Vulnerability, Self Awareness, and Expressing Your Art with Dr. Efrain Martinez

What's going on everybody? I hope this finds you striving and thriving and doing absolutely amazing. Today, I have a special guest for you. We're joined by Dr. Efrain Martinez, and he is an administrator and the host of the wisdom and productivity podcast. And in this conversation, listen, as Dr. Martinez talks about learning from those around you listen, is he's opens up, and he's vulnerable. And he shares his own journey, and the lessons that we can take from that. Listen, as he talks about empathy, as he talks about discovering and sharing the art that you have within you, and so much more. This conversation is a good one, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I am super excited for this episode. I have a wonderful guest for you today. He is full of wisdom, and he's going to drop some great gems for us. I want to welcome Dr. Efrain Martinez. Hello, hello. Thank you so much, Brian, for having me here. Such a luxury to spend this morning with you. Yes, it's, it's truly a blessing, my friend. Now, Dr. Martinez, for those who don't know who you are, could you give us a little bit about your background? Yes. So I was born in Puerto Rico, and came to the United States when I was 18 years old, to a small town in Pennsylvania called California University of Pennsylvania. And I came with the wanting to be a writer that was my my north. And I was thinking at that time, you know, to make money, I will become a college professor, but I'm going to be writing books, I was into literature, poetry, and all that kind of stuff. But through my time studying, I realized that I was more in love with the idea of being a writer than actually doing the work, I will find myself that after the second or third sentence, I will be up but I can't write the written this in a different way. And it didn't go well. In terms of my writing habits, I will start something and never ended. After finishing my bachelor's in Pennsylvania, I came to Chicago and everything had to move to stop when I was going to take my masters comprehensive exam. And I failed it. And woof, that was a big punch. It was a test of the literature and culture of both Latin America and Spain from the 15th century to the 20th century. And I failed the test. And when I failed, I blame everybody and their mother, myself, and I found myself without a job, couldn't be a writer couldn't teach. And I worked in three university hospitals as a secretary, database coordinator. And even though I was terrible at it, I was not meant for it. I did learn a quality lesson I was this to bring coffee sandwiches and mail to different departments in the medical schools. And I caught my attention that when I was to deliver the sandwiches and coffee during the professional development events of the medical doctors, I saw how seriously they took it, how they exchanged words with a lot of respect, everybody was Dr. So and So Dr. so and so. And nobody will mistreat each other in terms of their level of specialty. And I brought that with me to the education field because professional development is as is of the essence for the success of educators. So from learning that I started thinking, what is one thing that I have enjoyed in my life, and it was when I was doing my Masters I had to teach in order to pay for my master's. I had to teach first and second year college students. And I said that's what I need to be. I want to be a teacher but immediately ambition took the best of me. And I say, I also want to be a principal. Because when I was growing up, I went to a Catholic school, I was a long time in the office. So I had a lot of conversations, or I should say, I listened a lot to my principal talking about life and how to improve how to think about this. And then, and I remember one time, when he told me, If rain, hood yourself for a moment, in the end, he put his hands like that in the mind of the teacher who is telling you something, and think about what they're thinking about you for a moment, and you will be able to succeed. And that was the first time that I was able to feel some sort of power about my own destiny ever since that really stuck with me. So I began being a teacher wanted to be immediately a principal. And my, at the end of my first year, I enroll in a program to become a principal in such a rush. So when I started teaching, it wasn't good. I started teaching high school. I taught for two years, and I couldn't connect with the children. I thought that I high school was the the place for me. But I ended up realizing that teacher teaching in the inner city of Chicago, those children in high school have had experiences with trauma that I never went to as a high school student in Puerto Rico. And eventually, when I landed in middle school, the sensitivity of that middle school students was much more similar to the sensitivity of me as a high school student and the experiences that I had. So it was not until I went through several trials and tribulations and ended up in middle school, when I found my niche teaching. And I started liking it. And the moment I started liking, teaching and feeling some sort of success, I was called into the world administration. And then we knew that sense of, of becoming a principal, when I became a principal, after being an assistant principal for several years, I had a rough time, tough, like, my teachers didn't meet my teeth, students, they didn't want me my parents didn't want in their community, they didn't want me and the media, Spanish media was in there all the time. People were cursing in the, what is called the local school council meetings, which is the equivalent of our Board of Education. And it was a I thought I was going to, you know, my career was going to end there. And I will have to go, I don't know, maybe go back to the university hospitals because I didn't belong there. Everything change with my experiences with realizing that I was not thinking about how my message was landing in the people that I was leaving. So I will say, for example, but Brian, during the evaluation, do keep in mind that students come first. And that passive aggressive comments, I didn't realize that Brian will say, Oh, you're gonna think I think the students come first. So let's go at it. So it was not until I realized that that I started seeing some success. Yeah, I saw there's so much to unpack there. And thank you so much for being open and honest about your journey. And I think so many people can relate when I look back to my own journey. And my own struggles, is, you know, those first few years, there's a lot to learn. There's a huge learning curve for all of us. Now, I love also how you talked about, you know, you didn't start out in education, you started out in the medical field, and sometimes our journey, it's never a straight line. But there's lessons that we can take from every single experience and how you saw those doctors and the PD that they were getting, and the level of respect and how serious they took it. You know, you talked about your first few years teaching. What were the biggest lessons like now that you're administrator and you have new teachers? What are the biggest lessons that you learn that you give to your new teachers? Well, the first and most important lesson is about the importance of relationships. I had the assumption that because I had the title of teacher, and I wouldn't wear a tie you Add, I will say something like everybody will be, yes, sir, yes, I will do that. And then when they the students willing to do what I wanted them to do, I will take it as like, they just want to disrespect me, they just want to give me a hard time. And that assumption took me to a long time of failure. Because at the end of the day, nobody wants not to learn, everybody wants to be better. But you have to understand that before you get to the intellect, you have to go through the heart. And that goes to any level in any position in any industry, that when people you get people to instead of having to do something to them wanting to do something, in this case, and learning, everything is able you're able to accomplish everything. Yes, 100%. And I love that. And I love how you talked about the phrasing, talking about how we phrase things matters. And once you realize that, you know how it completely changed these relationships, whether it was with the students or with the staff. Amen. A maps. Awesome. And then in your experience with leadership, I know that you had an experience yourself, going to work one day that changed a lot for you. Would you mind sharing that? Absolutely. That experience changed my life forever. They say that sometimes you have to really fall in order to stay, or like Robin Sharma said, in order to have a full heart you have to first break it, and then reconstructed. So I am in my second year of being a principal, everything is going to worse. The media is there this small group of community members who are like protesting in front of the school calling me all the ugliest names people are putting in Facebook that they're gonna beat me up one day, they come and throw eggs at my house, it was like data, my mental health is going to help is going like my depression, my anxiety, I'm over eating over 5000 calories every day of junk food, always eating outside, I will leave the school building and 1112 midnight and come earlier and still the job was there. And I'm this late this day, I'm going late to work, maybe I'm going to arrive 510 minutes late. So I'm rushing, I take a shortcut. And all of a sudden, I have to stop and I see a truck in front of me on fire. The first thing I think is how I'm gonna move my car to speed up and go to work. I didn't think much about it. But all of a sudden, from the truck in the bag, a man comes outside with his hands up and his bottom on fire. And like in that microsecond, I this this have this need to help people. So I didn't doubt that I was going to get out of my car and help this guy. But the first thing that comes to mind is I might not see my children again. So I get out of my car, I jumped to support this guy. I take out my my jacket and I started like like supporting I in movies. When when you see that people do this they fire which is like that, but it wasn't. So I like I started like the idea is that the it took a little bit longer to extinguish the fire in the bottom legs of this man who was yelling and you know, like, like, at that moment I started like my ears started ringing like I'm like, decomposing as it goes right and I'm able to support this guy put on the side and the truck with he was a landscaper and had all these machines that he was trying to save. Even though he was burning. He was still saying I'm gonna go and I was like no, you ain't going there. I'm gonna die there. If you go, we call that ambulance, the ambulance, the police, they interview me and I take my car and go to work, not thinking much about it. And when I arrived to work, everybody says you're so dusty. Like I was all covered in dust and I I didn't even realize the impact of what just had happened and you Within a few days, the sister of one of my students dies. And by then I was a sympathetic leader, meaning that I will care for my students and love them the same way that I love my own children. And that's when everything crumble. For the first time in my life, I had to take a leave of absence, because I got to the point where I thought that my life, the life of my family, and my children will be better if I was not alive anymore. And when you get to that bottom, you definitely need to pull yourself out, I went to hospital, and I started going to therapy for the first time in my life, and I was able to learn through a specific strategy, where they put two, two items in your hands, that can only give you a little bit of electrocuting shock. Very lightly. And during the therapy, they make you visit places. And every time that that electrocution goes on, you realize that you are not really there, but you're visualizing and then gives you the power of your of your of your brain of really traveling in the past and fixing things that you have not been able to fix. So from there, I learned that wow, you know, all these grudges that I have of abusive parents that I had as a growing up of being a victim of sexual predators, all these things I was carrying, like, like rocks in a backpack. So during my leave of absence, the absolute best exercise I did was that I took a plastic plate, and I wrote the names of all the people that have you heard me my life, and I put the my mother's name in the middle. And in the back of the paper plate, I wrote the names of everyone that I had heard, and I have failed in my life. And I was able through visualization and meditation, to literally visit each one of those instances, and learn if I ain't yours, you're a sick kid. If I ain't, you didn't know this, that you know, now, forgive yourself, forgive others. And Brian, and from there, my life changed completely. Because I was no longer holding grudges. I was no longer feeling that people were hurting me, I realized that I was leaving alive in the past. And all those people were leaving their lives in the press. And they were not even thinking about me. And I was taking away from my children and my wife, I was taking away from the people I was trying to lead, I was always looking at the rearview mirror, instead of putting a stop to them. And it was through that fire, that I was able to go into that metaphorical Plato's cave, and come outside and see the light, that at the end of the day, like Brene, Brown says, you are the author of your own story. So go ahead and write it. Oh, that is so deep. And I think you're sharing like so many of us. Hold on to so much. And like you said, it's like that bag of rocks that hold you down, and the work that you put in and to be able to give yourself that grace. And that's something you know, grace to others, because who are we punishing? When we hold on to those hard feelings for all those people that wronged us? We're hurting ourselves, amen. And to show ourselves grace, because we're imperfect, every single one of us and we try but there's going to be instances where we don't make the right decision or we say the wrong thing. And to learn from it and grow from it and then forgive ourselves. Amen. That that for yourself. And forgiving. People like my mother, my father forgiving my my brothers forgiving the people that have hurt me the most. It gave me gave me an essence of like a reminder of like, treat yourself as if you were someone that you care for. Because we are so good at giving advice. Whereas especially if you're a teacher you're an educator, we are so good at telling others how to live on how to think. But we are so hard on ourselves, we are awards critiques. And that was really transformational for my life. Yes, that's huge. And I think it just goes to show a lot too. We don't know, half of what's going on in somebody else's life. Even even at school, I mean, the classroom doors get shot. And we don't know what's happening always inside that classroom. We don't know what's going on, outside, and just showing each other a little kindness, and being there, and I know whether it's a guy thing or not, like, being able to share your feelings, being open and honest, or having that one person because I know like, I hold on to stuff, I don't really share. I'm great at talking sports, and, you know, talking about TV shows or whatever. But as far as like diving into the emotional part, really don't do that. I think like what you were talking about. And whether it's it's coworker or even a therapist, because that's key, having that person that you can let that out, put it out when you talk about putting those names on the plate, and being able to forgive yourself, for those that you wronged and forgive those on the plate, that wronged you so, so powerful, my friend. Thank you, thank you. Now how have you been able to bring that into your school, just that knowledge in that whole experience to help relate to staff or help others that are going through that crisis that are under your care, whether it's staff or students. And so when I was able to take care of self meaning, I was able to learn how to cope with my own life traumas, and make the best out of it. And I turned to school, like Rocky turns out to training and I started thinking, What can I do to make this better, because if I can heal myself, I can definitely figure out a better way of leading. So I got myself in a doctoral program. And I knew that I wanted to write a dissertation on something on improvement of a principle, but I didn't know on what I had no clue. And in one of the classes, I am coming late, because again, ladies are thing in my in my trajectory. And when I come in, the professor is quoting the Harvard Business Review. And the code was like this. Emotional intelligence is the scenic one on of leadership. And Brian, like in a Jerry Maguire moment, the professor got me a scenic one on okay, I was like, I need to know what the heck is emotional intelligence, because it sounds like it's something I need to experience and learn more. And it was a perfect topic for me, because emotional intelligence diversion, there's several theories, right. But the theory that I studied, is Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence. And it starts with first self awareness, right. So being aware of what you are doing, and how you are doing and how you are feeling about things. So for example, I knew I was being a sympathetic leader, I was crumbling when a student was suffering. While I should have been like a physician in the emergency room, when those doors open and you bring a loved one to the hospital, you don't want the physician to be suffering with you, you want the physician to be on top of their game, and leader and yet to be on top of their game. And also, if you buy a ticket to a concert, you don't want the singers to be Oh, have a call today. So today is not going to be that good, you'll be a pass, right? Because you want that concert to be the absolute best you took time to be there. So those students, those teachers, those communities, they needed the best of me. So being self aware. Number two, self regulate, right, like how often you feel anxious, and we don't do nothing about it. So I learned about meditation and breathing exercises, walking exercises, good habits of eating and sleeping and resting. And that takes you to the third step, which is motivation. And often we think about, oh, I'm here to motivate others. But what about yourself? How do you get yourself to the point where you want to uplift others where you want to bring a essence of hope and perseverance to the people? But you're supporting. And then the fourth one, and perhaps the most important step is empathy. How to, then that's the one that I was lacking completely. I had no idea how my words were landing in the people that I was leaving, or my movements. And I learned about that. When you listen to people, you have to listen to understand, because everybody cares about children. But everybody has their own life, like you say, when they close the door, either for their room or their life, you don't know what they're going through. And we just cannot be oh, this is the mold of what a great teacher is. And if you didn't do it, you don't care about children? No, everybody does. But you need to understand first where they're coming from. And finally, the last step social skills, how you get all this learning to get the best out of people in a way that they are compelled to do it. So I combined their research of emotionally Am I my dissertation was called dispositions of emotional intelligence in school principals. And I got research from how nurses, how army, how police officers and firefighters, how they address emotional issues, in order to better manage them and be successful in their careers. And realize, Wow, I took back from when I work in the hospitals, like, like, this is something that nobody talks about, we all talk about instruction, and we talk about the strategies and the standards, but we don't address them, like how to address my own emotions and the emotions of the students and their colleagues and the custodian and the and the people who work in the lunchroom, like how do you address all those things? Eric, Eric, Francis says, academics is one wing of the bird. But you also have the other wing of the social emotional. So I combine those, and I was able to persuade my supervisor, to instead of me going to conferences, to allow me to shadow successful principles. And that made a huge difference, because I had an idea what a successful principle was, but I had never actually seen it. So I went and observed six amazing school principals. And I was able to see how they speak to them, how they position their body, how they use their hands and their eyes, how they put their hand in their in the arm of someone, how much they you can perspire, how much they care for their opinion, they listen to everybody, even the people who were dissent with them. And in turn, I was able to see how the commitment the staff had in those schools. They wanted to go through the mission and vision, they wanted to find prestige for the school. While the people that I was leading, it was almost like force, because Oh, the principal is doing and you have to do it. And right now, the lesson that picks it all, was I observe a principal. And after a meeting, he goes behind the scenes, and he tells me you know what, with this group, I have to do this because there's this difficult group of people here and with that group, and he told me all these strategies of of leadership, and he had a bunch of shoes in the back because he liked having a bunch of shoes. Right? I said, I started looking at the collection. And I look that he had a replica of the Pope shoes. Right. So extracting the religious connotation, just focusing in the position of the Pope. I said, Oh, amazing. You have the pope shoes. And he said, Yes. Because sometimes I have to walk through these hallways, like I'm the Pope. And it took me a while to understand what he meant. And this is what he meant. When you are the principal of your school or the preacher in your church, you're in charge of that community, that small group. But when you are the principal walking through the hallways, everybody is like in their own land of emotions and struggles and believes right? So you have to walk through the hallways like the pope going into the church, in Morocco, in Argentina, in in cancer, as in Jamaica, like doesn't matter where you go, there are so many differences and if you go thinking I know better and you know worse, you never able to lead anyone, right? You have to be able to lead from understanding of where people come from. And that's the way you get The best out of every one, and get people to do their best art. And that combination of the study of emotional intelligence and visiting successful principles, understanding that analogy of Listen, you're here the Pope, you are not here to dictate how to do it, you're here to observe and notice, what are the glows? What are the things, this teacher is doing great to maximize that. And then kindly note, maybe a couple of blind spots, the teacher is not noticing, and say in a way that the teacher is going to be able to be compelled to say, oh, yeah, do you notice that instead of feeling like an idiot, or feeling like, Oh, you're just criticizing me? Right. And, and this is a difficult thing to do. But something that I wish I had learned before I became a principal to avoid those headaches, and literally went from the most hated principal, to the Illinois Principals Association, our local region, namely, Illinois Elementary School Principal of the Year. So it was a such an adventure. And he has become, he has made me a better educator. Yeah, that is fantastic. And I love how your superintendent let you go and follow six successful principals. Because, you know, conferences are great. And we can go there to different conferences, and see all these breakout sessions and everything. But they're like one hour sessions, if you know, and then you get back and you're, you're traveling back. And before you know it, you forget half of the stuff that you saw there. But being able to walk and shadow someone that is super successful. And I love how you were looking for the details in that communication style, because communication is so huge, and it's not just listening to respond, but listening to understand, and that just doesn't go for administration. What does that, you know, teachers listening to our students, it doesn't matter what age, how are they? What are they saying? And I was talking with somebody else the other day, and they said, you know, just as powerful is, what are they not say, and being very in tune to that. And I love that, you know, you talked about that. The Pope analogy that, you know, Morocco, and Argentina, all these different classrooms have different things going on. And being able to understand, just like in our classroom, each student has different things going on each family, those parents have different things going on. So really looking at them in different lenses, I think helps create that communication style. And that's fantastic stuff, my friends, and congratulations on that Illinois being recognized for Principal of the Year. Yeah, that was a, you know, something I was able to show to my children and teach them listen, this is not just a price. For me, this is a price of how we have evolved as a school. Because with that the school scores improve. And we want all their recognized recognitions and awards and people started believing in the mission and leading committees and leading hiring. Because, you know, it's not a top down approach. It is an all hands on deck. And at the end of the day, the coach, the principal cannot get in the courts and score the points, right is the teacher in the classroom who is leading? So how do you get to the position where you can co work with people and talk about strategy and how to unite in the power of education in order to really empower students? Yes, absolutely. And I love how you talk right there about looking back, because we get so focused on looking at what's ahead, what we still need to achieve, that we forget sometimes to look back and see the good things. And that's gonna help with that motivation. And you bring in everybody together for that one common goal. Amen. So not only are you crushing it in the school, but you're also helping lead others through your podcast, wisdom and productivity podcast, which is phenomenal. And could you explain a little bit about like the purpose behind the podcast and like what you do with it? Yes, the purpose of the podcast was born out of the idea of like, what if I can do virtually those visits, not only to successful principals, but also successful teachers, and eventually successful people in any field because you need to Patients often we just close our doors, and we only think about teaching and teaching staff. But we see people in all their professions, and we ignore them when we can learn so much from them. Like if any teacher who's teaching a difficult classroom and you learn about negotiation strategies from FBI, FBI agent Chris Voss, like, wow, you learn so much, and how to mirror a student that is in difficult and you can get the best out of it at the end, that's what we want. We want the students to come to the realization that they can be better, but learning different strategies is gonna make us better educators. But I didn't know how to so for a moment, I thought, well, maybe I'm gonna write a blog about interviewing people. Maybe I'm going to write a book about interviewing people. And all those things of being a writer came back, and I realized, well, you know, I just don't have it, of music discipline, you know, like, if you're gonna play piano, you need to safeguard your hands, right? You cannot like be like doing crazy stuff, because then you cannot play the piano. So I knew I have some art in me. But I didn't know how to put it out there. And I happen to sign up for a group of principle group that was led by Rachel, George and Adam, welcome. And during the first event, the first question either welcome comes, Well, you know, anyone has any questions. And I'm the first nerd who raised his hand virtual hand in this Zoom meeting, and basically said, you know, I have an idea of doing this or doing that. And he said, Well do it. And then, like, in a way, he gave me permission to do it, because I didn't know like, who's gonna listen to me? Who's going to see my stuff? Who's going to? And when I said that, he said, Listen, I've been blogging for 10 years about running and bicycles, and nobody paid attention. And now I am who I am. So like, I was like, whoa, okay, so I'm not doing this necessarily for others, because first you have to do it for yourself. And that's how the idea came up. What if I can do those visits in a different shape, or form, and learn from others to become a better human being and become a better educator? So that's how the title of wisdom and productivity came up? Meaning wisdom, how people think, how they became who they are, what is that backstage story, that prequel of the leader, or the teacher or the educator, who made them who they are? What do they believe? What do they read? What do they think about their mistakes in the past? How can they make them better? And how do they address impostor syndrome, which is like that roadblock that doesn't allow people to do the things that they want to do? Because they think they're not good enough. And my English is not good enough, my mind my intellect, it's not good enough. Who's gonna listen to this, this guy from an island? And then ask them about the productivity meaning like, how the heck do they get to do all this stuff, and still have a fruit difference life? And then the right that looks different from everyone. Everybody organizes themselves in different ways. And people do checklists, and people keep it in their mind, like doesn't matter how they do it. But there's a method for their craziness. So let's talk about it. Because often we don't see that we don't talk about that we just talk about all the time, action, action, action action, and we never talk about the reflection part, and how people plan their weeks or their months or their activities, their questions. And I started thinking about my podcast about, like, that writer I wanted to be I, I didn't realize that the art was going to be transpired through a podcast, which, in a way, is a combination of the modern poetry and graffiti. Because you're out there, you're interviewing all sorts of people and you do all kinds of stories. I have done over 160 interviews, wow. Including your Brian, which is like your soap bringing wise like, like I was so inspired talking to you. And that makes me a better educator makes me a better human being. And I get to exchange that with personal reflections and things that happen in Life. So for example, if I see a quote, or I read something, why not get in the microphone, get with my headphones and talk about that, and say how a certain topic or story can influence me and others, whoever is listening, wherever is viewing, as educators, because life is all made up of stories, all lessons come through stories, and why not provide the story. And even if nobody's listening, I know that when I take off my headphones, and I go upstairs and see my family, I'm gonna have a better day because I have been able to express my art. And like mangog never sold one of his paintings, but he could be leaving his art. And now he's OVR. Who He is. So for me is you do your art, whatever works for you. Because at the end of the day, the children your school benefit, the teachers that you're leaving benefit the community, your home, your friends, your loved ones. And isn't that what the meaning of life is? Like? How can we make it better? With all the challenges that we face? Yes, I absolutely love that. And I hear your passion when you talk about the podcasting. And I agree, like, the opportunity for me to sit here, talk to Dr. Martinez, who's traveled from Puerto Rico, to a small town in Pennsylvania to now a principal in Chicago and all of your experiences in the wealth of knowledge. It's, it's unbelievable. And so I appreciate that. And I appreciate when you talk about like, everybody has their art. So we enjoy podcasting. But some people like photography, other people express themselves in different ways, and being able to not be hold that to ourselves. But put that out there. Because there's others are going to benefit from that so much. Now, let's dive into your podcast real quick. Can you share with us whether it's from yourself, or from a guest, if you want to highlight it a guest one piece of wisdom, one way to fight impostor syndrome that we all face, and one productivity hack? Because just like you were saying, productivity is so important. And I think one quote that's always stuck with me was from James clear, the author of atomic habits. And I believe he said, We don't rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems. So I would love if you could share one from each of those, my friend. Absolutely. So from wisdom, productivity, I have been able to interview a bunch of luminary figures. And everybody has something awesome to say, if there's one that I have to get out of, of the top, he was a professor from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dave Stovall, is a professor of African American studies. So at that point, I was having an issue with equity in my building. And I didn't know how to properly address it, right, because everybody talks about equity. But then for some equities, equality, for some equity, something to extreme and not to address. And today, we see many states where libraries are empty, because a book that talks about something that happened in the past, we want to eliminate it right. And we cannot be better humans and have a better humanity if we don't learn from mistakes from the past. And he said this quote, If rain since when historical accuracy became a threat, and that's when I was really able to understand how to have my north of saying, You know what, it's not about guilt tripping, it's not about pointing fingers, it's about understanding what had happened. So we can make a better future together. So that lesson always stays with me forever. And in order to, to be at the same level, even when people don't agree with you. They can I agree with you that we all have to learn from mistakes from the past to make it better. And I think that when you're a principal, you have to work with both the right and the left, and understand that trauma lives in both the wealth and the poverty, and you have to be in a way center person to understand that everybody comes from different places because at the end, their children have the same heart. Right? And you'd have to support both sides, both analogies, but we fail ignoring the historical accuracy, because he's not supposed to be a threat. So that's the one token that I can tell you how many more of course, they are talking of productivity. I interviewed carpooling, productivity guru that lives in Japan. And he explained productivity, like this. Productivity is your relationship with time. And that was so profound, because it is so true. I remember going to school and get to bed, get my coffee and go to school. Okay, so what I have to do today, and when you do that, you are sabotaging yourself to have a non productive way. But right, when you sit down in the weekend, and you create a blueprint of what is going to happen in the week, what are the appointments that you have, what you're going to see why are going to be the topics, you're going to be talking about it, you get your brain to start thinking and thinking 10 steps ahead of what is going to be so when those meetings come, you can really listen to understand because you don't have to be in your mind figuring out what to say what to do what's going to be your north. So, yeah, that is absolutely the topic that will take for me with me forever. Because productivity is the relationship you have with time. Yes, I love that own your schedule, or your schedule will own you. Amen. Absolutely. Awesome. And then you've talked to so many amazing people. And something we all deal with is imposter syndrome. Yes. What's one tip that you could give for others out there? Well, I'm going to answer that with a lesson I learned the other day, I was listening to a podcast by Andrew Huberman. I know you're a fan, too. And he was interviewing Peter Attia, who is a medical doctor, who was publishing a book, and I can't wait to buy it on the 28th of March. And he's on longevity, longevity of both your physical health, but also your emotional health. And in the interview, he says that all his life, he has address a lot of anger, yellow anger inside of him. And I feel identify because all my life, I have been paired up my parents and peace of my abusers and pairs of of all the opportunities that I have missed. And the times I had been made felt like I was not as smart enough by the people who are supposed to love me the most. Right? So he said that he had to go to therapy, which is highly recommended to everyone. And please go to therapy. Because that's how you're able to see yourself in a mirror and realize what are you doing. So he said that his therapist made him do an exercise. And this is an example that he gives. So he goes with to do bow and arrow, and your shooting, when he will miss he will say and he will get mad, he will get off. But when he was he was about to feel that sense of anger. He had to pick his phone and create a voice message that he was going to be sent to someone that he had already agreed someone that he loved and respected. And he had to turn that emotion into imagine you're gonna give someone an advice, when they are going to act like that. So he will have to try and say, Oh, my friend is okay. It's just boring arrow. You don't have to get so upset. Okay, so please calm yourself down. And by him being able to do that with every time he will feel anger, then he will realize that if I treat myself the way I will treat someone that I love or care for, I will have a better life. So for me dealing with impostor syndrome is to realize what will I tell my son or my daughter or my wife or someone that I'm trying to lead? When they say I'm not good enough? I my English is now gone. Nobody's going to understand that our something is listen. can you improve? Absolutely 1% better today than yesterday? Absolutely. Go for it. Believe in yourself. Because if not, nobody's going to be able to believe in yourself. Oh, I love that. That's so good. Thank you, my friend for sharing that. So pleasure and pleasure you Ah, no, I think that is fantastic. You know, picking up that phone having that physical object, right there, just like a little reminder, create some space before you react. And then what advice would you give somebody else? Yeah, totally. So so we are so good at giving, especially when we are teachers, oh, we are so good at giving advice. But we are still hiring ourselves. And life is too precious. You know, one of the other lessons he said, like, instead of thinking, how many more years to have to live, think about how many days I have left. So you can really take and see how precious every single minute of your life is. Yes, sometimes, quote, and it's not necessarily going to be exact with this. But that I heard one time, and I always hold close to my heart is they said, like, we treat money, like It's finite. But we treat our days, like it's infinite. But it's the exact opposite. We can always get more money. But there's gonna come a time when we can't get more days. So just realizing the gift, the gift of the moment. So absolutely. So good. Now I know you are extremely well read my friend. And two of my favorite questions are book recommendations and podcast recommendations, if you could give some out to the listeners, and myself, I would love that. Okay, so this book is a seminal book that sometimes is seen as negative. So it's a it's a risky recommendation, but I will have an explanation for it. Okay. The book is called the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. So immediately, when you see that book, when you see the word power, people are like, Oh, you want this power to master people and make them. But think about it. We all live in structures of power, we all do. In every system. In every it's like a game, right? You move one, one item in the game, and then the other person was the other item. And there are certain rules that if you ignore, then you're going to fail. So for example, the number one rule, the first one is, do not out, shine your master. So the author talks about that. At some point, he was a writer, you know, writers group, and they started writing and talking in a way that made the boss feel insecure. And then the boss got rid of him. Right. So when you are in any position, you have to know where your position is, what position you are playing. And if you are Dennis Rodman, you are not going to tell Phil Jackson, what to do. Right? You have to know your place in time, in order to be able to survive, and perhaps one day, you will get to that position where you get to do things. Right write another exemplary rule that they give to ensure that you do not surpass the goal that you have set. So what does that mean? Think about successful principals that have made a legacy in schools and everybody adores them, and they have supported the school in making better. But then ambition takes the best of them. And everybody says, oh, you should be the superintendent, you should go and go to that position where you are a teacher and you are like killing it. And people say oh, you should become a principal, right? And then we end up doing stuff. Because in a way we have to please the society that is telling you, even though that was not your goal, and what happens, you get into that position, and you realize that that is not your passion, that you don't want to be working, for example, if you're a superintendent with faucets, or you don't have to be you don't want to be working with the politics of boards and elections and stuff like that. And then you fail and you start saying, oh, I should have never left position X, Y and C. So knowing that, what is your passion? What are you really made of like Michael Jordan was made for basketball, not for baseball, right? But you know, everybody has an opportunity to return to basketball. Some people perish in that position of baseball. So knowing what Mark you set and sticking there and not allowing ambition or social pressure to get the best of you, that is absolutely a book that he has 48 laws that in any position that you are holding, if you are better able to know how their society structures work, then you are going to have a more diverse and satisfying life, which in turn benefits you and your family and loved ones. Yeah, absolutely. I've read Robert Greene a little bit, I believe it was the laws of human nature. I haven't read the 48 Laws of Power. Robert Greene, very well researched, his books are very lengthy, includes a ton of anecdotes in it. So that I mean, that's, I've heard that book recommended by lots and lots of different places. So I think that definitely worth checking out. Absolutely, absolutely. And then the podcast, I will have to say the like I am very selective with podcasts and I will tell you why. Because like I have to say, Okay, do I listen to verify podcasts? Bad? Like, like, kind of like listening here and there? Or do I listen to some very well. So I have I have made a selection. But I think that the very top one has to be Andrew Huberman. He's after mythologies that talks about different aspects of health and of wisdom and also productivity. So he has emphasis on creativity episodes on the effects on caffeine in your body. He interviews like super magnanimous people. That is like, like I see podcasts as like, oh, how much wisdom I can get to turn back in my life and and make it better. And I will say that for any person of any profession, a universal knowledgeable person and podcasts I will say definitely go at it will be Andrew Huber mins lab podcast. Yeah, the Huberman lab, there's not a lot of fluff there. There is a you know, concrete wisdom, but he gives it in an enjoyable fashion. Yeah, if I in a way that regular people like me can understand No jargon no like is to the point, you know, and the people that he brings in, like, like, the best of the best, and he does it with consistently in a weekly basis. And it's like you can only aspire, aspire to be something like that. It gives you hope of saying, You know what, if he didn't, even if it is even 1% that I can share what I have learned there, or reflection can come out of it, then my show my leadership and my parenting or spouse, life can be better. Awesome. Awesome. Yes. Now, if the listeners want to connect with you, Dr. Martinez, what's the best way? So there is a website, but it's called wisdom and productivity.com. And it's just a list of all the links of things that have to do with my show, my professional my career, he also includes my email, if you want to get in touch with me, I am always looking for amazing people to interview and the same if you want to interview me as well, you can contact with me there. And I think that together, we are definitely better. Always, always my friend. And if you could have the listeners walk away with one thing, what would that be? I will say that life is too short, to take things so seriously. Life is too short to hold grudges, and be envious and looking at the other and comparing yourself. I will say try to leave in every moment as pressing as possible. And this is hard, it's difficult. But the fact that you try at least 1% better every day. 1% better. You might have days where you do 76% better. And they say you only do 1% But just the attempt of being more present when you're eating that sandwich of really listening to that student who's telling you the story of something that happened, you know, you are going to see that your heart is going to grow bigger. And you're just going to find the joy of every single moment. And then when people say oh you know he's so happy he's always so this is always so that you know you're gonna feel it because You will realize that you know why we only have so many days to live. And me with this anger and bitterness and all this system is bad or this thing is corrupt. And you know what? Yes, we live in a tumultuous society in this matrix that is so in perfect. But like Brene Brown says, you are the author of your own story. So get to write. Yes, I love that my friend being present, embracing the gift of today. Dr. Martinez, this has been so much fun. I knew going into this, that it was going to be good, but it was even better than I could have hoped for. So Megan, thank you so much for being open for being vulnerable for sharing your story, because so many people are going to benefit from it. And keep doing great things my friend Jerry true blessing you to Brian. Awesome. Have a wonderful day. But thank you so much. This conversation was so good. Dr. Martinez was amazing. His vulnerability, his passion, his pursuit to help others just so special. Now this is a teaching champions tape, where I share three of my favorite takeaways from this conversation. And the first gem is how Dr. Martinez talked about how he was given the opportunity as a young administrator, to shadow six amazing administrators and learn from them. And if we pay attention to what others are doing and how they're doing it, we can learn so much. And there are so many people, right in our schools right in our own hallways that are doing some amazing things. Look through a lens of curiosity, ask questions, be interested in what they're doing. And we can learn so much. The second gem is how Dr. Martinez talked about being self aware. Paying attention to what you're doing, how you're doing it, and how you're feeling about it. And if we take time to truly slow down and listen to ourselves, we can learn so much. And the third gem is how Dr. Martinez talked about being present, being in the moment to let go of jealousy and anger to embrace the right here in the right now, because time is too short. And these are just a few of my favorite gems. Let me know on social media at be Martin real on Twitter and teaching champions podcasts on Instagram. What were a few of your favorite gems. A big thank you to Dr. Martinez for giving us so many amazing takeaways. And a big thank you to you as well for being here for being part of the teaching champions community. We support we encourage we lift each other up. And if you think someone will benefit from this message, please share. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you can get new episodes come directly to you. And always remember, it doesn't matter if we'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 mission. And we're always better to get keep being amazing, my friends and as you go out into the week may step into strength. May you step into shine, and let's build out champions. Have a great week everybody