Quotes

I've been meaning to collect these for quite some time. Quotes that somehow made me come to a realization. Here are a few random ones from off the top of my head. They may come from surprising places!


"Once you have glimpsed the world as it might be, as it ought to be, as it’s going to be (however that vision appears to you), it is impossible to live compliant and complacent anymore in the world as it is."

-Victoria Stafford

-Just read this one today on in the Transition Towns organizations' information. Couldn't sum up my mindset more succinctly than that I don't think.

This next one is going to seem WAY OUT THERE. It's amazing how what's on your mind and what you hear will connect into a realization that is completely unconnected to the meaning of what's being said.

Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plans are horrifying. If I tell the press that tomorrow a gangbanger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will get blown up, nobody panics. But when I say one little old mayor will die, everyone loses their minds!!

-The Joker from The Dark Knight

Ok, there's the quote that stuck with me. Here's the context of my life as I was watching this. I'd moved into teaching which is, I've discovered, largely about planning. I had very poor planning skills and, in fact, I was resistant to planning and organizing prefering to simply engage with life as it happened. I had a parent riding me about challenging her daughter and demanding to know what I would be doing to help her improve so I was obssessed with the idea of planning. I didn't like it, wasn't good at it and was convinced that over planning was a problem anyway. When I heard this I thought about the truth of what The Joker was saying (which is what makes him so scary). Then my mind flipped over to all the planning I had to do and hit me WHY I had to do it and why it was so important. People want to know what the plan is - what's going to happen - so they can prepare for it and so that they know there's a reason and (hopefully) a logic behind what they're doing. The Joker twisted this to his own nefarious ends in the film but it hit me that if I set a plan that was clear and well thought out in motion people would follow it. And they have!

The unexpected spin off is that MY life has gotten much more purposeful and focused and I am calmer and more relaxed. I now spend enormous amounts of time pre planning before a term. At least 3 solid - 4 solid days for every six week period. That's before I do all the actually day to day planning. But I'm calmer and life is easier for everyone else as well. If there's any questions eveyrone can quickly refer to my planning and it's all taken care of. Amazing paradigm shift for the man who believed that an unplanned unstructured life was the way to go.


Repetition is the mother of skill.
-Tony Robbins

Ok - I listened to some Tony Robbins. I certainly could see how you could criticise this guy but he actually does make a lot of sense. My problem is that he charges $10,000 for a weekend workshop. Ridiculous. Anyway it's true. You can't learn anything and get good at anything without massive repetition. Until it becomes second nature. And that my kids, is why I'm making you work on nouns AGAIN.

Think of the best coaches you know. Names that come to mind are Vince Lombardi, for example. What were they know most for? Teaching fundamentals to people who were already the best at what they do...
Invariably when I hear people say "Teach me something new," I know they're not into mastery....
I' m now taking Tae Kwon Do and I have the good fortune of training with a grand master of Tae Kwon Do in the United States. His name is Joon Ree (sp?). He taught me to go from the frame of mastering simple things over and over again. Everything he teaches to become a black belt breaks down to seven simple moves. Isn't that interesting? He says that most people who never make it to black belt never get there because they come in saying "Teach me something new," and he says "No no you have to master the fundamentals and if you do those and do them over and over again you'll become a black belt."

-Tony Robbins (abridged and condensed)

I just listened to this as it's the clearest illustration of what I've come to believe. I've seen it time and time again. In chess it's the middle 4 squares you must concentrate on. That and 4 fundamentals called development, time, material and space. All I did was get some ideas on how to develop my pieces, to attack the middle squares, to control space on the board and my chess game jumped from completely hopeless to intermediate fairly quickly. I didn't even get time down. All the memorization of openings I'd been trying was a waste of time because all I had to do was undertand what the other person was attempting do so I could counter it.

Writing - surprisingly can break down to VCOP. Vocabulary, connectives, openers (of sentences) and punctuation. Discovered this while observing at a school this year. An approach that is becoming widespread in England.

Poetry - breaks down to four fundamentals: Imagery, Rhythm, Rhyme, Word play

Acting: Ask these questions when approaching any scene.
Where are you?
Who are you talking to?
What do you want and is what you want extremely important? (the answer should be yes...as in life and death if possible
How are you going to get what you want?

Anyone want of volunteer any other sports fundamentals. I know that football is largely about controlling the ball and the space on the field (a bit like chess)

When calls of going "back to basics" in Education are being trumpeted this is what they're trying to say. Focus on the fundamentals. I think "going back to basics" means going back to how things were taught in the past...Which in fact largely didn't (I don't think) focus on fundamentals. It involved alot of wrote memorization which may not be the best way to go. But anyway - Fundamentals baby. That's what it's all about.

You are not your job.

-Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in Fight Club.

Nuff said. Simple idea. Difficult to put into practice in reality. Too much of our identies come from our jobs.

It's Official - I've joined Transisition Towns

I've joined Transition Towns Brixton. I discovered Transition Towns when I first did research for my environmental blog. Unfortunately that blog is almost dormant - though I'm throwing the odd thing on. Transition Towns are in the links on the side over there: http://www.transitiontowns.org/

I'm really excited! Time to take the next step and create change beyond my own personal actions and the eco-footprint of my home!

Transition towns is a global movement that started in small town England. The goal is to transition your town or city to one which is low carbon and environmentally sustainable. It's amazing how the movement has gone global. It has spread on the initiative and power of those who simply care and are determined to do something about the problems we face.

I've discovered a great blog: If you want to join or discover any information check this out. http://transitionculture.org/

Let's get green people!

Just in case you thought I was gone....

Week 1 on returning from Canada.

Friday: Land. Xbox from Amazon is left on my front porch and stolen. (Nice one Amazon!)
Saturday: Demand money back - buy Xbox elsewhere. Play Xbox endlessly.
Sunday: Go to school. Plan for 8 hours.
Monday: arise 5:00 am Plan, teach, mark, plan Leave work at 8:30. Arrive home 9:30. Play xbox until 12:00

Repeat above pattern from Tuesday to Friday. That's right....I put in over 70 hours that week.

Saturday...play xbox.

Sunday.... Plan for 8 - 10 hours.

Monday work till 8:00.

Tuesday - Gen arrive back! Yay!

Then till now...pretty much cut back to leaving work at 6:00 and then playing xbox! Ha ha!

Ok...the xbox thing is a little pathetic.

I'll be posting again shortly.

Just found out one of my long lost high school aquaintances has her own blog now. Check out Jennifer Lester at her blog - see side panel.

I'm off to bed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!