Smyuletide carols being sung by a choir… And folks dressed up like Smeskimos…
Everybody knows…
A turkey and some Smistletoe… Help to make the Smeason bright.
(The people who made these — Tiny Prints – they’re Smovers. They called and emailed us to make sure we didn’t have a typo. #1 Be Awake. #7 Exceed Expectations.)
Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart by Gordon Livingston
I’m into my second time through and was completely smoved by these words from Gordon…
“This tension between simplicity and effort works itself out in our daily lives. If we believe in the sudden transformation, the big score, we are less likely to pursue the harder and less immediately satisfying work of becoming the people we wish to be.
So here’s to the role of time, patience, and reflection in our lives. If we believe it is better to build than destroy, better to live and let live, better to be than to be seen, then we might have a chance, slowly, to find a satisfying way through life, this flicker of consciousness between two great silences.”
Let’s encourage each other more.
(168 pages | serious | quick read – but not really because you’re going to reflect more)
The car in front of me on the way home from the office last night…
This morning after I finished my coffee (I’m not kidding… no special effects… that’s the way it dried out)…
Now, I just need to figure out how it all ties in to the screaming cheerio.
I got an email from the president last night wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving. In case you're not as close with him as I am, I thought I'd pass along the message (it's after the jump).
I'm sure he'd be fine with it.
“We’re lying to our children when we tell them they’re proficient, but they’re not achieving at a level that will prepare them for success once they graduate.”
Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education
(from this release)
So as parents, teachers, and grown-ups…
Let’s wake up and stop mouth breathing our way through the day.
Aren’t we tired of mediocrity? Of lying?
Here’s an NPR story about Providence St. Mel — a school of 212in’ Smovers in Chicago. Worth the 3-minute read. From its founder and principal, Paul Adams…
“I think one of the misnomers is that we have some kind of miracle going on. We spend more time teaching,” Adams says. “We’re in school six days a week. If I could figure out a way to raise enough money, I’d have it seven days a week. Students are in the building from 7 a.m., sometimes even earlier, to 5 and 6 and 7 o’clock at night.”
How hard are you working?
TGIS (thank God it’s Smonday)
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Hey, kids… If we don’t push you or hold you accountable, do it for yourselves. Don’t wait. You matter and you have a verse to contribute. Count!
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One more from Paul Adams (principal)…
“I think I have an obligation to do the very best I can because I stand on the shoulders of many people who have died, who have sacificed and I think that is my contribution to civilization… to move it to the next level.”
We need to stop looking into our hands so much.
Cells, berries, and ithings get too much attention.
Five days ago, I decided to try an experiment. It’s part of my real world immersion program.
I’m doing my best to make it so no one knows I have a cell phone. No checking for emails or messages when people are around me. No answering a vibrating phone (a ringtone? please) if I’m in a face-to-face conversation with another human being (ruuuude man).
My thinking here is this’ll make me more available to the people in front of me and the life around me and also help me focus more. I’m guessing it’ll also help me improve my real world communication skills (listening is a part of communicating) and consequently help me help others better.
The only downside I can think of is not being instantly available for a real emergency (but this is possible several times throughout the day anyway).
So far, it feels good. (update after 2 months below)
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(It’s scary that people text and read while they drive (grown-ups are especially surprising given that we’re not supposed to be that stupid)… make-up application too (yeah, I saw you taking that turn putting on your mascara in your rearview). I’m sure it’ll slow down as each of us personally know more and more people who have accidents (severe or not) but we’ll probably have to stick our finger in the socket a few times before we get disciplined.
If you’re up for a frightening (and very disturbing) awareness video on the topic (I’ve shared it with my 15-year-old who is with driving friends now, but I’m pretty hardcore as you likely know if you read my stuff), here’s 4 minutes. Do not watch it if frightening and disturbing are not your things. I’m serious. It’s a British PSA.)
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Update: Nothing but great things to say about the device diet. In fact, I downgraded to a regular phone a couple weeks after this post. The phone still has great keyboard features, etc. but it’s less of a distraction now (and I save $500 a year in usage fees).
I did violate the diet a couple weeks ago though and got a lesson — classic bad dad moment. I was looking up something on the phone at my son’s basketball game and missed his one basket of the game. I’m pretty confident I won’t pull that again.
If no cell phone sounds cwazy (so crazy, I spell it cwazy), here’s a Bloomberg/ Businessweek piece that might play to your ego and encourage more focus.
Grocery store checkout. Magazine display. 3 weeks of the last 4.
You can walk off belly fat. Whitney and Oprah are in a cat fight. Jessica lost a puppy. Jennifer's having a baby.
It's on with Justin and it's over with Justin. The walk off has you in your skinny jeans. A Kardashian is having her dream wedding (who are these people?).
Oprah's in it with Michelle now. Tori is losing too much weight. Jon & Kate are spying, stealing, and having their lives wrecked.
Who's paying for this stuff?
(we need to reboot)
We were running a scrimmage during a soccer practice last week (11 year olds).
On the field next to us was a group of about 20 men playing a game. At one point, a ball flew from their field through our field and down a hill about 50 yards.
One of my players immediately (almost instinctively) ran down the field to get the ball and return it.
I asked, “Why did you do that, Adam?”
“I was closest,” he said.
Drew Brees (one of top quarterbacks in the NFL) gave a 212 book to his coach and it was mentioned in USA Today on Friday.
Here’s an excerpt from the article and an important reminder of what it takes to succeed. Maybe it’s something you can use to reinforce extra effort with your people (and your teenagers)…
Payton (the coach) tells the quintessential Brees (the quarterback) story.
“A year ago during the bye week, players are getting out of here. I was leaving the building on Sunday, and out on the field I see this guy in shorts with a ball,” Payton says.
“It’s Brees out there by himself, Sunday, 1:30. And I say, ‘What are you doing?’
“He says, ‘I’m just trying to stay in my routine, simulate a game, so my body is still in condition.’ ”
That mock game is one explanation why Brees has crashed the Brady-Peyton Manning talk on who is the top quarterback.
“Drew just outworks everybody,” linebacker Scott Fujita says. “He’s a guy’s guy, not one of those pretty boy, prima donna quarterbacks.”
