Happy Wednesday to everyone out there that may read this. I hope your day has been filled with health, happiness, and a desire to give your best effort possible. Today has been a good recovery day for me. My workouts consisted of a 45 minute changing intensity bike ride (9.83 miles) and a 45 minute brisk paced walk. This morning, I got some much needed extra rest to prepare for the final push of the week. We have early release every Wednesday, so my schedule runs from 8-230 at school. My day started at about 730, since I am lucky and live within a couple minutes of work. I woke up, took my progress pic, and downed 32 oz of water. Next, I drank my protein shake, but no other food since there was no AM workout. I showered and dressed for school, out the door around 8:10. My day was filled with a lesson discussing the James Webb telescope with my students. We are doing a weekly tracking of the telescope to study its journey to the heavens in search of many missing questions that have puzzled scientists for years. I love providing my students with real world situations that they can see happening right in front of their eyes. It definitely is something that makes teaching and molding students to be learners much, much easier. To remain relevant, I need to constantly evolve and improve as a teacher. If I do not share the same zest for information, how can I expect any of them to follow suit. There are always kids that go above and beyond, and there are others that do not. The kids I am really targeting are the ones in the middle, that haven't made up their mind on which group they will float towards. Now, this does not in any way mean I do not care about the others. There are some students that flat out do not show up, purposefully do no work, and make a conscious choice that this setting isn't for them. Also, I have the other end, where I constantly need to challenge certain students more than just the regular coursework because their minds thirst for more. It is a challenge unlike any other until you see for yourself. One of the topics today was to understand how all of the separate mirrors on Webb co-exist together, and can be independently controlled as part of the greater whole---thus getting higher resolution imagery and pushing the limits of what our current space telescope can do. We spoke that in an analogy in terms if one part of the whole is not functioning properly, the entire image being sought so hard for will be less grand than it could have been. This can be described through one's day to day actions. If you get up early each morning, workout, and eat properly for your first meal, what is the point if at night you binge watch your favorite show eating candy and staying up till 2 am throwing your sleep schedule completely off? It sounds like a crazy thing to do, but every single day in this world people do some version of this exact type of scenario. One of their 'mirrors' is dirty or tilted at the wrong angle, leading to their own demise. People justify their actions by allowing their BITCH VOICE to help them feel better about themselves and compromise on the situation telling themselves, "Well, I worked out so..." This whole thought process is flawed and surely will not lead someone to success. It really is one of the simplest things to explain to people, yet one of their hardest things to actually accomplish for any amount of time. This is why #75Hard is so powerful. Sticking to the gameplan and seeing things through creates not only habits, but a mindset. I will win each task, I will stick to my tasks, I will see it through. Then, your goals and ambitions adjust over time, yet you keep your eye on the prize knowing all the little details matter. I challenge anyone that reads this to really break down the day and see if they can improve. I do this daily and am in the beginning stages. This will pay dividends for myself, family, friends, and students---because I am improving. One set of actions ripples to others. Be the difference, don't just say it.
Now, to the real point of today. I had my first legitimate temptation and without even thinking almost ended my journey during the middle of day 10 and was headed back to day 1. One of my students on Wednesdays has a deal that he gets popcorn that Coach Kelly sells and then brings me a bag as well and I reimburse him. He did as I have asked numerous times and I was delighted to see it. Yes, he remembered. I get my popcorn! WRONG. I shockingly pushed it away and then explained to my class briefly what I was doing through this mental mindset program. They were surprised, but also very proud of what I was doing. "Wow, Coach K, I could NOT do any of that! How is that even possible for you," one student asked. I acknowledged it is extremely difficult, but I no longer think about what I cannot have or what I miss out on. I think about my end goals. I think about how I will become better. I calmly got some clean coffee filters out that I had on hand and divided the popcorn among students that would like some. The crisis was averted! That is one thing I want to mention about this program. Random things like this come up when you least expect it. How will you respond? I could've told myself to eat it and tell no one, and I can stay on track. That is merely lying to myself, which I refuse to do from this point forward.
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