Why do you do what you do?

Well as we continue with our 2 hour delays and another cancellation today, I have to tell you that I am really getting caught up with a lot of reading. I believe we are now officially going to have to make up any more time missed from school. We have reached our limit. Today was a really bad day on the roads though, from what I hear they were totally ice covered. Let's hope we are back on our regular schedule tomorrow and can continue that way for awhile. Oh, the fun of living in Northwest Ohio.

As I mentioned earlier, I just finished a really good book titled "Lead...for God's sake." The book was written by Todd G. Gongwer and is a parable for finding the heart of leadership. I am not going to write a book report here, but I thought that there were some good points in the book that may help our students and our staff. Ideas that we can ponder and try to answer for ourselves. Urban Meyer read this book shortly after his career at Florida. In the summer of 2011 a good friend of Urban's gave him the book to read and he said it changed his life. He obviously found the heart of leadership at Ohio State.

One of the first points that is brought up in the book is the question, "Why do you do what you do?" It's an interesting question and one the author states that most of us, at one time or another, have asked ourselves. I hope you will think about that question and do some real soul searching. Why do I teach at Vantage? Why am I a school counselor? Why am I in this certain program at Vantage? The author states again that without an understanding of and a commitment to one's true purpose, one can never really be the best they were meant to be! And if we're not being the best we can be, we won't be leading others to be the best they can be either.

The second point of the book is that we must lead with our heart. Not only with a passion for our pursuits, but with a passion for those we have the opportunity to lead in our pursuits. When we lead with our heart and really care about the people around us, we will be a success. Believe me, this may not be the success that the world considers, but it will be a success in the eyes of those who matter most in life. You will know who those people are, the ones you are around every day. For me, the author hit it on the head when he said "it is the students that I listen to when they're hurting, encourage when they're down, and help when they're in need. Those are the eyes of the ones who really determine your success in this life. Because you never know when your last interaction with any of them just might be your LAST interaction with any of them".

The final point that I want to touch on that the book talks about is the idea of listening. Now as a school counselor, this really hit home. He states, "so many times in relationships in our hurried society, we fail to listen to hearts. We want to try to fix things quickly so we briefly listen to mouths, and occasionally listen to minds, but very rarely...very rarely, do we really take the time to listen to hearts. My wish is that all of us, me included, will take the time to listen to the hearts of our co-workers, classmates, students and friends. There is a lot of hurt in the world and all around us. Maybe if we listen to others intently and with the heart, we can not only help them but change us for the better.

Take care and hope to see you tomorrow.