Monday Moanin Thoughts #236 Resolutions For 2017, How About A Word?

Welcome to the first Monday Moanin of 2017. Celebrating a new year is the perfect time to reflect and make resolutions.  Many people, including myself find resolutions near impossible to achieve and maintain. I agree with  author Jon Gordon who suggests picking one word to focus on throughout the year. As a result , I have been thinking and reflecting on what will my word be for 2017.  I am happy to share with you that my focus for 2017 will be the word practice. Of all the words to choose, why practice? The obvious answer is to practice something means that we will get better at it. My goal is to focus on practice and  improve my effectiveness working with principals, and other educators. By practicing with a purpose, I hope to keep growing and improving my skills in all areas professionally and personally.

The other reason I picked practice is a tribute to a close family friend who passed away last summer. Dennis Van Avery lost his battle to cancer after receiving a bad diagnosis 4 years earlier. During his journey battling cancer Dennis wrote down his thoughts in a book recently published titled, Practicing Death. When I read it the word practice jumped out at me. Living with his diagnosis provided Van Avery many opportunities to get better at preparing for death.

He wrote: “The practice of dying is both solitary and communal. While the dying is ours to do, we all benefit from help and inspiration along the way. Just as with any successful sports team there is a combination of desire , coaching, and practice that increase skills allows us to grow, to work on our game, and be a valuable teammate. This is true with the practice of dying.”

Thank you Dennis for reinforcing the importance of practice. Even in death you continue to help me grow as a person.

So what is your word and focus  going to be for 2017.  Have a great week and keep finding the good stuff