My 11th grade math teacher had that quote pinned to above the board. He'd point to it when we complained about the homework. I had had an experience in the 8th grade that made me realize how true this statement is.
One day, I had to really get home fast after school. It meant running. It meant that I needed to have as little homework as possible when I ran. But math was my last class of the day. Everyday, five minutes before the dismissal bell rang, our teacher would write the homework down. The habit of the class was to write down the homework, close up our books and wait for the bell to ring. I didn't have that option on the day I had to run home. The MOMENT he started writing on the board, I whipped out paper/pencil/mathbook and started like my life depended on it. The rest of the class watched for a second and the competitive ones (who couldn't stand the thought of being out done by a girl), suddenly did the same. I was done with the math as the bell rang. And I flew out of there.
Guess what happened the next day. ALL of us whipped open our books and tried to get the homework done before even reaching home and having a snack to tide us over. It was great.
I use that quote and that experience to this day. Sometimes things have to be done and whining about it, or commiserating over it just doesn't make it any better. Sometimes it's things I'd like to do but rarely give myself permission to do because of the "more important" things on my list. And I say to myself, "Don't think, just do." Oh, it's freeing and energizing even if it's not such a fun task. Try it.
Speaking of fun...(I'll have to blog about that later).
One day, I had to really get home fast after school. It meant running. It meant that I needed to have as little homework as possible when I ran. But math was my last class of the day. Everyday, five minutes before the dismissal bell rang, our teacher would write the homework down. The habit of the class was to write down the homework, close up our books and wait for the bell to ring. I didn't have that option on the day I had to run home. The MOMENT he started writing on the board, I whipped out paper/pencil/mathbook and started like my life depended on it. The rest of the class watched for a second and the competitive ones (who couldn't stand the thought of being out done by a girl), suddenly did the same. I was done with the math as the bell rang. And I flew out of there.
Guess what happened the next day. ALL of us whipped open our books and tried to get the homework done before even reaching home and having a snack to tide us over. It was great.
I use that quote and that experience to this day. Sometimes things have to be done and whining about it, or commiserating over it just doesn't make it any better. Sometimes it's things I'd like to do but rarely give myself permission to do because of the "more important" things on my list. And I say to myself, "Don't think, just do." Oh, it's freeing and energizing even if it's not such a fun task. Try it.
Speaking of fun...(I'll have to blog about that later).
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