double vision
By, Michael Earnshaw
February 3, 2021
@MikeREarnshaw
@PunkClassrooms
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
blink - February 2, 2021
blinkBy, Michael EarnshawFebruary 2, 2021@MikeREarnshaw@PunkClassrooms
sight discontinued at dusk
recharged
or
escaped
darkness cleansing
purify
or
erase
dawn will erupt the silence
replaying
Or
rebirthing
sight discontinued at dusk
recharged
or
escaped
darkness cleansing
purify
or
erase
dawn will erupt the silence
replaying
Or
rebirthing
Silent Notification - February 10, 2021
Silent NotificationBy, Michael EarnshawFebruary 8, 2021@MikeREarnshaw@PunkClassrooms
Last week a catastrophic event stormed my professional life. This event was so Earth shattering, rocking my world to its core, that it didn’t just creep in and affect my personal life also, but charged it like elite athletes sprinting the last feet before the finish line of the finals of the 100 Meter Yard Dash. I’m not quite sure when the events I’m about to discuss started sprouting, but I noticed it on a Thursday, scrambled to find a solution on Friday, and come Saturday I had embraced and accepted my fate and future.
The day I realized that my life, both professionally and personally, would change forever was Thursday, February 4, 2021. It was Parent/Teacher Conferences. My work hours were flexed a little bit this day, so I took advantage of the open morning. Coffee, reading, and a workout were how I spent my hours alone while my wife was at work and our kids were enthralled in their own remote learning. I finished a killer weight session, ferociously shook up a banana protein shake, when it dawned on me that I had not gotten any work emails all morning. Now I know I said that my hours were flexed, and that’s true, but not everyone’s hours were. We still had one of our secretaries in the office since 8:00 AM, the typical opening hours. District Office secretaries and Admin were working their normal hours. Even some teachers were taking advantage of the open morning and getting extra conferences in, copies made, or team planning done. So, being an elementary principal, I should have had a handful, maybe two handfuls, of emails at this point of the day.
To say I was frightened is an understatement. I was terrified. Palms and brow sweating, heavy breathing, and none of it was the result from the workout I just crushed. I had no clue what horrors I was about to unlock. I I had spent my morning practicing my own self-care, something we stress to our staff more than ever right now, and I felt so free. But now, when I realized that something had happened, that I hadn’t been reached out to once, everything I did for myself was wiped away. I knew I was about to open a portal that should have remained closed.
I put the protein shaker cup on the kitchen counter, took six deep breaths, closed my eyes for a brief prayer, and placed my thumb on the Microsoft Outlook Email icon on my cell phone's home screen.
I couldn’t believe my eyes, my worst nightmare had grown to a reality. More than just a few handfuls of unopened, unread emails sat staring right back at me, in an almost sinister stance giggling, “Haha, you’re going to have some fun going through all of us!”
My Outlook email notifications somehow became disabled on my phone. There was no update, no change to my settings, the notifications just stopped popping through, the one job they had. I spent most of Thursday and Friday trying to figure out what had gone wrong and how to get the notifications back. I was unsuccessful at this and eventually gave up in defeat.
I know many of my PLN have praised and touted the mental health benefits of not having work email notifications on their phone. There needs to be that separation. I could never do it. I always felt I needed to have that notification alert me when I was sent something. I didn’t always reply immediately, but if something came in that may need immediate attention I could address it. I felt that rather than try to fix a tech problem that was obviously out of my hands this would be a good enough time to leave my comfort zone and see how this horror story unfolds.
After a weekend of not receiving any school email notifications, or even checking the emails on my own accord, I felt liberated, free! I had spent the entire weekend, every minute of it, taking care of myself and spending time with my family. Not one second pertained to work. I learned a lot throughout these past few days unshackled from email notifications.
1. Not everything is important or time-sensitive. I spent this morning, Monday, catching up on all of those emails that built up. Not one, none of them, required any attention that I was overdue on, or even near their deadline. Things can wait.
2. If something needs direct attention that individual will call or text.
3. The happiness, the freeness, that has come with filling my time away from school is exactly what I have been missing to truly “unplug.”
I’m excited for my nights and weekends, free from the ball and chain of Outlook. I can give my undivided attention to those closest in my life, my beautiful wife, energetic children, and myself. This will only make me better for our staff and students. If you are like me and have yet to learn to live without work email on your phone I highly suggest you try it out. I will never go back, and if this notification issue resolves on its own I will be sure to disable it.
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Sacrifice - February 2, 2021
SacrificesBy, Michael EarnshawFebruary 1, 2021@MikeREarnshaw@PunkClassrooms
Goal setting is imperative if we want to continually improve and move forward. In order to keep our trajectory going, we must set goals, create an action plan, and work to accomplish what we set out to do. Improvement is an ever-moving target, we can’t simply nail our boots to one area and keep shooting our bow from the same spot. Once we hit the target in front of us, our first goal, a new one is set. Sometimes the next target is a lateral move to the left or right, sometimes a farther distance. Regardless, to keep improving ourselves we adjust, move, and plan to hit the next target.
Most of us are great at setting goals, planning their attack, and working to accomplish them. Sometimes we impress ourselves and surpass even our own expectations, other times we fall short. Sometimes we hit our goal, but it’s a lackluster finale. I’m not here to give any sage advice on how to always crush your goals beyond your wildest dreams, nor am I here to explain how to not have the letdown finishes. What I am here to do is to share some of my experiences and self-reflection that has helped me to realize either why I did not have the euphoric high after my accomplishment.
I have had the privilege to run five marathons. I never set out to run five, I thought I was done after my first 26.2 miles in 2013. I had basically set two goals for myself with this race. Honestly, every race I run, whether it’s 26.2 miles or 3.1, my first goal is to finish. No times, no splits, just finish the run. That goal was met with my first marathon in 2013 and every after that. My second goal was to run 26.2 miles in under 4 hours. I finished in 4:02.
This ate at me. I knew I could finish in under 4:00! So, what did I do? I signed up to run the Chicago Marathon 2014. Just like my training plan from the 2013 marathon, I stuck to a strict(ish) diet, brews by the pool were only indulged in after the week’s long run was complete. Workouts weren’t skipped and were performed with intent. The end result of the 2014 Chicago Marathon...a 3:55 finish!
The next three marathons I ran all had the same two goals: 1. To finish the race. 2. To finish in under 3:55. In these next three marathons, I reached Goal One but was 0/3 for Goal Two. This caused me frustration, confusion, and anger. I knew I was better than my performances. I was a marathon runner, I’ve done it almost a handful of times before completing my fifth in 2019. So why were my times continually climbing a ladder when in my mind they should have been sliding down like Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas?
After months of self-reflection, not just on my marathon times and goals with racing, but with ALL of my goals both personally and professionally, I wasn’t invested in them. I didn’t really want to accomplish them. I was setting them because it was what I thought I was supposed to do. I was setting goals on other’s stereotypes and perceptions, not my own.I may not have been invested in my goals, but that didn’t mean I didn’t work hard to reach them. I trained, got in long runs, but there was something missing, something I acknowledged during both the 2013 and 2014 marathons but none of the others. SACRIFICE.
In the last three marathons I was not willing to sacrifice a social life, comfort foods, pool volleyball, and brews in the sun. This of course had a direct effect on the training runs and workouts I was completing. Instead of training to improve myself I was forcing myself to go through the motions. Since I got out for a few runs this week and I’ve run a marathon or two before I’d be fine. I convinced myself I’d be good and reach my Goal 2. Ok, you got me, I wasn’t convinced, it was just wishful thinking.
Many times what prevents us from reaching a goal the way we envision is not that we don’t have the work ethic, plan, or support system behind us, it’s that we aren’t willing to sacrifice other aspects of our life. Whenever we set a goal we must not only lay out our plan of attack but also list what sacrifices are we giving up. If we are not willing to live our lives without some aspects that have been with us, is the goal something we should be setting out to journey for?
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