then we'll eventually get it done.

I'm currently consuming several elephants at the moment, one spoonful at a time.

Dig in, everyone!!

Affirmations

Never give up; you never know until you try.

A brand new semester in GED Land started this week, and my teaching partner and I have managed to get through it.  The thing that helped me the most, and I think my partner too, is that one of our fellow teachers,  with much more experience, paid us a visit and reviewed procedures with us and agreed to check our paperwork for accuracy.  "J" is good like that--she's always willing to help.

Much to our relief, "G" and I had done very well.  I thought we were on the right track, but just getting that affirmation made me feel much better.  I thanked "J" profusely.

Challenge time, everyone:  who do you know who would benefit from a few words of affirmation?  If the answer is you, ask someone for input on how you are doing! 

Be Bold

Never give up; you never know until you try.

I'm embarking on several projects this year that are sure to take me outside my comfort zone, so once again I'm thinking about boldness versus timidity.  With that in mind, I submit today's quote, attributed to Baltasar Gracian, a Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer: "Put a grain of boldness into everything you do."