We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
~Aristotle

Over the last few days I’ve been thinking a lot about excellence, character, and the meaning of life. I’ve been thinking about the program here, my history, even recent events in my life and the people in it. I think this was all triggered by an email I recieved from another teacher earlier in the week that said “Not everyone is as skilled as you- not everyone can teach the way you do.” I completely disagree. Everyone CAN do what I do. I’m not especially creative or skilled. I’m not especially smart or talented. I just do the extra. (thanks JessicaGy)

I’m Tenacious. Like Louie above, my strength lies solely in my tenacity. I never give up and I don”t accept defeat. If I say I will do something, I do my absolute best to do it. If I forget or fail, I accept responsibility and do whatever I can to fix it. I care about who I am- not what others think about me or who others think I am, but who I really am… who I really want to be. I’m not talking about being cool or popular or liked. I’m talking about looking in the mirror and being proud of who’s there.

I have had some incredibly hard situations to deal with in the last few years, both personal and professional. But in the face of some difficult times, I simply kept moving on. It was incredibly challenging at times- even painful at times- but I decided to not give up on my own character. My own commitment to excellence. And looking back, I won.

Am I special? Sure I am. But not because of some special magical power or natural ability. I’m special because I keep trying. I get up after falling down. I don’t stop until I’m finished. I don’t accept the minimum for myself.

What about you? Are you living for the moment or for what matters? Are you trading your future for temporary fun? Are you trading your amazing future vacations from a job you love for short mental ones in a job you don’t (school is your career right now)? Don’t waste time. Look forward, not down. The goal is ahead of you, not under your feet.

All this talk of work and sacrifice and excellence- does that mean that you won’t enjoy the here and now? Absolutely not! You simply have to learn to love the here and now. Find your passion. Find what you love. Think about what you might want to do- because no matter how bad you think school is- it’s better than living with your parents and wearing a paper hat the rest of your life taking orders from some high school kid who is focused.

Everyone has to pay their dues. It’s now or later. I can tell you that now it’s cheaper and easier than later, but you have to make the decision. You can’t choose not to pay- the scales will be balanced someday.

Carpe Diem, everyone… And don’t take the shortcut… take the scenic route and have something to look back on for your trip.  More to come on this whole theme soon!

Today I want everyone to register at www.certiport.com. If you have a login from last year, please just log in and check to be sure you remember your username and password. If you’re new, please make your login your firstname with the first and last letters of your last name and your year of graduation your login. (Mine would be robsz87- Rob SchwartZ, 1987). Use your school student number as your password. This way we’ll all have the same login format and we won’t forget it!!! If you choose not to use this method, that’s fine… but DO NOT FORGET your login! You’ll be using it for the next few years! If you use myspace or facebook or AIM daily, you can use that login… but make sure it’s just something you won’t forget.  We’re going to pretest early next week and then CT1 will go through the lessons and hopefully everyone will be certified by Halloween. After that- it’s smooth sailing!

In the last few years I’ve learned a lot about why I was made to do personality tests in the past by employers, teachers, camp counselors, friends… Once the light turns on, everything gets really clear. It didn’t for many years for me, but it has now. One thing that was missing was that nobody ever really talked to me about why I was doing the personality tests… So here goes my attempt to see if we can get from A to B a litle quicker.

See, we all have a personality. We have strengths and weaknesses. When you are simply aware of them, it makes it easier to see why you respond the way you do, determine what will cause you more stress and drama, and helps you make better decisions about the course you take for things. Last year I read this amazing book on an ancient personality test called the enneagram. It was so incredibly revolutionary to me to see some things in myself that I had always kind of known but couldn’t explain. Ever feel that way? It was like it put words to my hunches.

In the enneagram, your “personality” (which is really not the best word for this, but I’ll use it because it’s convenient) is more like a core motivator- what makes you tick. It can take a few times to really find your true orientation, but when you do it’s incredibly helpful. See- I’ve always had this theory that your strengths are also your weaknesses- I believe now more than ever that it’s totally true. It’s ying and yang. It’s the enneagram. It’s the internal conflict that all of us feel. And it’s a good thing.

You simply are built in a certain way. I’m not going to get into how that “thing” gets there, but it’s there. Nature vs nurture? Who really cares? It’s there- so let’s figure out how to best use it to make the most good. The thing I liked most about the enneagram versus other personality profile tools was that it focused more closely on a particular “Motivator” rather than just the personality type. It’s like the engine that pushes the personality, the tool that carves your life out of the universe. And like every engine or tool, it can be used for good or bad. With a knife I can hurt someone or rescue them. With an engine, I can get to new amazing places in my car or I can be reckless and kill someone in an accident. Ying and yang again, right??? I want you to find out what kind of engine drives you, what kind of tool you were given to work with, and then learn to use it right.

IMPORTANT!

This is something I want you to take seriously. Find out about yourself. Find what motivates you. Like yesterday, this can help you make better decisions about what you do with your life- in careers, relationships, at school, for hobbies.  What’s great about learning more about yourself and what makes you tick is that you can better pinpoint what frustrates you and work around it. You can also find out that there aren’t people or methods that are better or worse than yours- everyone has a ying and yang. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has a motivator, and they have a strength that can be used if they’re working in the right way. And they, like you, will be frustrated and discouraged (and probably not very effective) if they are doing things that go against the grain of who they are.

Screwdrivers are great unless you need a hammer, and you can’t turn a screw with a knife. All tools have a purpose and work excellent when used as they’re designed. So do people. Find your purpose- and learn what things are best for you NOT to push so hard toward!

You are simply AMAZING at something- everyone is. But you need to be doing that something, working in that way to find it. Let’s look together.

Find it here:

Personality Test Online Site

If you want to know more and take another test to help find your type, I really like the one at this site .

When you’re done, copy and paste the result and be sure to write up your reflections on the last couple days in your folder under “my documents.” (make sure you create a folder with your name!) Name the file “week1″. After that, check out This site for photoshop tutorials to get started!!

This first week, instead of starting to learn about the new and amazing things we can do creatively with the computer, I want you to start researching what should be your most important and valuable subject- YOU. High school is a great time, and a transitioning time. You have to start making a lot of decisions that will impact your future at this point. So we’re going to start off learning about what makes you tick, what interests you, and how you are built. Knowing these things can help you make better choices about your class schedule, your free time, your hobbies… and ultimately, your future.

Today’s assignment is easy- simply check out https://access.bridges.com/auth/login.do?sponsor=7 and get a profile created.  Once you’ve done that, then simply click on “Choices planner” and then click on the blue “work” tab on the top. Then start at the top of the section on the right labeled “Connect Yourself To Careers” and do the Items listed there:

• Interest Profiler
• Work Values sorter
• Basic Skills Survery
• Cluster Finder
• Workplace Skills Checklist
• Transferrable skills

These two tools will help you become more aware of what careers would suit you best based on your interests.

THERE ARE NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWERS HERE! This is about YOU! Please don’t blow this off.  (My teacher login lets me see who has logged in, how much you’ve done, and how long you spent there!) I’ll be making decisions on the way class goes based on general trends in student interests. If you blow this off and don’t take the time to really answer the questions, you won’t learn anything about yourself, and I may start making decisions based on wonky data about how to proceed with class. This is your chance to find out who you are, tell me, and help me make this class better for YOU.