Overcoming the fear of fixing our problems

Rolling along happily, it always hits from out of nowhere. It may be an email, it may be those recent book reviews I have for book #2 or it could just be the offhand comment of a well meaning person:

Is fear holding you back on your life journey?

"You don't need to have a book signing because I'm not sure if anyone normal wants your book."

"You are wasting your time releasing a book that Barnes and Noble or Books a Million won't stock on their shelves. Why would you waste your life like that?"

 "You write to much about ...

"You need to...  you... you... you... you...."

I think the problem here is "you" or in my case "me." When we focus on ourselves and all of the things we may or may not do right or when we focus on trying to anticipate how we will be perceived by others it is easy to become paralyzed.

Paralyzed with Irrational Fear

I've had some laptop RAM sitting on my desk for two weeks out of a defunct computer that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt would speed up my Lenovo laptop. I watched the video on the Lenovo site about how to take off the part of the cover where the RAM was housed. I knew I could do it and yet, I didn't. (Don't try this at home, I have taken apart many computers and knew I could do it, it was fear, not lack of expertise holding me back.)

But this morning, I took the laptop. turned it over, loosened the screws and did it. I am now kicking along with 4GB of fully functioning RAM instead of the 1GB it was seeing earlier (I actually had 2GB but one of the sticks had an issue.)

That is like life. We're afraid to fix what is broken EVEN when we know how because we are holding ourselves back. We are afraid of the fix.

We never get over it we just work through fear

Now, I sit with the initial reviews of Common Core Collaborative Writing in the Cloud and I have this same fear of incompetence welling up in my throat like the sickening feeling of when I've really overeaten past the point of comfort.

But really, this feeling is a result of over --
over-thinking
over-anticipating and in some ways
over-fearing.

Such overs will send me (and you) "over the top" and we'll do nothing.

What is your fear?

Every one of us on this planet, I am convinced, is plagued by an insecurity of some sort. You might be telling yourself that you're not able to write, or act, or follow that dream of yours. If you want till you think you're ready, you'll never start.

None of us are perfect. The more perfect you think you are, the more wrong you are.

As I get older and get to know many amazing very successful people, I'm finding that they are people just like me, trying to make their way and do their best.

Some of you today are thinking about trying something new: blogging, tweeting, speaking etc. and you're thinking you should wait until you have something more interesting to say or know more.

I started blogging when I knew nothing. I knew nothing about blogging and nothing about wikis but my very first post still is one of my most popular. I think that beginners have great value. (see the Power of a Newbie)

Who you are
So, let me tell you about you.

• You are made for a purpose. 
• You are very very good at some things.
• You stink at doing some things.

Kip was talking last night on our date night about his worst job experience and put it like this:

"I spent seven years of my life trying to make my job have a 'Kip sized hole' in it and that job wasn't made for me. It wasn't a good environment, the people didn't like me, and it wasn't bringing out the best of my skillset. I love my job now and am succeeding because this job has a 'Kip sized hole' in it - it lets me use my strengths and mitigates my weaknesses and I'm very happy. It is a perfect fit."

• Are you trying to make your job have a _______ (Insert your name) sized hole when it never will?

Just because that job doesn't suit you doesn't mean you are a bad person or a failure at life. You have just found a job that is perfectly NOT for you. You know what you don't want to do.

• It isn't whether we know how to fix something it is whether we are willing to take the steps we know we need to take to fix it.

Often it isn't that mysterious fix, it is a willingness to do what we know needs to be done. At the risk of being Nike-corny - just "do it" and get over yourself. No one is waiting around wishing you'd do that one thing (unless it is your spouse) but there are many people who wish you'd fix that problem that you are capable of fixing. A bad fit for you will make those you influence miserable too.

• You can only control yourself. 
• You cannot control others. 
• You can't do everything but you can do something. 
• Doing nothing is a decision to do something... nothing.

OK, so I'm going to write and work on my 2011 taxes. I admit that I am afraid. This is the same feeling I got every time I sat down to write Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds (out in a few weeks.) I'm scared witless about the release of that book. It is important to me and my very life, heart, and soul is in that book. Will anyone care?

Realize that people who have done great things have all felt such feelings of insecurity and don't let insecurity stop you from moving forward. Put habits into your life that help you move in the direction you'd like your life to go.

Work hard at work worth doing and never mistake busy-ness for taking care of business. Taking care of business means you're focusing on the most important things, busy-ness just means you're full of busy work.

Focus. Move ahead. Move past your fear. You are far greater a person than you think you are. And if you think you're great, maybe you should take a minute to go walk through the graveyard among the great leaders of the past. You have work to do, keep perspective and maybe you can achieve the purpose for which you were put upon the earth.

Remember your noble calling, whatever it may be. But it certainly isn't to wallow in self pity whining about why you can't fix that problem that you know how to fix. Get busy. It may just be the best thing you've ever done.


Photo Credit: Big Stock, Conquer Your Fear

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How to Improve Your Thinking (and your Life) with a Podcatcher

We know we have to update our apps on our smartphone or tablet to fix bugs and add current enhancements. It is what we do when we want to (usually) get the best out of our device.

Update Your thinking and  Update Your Life
We need to update our thinking and habits too. So we can fix things that don't work or improve things that already do. It is what we do when we want to get the best out of our life.

Yesterday as I talked to my 9th graders about life, we talked about the average lifespan and agreed - let's use 80 years as a round number. I asked - what percentage of your life is the next 4 years. 5% - if we're lucky. So, can we wait to live our lives until after high school: no. (My life, by this calculation is 52.5% over!!! I'd better get busy.)

The decision to not make decisions or set goals is also a decision.

You are what you think.

One of the best ways to update your life and your thinking is to listen to inspirational, informative "radio shows" or as we call them now, podcasts. We call it a podcast, typically if it is an mp3 or audio-only and a vodcast if it is using video, but now most people just call all of it podcasts.

The iTunes method of getting podcasts is clunky and unreliable, so I have a podcatcher app on my iphone and iPad.

Use a Podcast Catcher
iCatcher lets you type in the podcast and is very good at finding the feed and adding it to your list. You can create playlists as well for different times, like listening in the car, your chore time or washing dishes. It can take a bit to update and you do have to launch the app for it to update, but I use iCatcher EVERY day. (I know other people that like Downcast instead.)



Program your thinking by listening to good things.
 

 I use iCatcher my iPhone (for audio) and iPad (for video) to catch and update the current podcasts. I love the 1 minute podcasts because I can have a playlist and listen to 5 different things on my five minute drive home.














The easiest way to add these is to look them up in iCatcher to find the podcast. I've included my screens so you can get some ideas but, by all means find your own based upon your personal interests and goals.

I have 3 categories of things I have on my iCatcher: short 1 minute podcasts for quick listening, longer shows that I listen to while I'm washing the dishes or cleaning the kitchen, and video how-to's that I watch on my ipad (while I'm cleaning the kitchen or folding laundry.)

I can't think of anything worse than having to fold laundry, but if I add something I like to the process, I find myself (dare I say it) sometimes looking forward to it.

Some of my favorites include:

Short Podcasts

•  Minute with Maxwell, 
• 60-Second Mind, 
• 60-Second Science
• Love Language Minute with Dr. Gary Chapman

Longer Podcasts (for while I'm doing chores)

• FAVORITE must listen to podcast every week is iPad Today because they talk about more than just iPads and it is a great show. 
• I also listen to this Week in Tech and 
• Tech News Today for an overview of technology news.
• Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts (with Wesley Fryer)

Video Podcasts (sometimes called Vodcasts)

• Lifehacker
• Tekzilla videos
• TED (although I usually use their app because it is great.)

One word of caution, go into the settings and Application Events and tell it to only update the most current version, especially if you're grabbing video as it can take up a lot of space. Also tell it to delete the copy after you've listened. 

You are what you eat. You are what you think. Reprogram your mind to think well, especially if you're in a negative environment, podcasts like these can be your lifeline.

Have a great day! Gotta run to school and see my beautiful students! 

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Limit your Work in Process with #pkflow

We say yes without ever stopping to consider if we have the ability to do something. We run ourselves into the ground. For what?

One thing I really enjoy about the Personal Kanban planning method (as described in Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life) I highly recommend reading the book. It has made a big difference in my life. I've been using is the fact that by nature, it limits your work in process.

I have to admit that I've always been a snob against post it notes. They fall down and you don't have a record of what you've done. They just seemed inefficient, but not any more.

Our Family Kanban board (I've blacked out the names of my kids) On the left is "On Deck" - Today is the items that will be done today. While we are working on something, we put it under our names. On the right is Done. At the end of the day, I write down in my planner everything we accomplished and note my ideas for improving that in the future. The items that are repeating weekly chores, I stick on the back of this poster to be ready for next Saturday. I cannot put more items on this than can fit. Yes, it was a tight squeeze this weekend.

Personal Kanban is about organizing visually. Taken from a Japanese term relating to Kaizen (the process of ongoing improvement), you can only put the amount of items on deck that you can fit there. The size of the post it note literally. I rebelled against the idea but just decided to try it once. That was three weeks a go. I'm finding that if I pull my work out of my planner and can easily organize and reorganize it that it just keeps me focused. it is so easy to forget about important things when they are in my planner.

Perhaps I'll write more about the method but for now, just buy the book - they did a great job explaining the process.

Here is my personal Kanban board. At the top you can see, Today, WIP has room for 3 things. BIN is things I'm waiting for and Done is what is done. I have a special place here for FCP projects and the bottom is totally items for managing the Flat Classroom book project. I'm about to erase it and put my next book project there now. I take things with me in my circa planner than need to go to my school board. It seems odd but watching the work flow is very motivating.

Limit your Work in Process
The MOST helpful thing I've found is that this system limits your work in process. I am a horrible multitasker and am such a busy person that if someone gives me something to do - it runs in one ear and out the other.

You have a limited capacity to do work. You can't do EVERYTHING. You have to prioritize and make choices. You HAVE TO.

There is nothing noble about telling a lie. Can you live with yourself if you tell another person, "sure, I'll do that for you" knowing full well that you are overworked, overburdened, and over the top with your workload. You have to make choices!

Limit your work in process. Focus on one thing and then move to the next. I love the WIP because when the bell rings I have to stop and teach. I teach every day from 8:15 - 11 and from 12:15-2:15 with just a small break during those periods. I'm not at my computer, I'm running around helping students and teaching. But by having the sticky on my WIP, I remember what I'm working on and the moment I'm done I go back to it.

I have found that I've pushed myself way over the top. (No surprise there!) I expect too much.

Overlisting will cause your ship to list!
I have a small space for my WIP in each of my boards because I can't do it all at once. My problem with lists has always been that I'm an over-lister. When I over list my ship lists and threatens to sink!

Take a look at how you organize
You can really use just about any system for organizing. The questions to ask yourself are:

• Do you prioritize. 
• Do you focus? 
• Do you get things accomplished? 
• Do you know what you accomplished? 
• Do you review what you did so you can improve it in the future?

If not, or if you're not happy with your organization system yet, Personal Kanban is worth a read even if the sticky notes are repugnant to you. You can learn some valuable lessons from this very well written book.

Related Topics:

• Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life (the book)
• Personal Kanban Blog (authors of the book)
• With Personal KanBan You Can! (Cool Cat Teacher - Sept 30, 2011)

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Leverage your iPad and iPhone Screens to Spark Success #mlearning #ipadchat

I love to see how others have their iPads laid out. I actually have my iPhone and iPad with prominent apps in the same places so I never have to hunt. Here are my screens and notes about current rationale for how I organize things. Even if you have a Droid or something else, the apps and the concepts may help you as you decide how you're going to organize things.

Your 5 Important Electronic Desktop Decisions

Having an organized, productive workspace is important. You have 5 very important electronic desktop decisions that can have a big impact on your life and your focus:

1. Your computer desktop
2. Your browser start screen and toolbars (I use firefox browser sync and a custom igoogle page.)
3. Your mobile phone start screen
4. Your tablet device start screen
5. Your media diet (thanks Mark Hurst - author of Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overloadfor this one.) Your media diet is what media sources will I attend to daily

In this post, we'll talk about how I tackle #3 and #4 on this list.

Home Screen- iPad
I "Pareto" everything. What are the 20% of things that give me 80% of the benefit of my life? These need to be in my face on my home screen shouting to be touched and used. What are the things I hunt for? If it is an icon on my home screen, I use it every day.









Home Screen - iPhone
You'll notice that I left the middle row on my iPad out on my iPhone. I did this because I feel like I look for the icons relative to the edge of the screen. So, I will look for the bottom icons relative to the bottom. Also, my tray at the bottom is different but I like it that way.










Photographer Folder- iPad
I like to name most folders by who I am so I can picture myself as that and am reinforcing my thought patterns to get out of life what I want to be. In life, the journey is the destination. Now that photos are synced via my devices, I use these apps even more to doctor photos taken via iPhone. (I literally took a screenshot on my iphone and in less than a minute, the photos were on my ipad, ready to be uploaded into the first draft of this post on BlogPress.)








Photographer Folder- iPhone







Dashboard Folder- iPad
This folder holds my hottest tools and apps I need to get to. I use these items a lot and want to be reminded of them. If it is in my dashboard on my iPhone it is also here in exactly the same order.







Dashboard - iPhone







My Tools Folder- iPad
The utilities and tools that help. I follow the same rule as I have for dashboard.








My tools -iPhone
iPhone has some things that iPad doesn't and those tools are here.







My Thought Leader Folder (Thought Ldr)
Note: my most important reads are ON the home screen of my iPad but I want a variety of news sources at my fingertips so I can read several sources of info. This is on my second screen on my iPhone because iPad is my electronic paper, typically. This is another example of how I'm trying to program myself to think in a way that I want to be.








My Music Folder - iPad
More interfaces to find new music that have text features here.








My music folder - iPhone








My second Screen- iPad
Here, I want my favorite things in front of me that will lead me to the related folder on the right. I look at this screen pretty often.







Second screen iPhone
These are folders based on who I want to be. Even if I don't go in them, I look and read over the folder names daily because they keep front and center who I want to be. When I feel I am lacking in an area or badges are screaming at me, I go there and work on it as I travel.

There are two folder names you may be curious about so I will explain them. The 65% folder is from a statement made in a great book on personal productivity management called Personal KanBan (Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life.) The authors point out that highways start becoming parking lots at about the 65% full level. When I overbook myself I become unproductive, so the apps there help me manage myself to give myself some leeway. You can't manage time, you can only manage yourself. I do not have to say yes to everything. 65% reminds my goal should be to hit that threshold for my waking hours- although I struggle with doing too much. (If you want me to share what is in these folders, let me know and I'll work on a future post.)

Aire- Money is a struggle for many of us who got sucked into the lies the credit card companies told us in the 80's and 90's. I am sad to say that I fell for those lies and have spent the better part of the last 10 years paying dearly. Losing our life savings in the pecan grove in the flood of 94 and floating flat classroom projects on credit cards hasn't helped but we consistently work to pay down our debt and live below our means. I dream of being an aire  one day but will not put limits on it. (I was listening to a Brian Tracy audiobook Million Dollar Habits on the characteristics of millionaires the other day and heard the average millionaire goes broke 3.2 times. I called my husband and said, "Good news, honey, we only have .2 times to go.")

Wishing won't get you your dreams. Find out what those who have what you want do and emulate those behaviors and you will get the same results. Successful and unsuccessful people both hate doing the same things- the difference is that successful people do them anyway. (Another Brian Tracy paraphrase.)




So, my folders are: 65%, Aire, Archivist, Artist, Athlete, Author, Chef, Christian, Connectivist, IPhone, Maestro, Minimalist, Newshound, R&R, Thought Ldr, Traveler

Third screen -iPad
My school app dashboard and other items that were on 2nd screen of iPhone in those folders.




Fourth screen - iPad
My son's study screen. This is where I keep the apps my 4th grader needs to do homework and study. We consistently do the first three games every day.





Hope this gives you ideas but I also want to see your screens. Please share your productivity strategies. Hashtag: #mlearning or #ipadchat

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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With Personal Kanban you CAN!

Good morning my friends. This morning I'm tired. Are you?

We've got the Flat Classroom projects - the 3 we are currently running, kicking off right now and it takes a lot of energy and effort to get things going, even though we have fantastic project managers and jam up teachers. It is easy to put names and numbers on  a web page but to aim towards 100% collaboration by all students is a goal that requires quite a bit of work.


My List is a Nightmare
Needless to say, my list was becoming a nightmare. Lists are nightmares anyway. The are consistent reminders of all the things I haven't done.

I'm reading the book Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life and it makes a heck of a lot of sense to me. Attracted by the mention of one of my favorite concepts, Kaizen, or the process of ongoing improvement. I am attracted by a method that is less about the method and more about the tasks at hand.

I used Franklin Covey for years until I had children. When I had children my task list multiplied exponentially. Then, I tried to keep using it only to find that 70 things copied over and over. I found that I was spending 30-45 minutes a day just planning the next day when I could have spent that 30-40 minutes actually doing something. Besides that, everything was an "A."

I've used so many apps that it is ridiculous but right now I just have TOO much to do. I'm a huge Home Routines fan and use that for my routines every day. (See the Routine of Being Amazing.) In fact, that app is top right on my home screen on both my iphone and ipad and now that it syncs I'm thrilled.

But, I need a way to process.


Freeways are Parking Lots when they are at 100% capacity
One of the points made in the book is about freeways. A freeway becomes congested at 65% capacity. Why do we wonder why we are paralyzed when we are running at 100% capacity?

Is 100% capacity an achievement or a death sentence?

Visit Kanban 101 for more about this board.

The biggest thing that has always bothered me about all the task methods out there is this concept of bandwidth.

Sure, I can use your tool and make sure I know what I need to do. But if it isn't humanly possible to do that then why do I bother using your tool. The Getting Things Done method doesn't have a place or way to let things fall of your list.

If I were unmarried and living alone, I might could get everything done but now in a job with lots of gray area in terms of responsibility and a life with three teenagers and Flat Classroom projects and two books -- it can't be done.

Personal Kanban
Head over to the personal kanban site to see how a typical chart looks. My chart has 5 categories. On Deck, Today, in Process (only 3 at a time there), the Pen (a holding pen for what I'm waiting on) and Done. I have one for school on my whiteboard there and the other one is on 2 plastic pages in my circa planner with mini-sticky notes.

At the end of the day, I'm writing every thing that was DONE in my planner and reflecting on how I could have improved the process. I got a lot done yesterday and actually reflecting on how I could have improved it!

I can look back and see what I accomplished yesterday! Imagine that!

Productivity Processes Should Evolve with Us
I got more done yesterday than I have done in ages. I'm still learning, but just wanted you all to know that I think that there are some different ways of planning out there than "everyone" is using. I've designed my own planners for quite some time and use my own personalized planning pages in my circa planner for the last 6 months. But now, I feel I am evolving again in my productivity mechanisms. When I "arrive" - I'll let you know.

Busy Days but Memorable Days

Meanwhile. Time to head to school for Homecoming, the mini parade, to feed to football team at 3:30 pm, help the student who is playing music for the game go over the plan one more time, go to the football game, the "get dressed" party, the after the kids leave party, chaparone the dance and then maybe sometime tonight at 2 am I will go to sleep.

These are the days, but I wouldn't trade these crazy days for anything on this planet. My life is full of laughter, hard work worth doing, and changed lives if I'll just pay attention and love on these kids.

Remember your noble calling, teacher, and remember to look at your routines and how you handle the one-time to do's to make sure that you're focusing on the to-do and not the to-do system.

Have a great day!

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The One Habit that Will Immediately Reduce Your Stress

One of the most unbelievably annoying things in my house is to run out of cat food. We have two cats and they just go crazy.

"Good morning, Boots."

"Meow."

"Morning, Crispy."

"Reow" (Yes, he has an "r" sound instead of the "m")

Then all I hear is

"Meow. Reow. Meow. Reow."

It escalates until it is is unbelievable.

You can't get anything done. Don't pass Go. Don't collect $200. Don't even breathe.

GET CAT FOOD, STAT.

This Saturday I jumped up out of bed at 7am ready to write and there they were with eager paws and whiskers twitching.

They descended in feline fury upon me and, you guessed it, I ended up going to Wal-Mart before being able to fire up my computer and start writing. Then, I saw I needed toothpaste and Cascade and several other things. I went ahead and started laundry while I was at it. So, I started at 9:30 am after one thing that led to another.

That is what happens when a little thing is allowed to slip until it becomes a big thing. The cats will nag when they aren't fed. It is a law of nature. Then, you will lose focus. It is a habit of humans who have let the urgent usurp the important.

Avoiding the Cat Nag
This is what we call the "cat nag" in my house.

It means that we haven't taken care of business and have let something get to a critical state so that everything else comes to a stand still until that one need is met.

Paper in the printer. Ink in the printer. Getting behind on grading. Running out of Milk.

I"ve blogged about these things before when I talked about applying the Pareto principle to your life but this is sort of different.

What are the things that bring your life to a standstill? Index cards for the kids? Pens. Pencils?

What about in your classroom? Dry erase markers? An eraser? What are the things that bring your life to a halt?

These things should go on a checklist.

Step 1: Prepare Your Punchlist
Sit down at your table now and make two lists. Make a list at home of the things that "bring the cats running."

What things bring everything to a standstill forcing you to go to the store or interrupt your schedule?

Do the same for your classroom. What are the things that bring the classroom to a standstill and force you to attend to that problem? (And we know what happens when the students know you're distracted or you have to go to the copy room to get more paper!)


It is tough enough to teach but when a small thing keeps you from teaching, that small thing is a big thing.

Look at your two lists and work to figure out how much of those things you need a week. If you're not sure (like dry erase markers) then your list would say:

"Clean board. Check dry erase supplies."

Step 2: Make a Weekly Appointment to Punch Out Your Punchlist
Now, make an appointment with yourself where you will do the items on your punchlist. For me, at school I do my list every Wednesday at 11 am and at home, I do it every Saturday morning. My goal is to handle those items once a week.

So, at school this punchlist looks sort of like this:

• Check ink in printers (If I'm below 50% in ink, I go ahead and order more.)
• Get paper from copy room (I keep 4 reams of paper which is more than enough now that my student work doesn't require paper.)
• Wash and clean board. (I throw away dry erase markers that don't work as I find duds and keep a certain number at my board.)
• Check my dropbox and make a list of all things I have to have graded by Friday (Grades are due Monday and my goal is to not grade on the weekends)

My "Home" (Saturday) punchlist includes:

• Restocking my fridge at school (after I get groceries I drive straight to the school and put the bottled water in my small fridge.)
• Check toilet paper and make sure there is enough for the week everywhere.
• Buy enough milk for the week (OK, this is a problem. On a good week it is 3 gallons - some weeks I admit the kids have had 8 gallons - I have three very tall kids who are growing a lot!)
• Making a list of chores for the kids to do that day based upon a run through of the house.
• Check cat food and dog food and buy more if needed.
• Check pens, pencils, and paper by the telephones.
• Check laundry detergent, check dishwashing detergent, shampoos, etc.

Not a lot of things. Just the things that will add to stress in my life. Who wants to leave the house at 9:30 pm to go get one thing at the store?

This one thing has helped me a lot. I know that stress will happen, but why waste my time and anxiety on the doggone cats?

I had that epiphany on Saturday and thought I'd share it with you. Sounds like I need to follow my own guidelines more closely or just realize that my cats may have started eating like my kids and I need to buy a little more. ;-)

Remember your noble calling, teacher. Do what you can to plan ahead so you have less stress in your life and can focus on the most important thing in your classroom: your students.

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