Taking Ownership of Your Dreams

John Maxwell is an author, motivational speaker and pastor.  He has sold millions of copies of his books; some of which have been on the best seller lists.  He writes about getting victory in your dreams when you take control of your life and thinking more positively about yourself.  To succeed, you have to believe that you can succeed.  That is the first step in success.  Self-doubters will never rise to the top of their own list of goals.  You have to believe that you can succeed.  That often requires a change in the way people think.  Maxwell writes about the importance of self-change in this way:

·         If you change your thinking, you will change your beliefs.
·         If you change your beliefs, your will change your expectations.
·         If you change your expectations, you will change your attitude.
·         If you change your attitude, you will change your behavior.
·         If you change your behavior, you will change your performance.
·         If you change your performance, you will change your life.

As to teaching, all of the above require a pretty comprehensive self-evaluation.  If you want to succeed in the goals that you have set for yourself and for your students, you will have to change.  First of all, you must believe that your plan for your students to succeed will work.  In this, you have to come to grips that this will require a daily self-assessment of what you need to do for the next day – how will you respond to the instruction that occurred and the student performance data shown?  As your expectations change for your students, your attitude will change.  This will manifest in a stronger resolve to help your students reach the intended outcomes.  You will teach more with a purpose.  You will teach intentionally.  As your attitude changes, your behavior will change.  The talk will be over and the walk will now define you. It will no longer be about your words; it will be about your actions.   My Dad told me hundreds of times, “Don’t tell me what you have done, show me what you can do.”  Once the behavior changes, not only will your performance change, but the performance of your students will.  At that point, you will be changing lives.  You will be making a true difference.  Isn’t that why we do this?  You have to believe in yourself before anyone else will.