Striving Toward Your Best Self
Capable – having the ability, fitness or quality necessary to do or achieve a specified thing.
This word took on new meaning for me the other day, and I promise if you finish this article your life and the life of your students will forever be transformed. First, please write the word “Capable” on a piece of paper. This will be very important at the end.
Limitations, low- self-esteem, doubt and fear are often the obstacles that block the view of what we as individuals are capable of. When we close our eyes and imagine the person we’d like to become, it seems so easy to be that person in our head. But when you open your eyes, it seems as if life plays a terrible trick on us by showing us all the reasons why we can’t be the person we imagine ourselves to be. This happens with teachers, this happens with students, this happens with senior leaders and this even happens with schools. What we are capable of, and what’s really happening in life seems to be separated with no bridge to move us from where we are to where we want to be. If you are reading this, this is either your reality or it is the reality of someone you know. But THERE IS HOPE! The hope you seek is in the word you wrote down on that paper: “Capable.”
I was drinking out of a bottle of water on an extremely hot day. Right before I opened that bottle, I was going through a moment of frustration because I felt I was very limited in the impact I have on people’s lives. But I refused to have a pity party, so I looked up the word “Capable.” According to dictionary.com, capable means, “Having the ability, fitness, or quality necessary to do or achieve a specified thing.” Right then I pondered, “What does this really mean?” I opened the bottle of water and began to drink. Suddenly, I almost choked on the water because a powerful thought hit me like a ton of bricks. I quickly put the water bottle down, wiped the drool off my face and put the cap back on the water bottle. “That’s it!” I screamed. See, when the water bottle has the cap on it, it’s very limited to fulfilling its full purpose, which is to provide water to quench my thirst. But the moment I remove the cap off of the water bottle, then and only then, the water bottle can be used in its full potential.
Look at the word “Capable” on your paper. Now, place in your mind every challenge you’ve faced: every student, every staff member, every parent. The word itself gives us the instructions to success. Under line “Cap” and then underline, “Able.” The moment you start removing the “Cap” off of your life, is the very moment you will really see what you’re “Able” to do. CAPABLE!
No more limits, no more boundaries, no more second guessing what you can do or what your students can achieve. It’s time to remove the limiting “Cap” off your life and off your students’ lives. Let them know, and let yourself know, that you have potential. I am “Able” to be a better educator. My students are “Able” to learn this new lesson. Our school is “Able” to move up to a higher honor than we received before! We are CAPABLE!
Let’s Get Motivated!
