A Lesson I Just Can’t Seem to Learn Kathy Polich

A Lesson I Just Can’t Seem To Learn

By Kathy Polich

What are you the most successful at in your life? What price did you have to pay to join that club? Chances are you tapped into an idea that resonated with me while studying RTT. There is one trait that singles out all successful people. If you are trying to out-think me and made a quick mental list of the following: hard work, dedication, perseverance, etc., you’re probably correct, but maybe you didn’t think of this. One habit that singles out all successful people is that they do what they don’t want to do, and they do it first. (Hmm, that just made me ponder my list of things I need to get done. I guess I better stop thinking some of my shortcomings were all about bad luck.) The basis of this idea is that a successful person will do what they dislike, hate, or don’t enjoy to get where they want to be, but a failure will give up their dreams quickly before doing something they don’t want to do.

I can’t help but think about a time when my son was a little boy. As a five-year-old, he had started a thriving egg business. Now success at that time was selling eggs for 25 cents an egg. He was doing pretty well for a little guy to be putting double digits into a piggy bank weekly. By second grade, he had about $400 saved. One day he came to me and stated that he wanted to buy a dirt bike. We sat down and made some projections of how long it would take him to earn enough money selling eggs to purchase his dream motorcycle. It quickly became apparent that he would have to get a second job! Considering his age and the child labor laws, I offered to supplement his income in exchange for some extra chores. Some weren’t even extra, he was already doing them, but I was requesting that he keep track through charts. I know, it sounds boring. You can take the teacher out of the school, but sometimes we can’t help but use those graphic organizers at home! Now keep in mind that this was long before Pinterest! That little boy looked me square in the eyes and said, “I’m not going to do that!” He wasn’t kidding, he didn’t even try, and he never mentioned getting a dirt bike again. He never became a world class motor cross rider. I was always amused by how easily he gave up on that bike. He has gone on to work hard on the things he’s passionate about, and I’m sure you aren’t too worried about a kid that started his first business in Kindergarten. But if you catch me in the grocery store, ask me about his first bankruptcy later that year, when he shot his first Deere. That’s not a typo, it was a John Deere, and that windshield cost him everything.

If you read my article in the February edition, you might recall one of the Rules of the Mind: Your mind believes everything you tell it, good or bad, right or wrong, true or false. Remember, my whole rant was about telling yourself positive things. So if you are starting to question my logic and are silently accusing me of contradicting myself, give me a second. It does sound a bit conflicting. If you are telling yourself positive things, you wouldn’t hate anything; therefore, doing what you hate first would be mute. Guess what? The reality is you will not be able to enjoy or like everything you do. At the same time, you can’t give up on everything you don’t like. You have to reframe it. You do what you don’t like first and tell yourself that you choose to feel good about getting it done. When you get those things that nag you internally out of the way, you open up your day to feel like a winner. Anything you delay reinforces that feeling of dread. Use your thinking cap and go back to the other Rule of the Mind from the February article. Your mind likes what is familiar. When you often do what you dislike, you start to enjoy it! If you hate exercising but get up every morning at 5 am to go for a walk, before long, that habit of action will take over, and you may catch yourself looking forward to hearing the birds chirping as you huff and puff towards the great skies we get at sunrise here!

Do what you don’t want to do and do it first. Cross it off your list. Don’t wait for motivation. Motivation comes after you begin! Decide the price you have to pay to join the club you want membership in.

Maybe you make that call you’ve been putting off. Perhaps that’s taking a night job you don’t want to free up

your days to write music. Maybe it’s doing your laundry Saturday morning and having the rest of the day to hike Pyramid Rock. Maybe you start that chore chart and earn money for a dirt bike. Well, sorry, son, your almost twenty now. You’ll have to pick up some overtime at your day job to finance your wish lists now!

Sorry, I have to cut this short, but I have a whole list of things on which I need to get started!

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Thoreau High School’s LIDS classroom has implemented a new Coffee Store. This life skill activity includes practicing sequencing tasks, appropriate social communication exchange, spatial tasks, teamwork, and money skills. Their teacher, Rustlee Myer says “Before implementing the Coffee store, we practiced counting the coffee products and simulated selling coffee using their communication device, fake money, and visual aids.” She said “the students practice counting, sorting color-coded products, and basic math through their calculators. We practice the appropriate social communication through their assisted device, installed with coffee cart symbols to support proper communication exchange. Before sending out the teacher’s coffee order, we collect the order forms in the teacher’s lounge room for the students to prepare ahead of time and bring to their room.“ After serving it up for a time, Ms. Myer reports that the LIDS Coffee Shop is “working great.” She says “My students are beginning to understand the concept of money, basic math, sequencing, and spatial directions. (This experience has) provided my students with an engaging activity. I observed them fully engaged while doing the tasks. My students are motivated to learn.” She further stated “It was a meaningful learning experience that provided them with the social-emotional aspect of (being in) a cheerful learning environment. It has boosted their self-esteem as they interact with different types of people.” The LIDS Coffee Shop is operational thanks to the support of the teachers and staff at Thoreau High School.