You have power in the very thing you are resisting
I can remember my first time welding. It was at the Georgia FFA/FCCLA center my Junior Year of College. My awesome instructor Mr. Von Peavy could smell my fear. And of course, like any good teacher he got me to be the first to try and strike an arc. Shaking in my oversize green fire retardant jacket, my welding helmet and oversized leather gloves I took hold of the electrode and tried multiple times to get an arc going. With encouragement from Mr. Von Peavy I got it going after a few tries. And you know what, throughout the intensive week of welding 101 I got more and more confident with my skills each time I stepped into the welding booth.
Fast forward 3 years later and I am teaching metal fabrication to my students in my first teaching job. And I admit, I was not an expert in welding. But, what I do know is each time I was in the booth I got just a little bit more proficient and a little bit more confident.
What skills do you have that you could improve on? What skills do you feel proficient at but want to become an expert at?
How do you get that? By showing up and continually pursuing that skill.
You can expedite that growth by teaching others. I can imagine there is a certain topic that you have felt less than confident about teaching. Maybe it is something that you never learned in high school or college and you face teaching it to squirelly middle schoolers and apathetic high schoolers. What should you do? DOUBLE DOWN on that topic. Go all in. Study it, reach out to other experts, watch professional development sessions on it, purchase curriculum in that topic area, and your skills and confidence will increase.
Have you ever heard of the power formula. Yes, the person who almost failed high school physics is telling you about physics.
The power formula is POWER=Resistance X Effort squared.
What does that mean? It means that you can find power in the very thing that you are resisting but putting more effort into it.
Let me tell you a story.
My first year teaching I asked selfishly the state staff what the least participated CDE was in the state. They said Ag Communications. I said “Great, something that I can learn about and maybe just maybe my kiddos will be able to succeed in.”
Three years in a row we got THIRD place in the state. Now, that sounds impressive right? Well the first year there was just three chapters competing and the next two years it was five. Progress right? Not really. We just did the minimum to get there. We didn’t go all in. I didn’t go all in. I just put minimal effort into that CDE and we got minimal results.
Well, I moved to a different state and said I need to double down. Remember the power formula is DOUBLING your effort in the thing that you resist.
So I started studying the Ag Communications rubrics and contest information. I started taking the quizzes with my students. I started asking for help from state staff, we started practicing way earlier than we really needed to, I even taught a professional development session to other teachers about Ag Comm. And you know what, I learned a ton. My students learned a ton. That fourth year coaching a team in Agriculture Communications was a year of doubling down. And they won the area contest, they won the state contest and they won the national contest.
You might be thinking, ok you made it to the top. Good for you. While that is true, the learning didn’t stop there. I decided to continue to double down on this CDE with my next group of eager kiddos. I refined the way I coached certain parts of the content. I knew where you win and lose competitions based on the rubric. I flew out to California to teach other agriculture teachers how to coach this content. Year after year I recommitted to my growth in that area. I kept on leaning into that resistance and doubled my effort to get to unshakeble belief in my content knowledge and coaching technique.
Am I saying that if you double down on anything you are going to be on stage at nationals, no.
Am I saying that if you want a chance to be standing behind your students beaming with pride as they get recognized for their hard work at the local, regional, state of national conference you need to put more effort into it, yes I am.
And the impact you have with your power is not just impacting you, but those around you.
What if you took this idea into other areas of your life?
Resisting cooking homemade meals? Double Down?/ Who gets the impact? Not just you, but your whole family!
Resisting getting planning done during planning? Double Down? Who gets the impact? Not just you, but your students!
Resisting learning about that new prep topic? Double Down? Who gets the impact? Not just you, but your students/school!
What is that area of life that you are resisting? What do you need to double down on?
