Calling All Students…

This post is especially dedicated to Kathy Clawson, mother of Joey Clawson, one of my Special Olympics students, who is in the hospital…you are in my thoughts.

So as promised, today I will talk about success in school. College students are back in school and now high school students are back in the classroom, as well.

I asked Melissa Sapio, the only person that got a 4.0 GPA in college, what advice she had for the students that read my blog. This is what she had to offer…

“A set-back is just a set-up for a come-back.
I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.
I’ve lost almost 3,300 games.
26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed.
I’ve failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. “
– Michael Jordan

Mistakes are part of the learning curve. If you’re always getting it right and never make a mistake, there would be no fun or challenge. It would be easy and it would be truly boring. There would also be no learning! In fact, it would mean that you aren’t really trying! The real difference between people who succeed and people who fail in their pursuit of goals is that successful people don’t quit when they encounter obstacles or things get more difficult.
Tom Hanks, playing the manager of a baseball team in the movie A League of Their Own said, it’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.
This is the reality of it. So get used to the process of making mistakes, saying learn from the mistakes, and try again. Making a mistake is not a tragedy. The only lamentable thing would be giving up as soon as you make one.

Well put…Thanks, Melissa.

Homework: Next time things don’t go as planned, think about the lesson you learned and how you can make an adjustment for next time.