Taking part of the Innovator’s Mindset books study via #IMMOOC was one of the most refreshing professional development experiences I’ve had since leaving the classroom.
One of the reasons I chose to participate was because this feels like an important time for me professionally.
For one thing, I just finished the process of renewing my teaching license, which involved a lot of reflection. For another, this spring marks 4 years since I’ve been away from the classroom, which is as long as I was actually in the classroom! I used to think sharing this would hurt my credibility as an educator and as a blogger (“what does she know?”).
Now I know that it’s less about writing what I know and more about writing how I’m growing and changing. I thought Katie Martin summed it up beautifully in the last episode of the #IMMOOC:
“I shifted my thinking from I’m an authority to tell people something vs. This is my space to reflect & learn.”
I feel like this also captures the contrast between working and living from a place of fear vs. a place of passion. Sometimes we think it doesn’t matter if the results are the same (bottom-line thinking); the truth is that fear acts as a drain of our energy and opportunities, while passion feeds our energy and opportunities. While many of us readily accept the above statement, it’s tricky to detect the way it’s playing out in our own lives, particularly if we are, in fact, choosing fear.
My graphic below (last challenge of this #IMMOOC) is meant to capture some of the ways I found that contrast of fear vs. passion throughout reading George Couros’ Innovator’s Mindset and watching the #IMMOOC episodes. My hope is that it might serve as a tool for self-reflection. I would love to hear additional examples of the difference it makes to choose passion over fear!
featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto