If you want to change the end result, you have to change the way you do things. In other words, if you want something different out of life you have to put something different into it. The quote in the title is attributed to Albert Einstein who also said
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result
Again, stating the obvious but, how can we take these messages and actually do something practical to change our outcome? What do we even want that outcome to look like? For me, it’s about having a personal philosophy or overall vision to guide me in the direction I want my life to go. Have you ever pondered the question ‘What is the meaning of life?’ To me, the ‘meaning of life’ is the meaning that I decide to give it. Where does this meaning come from? Firstly by defining my core values (what is important to me), my definition of success, deciding on my personal rules and then creating a vision of who I want to become and how I want to contribute to this world.
In my book ‘my360lifestyle’ I elaborate on what I mean in each of these areas by giving specific examples and ask some powerful questions for you to contemplate what your ‘meaning’ is. But for now, just ask yourself if you are happy with the direction of your life, feel as though you are maximising your ‘human potential’ and living and loving life to the full. If the answer is ‘yes’ then empower and inspire everyone you meet to do the same.
Being Disruptive
Conformity has never been a concept that appeals to me. Why want to be the same as everyone else when our very ‘superpowers’ are in our differences? I want to be defined by myself, not a group of people following the status quo foregoing the opportunity to think and act as individuals, never questioning what things might be like if done differently.
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment
Ralph Waldo Emerson
So for as long as I can remember I have felt the need to be disruptive. Now that word in its traditional sense has such a negative connotation doesn’t it? But I don’t see it that way. It isn’t like change or transformation where the outcome seems to be more certain. It’s more like shaking things up to see what happens next. It’s that uncertain path to an unknown outcome that appeals to me the most.
If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change
One of the notions I wanted to disrupt was that work was ‘work’. If I was going to be spending a good part of my waking life there it was simply not acceptable for me to not enjoy myself. In order to disrupt the traditional ‘rules’ of how work was meant to function, I had to create a mindset and a new set of rules to those that I had been led to believe were true.
Reality is different for everyone and we all create our own experience of the world by what we have been led to think and from that, what we believe to be true. Wherever we direct our attention shapes our perception of something we call ‘reality’, therefore if we believe work is meant to be hard and something to be endured, then that’s exactly what it will be. I also don’t subscribe to this idea of having to work hard to be successful but more about that later.
REALITY is what we take to be true
What we take to be true is what we believe
What we believe is based upon our perceptions
What we perceive depends upon what we look for
What we look for depends upon what we think
What we think depends upon what we perceive
What we perceive determines what we believe
What we believe determines what we take to be true
What we take to be true is our REALITY
David Bohm
Living in balance and experiencing life at an expanded level
Time is our most precious commodity. Once it’s gone it’s gone so when you get to work on projects that inspire you or something that is contributing to your purpose in life, work life balance ceases to exist. It’s all life so there’s no balance to strive for.
I want to spend my time learning, experimenting with and sharing the strategies, tools, techniques and knowledge to maximise my human potential and live an extraordinary life. I am passionate about personal growth and transformation (my own as well as others), so when it comes to my work, I am in an incredibly privileged position as a teacher.
When you love what you do you never have to do a days ‘work’ in your life
I’m always so happy, excited and grateful to wake up everyday and look for something new to learn or a way I can use the day as an investment in my future. My strong sense of purpose fuels my motivation, challenges me to do better and makes decisions easier for me to make.
Planning ahead
Everyone’s life unfolds in a way that is unique to them. Every experience and interaction we have had forms who we ultimately are today and who we will become tomorrow. The secret to life is ‘doing’ things and for me doing things ‘differently’. I don’t disrupt things for the sake of being disruptive, but shaking things up in an attempt to transform an existing idea into something that could turn out more effective and more fun seems like a perfectly sensible thing to do. What do you think?
Fluidity of a ‘role’
My full time job is a teacher but I want to provide ‘real world’ value to everyone I interact with so there is so much more involved in my day to day activities than just what I do in the classroom or the sports field. Every day is an experience, an opportunity for amazing things to happen. Whether it’s in or outside of school, I want to inspire those who I share my time with. I have a unique role to play and the fun is finding out how to do it best.
What would make today great?
How do I make today better than yesterday?
How do I make next week better than this week?
Asking the right questions at the right time directs our focus and with practice, we can access what we think, how we feel and how the answers can move us forward. I personally have high standards for myself and am always searching for ways to perform better, experience life at an expanded level and make a positive contribution to the world I live in. I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting my life to exceed my greatest expectations. Do you? I don’t even concern myself with how I’m going to achieve something as that can create barriers before I’ve even started. What I do know is that I am here to thrive not just survive!
Emotions v Logic
How I make people feel is one of my most important considerations when I think about fulfilling the purpose I dedicate myself to.
‘To empower others to maximise their human potential and live and love life to the full’
my360lifestyle
A theory that has been backed up by neuroscience suggests emotions play a key role in our decision making abilities and several studies have concluded that up to 90% of the decisions we make are based on emotion. However, that doesn’t mean to say logic has no place. In most situations, people react based on how they feel, then justify their actions with logic and facts.
What I’m trying to say is I want my message to be constructed around positive emotions to give it a springboard of strength and energy. Capturing those emotions myself alongside providing the ‘experience’ that creates the desired emotion is a vital part of the process.
Courage is the power to let go of the familiar
I started my teaching career in 1996. A lot has changed since then. Having the experience of working in a variety of schools, taking on different responsibilities within each one and the unique mix of students I have had the pleasure of working with has had a huge influence in creating the teacher and person I am today. In my book I also reflect on some specific events in my life that explain why I do things the way I do and how differently I feel about my role as a teacher today.
One such experience led to the most difficult time in my life, but like any biological mechanism, painful situations let us know when something is not right. I took a huge step back, looked at the big picture and now see how this event triggered a shift in my identity by changing some of my core values. Turns out it’s one of the best things that could have happened to me.
Be the change
The world has also changed significantly since 1996 and many of the conversations I have with my students involve the experiences they want to have, how they want to grow and what sort of a person they want to evolve into as a result. Around 45% of jobs that are here today will cease to exist in ten years time so more valuable questions to ask a teenager than ‘what career do you want to pursue when you leave school’ are ‘how do you want to contribute to this world’ ‘what problems exist in the world today and how can you make it a better place for your future’.
The first step to receiving an answer is being brave enough to ask a question
It’s just another way to disrupt their thinking, which much of the time has been planted in the subconscious part of their brains by parents, teachers, media, the environment they have lived in and the individual experiences they have had. It’s always interesting when I give my ‘personal development/wellbeing’ class a vivid vision exercise to do in which they are asked to imagine their lives ten years on.
Some have a really hard time believing me when I tell them they can have whatever life they choose and feel as though their direction or path has already been decided and they just have to keep working away to be able to achieve what is expected. Who can blame them? The subconscious brain is developed when we are very young, takes everything literally and controls 95% of our lives. But when the future doesn’t quite match up to what YOU really want, just what you have been programmed to want, how is that ever going to lead to success and fulfilment?
The quality of your life will always be proportionate to the quality of the questions you ask yourself
Tony Robbins
Every chapter in my book begins with a question and is followed by strategies and techniques you can use to create your own 360lifestyle. It’s all about creating an identity and understanding the universe will not give you what you want, it will give back based on what you ‘are’.
Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all
I used to teach Physical Education and although I am still a ‘Physical Education teacher’ and Physical Education appears on my timetable and that of my students, I now see it more as just a title I have been given as a method to organise the roles within the school. Firstly, I don’t want to be seen to be an authoritative figure and I’m certainly not a disciplinarian (I don’t like being told what to do myself so why would I possibly expect anyone else to like it?!)
I want everyone I work with to feel as though we are on the same team, working towards the same aim with an element of respect but also disregard for the level of status of either side. Maybe I could change my job description to ‘Human Potential facilitator’ which sounds like it would produce a way more exhilarating motivating and transformative experience!
So through the medium of sports, physical activity and the valuable time I spend with my students, what is it that I want each and every one of them to learn and how can I structure my lessons to encourage growth and decision making that will inspire the actions they need to take to reach their full potential in life? That was a long sentence! The answer is even longer.
What do I want my students to be inspired to do or learn?
*To capitalise on their strengths, overcome their weaknesses, eliminate limiting beliefs and improve their ability to learn from mistakes and failure.
*To expand their comfort zone and encourage them to step out of it, to feel safe in unfamiliar situations, take risks and see failure as a positive way to grow.
*To upgrade their social skills, strengthen their relationships with each other and understand how the way they act can directly impact others.
*To challenge themselves, have high standards, to learn to strategise and solve problems.
*To support and guide them to excel in all areas of their lives.
These are the ‘real’ lessons – not how to serve in table tennis, or know the teaching points of a perfect forward roll or the rules of netball. Of course they learn these things too but when they leave school and these are long forgotten, I hope that by changing my perspective and disrupting what I thought I was here to achieve, the most important lessons will have been learnt to create lasting benefits and change.
How do I do this?
Working out how to do this within the context of the wildly different nature of individuals within each class who are changing at an exponential rate is the fun part. Fun is a really important aspect of this whole learning experience which I think is sometimes forgotten. Back to the neuroscience studies for this one that tell us that our brains are wired to retain knowledge if it is fun. When a lesson begins with humour or laughter the brain and body respond positively with the release of endorphins, adrenaline and dopamine, an increased breathing volume and therefore more oxygen. Optimal brain activation occurs when students are in positive emotional states, when the information holds personal meaning, connects to their interests and is presented with elements of novelty.
This of course has to be balanced with teaching to a test, which fortunately I don’t have to do. I value this freedom and it allows me to disrupt in ways I maybe would think twice about if there was an end goal I had to work towards.
My priority is to create a positive learning environment for all of my students, giving some freedom in how and what they learn, trying to make it relevant to their life, their interests and experiences they want to have.
The best way to predict your future is to create it
Teenagers are fun to work with, they energise me. The spirit of a school environment is like no other and it’s constantly evolving as the students grow as they move up through the years. The mix of characters and the humour they bring to each and everyday it something that is difficult to describe. No day is EVER the same and you just never know what is going to happen next, but there’s so much more I want to experience and learn.
Teaching has given me an insight into human behaviour, developed my abilities to react and adapt to ever changing situations, improved my public speaking and communication skills, made me more creative, inspired me to grow, cultivated my patience and persistence, made me laugh and cry, left me awestruck by some of the challenges my students have overcome and what they have gone on to achieve, taken me to some amazing places all over the world, given me a sense of fulfilment and an opportunity to make a unique contribution to the world.
Soon it will be time to move on, time to self disrupt. To do something completely innovative and new. Always aligned to my purpose but leaving my comfort zone behind in the search for new ways to add value to the world. Continuing to grow, maximise my human potential and live and love life to the full.
What is it you plan to do with this wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver
The book ‘my360lifestyle’ which is currently under construction will divulge what I plan to do with mine.