Decide. Commit. Succeed.

As I type this late at night, my computer screencasts a bright glow, especially in contrast to the darkness that now consumes the world over here on the east coast. I notice that this bright glow results in what may be described as more of a muted glow on the fourth finger of my left hand. For just as the moon reflects the sun’s light, the wedding ring that rests on this finger reflects the light emanating from my computer.

My wedding ring.  It symbolizes not only the day of my wedding but the days of my life, which I’ve committed to my wife.

Commitment.

Commitment is a crucial part of character development.

Commitment in a relationship.  In a job.  In a sport.  In any task.  I believe most people would agree that commitment is a valuable attribute.

As teachers, we want our students to value commitment.  We want them to one day go into this crazy world of ours owning a sense of commitment.  The world will consequently shine brighter.

Finishers.  That’s the type of people we should strive to be and that’s the type of people we should strive for our students to become.

We all know the damage of broken promises, of giving up, of backing out.  And we have all probably been on both the giving and receiving the end of this.

“Commit Yourself.”  That’s the name of this motivational video.

As teachers, we’re charged with doing our best to motivate our students.

My students, who I have for the whole day and for every subject, eat a mid-morning snack around 10 am each day.  While eating their snacks, I’ll often feed them motivational videos like the above. My students love them.  I love them.

The video itself is geared towards athletes (with a pinch of infused marketing), but you don’t have to be an athlete to be inspired by the message.

I challenge you to watch it and not be inspired.

Based on this video, I’d like to touch upon the following over the next week or so:

–Ideas for how we as teachers can leverage videos like this to instill the value of commitment in our students.

-Thoughts on how we as teachers can draw upon videos like this to keep moving forward in what for many is an increasingly challenging profession.

Hope to have you join us!