Be Intentional

Today I attended a "teacher conference". I love attending conferences and trainings. Like, seriously. I wish it could be my full time job. This is my 4th year going to this particular one, and every year I come home feeling on fire! The thing that this conference has that most don't is a connection to life outside of the classroom, beyond the school campus. Every year I am nearly brought to tears by the CEO/Keynote Speaker. He brings such truth in his messages about life, and correlates it with our careers in education. This year's theme was, "Be Intentional". I can't even begin to tell you how much I love that.

Throughout today's breakout sessions I found myself taking lots and lots of notes (total nerd here). Embedded in my notes I must have written the word "intentional" at least 2 dozen times. As a teacher, being intentional is critical. Every thing we do in our classrooms has a purpose. What we say, when we say it, how we say it, what our kids do, when they do it, how they do it--it all serves a significant purpose that directly impacts our students. Being intentional in the classroom is easy for me most of the time. After awhile, it just kind of happens. That's why teacher's say they have superpowers...duh. 

Something that doesn't come as easy for me is being intentional outside of my work. The Keynote Speaker today started off with this quote by John Maxwell:

"What drives you when you get up in the morning? Most people settle into one of three areas: survival, success, or significance." 

He then asked us to ponder this question: What Will Your Story Be?

Hmph.

Talk about a way to start your morning!!

Guys, he wasn't JUST referring to us as educators. He was asking us to look at ourselves as people. And that is hard to do!

I want to live a life of significance. When my time on Earth is through, I want my story to be one of strength, love, perseverance, passion, dedication, happiness, hard-work, joy, significance, and so many other wonderful adjectives. To do this, I need to be intentional in every aspect of my life. Because, just like in my classroom, it ALL matters.

Being intentional doesn't always mean having a plan. Because let's be real, plans fail. For example: You plan to get married, have lots of "little you's" running around, and live happily ever after. Then life sucker punches you and tells you that isn't going to happen the way you "planned". And that sucks.

What being intentional does mean is that you know what you want, and will plan a way to get there, somehow. A good place to start is by thinking about your story. You are the author. All you have to do is #beintentional.

That's pretty amazing isn't it?

-Mo