"What sacrifices are you making today that will benefit you 5 years from now?"This week I had the honor to speak to the Darby High School Cross Country team. As I prepared for the talk, I reflected on my own running experiences. 1.) I dislike running very much. 2.) I only ran cross country in middle school, which also happened to be the same time frame of my life in which I spiked my hair and wore sweater vests to school. I made many poor decisions during this time frame. With all jokes aside, I looked forward to adding value to this group and was honored to be asked to speak to the team. I had the team watch a video by motivational speaker, Les Brown. The video was titled "Chinese Bamboo Tree". ***Fun fact alert*** It takes 5 years of daily watering for the bamboo tree to break through the soil, and then within five weeks it grows 90 ft. Les prompts the listeners with the question, "Does it take 5 weeks or 5 years to get to that height?" I challenged the team to consider the sacrifices they are making today that will benefit them tomorrow, next week, and five years from now. I also gave them two questions to consider. 1.) If you were no longer on the team, would there be a void? 2.) What more can I do? Having the opportunity to speak always allows me to personally reflect. Am I "watering" daily my marriage, my relationships, my work, my passions, myself? What sacrifices am I making today that will benefit others or myself 5 years from now? It's easy to put in the work when you first start a journey. Do I have the discipline, perseverance, and grit to achieve my long term goals even when I may not receive instant or comfortable results? What more can I do? If I was no longer here, would there be a void? Let's get to work!
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Don't worry, your breath is probably fine. Have you ever had something in your teeth or put a piece of clothing on inside out and no one has said anything until hours later? This week a similar event happened to me. I was working with a first grade class trying to help students setup their iPads. I squatted down to a boy in the classes eye level who was new to our school to help him finish the last few steps. The boy who I had never meet looks at me and says, "Your breath smells different." I immediately respond with, "Different bad or different good?" even though I knew where this was going. He didn't respond, so I answered for him and said, "thanks for letting me know, I'll go get a mint!"
I love working with kindergarten and first grade students because they have no fear, they have a love for life, and they tell the TRUTH with no filter. I honestly think the boy was sincere in his statement and not trying to hurt my feelings. He said my breath smelled "different". Telling someone the truth is a loving act! Often our first reaction when we hear some hard truths about ourselves we respond negatively. We may reject what we hear, complain about it, blame others, or try to defend ourselves. I'll be honest, my first thought to the students response was, "that was a rude thing to say." When in reality, when I stepped back (smelled my actual breath with the universal breath into your hand mask test) I realized he was right, honest, and just trying to help me out. Now having bad breath isn't a hard truth to receive. Maybe you are being evaluated by your boss. Maybe your spouse or significant other is pointing out an area of improvement in your life. Maybe it's your kids asking you to put away your phone or spend less time at work so you can spend time with them. Whatever your situation may be, before you respond, see the act of telling the truth as a loving act rather than an act to tear you down. |