growNman
growNman
I am growNman 144
what up, though, and welcome back to. I'm growing man. It's your man, john d, in the building today. Building Today is one of those days where I was just thinking. I've been watching different podcasts that you know talk about life, and I stumbled across something talking about freedom, and then I started thinking about it and I just came up with my own idea of what freedom is that everybody can have. You know, it's the ability, or it's the discipline to evolve. And when I say that you have to think, you have to ask yourself what is freedom. You have to think, you have to ask yourself what is freedom Like, depending on who you are or where you grow up, you know you could think like it's about, you know, being able to do whatever you want to do, or you know, well, let's just think about the idea of freedom of speech.
Speaker 1:You know you can say things and not get in trouble for it. You know in so much of the sense, but in certain countries, you can't do that Like you, you have to watch what you say. So, depending on where you are, and this is the reason why I believe everybody can have freedom, and this is the reason why I believe everybody can have freedom, but in order to do it, you have to believe you're that important, because one thing that we were not responsible for was who our parents were and where we grew up. We had no control over that, right. So you got to think about no matter where you are. You didn't have any control of that. Now, depending on how tough the situation was in your mind early, you know it's kind of created these ideas that you have created these ideas that you have. So when I talk about freedom, to me it's being able to enjoy life regardless of your circumstance, like you're, able to still enjoy the quality of life regardless of your circumstance. Now, there are a lot of distractions that come with that. You have to be a pretty sharp person to be able to understand the game of life without anybody telling you and I'm not saying I do understand all of it, but I know what's working for me and I wish I would have had this before, and most of you guys who listen to me y'all know my job is to just share information and what I'm going to do is just give you examples of how freedom, the way that I live my life, and you can somehow use it and incorporate it in yours. But I'm going to show you how I found freedom.
Speaker 1:When I talk about freedom, freedom requires intent, otherwise, your circumstances make decisions for you. So just think about that. Like, if, if you actually want freedom, what is the intent behind it? You know, are you, are you making decisions? Are you making decisions based on your circumstance or are you making decisions because it's the right thing to do? Like, there is always a better way to do anything Right, and, depending on your circumstance, you have to think, and a lot of us won't be able to do this at an early age, and that's the reason why our environment plays such a significant role.
Speaker 1:If you have everything you want and somebody comes up to you and says I haven't eaten in days, would you share your food? I mean, I think the humanly thing would be, of course you would share, depending on your circumstance, like, but if you have it and nobody's told you that you shouldn't think, just naturally you would want to share your food. So this is, this is my, my, my thing right here. So I think this is how I look at life too. Life is all about self-improvement to me. So if you can evolve as a person and when I say that, I mean like literally evolve as a person.
Speaker 1:So my whole goal is to become the greatest communicator ever, like ever, and nobody wants that goal. So to me, I've created a game within myself, like I know that the only way I can do it is if I work on it every day. I know that for the remainder of my life I am going to work on the craft of getting better in communication Like nobody. So I created the game for myself, and I do know, with the information that I've gotten over the years, faith without work is dead. So I can pray all I want, like God, please give me the communication ability to become the greatest, but it doesn't matter because I have to do the work. So I've created a goal for me to become the greatest communicator ever. And what does that look like? Well, there are several things, but this is not what that's about. I just wanted you guys to know that freedom is the ability to enjoy the quality of life regardless of your circumstance. And the reason why I say that is because everybody can do the things I'm talking about. Everybody can work on themselves. If everybody can't work on themselves, that's a problem, but I'm only going to give you take this part out. We will talk about this at another time, but I just want to continue how freedom has played a significant role in my life through just the intentional practice of improving in communication.
Speaker 1:So I work in education and most of y'all know that right. So working in communication I mean working in education. Working in education, I've been practicing my communication, the things I've been learning I've been practicing with my students. This is what I learned. So, being in education for over 20 years it's about to enter my 23rd year next week, but anyways, being in education, I've learned that no kid wants to fail on purpose. So there is a disconnect between so many different things.
Speaker 1:But my role is to convince these kids that they have to believe in themselves now so that when life starts lifing, it doesn't beat them up. They know that it's supposed to happen. So I'm going to introduce things that like this is my goal. That's why I said I want to become the greatest communicator ever. Can you imagine me being able to translate all the information that I've learned in my life to these kids in a school year? Like that will change the trajectory of their family. So I feel like if I work on communication every single day for the rest of my life and I just keep taking care of my body. At some point I am going to be able to give them enough information where they'll break the ceiling that we all get that when we're born to. You know, our family sends us to school to get an education, to hopefully find something we want to do, but, you know, to be able to earn and make a living where we don't have to chase the dollar Right? So to me, I feel like, regardless of whatever field you're in, like I, I work with kids, so I get to practice the art of communication with them and my intent is to only help.
Speaker 1:Not only that, how about this? The freedom of being at work? I get to work with people that want to come to work. Right, they want to work with kids. Being that, I want to be the greatest communicator. I want to inspire them to be more than Like. I want them to feel like, like. I feel like my energy is natural, like I just want to become better. And when I say better, because I know kids are watching me now and I have my kids at home.
Speaker 1:So if I'm going to go to work, I need my environment to feel that Mr Lewis comes to work to give everybody everything that he has, because if I am supposed to be a leader in the building, I have to reflect an example that I want them to be able to, to duplicate in their own lane. Like how can I ask more of them if I'm not even reflecting that? So I get the practice putting in the effort and trying to communicate as effective as possible so that people are open to growing and improving themselves on a daily basis. Just imagine if you worked on yourself every day what that would look like over time. It's crazy, right?
Speaker 1:So, getting back to what I was saying, I have the freedom of working on my craft at work, trying to inspire other adults to become the best educator that they didn't even know that they could become. You know, I guess my whole, my philosophy in this is I am trying to be the person that they needed in their life. Like when I'm working with students, I don't think about it all the time, but I try to remind myself like, what were they looking for at this time? You know what does this kid need to change the behavior so that they can get this information that we're trying to give them. You know, a lot of times it's immaturity, right, but if you hear the right thing, sometimes the light bulb goes off. But we have to listen and that's what I want to do. I want to be able to process and be able to give them the words they need, or help plant this seed, help do whatever I can to change these students' lives.
Speaker 1:Like I tell you, I remember when I was their age and I always told my wife why didn't I have anybody to take me by the side and say here, man, you got to do it this way. I don't think anybody invested any time in me. So I want to be that for them, because I'm thinking that I think that's what all kids would want. They would want somebody to think that they're special enough that somebody would like invest a little time. Like you know, you don't look for it, but you want somebody to just do it. So that's what I'm going to try to do.
Speaker 1:And you know, as I try to inspire my colleagues, I want them to know, like doing the bare minimum well doesn't make you excellent. You know you have to work on those areas that that's going to make you better, like I used to be the type of person all about efficiency, like I got this done, this done, this done, it's all done. So I could have all of this time to myself, right, and I was really good at it, but I didn't realize all that time was being wasted. I wasn't working on my craft. And just imagine, if you continue to work on your craft, things will get a lot easier. You would become and when I say easier, I mean it will become easier to the point where you're able to focus on the areas that you want to improve on.
Speaker 1:Like a lot of times, we kind of you, we allow our strengths to hide our weaknesses, like when it was like you know, this is the balance. You know in order this, you get this, but you get this, but you know we want everything. Balance. You know in order this, you get this, but you get this, but you know we want everything to be good. So what are you doing to improve this? Because this right here it can improve. But at the end of the day, this is going to make you the teacher you want to become and that's what I want to be.
Speaker 1:I want to be that for my teachers and any and everybody, any and everybody, if I have a conversation with you, if you don't like a certain part of your job, become so good in that part that somebody has to go teach you another part of it. So you're like, oh, I didn't know about this side. And then next thing you know you are learning the craft of whatever you're doing. You become that good. You won't stay in that position long. Just think about it. If you own the business and you saw somebody doing really good, you won't stay in that position long. Just think about it, would you? If you own the business and you saw somebody doing really good, you're going to leave them at the bottom. You got to become that good and that's what I want to do. I want to inspire everyone that they can become better if they put that effort in. This is hopefully I can. I'll be able to push with this.
Speaker 1:How do we inspire our students if we've stopped wanting more? Like we can want more for our students right, but do we want more for ourselves? Are we really becoming better in our craft? And teaching is tough. It takes a different type of discipline. But if you're going to get better in it, you have to work on the areas that will reduce the stress. I realize that a lot of teachers are stressed out because they feel like they don't have the support of their administrators. They feel like maybe kids are unruly it's so many different things, right, but at the end of the day it takes a different type of adult to be able to come to school and deal with kids on a regular basis. So you're either really going to be check this out.
Speaker 1:If you were really good, you wouldn't even need anything, right, and I'm not saying I was good at all because I needed help, you know. But I'm saying like I don't think I worked on my craft long enough to where I didn't need help. And I looked throughout my years there were several teachers that certain kids didn't do those things. I don't know what they did other than they got they figured it out. But I want my teachers to figure it out because I want them to be able to look back and say and I remember those days and you'd be like dang, you know I should have worked on this sooner, because if I would have got it, I would have been able to work on these other things, because a lot of times if you don't work on the things that matter, you'll stress yourself out, burn yourself out, and that'll be a good teacher that's been pushed into a different field because they didn't work on the things that mattered.
Speaker 1:And I'll say this LNG administrators, if you need some help, ask for help, go out there, because if you don't, how are you going to get better? And if you're not looking for help and somebody hasn't recognized this area, it's not that they don't recognize it, they may, just they don't think that that's important, but they don't know how you feel. And I feel like if you don't have somebody you can talk to ask for some guidance from a seasoned teacher, a seasoned administrator, anybody. But in order for us to get our teachers to believe that they want to do more, they have to want to do more. To believe that they want to do more, they have to want to do more Because I'm telling you to become stress-free in your craft. You have to literally work on it every day.
Speaker 1:And I think that's the reason why I'm stress-free in education, because I realized that kids are going to be kids, right? I give you these points and then I'm going to move on. Be kids, right? I give you these points and then I'm going to move on. Kids are going to be kids. So in my head I already know that you know they'll test you. But that's me, that's like if they're bothering me, I feel like it's my immaturity because, again, I'm working with kids, I should know better, but sometimes you know I'm human, but at the end of the day it's maturity. Sometimes you know I'm human but at the end of the day it's maturity. I'm learning to become a more mature educator because, again, why am I letting kids gaslight me and I'm the adult? All right, so I know that part. So, knowing that, I moved to the next thing that where it could be a problem, my parents, my parents is upset because of whatever, and this is one thing.
Speaker 1:Through my time I realized that parents are just being parents, like they don't really want any problems, they just want the best support they can get for their kid, especially if you know they haven't had the most support on raising this kid. Like parents are screaming for help and don't know how to say it. And I get it. Because there's no. There's no book, specific book that somebody said, hey, you should read this or we should go over this before you have kids, because a lot of times again, we're doing things with people that we probably shouldn't be doing, but just getting beside the point.
Speaker 1:You can work on your craft in your day job, but you just have to work on getting the areas that you are avoiding to improve. It has to be intentional. So think about this, check this out. So this is me, my daily life. I get to help students, hopefully inspire my colleagues, have positive parent connections, because you know, working with parents, if you can show them that you're on the same team, it's a different support system and I think me working on communication has helped me develop better relationships with parents. I know like parents know who their kids are and they're screaming for help, like I said earlier. So I'm going to do my best to support them in the way they can and hopefully inspire these kids to make better decisions, and not only that.
Speaker 1:I just about to say like so, through this day I get to go home to a family that I totally enjoy. You know we get to reflect about our days. We have food, dinner together. Depending on the day, we will, you know, end up playing a game or watch a movie. You know, end up playing a game or watch a movie, but most of the time it's just the wife and I recapping, like then, talking about our day and watching something we enjoy, but it's something that that allows us to have a thought or conversation on and what, what, what life, what? What better life can I have? Like I? This? This is one thing I'll tell you.
Speaker 1:Through this entire day, all I'm doing is working on my craft and the art of communication. So working on communication has put me in, I think, in a position for me to understand my audience. So if I can inspire any and every one of you to work on communication, it'll improve the misunderstandings you may have or it'll create a boundary that you have not learned, that people need to learn. But communication protects you. But if you don't work on it, you're going to make your road way more difficult than it has to be.
Speaker 1:And I truly believe that the freedom that I found is working not only on myself, but having this goal of becoming the greatest communicator that nobody else cares about but me. And it's made me accountable, and I've developed a routine to make sure that if I'm going to put this out into the world, I need to be working on it and I'm like what does it look like? I don't know, but I enjoy what I'm doing. I enjoy the art of working on something for mastery, where it could potentially change and help evolve mankind. So, if you really want freedom, you have to work on yourself because, like I said, everybody has their childhood. Everybody's born to parents they didn't know. You even sometimes get a religion and all of that. It don't even matter. I just want you to know everything I told you. It's all about you. You have to work on yourself and somehow incorporate something that you're working on for mastery, because what's going to happen? It develops a result you didn't know it could create, but you have to keep working on it.
Speaker 1:Anybody who's listening to this, I challenge you think about something in your life, the last 21 days, that you've done, every single day, that you have not done for your whole life. Then, if you've done something, think about six months. What's something that you've done for six months, every single day, that you have not done your whole life? And if you're there, go to three years. Three years, something that you have not done for your whole life. Because what I'm trying to show you, if you're not, if you don't have a routine of things to improve, how are you getting better. Like you don't have a. You don't have something consistent enough to say I'm working on this to get better. You should be working on it every day.
Speaker 1:Some athletes say it was days they didn't want to get up and do it. Why are you not getting up to do it? Why aren't you getting up to do it? You're working on yourself. They getting up for to hurt their body not to hurt their body, but that it's eventually going to deteriorate their body. But they get up for a better life, right. Why aren't you working on yourself for a better life?
Speaker 1:Like we blame everything on our circumstances, versus learning to change our circumstances with things that we can control. We have the ability to learn as much information as we want. We have the ability to work on anything that can't hurt anybody outside of our control as much as we want. We can do better. We can be nice to people. We can do all of these things to improve, but we get caught up in making poor decisions. But the poor decisions come from?
Speaker 1:What Freedom? If we cannot control the distractions we have in our life, we definitely don't have freedom. So I'll put it out like this my entire life, I will continue working on my craft right To the very last day. I don't believe freedom is comfort, because whenever you get comfortable on something, something changes and you weren't prepared right. I believe the effort you put in to improving yourself helps you evolve into whatever's going to change. And if you find comfort, you got to ask yourself do you feel free? Y'all, make today better than yesterday. Don't worry about anything. You can't control. G-a-t-a Get after that action or that action will get after you. Be great on purpose.