Collaboration – Jolene D. Reinhart

The True Thief of Joy

“True simplicity is about bringing order to complexity.”
Sir Jony Ive, Apple’s Design Wizard

“The beauty of truth is its complexity.” ~Unknown

Life is complex and complicated. It’s the human condition. It is apparent to me that it was designed to be this way. Living life as a human being has always been about pain, struggle, problem-solving and decision-making. Survival of each hour, day, week, etc., depends upon one’s ability to figure out the complexity so that the pain is minimal, the struggle is manageable, the problems are solvable, and choices result in the most desirable outcomes.

About 6 years ago, a friend shared with me a year-long online course for which she had signed up. I took a look and decided it was a great idea and would be fun. I bought the course and became a paying member of a community that has inspired me forward ever since. The name of the course was “Simple Year” and the architect was Courtney Carver. Courtney and her genius can be found at http://www.bemorewithless.com. The purpose and defined outcomes for “Simple Year” resonated with me and included ideas, activities and resources for learning how life could be more intentionally lived. There was an emphasis on simplicity. Each month, Courtney introduced us to a new voice and personality with ideas and insights for creating more intentionality and better results in a particular area of life. We dived deeply into areas such as finances, our home environment, schedules, health and wellness, travel, etc., et. al. The featured leaders of each monthly module varied and the year was kicked off in January with two friends, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, better known as The Minimalists.

One of the optional activities shared for the month, focusing on simplicity in our living spaces, was the Mins Game. I invited my husband to play and the two of us had a lot of fun that January. The Mins Game focuses on the strategy of decluttering as a means of achieving simplicity in your home by intentionally identifying and removing useless items that many of us accumulate over time. The result is intended to provide you with a home that feels calm and serves your family better. It was simple – and just a reminder, simple does not translate into easy – and I have to say the challenge also became a lot of fun! It produced much laughter and some great competition. It also resulted in a lot of donations and more cleared, calm space in our home.

The rules of the Mins game are simple. On January 1st – or whatever first day of the month you choose – you get rid of one item you no longer need, use or love. On the 2nd, you get rid of two more, on the 3rd day of the month, three more items must leave, and so on. You get the picture. The real fun begins around the 25th day of the month, especially when two of you are playing. And, yes, on January 31 of that year, we removed 62 items out of our house! (Just a hint, should you decide to play the game during spring cleaning in May, save your kitchen junk drawers for the last few days of the month. I’m pretty sure everyone can find 31 useless pens, or paper clips, or thumb tacks!) Actually, on January 31, we donated more than 62 DVD’s to our local library! Win-win!

When you add it up mathematically, it equals 496 items, each. That January we removed over 1,000 items. Some were sold, some were donated, and true junk was trashed.

We’ve played the Mins game twice and probably need to play a couple more times, now that our four ‘kids’ are grown adults.

That experience was 1/12 of the Simple Year course. It had a significant impact on my vision and mission for this new chapter. I liken it to a ‘mid-life detox’. It has also created my #2 Highest Priority ~ to live a life of simplicity and intentionality. Why? As author Gretchen Rubin says, “outer order, inner calm.” I value orderliness and inner calm. After 39 years of a highly demanding career, coupled with raising four children active in sports year round (35 of the 39 years), I am ready for the simplicity, the calm, and the empty spaces. It serves my heart, body, mind and soul well. It helps me to honor self first. As Rick Rubin says, so eloquently, in his new book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, ‘make art that moves YOU.’ He says to think of the audience last. It’s brilliant wisdom and advice. Those are my why’s for choosing simplicity and intentionality as Priority #2. I call it “living by subtraction” ~ intentionally taking away, removing, and stopping the things that inadvertently steal our joy. Because the true thief of joy is excess. Less has truly given me more.

What can you take away, remove, and/or stop doing that would give you more? More calm, more solitude, more peace, more time, more money, love, health, joy….? Living by subtraction really adds up!

In next week’s post, I’ll delve into my ends in mind, my SMART goal aligned to support this priority, and the action steps I am taking to move me closer to ‘more’, my specifically defined outcomes.

Thank you for stopping by and spending some of your precious time and energy to read my post today. I appreciate you and wish you kind and simple moments. Live inspired!

The Value of Beginning with Why

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
~Simon Sinek

Image by tess from Pixabay

“People don’t care what you know until they know you care.”

For 40 years I have had the opportunity to serve as a leader in the field of education. The first 10 years, I was a leader in a classroom, designing and facilitating learning experiences, creating an environment that communicated “you are welcome, safe and loved” and learning as much as I could so that first and fourth graders were well served. I loved going to ‘work’ every day, because I loved ‘my kids’.

From there, I got to move into an assistant principal’s role, and then a building principal. For the next 17 years I served as leader of an entire school community. It’s the best (and at times, the worst) job in education! I was the beneficiary of countless meaningful experiences and relationships. I loved every day, because I valued the hardworking staff who helped all of our students be successful, safe, nourished, and master-taught. I loved our students and their families and enjoyed being with them, serving as their dedicated and committed leader.

I then moved onto a new role as a leader of leaders and accepted an opportunity to design professional learning experiences for principals and teacher leaders. They were all impressive exemplars in the field and I was once again the beneficiary of rich and rewarding relationships and moments. That chapter closed with the amazing opportunity to serve as a leadership coach, coaching schools through a school improvement process to achieve better results. This may have been the leadership role that impacted me more than any. It really brought a new and unprecedented emphasis to my why’s. It was indeed inspiring ~ both the people and the work.

The thousands of people I’ve had the great fortune to work with in my career as an educator didn’t buy what I did, but they did buy why I did it. They knew why I did what I did, because I lived my why. My purpose as a leader in all those different roles was to connect with people, support their genius, believe in them, help them grow, and celebrate them! That was my purpose and everything I did was rooted in those five why’s.

In 2009 I watched a TEDx Talk by Simon Sinek titled, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” In 2010 I shared that video and his related book, “Start With Why”, with 40 principals who had joined a Principals Academy initiative I was leading. The content of his TED Talk and his book has inspired me ever since.

The most important action to take when creating something is to clearly define “why?” Why? Because that is the first question most people will ask. Curious and courageous people will ask out-loud; critics and skeptics will utter it to themselves. But everyone will always ask it. So it seems to make perfect sense to begin there.

For the past 15 months, since retiring from full time work I have spent countless hours contemplating and writing about my next chapter. It’s kind of a reset thing in life. Big life event = reset. A large piece of that contemplation was ‘what is my why now?’ What purpose do I want to serve ? I re-read Sinek’s book as well as “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life,” by Francesc Mirales and Hector Garcia. Ikigai is, in translation, what gets you up and excited about each day. It resonated with me as another way to think about my why.

I found the process for defining why in a new chapter to be more a “backward design”. First, I actually had envisioned my goals for this new decade, life in my 60’s, and what means the most to me. I captured those ends in mind and titled them my seven highest priorities. Then I asked myself, ‘why are these my highest priorities?’ That led me to exploring what I value most at this point in life and I was able to provide definition to my whys.

Today, they are all very clear to me and I can articulate them with clarity and confidence. They were a necessary link for designing my action steps that will move me forward toward achieving my highest priorities.

Our why drives everything else which brings light once again to Simon Sinek’s wise recommendation to “start with why.” It determines what we say, do, feel, think, plan and what we say, do, feel, think and plan determines what results we will get. In this new chapter, I want even better results, different results, so I started with my whys. In next week’s post, I’ll be sharing my first of seven highest priorities, the why behind it, as well as the action steps I’ve designed for this year’s progress toward the related goal. I hope you will join me!

Who or what inspires you to be better? Why? What is your highest priority in this chapter? How do you know?

Thank you for stopping by and spending some of your precious time and energy to read my post today! I appreciate you and wish you kind and simple moments. Live inspired ~ on purpose!

Live an Inspired Life

Photo by Khanh Le on Pexels.com

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. It’s about creating yourself.”

It’s all about creating! The world, life, all of it, is about creating. Everything begins and ends with creativity and creation. An idea becomes something physical. A car, a desk, a vacation, a family, a painting, and a better me living an inspired life. They all are first an idea (mental creation) and then they become something physically present (physical creation).

In the fall of 2021, almost 5 years after I stated this website, I turned 60. That December 31, I retired from a full time professional career that spanned 39 years and included two college degrees. I walked away from 50-hour weeks (sometimes 60-hours), a lot of time spent in my car, on the road, or in an airport, or on a plane, or in a rental car, a different city or town 4 days a week, and a six-figure income. It was a bittersweet decision which was preceded by a lot of thinking. And I mean A LOT! And honestly, in hindsight, way too much thinking.

Looking back now, it should have been a simple decision, but we all know simple does not translate into easy. That career, highly demanding work and grueling schedule served a lot of people and organizations, but not me. I was helping a lot of people create a pathway to their desired results, but I wasn’t creating the results I wanted and needed.

After 39 years of professional work and 36 years of parenting four children to adulthood, I decided it was time to put MY personal results as the highest priority in my life on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. So for the past 15 months I’ve been focused on (re)creating who I want to be, which is why today’s quote resonated deeply.

I want to use writing as the vehicle for sharing what/who I am creating ~ my why, my how and my results. I love writing and always have. (See my first post on my site, 6 years ago!) It’s something that comes easily to me and I believe writing is the gateway to a happier, healthier, more creative self. I know that neuroscience shows the positive impact the act of writing has on the human brain and mind. I also know there are hundreds (probably more like millions) of stories of how writing has changed lives.

The one example that always stands out for me is the story of Erin Gruwell. Erin was a young teacher at Woodrow Wilson HS in Long Beach, CA, in 1994. Through writing she inspired hundreds of students to create a better and different life. Their story was documented in the 2007 film, “Freedom Writers”. The impact writing had for them was immeasurable. Writing makes a difference. It helps us create.

Additionally, I love quotes. They are how I surround myself with others’ brilliance. They are how I ‘get better’. So every blog post will be inspired by a quote that contributes to my creating. My end in mind is to share my story, my learning, connections and ideas in the hope that small pieces will resonate with you, the reader, and you find a ‘take home’ take-away that makes today a little better. Because, that’s what I am focused on creating ~ a little bit better me every single day. I hope you’ll follow along as I share my why, my how, and my results of this journey in creating a better, happier, healthier version of me.

Thank you for stopping by and spending some of your precious time and energy to read my post today. I appreciate you and wish you kind and simple moments. Until next week…. Live an inspired life!

The Benefits of True Collaborative Practice ~ How 1+1 can = 3 or Even More

So how might one distinguish between true collaborative practice and ‘working together’, and what might be the benefits of the first over the latter?

Dr. Covey’s Habit #6, Synergize, of the “7 Habits for Highly Effective People”, emphasizes the fact that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. One plus one can equal three or more when people with different perspectives come together to utilize their diversity to create a third alternative that ultimately is far and wide better than an idea created from just one perspective. One plus one could actually equal “immeasurable”, as is evidenced by the collaboration of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

David Kelley, founder and chairman of the design company, IDEO, in Palo Alto, CA, believes in the power of “wild ideas” to promote successful design, along with an eclectic team of ‘designers’ who work from all different angles of a design project.

The legacy of the profession for a classroom teacher is one of working primarily in isolation. For decades, teachers (and principals) have been planning and designing learning alone during their designated prep times. Today’s students require learning that has been designed by ‘an eclectic team’ fueled by ‘wild ideas’ in a culture where true synergy is at work and collaboration is the only way business is conducted. In other words, an example might be interdisciplinary units that emphasize creativity and innovation whereby students collaboratively construct a project or solution.

Moving from ‘working together’ to working with a collaborative approach requires vulnerability and the willingness to relinquish control. These are difficult concepts for most people, but especially educators who have for years designed and delivered teaching behind a closed door, with just their students as participants. How do we as a profession move toward a collaborative culture for designing learning in all schools so that all students benefit from more ideas, better designs, and innovative learning?

Perhaps we begin by modeling that very idea. As leaders, we need to conscientiously build collaborative practice, honor the value in diverse perspectives, embrace the wild ideas (yes, get out of the box!), and stop expecting perfection. Learning should be messy. Designing learning should be messy too. It has great benefits.