It is a new month at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and that means…a new Habit!
Habits of Kindness has become our shorthand for how we are utilizing the “7 Habits” to approach our “Community of Kindness” initiative. As part of the first Habit, “Be Proactive”, I blogged about my commitment to blog each month about that month’s Habit and we spent August & September on the first Habit. October had us spending time on the second Habit, “Beginning With End in Mind”, and like many of our teachers and students, I created my own personal mission statement. (For ongoing information about our “Community of Kindness” program, please visit its blog…or even better, subscribe to it!)
November and December has us exploring the third Habit, “Put First Things First”.
There are 525,600 minutes in one year. However, when you consider that approximately 175,200 minutes of that time will be spent sleeping, 16,425 minutes spent eating, and if you’re a student, 72,000 minutes spent in school, you have less than half that total to spend on the rest of your life. Therefore, it is essential to do the important things first—if you leave them until last, you might run out of time.
You know how something is so obvious that you dismiss it?
That’s how I feel about this habit.
You have likely heard that song and/or seen that video numerous times in the past and you know that the moral of the story is to remember that your big rocks are your family and friends and to not get bogged down in the sands of workaholism.
So why did I get to work yesterday at 7:00 AM and come home at 9:15 PM?
Why do so many of us struggle with finding balance when we know where our true priorities lie?
I don’t have an answer…but I do have an opportunity! It just so happens that the theme of this year’s Day School Leadership Training Institute (DSLTI) Alumni Retreat – which is this Sunday-Tuesday – is on issues of health and wellness. I welcome the opportunity to share and reflect with colleagues about how we try to keep ourselves spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically prepared to passionately pursue our profession while remaining loving and present spouses, partners, parents, children and friends.
I look forward to updating this post next week.
And in the meanwhile, feel free to share your secrets via a quality comment on this blog!
UPDATED 12/13/13
I wish I could say I came back with a secret success to wellness. But I did come back with a commitment to take my wellness more seriously and that the only way to do that is to schedule wellness into my day. Exercise, sleep, eating well…we all know these are among the keys to wellness. Making them a priority is the trick. Here’s hoping when I re-read this blog post in a few months that I have put my time where my words are!
