How often do you do something for the joy of it? Because you love what you’re doing? In “Flow,” I kept trying (and crashing) because I loved the idea of it. The 100-mile runners in Born to Run race for the love of it, says Christopher McDougall. And if you’ve ever loved the feel of […]
Remember when you so loved the idea of something– your next job… a new project… your future wife– that nothing could stop you from pursuing it (her… him)? The best motivation is when you love the idea of it so much that you don’t really care how you’re doing at this moment: you’re having so […]
Have you ever found yourself trying to think more positively about something but in your gut or your chest you feel a clenching that says, “I don’t really believe this” ? If so, you’re not alone. Sometimes when we try thinking positively about a difficult topic, not only do we not feel better, we may even […]
People — students, recent graduates, parents, adults– are always talking to me about finding their “path.” The notion being that if they can just figure out all the elements of what they’re good at, what careers they’re suited to, and where they can earn the living they want, they’ll discover the path they should walk […]
Did you know that you are a storyteller? Or that you are just one story away from what you really want? Most of us don’t realize that we have a few central narratives running through our lives because the stories we tell ourselves are so familiar that we don’t even realize they are stories. […]
Not seeing the best in our students is not as much an issue for them as it is for us. Many of them go happily along feeling free and knowing they just want to stay under the radar of parents, school, teachers and traditional expectations. Jimmy, for example, is a C-student who, “… trained us. […]
Besides being creative, innovative, wildly successful and new-age businesses (that weren’t even dreamed of 30 years ago), do you know what Google, Amazon, Wikipedia & Sim City have in common? The founders of these companies (two at Google) have Montessori educations, says Peter Sims in the Wall Street Journal. What is “a Montessori education?” Although […]
Have you noticed that passion is a favorite new word? “I’m trying to find my passion.” “What if I don’t have a passion?” “You’re so lucky you found your passion.” “I just want my son to find his passion.” I find it inspiring to see that so many people have a passion for passion. It […]
I sometimes wonder why so much of what is considered “good literature” for ourselves and for students has to be dark, depressing, or unhappy. I’m not against stories in which something bad happens, but knowing that bad news seizes and clings, while good news slides right off us, I like to prime myself with uplifting […]
Successful. Entrepreneur. Prime Minister. Nobel Prize Winner. Scientist. Leader. What words come to mind when you think of people described by this list? Underachievers? Learning disabled? Unmotivated? These probably weren’t your first thoughts, but many people with these job titles weren’t good students. In fact, A BBC-study found that a “significant majority” of self-made millionaires […]
