Live With Integrity: Trust Your Gut

I've learned that to ignore the still, small voice -- of logic, conscience, or whatever you may call it -- inside of me is a Bad idea. Too many times have I pretended that a decision that I made was the right one when all along my gut was telling me otherwise.

Moreover, marginalizing that still, small voice and delaying a decision is usually just as difficult as making the wrong decision. In my career as an educator, I have procrastinated making a phone call or sending an email because the results could be painful. If only I could bottle the feeling of relief after resolving conflict. That would indeed be a valuable and potent elixir. One swig would remind me that to take care of a problem quickly and with integrity is nothing to fear.

My "gut" and I had our first professional "run-in" about 15 years ago. I was running a university summer music camp that had clearly defined rules and regulations that governed student behavior. During the first night of the week-long camp, two campers chose to break the rules. The following morning, it was my responsibility to call their parents and tell them to return to the university, pick them up, and take them home without the refund of several hundred dollars each. The plot thickened, as one of these two was the daughter of a university regent. For the sake of the other campers, I took swift and decisive action and trusted my gut. Luckily, the result was anything but painful. The parents understood, the campers went home, and my sense of relief is still memorable.

Some of us deal with important and difficult decisions every day in our profession. If not there, our personal lives are full of decisions that need us to be honest and forthright because they can -- and do -- affect other people.

What I found over time, though, is that confronting a decision and trusting my still, small voice has resulted in better outcomes than I could hope for.

Whether or not a decision was ultimately right or wrong, if I have made it based on integrity and/or my best intentions, I know that I will be more comfortable with dealing with any possible, difficult aftermath -- I have moral ground upon which to stand.

What is your still, small voice saying to you? Trust it.

 

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Share, Share and Share Some More!

I was just recently thinking... Why keep what I learn from personal development books, blogs, articles and quotes to myself in the workplace? While it's true I post things on Twitter and Facebook quite a bit, and have found a lot to both read now and save for the future, there is a whole community of students and educators (in my case) that are not a part of my little connected universe.

If the information I come across is interesting or important to me, there's a better than even chance that those with whom I work and are in my “in person” circle will find value in it too.

The director of my church choir pauses about 2/3 the way through most rehearsals and reads to the group. Sometimes it's from the Bible, other times it's from a text that reflects the season of the church year. A choir rehearsal suddenly becomes more than a music practice. We pause to listen and reflect on a common theme and are drawn together by the importance of the purpose our music serves.

Why not do this in a meeting? A classroom? With an email? Perhaps on a break from business we can shift gears and share a thought or two that has come from some of our recent learning and reading. Could that be a better use our influence in a conference room, classroom or boardroom to transcend what we currently do?

I've been sharing more on Facebook lately as well as Twitter. Each place has different kinds of connections for me. Twitter is a place where I am connected to thinkers, educators and leadership pros. Facebook is where family, friends, colleagues and former and present students are. Two different audiences, yes, but both can (and do) express thanks for an occasional item I find and post. Your connections anywhere can benefit by what you are learning.

As online, the worst thing that could happen to you by sharing what you're learning in person is that you're ignored. No problem, though. Through even my limited experience I have found that “putting it out there” is far and away better than not. The chances of someone being enlightened by something you've not shared is zero anyway!

If you have it (and you probably do if you're reading this), your fire to learn and be better was kindled sometime in the past. Perhaps you don't recall when it was that you became interested in personal development. What could be the chances that a three minute summary of what you've read recently at your next sales meeting be the presentation that lights a fire in someone else to learn more about being better people and professionals?

There are side benefits, too. If this becomes part of your culture in the workplace, you'll read even more so you can share even more. Further, digesting and processing what you're reading so that you can “teach others” means you'll store the information differently in your head and retain it better.

When done with planning and intentionality – on purpose, on point and sincere – you may very well be surprised at the results!  

To Tweet or Not to Tweet. There is No Question!

I like Twitter. I like it a lot.

I created a Twitter account over a year ago, and have to admit that I signed up not really knowing what it was about. For a long time never used it. I used Facebook quite a bit over the past few years to be social online, but Twitter had never really made my radar.

Why Jayson, you may (or may not) be asking, wouldn't you be more involved in this magical world called the "Twitterverse" by the "Tweeple" who inhabit it?

The Boring Back Story

Well, I wasn't sure I needed another social outlet to obsess over, and I'm sure my wife felt the same way. (There was an unholy obsession with “Mafia Wars” for a time, and I am sorry to say there was too much time spent collecting “friends” I had never met who shared my passion for pretend criminal activity.)

Thank heavens I resisted the temptation of Farmville.

Flash forward to November 2012. I was asked to write a guest blog post for the Simpson College Music Department's web page, and I happily obliged. I enjoyed doing it and received positive feedback. That experience led me to begin my own blog (you're reading it now!), and like any good, technologically savvy American, I did research about how best to write a blog, how to get it out to the masses to read and how to get ideas about which to write. It was clear after some poking around that Twitter was a social networking medium that had a track record of providing just these benefits.

I took the plunge just before Thanksgiving 2012, and as of early January 2013, I can honestly say that, yep, Twitter is awesome.

How I Use Twitter...

… may not be how you might use it. I know of many (most often) younger people who use it to create a running diary of their life or use it as a way to dialogue with friends. As a professional and educator, this use for twitter is of no interest to me.

In my view, Twitter is the single best way for me to harness the power of the internet for professional development.

You will easily find thousands and thousands of people using Twitter for this very same purpose, and there are many free resources online that will help you understand how easy it is to get to these people.

My blog, Being Better Today, focuses on personal development. I have found hundreds of people on Twitter willing to share links they have found, quotes, ideas and blogs about this topic. Can I read everything? Of course not. But among the many links thrown my way daily, there are always one or two that grab my attention and get read. I'm learning... and growing... and sharing... and helping.

I am a professional music educator. On Twitter, there are many more hundreds of music educators, music organizations, school principals, district superintendents and curriculum wonks I follow (and who are kind enough to follow me) from around the world. These folks share their online finds and personal knowledge to anyone who cares to read it. It is truly fantastic! My Twitter feed is full of expert thoughts on music technology, teaching pedagogy, educational research and more. Truly passionate teachers contribute to their Twitter following, and I'm proud to be a part of that company!

To Tweet is to participate personally in a global conversation. How do YOU use Twitter? In my best teacher voice, “Please share with the group.”

Oh, and if you'd like to follow me, the link is on the right. I'd love to learn with you!

My favorite Twitter hashtags:

#personaldevelopment

#motivation

#inspiration

#musedchat

#edchat

Short list of my favorite Tweeple to follow if you're just getting started:

@LollyDaskal (leadership, self improvement)

@MichaelHyatt (leadership)

@Scott_Watson (music education)

@AngelaMaiers (leadership, education)

@pisanojm (education and technology)

@mcleod (education)

@garyloper (using twitter, inspiration)