Black Belt Ceremony

Staff!!! I've been working hard on our black belt ceremony to make it really legit and awesome! I hope you are doing your part to make the points! Other than the black belt ceremonies in taekwondo, I was also the rituals keeper in AOII so I know a bit about ceremonies, symbolism, and meanings so I'm going to incorporate all of the above.... I may even wear my uniform if you guys are good ;) anyway, just updating you on my excitement and hoping to pass on a last push of motivation for the year!

Fourks, I apologize for being on the blog lately – you all know how much stuff was going in the last few weeks!

Regardless I want to share an article I found with you! We’ve talked several times on servant leadership during the years staff meetings.. Well you may have also heard of situational leadership. This essentially allows you to be a specific type of leader based on the situation at hand. This is why you may or may not see taking charge because I typically step up when I feel I will be most helpful.

I want to introduce you to another type of leadership – strategic leadership. Strategic in the sense of being able to use critical thinking to determine what will happen and use your leadership guidance to steer a group in a direction of hopeful success! This may not come easily to everyone. Perhaps you are the one to stay focused on the here and now and (since most of you are future teachers I will use a classroom analogy) focus only on your current students in the classroom. While it is very important to pay attention to those students you need to keep your eyes open and think regarding how your actions may be affecting something else or if you are even doing all you can for those students to be successful later in life. It’s a major task and by all means not easy. The article discusses strategic leadership and how to create this strategic thinking for yourself.

I do want to add – leadership, though some qualities may be more natural to some, can be learned. It takes a lot of time and practice to gain these skills. However, if you are truly seeking to better yourself they will only come to you that much quicker.

Here’s a link to the website

http://www.inc.com/paul-schoemaker/6-Habits-of-Strategic-Thinkers.html

Trust Challenge

This week's staff meeting regarding trust seemed to suit the situation if you know what I mean.. The challenge this week is to go out of your way to have faith in someone this week whether on staff, a friend, or someone else. This should be a practice for everything in life! Not to say that you should let you guard down completely, but especially those you work with - they may surprise you.

It's funny to think, there are some student assistants that I trust more than others to get things done, to the point I may save a project for a couple days until that student is in the office. Well I stepped out of the comfort zone. I gave the student assistant today one of the tasks that I hold on to and to my surprise it was done efficiently and quickly (and right for that matter!) You don't need to trust the person with your life but start with something small and build up that relationship.

Meeting

I felt unsettled with today's staff meeting and the overall tension with our staff for various reasons. I just want you all to know my door is always open to you and I'll be here to support you in any way I can. I intend to follow up with a few of you but regardless I hope you know I am still here for you all..

Orange Belt

I know this is coming a little late, especially because tonight we are progressing to yellow (hint, hint!).. but here is the meaning of orange belt!

"The sun is beginning to rise"

As with the morning's dawn, only the beauty of the sunrise is seen rather than the immense power. The RA sees the beauty of Residence Life but has yet experienced the power of the position of an RA.

To me, this is symbolic of the amount of potential you have and how capable you are of being the best. Being orange, this is the time you are building your skills and harnessing that power to be the most effective. I think you all are beyond asking why we are here - we've probably beat that question with a dead horse, but maybe you ask yourself that subconsciously when putting up bulletin boards or fill out your forms - why is this important? It's all part of something so much greater, every little thing we do benefits residents in some form or fashion. Think about that when you are putting up your next board, filling out a funding request, or completing advocate.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hello All

This will be a short post. And even though it is very cliche' and I'm not sure if I agree with the holiday, Happy Valentine's day everyone. You really are loved.

P.S. I'm giving out free hugs today. So if you see me, get one!

Offer valid for a limited time only. (That means just today...-_- )

Yours Truly

Mind Boggling

Talk about a lot of things on your mind.. you know we all have those days when everything seems to be going wrong and it feels like the world may just end. You need to remember that you aren't the only one that goes through those days.

Today I had a plan to wake up early, go to the doctor at 8am and be at work by 9. Well here's what happened. I get a call at 7:15am from a fellow RA who smells marijuana. Of course, duty calls and I jump out of bed to attend the call. When I get there the police take an extra 15 minutes longer to arrive. At this point I start to worry about my doctors appointment. So When 7:53am came around and the student was being arrested I left the RA's to race to my doctor's appointment. I made it around 8:10am and of course they just happened to let someone go ahead of me. I did not get into the patients room until almost 8:40 (mind you I was supposed to work at 9!). I finally get out at 9:40am to receive a call from Scott telling me he is sick. So I spent a bit more time going to Walgreens for some meds. When All is said and done I got to work at 10:30 to hopefully start my day.

Guess again, during a one on one with Kevin I received a call from my dad telling me that my puppy was going to the vet. As I went to lunch I kept communication with him. Mallie had to get x-rays and essentially has the equivalent of a human's torn ACL on her back leg. Surgery is still up in the air but could cost $1500 if she has to do - bad timing before a wedding.

But back to the original point of stuff happens to everyone. I won't sit here and say yeah I'm so happy and lie to your face, however remember too that currently I am on a balance beam - to one side I can go completely negative thinking Mallie wont make it because we cant pay for surgery and my day is just going to continue to suck AND I will probably get a million calls, OR I can go positive and pray that she may not even need surgery or God will somehow provide the means of taking care of her AND the rest of the week will be productive and great. I choose to be the second.

What will you do on your day of havoc?