Don't Pump the Brakes

These last few months have been busy, very fast, and quite exciting. Between subbing summer classes, working on random projects and tutoring SAT prep sessions, I honestly feel that I started school a month early this year! In August, I found out that I would officially be changing rooms, and was going to be teaching in room 301. I was really excited to get a new classroom. Just like my experience last year , it took a lot of cleaning to get my room in order. After spending about two full weeks cleaning up the room and making everything look nice for the first day of school, I was ready to start year two at East Side.   Panorama of Room 301 before the first day of school On my first day of school, I tried out an activity my Vice Principal told me he used to use about working hard and achieving goals. In essence, I had a student jump as high as they could, and mark their jump with a marker. After leading a conversation with the class, I got a chair, and taped a $5 bill an inch...

During my senior year at Marist, I was very fortunate to receive great advice about life and leadership from many brilliant people. Taken with this, I developed a short list of important ideas and ideologies that I wrote down and kept in my desk as a sort of reminder. I read this list daily, and I strive to achieve all ten every single day. In addition to my  Three Laws of Success , I feel that this list will do just about anyone in just about any position vey well. I hope you enjoy. 1. Calm down and slow down! Rome wasn't built in a day. 2. Be a leader... today! 3. Keep a Positive Mental Attitude . 4. Doing what is popular is not always right; doing what is right is not always popular. 5. Do not take anything personal. 6. Do not ever let someone tell you that you cannot do something. Prove them wrong! 7. Play on your strengths; work on your weaknesses.  8. Embrace change. 9. Be Transformational: Worry about tomorrow more than today, today more than yesterday...

     No matter who you are or what type of company you work for, I believe that there are three general rules that you can apply (rather liberally) to get ahead in any organization. These are three laws that I have learned over the years, and have followed habitually with moderate success.  I also want to be clear that the following advice is neither original nor complex; contrarily, it is extremely simple, but inordinately powerful.       Rule #1: Show up. Life is about showing up. Take full advantage of every opportunity you are given, no matter how big or how small the chance seems to be. I promise that you would not believe how far “showing up” will get you. For me personally, no matter which organization I was with, it was always rather disconcerting to see the majority of people doing the bare minimum to get by. Seldom do these types of people see opportunities as pathways to their future. I can tell you countless stories abo...

     For this post, I want to share a letter I wrote for The Circle (the student newspaper of Marist College) during my last week as Student Body President. It addresses the concept of "making a difference:"       Last summer, I had the privilege of attending freshmen orientation and meeting the Marist Class of 2015 before their first day of college. Everyday began with an amazing video put together by the First Year Programs staff that helped give the newest members of the Marist community an idea of what college was all about. The video ended with a few lines that read, “Life doesn’t last forever. Neither does college. Make the best of both. Make a difference at Marist.”      But what does “make a difference” exactly mean? For those who know me well, they would say I am a big believer in the “Starfish Poem.” In short, the “Starfish Poem” talks about how everyone can make a difference to the world, no matter how big or how small ...