Lessons for Educators from a Navy Seal

I'm Brian Martin, a second grade teacher who find so much joy and fulfillment in what I do. Being in the classroom for almost 20 years, I know all about the time, effort and energy that you are continuously pouring into those you serve. That's why each week, I'm going to bring you an inspiring message to give you a little joy, and help fill your cup back up. Thank you for being here. And welcome to the teaching champions podcast. What's going on everybody, I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. I always man a great week for you. I've definitely been loving these nice summer days. And I want to start off by saying thank you. You know, this week, the podcast hit 2000 downloads. And I just appreciate all you so much this community is pretty special. And I think we live in a world that's filled with great people who are doing inspiring things all the time, in these stories, they need to be highlighted and they need to be shared. And unfortunately, they can get overshadowed by the negativity that's out there. Because we're hardwired to focus on the negative as part of our survival mechanism. So we have to be intentional about seeking out that positivity. And hopefully, this podcast is man, just a small part of that for you. But just once again, I just want to say thank you so much. Now there are many things that I love about the summer. And I would say one of my favorite things is to go on a walk or run and listen to audiobooks. Because what we feed our mind is important. We put so much emphasis on trying to keep our bodies healthy, we go on walks, runs, bike rides, we live weights, we try and eat healthy all in order to keep ourselves healthy and happy. But what we feed our minds is just as important to keep us healthy. And this week, I revisited a great book, and I appreciate it a little bit more after re listening to it. The title of the book is make your bed by Admiral William mcraven. And it's based off a commencement speech that Admiral mcraven gave to the 2014 graduating class of the University of Texas. Now Admiral mcraven, is a former Navy SEALs command. And in this book, he offers lessons that he learned throughout his time in the seals. And it's one of those books where you get lost in your own thoughts as you're listening to it is there are so many parallels and takeaways that we can apply to our own lives. And one of my favorite gems is from a line and the commencement speech. And it's he was talking to those graduates, he looked at them and said, what starts here, changes the world. He then explains that every graduate affects the lives of 10 people. And then each of those 10 people affect the lives of 10 more people, within five generations, over 800 million people will be affected. And then he goes on to say, if you go one more generation, 8 billion people will be affected. That's the whole world. When I heard this line, it hit me. Because think of how many students you influence each year. Now take that over the course of your teaching career. And if each of those students go out and affect others positively, imagine the impact that you will have. And I look at this slogan, and it rains true for every district, every school, every classroom, the seeds we plant, the love we pour into our students the joy that we bring the accountability that we give them, it makes a difference. What starts here, changes the world. Here are just a few of the lessons that Admiral mcraven offers us. First, he says if you want to change the world, start your day with a task completed. Make your bet, start the day off with a small victory, build momentum and one victory leads to another victory and leads to another. Think about what is a small victory that you can do in your classroom? What is the one thing that you can do right away? That will cause momentum. Admiral mcraven says that if you make your bed, no matter how the day goes, at least you know, when you come home at night, that you're going to come home to a made bet. So what would be that one thing in your classroom, that no matter how the day went for you, when you close the door, and you turn off the light, that you can look back and know that you completed that task. A second point, Admiral mcraven shares is that if you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle. It's all about teamwork surrounding yourself with those people who will help you get through the difficult task. The airman says that when he was a Navy SEALs training that he along with seven other trainees would have to carry a 10 foot rubber raft over their heads everywhere they went from the barracks to the chow hall, up and down sand dunes, they had to paddle the boat endlessly up and down the coastline. And he said, the RAF taught him some valuable lessons. There were times when physically he was done. And he just was exhausted and didn't have the strength to fully do his part. And on those days, the people around him rose up, they dug deeper, and they picked up the slack. Then, when others had those moments, when they struggled, he along with the other team members would step up and pick up their slack. They learned that no man can make it through training alone, that no CEO can make it through combat alone. And that all of us can't make it through life alone. We need people in our lives to help us through the tough times. This lesson really hit home for me, in a way, I think we're always carrying that template rubber raft, you know what we faced this past year. And we're fooling ourselves if we think this year is going to be smooth sailing, to be honest, even pre pandemic, there's an ebb and flow to the school year, and our moments when we absolutely crush it. And there are moments when that struggle is real. So surround yourself with those people that you can count on when you're struggling and fatigued. The people who will be there when you need someone to talk to someone to confide in, or someone to help pick you up. And remember to be that for others, as well. Our family team, our work team, they're important. So let's embrace them, cherish them, invest in them. And let's allow ourselves to be a part of them. A third less than the Admiral mcraven shares is that if you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward. Now picture this for a second. You're going through Navy SEAL training, you're given a task to do and you do it perfectly. But the instructor only rewards you with a sugar cookie. No rhyme, no reason. But this sugar cookie doesn't fill your stomach is not tasty. For navy seals, the sugar cookie means in your full uniform with your boots on, you run over the sand dunes and go into the surf. And then you come out and you roll around in the sand until every ounce of you is covered in sand. Every interview uniform, every inch of your body is covered in sand. And it will stay that way for the rest of the day. Imagine mentally, how that's going to take its toll on you, especially if you've done everything correct. Admiral mcraven his point with this is it life isn't fair. You know this? You know how life isn't fair. You know, there are times when you do everything perfectly, you try and do the right thing. You try and say the right things. You try and be the best person that you can be. And sometimes it still doesn't matter. life throws you into the waves that rolls you around in the sand. And that makes things miserable. But the only choice we have is to keep moving forward to keep pushing the head over the past year and a half in your professional in your personal life. You've kept moving forward you've kept pushing ahead. And in that moment, it doesn't always feel good. Some moments. It feels terrible, but does Mmm. gravan says, Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward. The last lesson I want to share is if you want to change the world, give people hope when you're up to your neck and mud. Admiral mcraven talks about the infamous Halloween where the seals go through six days of no sleep and unrelenting harassment by the instructors. There's long runs, open ocean swims, obstacle courses, rope climbs, and constant paddling in their boats. And it's during this week, the more students quit training than at any other point in training. In this moment, Admiral mcraven found themselves in the Tijuana mudflaps, which he said was the toughest part of the week. The month flat were a lowland area where drainage from surrounding areas had turned it into deep, thick mud that had the consistency of climate. And the students were put through a series of races against one another in this area in the mud clung to their bodies, making them cold, wet and miserable. And Admiral mcraven says all day the racist continued in the future seals were exhausted, they were freezing. And then the sun went down. And the temperature dropped, and the wind picked up. And everything became that much harder. And he said morale was being destroyed. And they knew there were several days left after this. And the instructors, they played mind games with them, and they encourage them to quit, they offer them hot soup, and warmth. And there's several of the students began to waver. One of the soldiers in the dead of the night started to sing. Then another joined in followed by another. Eventually, he said all of the students were singing, and no one was thinking about quitting. And Roman graven says, it was that one person, that single person who was neck deep in mud that began to sing that inspired everyone out. Now, this was another one of my favorite gems from the book, visualizing those future seals in just a miserable place, freezing, wet, muddy, and picturing them in the dead of night, ready to break, in that one person starts to sink in that one person has such an impact on the morale of his team. So who are those people in your life at your school? Who are those people that when everyone is that their breaking point is there to start singing, to bring a little positivity to offer a little hope, a little joy. One person can have such a huge impact, especially in those hard times. And it's easy when things are going good. But we want those people that are going to be there that are going to rise up when things aren't good when life is challenging. When everyone's at the breaking point. Who are the people that are going to say these are just a few of the lessons from the book, go to YouTube and check out the commencement speeches men watched over 14 million times. And I would suggest to get the book. If you listen to audiobooks like myself, you can listen to it and one or two workouts, we need to hear those reminders. Just like our body needs to be worked out to stay strong. We have to listen to books like this to help us get those reps in and keep our mindset strong. Thank you so much for being part of the teaching champions community, we encourage we support we lift each other up. And if you could share this podcast with others, who you think would benefit from this, I greatly appreciate it. It's all about serving each other. And always remember, it doesn't matter. If you're from rural America, to urban America, to Canada to Spain to Bahrain, we're all on that same team. We're all on that same mesh. And we're always better together. My challenge for you this week, is to take some time and really think about what is the information that you feed your mind. We're constantly taking information in and whether we realize it or not. What we take in has a direct effect on our mood and our mindset, and we have to be deliberate in what we take in. So what books podcast TV shows, what do you take in it? Who are the people you are having conversations with? Take a step back and ask yourself, Is this making my mindset stronger? Or weaker? What can you add to your input that will make you stronger so that when you're facing sugar cookies, or you find yourself neck deep in mud, you can handle those situations with flying colors. And remember what Admiral mcraven said, what starts here, changes the world. What starts with you, changes the world. Keep being amazing, my friend. And as we go out into this week, may you step into your strength, may you step into your shine, and let's build our champions up. Have a great week, everybody.