Day 47: On Hope, Part 2

So, it went great!

Focusing on hope yesterday worked extremely well to help me get through an otherwise very difficult day. The day was not markedly different than the days before, but it felt better because I focused on things I could immediately influence. (It likely also helped that my classroom was warmer than 60 degrees, which is how cold it was on Tuesday, but I digress.) 

Yesterday, I felt more positive about teaching because I emphasized what I could teach and how much my students have already learned (a lot!), not how far they fall from some measure of academic success created in a different time under different circumstances (which usually leads me to feel unproductive guilt and concern about “learning loss”). 

Yesterday, I tried to do what I could in terms of my health — take a walk, reach my step goal for the first time in a few weeks — and now I feel hopeful about building on that success, instead of sorry for stress eating junk food or missing my AM workout for 9 days in a row (but who’s counting?). 

Yesterday, Sarah and I enjoyed our designated hang-out time, and instead of worrying about all the moments I have missed, I tried to tune in to where and how she was. 

No, it didn't work for the entire day. I still got emails and saw headlines and scrolled social media. I still worried about having COVID, getting COVID, unwittingly housing a student in my class who was spreading COVID. Teachers, staff and students in my school, Jesse school and my children's school are still contending with it — sometimes to grave effects.

But all that shit will go down whether I concentrate on it or not.

So, shifting my personal focus made the day much more bearable. Instead of 75% focused on COVID and 25% focused on other things, I reversed those numbers yesterday. And today, by bringing in even more hope, adorableness (my students will perform in our winter concert!) and efficacy (I hope to squeeze in a quick workout when I finish writing), I aim to reach Pareto’s Principle. 

It states 20% of my actions determine 80% of my effectiveness — or a 20% shift in mindset, this renewed focus on hope, can create an 80% shift in results.