Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Obstacle or Opportunity?

All of us who are connected to education (and generally speaking that is all of us) know the challenges that exist daily.  I have come to believe that it is not the challenges that wear us down as much as our responses to those challenges.  How do you respond to the latest challenge in funding? The new student that arrived yesterday? The staff member that seems trapped in the "good old days"? Do you see the obstacle or the opportunity?

Dr. Randy Pausch, who wrote "The Last Lecture", talked about brick walls and how they might impede our progress depending on our view. "The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something", he wrote.  If you find yourself up against a brick wall, will it stop you from moving forward or will you find a way around, over, under, or through?

By focussing on the opportunity, there exists the possibility that a breakthrough might occur that will promote success for that new student, reconnect that staff member to their passion and purpose, or generate a conversation about outcomes rather than financial inputs.

Look to the opportunity and look past the obstacle.  Remember, "No you already have - Yes you can still achieve."

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