I recently heard that more than 80% of people spend their life, or at least the majority of their life, doing what they are second best at.
Stop and think about that for a moment.
Is that you?
Is there something you are just amazing at or totally love to do but were told to get a real job, focus on your education so you can have a profession that will pay to fall back on or some other such story?
What is the one thing you are amazing at?
I just made a quick decision.
Throw your hands up in the air, wave ‘em like you just don’t care.
Yes, I’m celebrating. Why? I never learned how to make quick decisions. Instead, I’m a natural analyzer and a worrier.
Oops, I want to rewrite that. I was a natural analyzer and a natural worrier. I am turning over a new leaf and words have power. So let me use my words here with the utmost care…
I was never going to be a lifer.
A lifer is a teacher who stays in the system till retirement in 30-35 years.
Yikes.
I guess a career like that, with benefits and paid holidays and tenure, felt more like a life-sentence to me than something I’d enjoy.
And when something is a life-sentence, how can you really keep doing it?
I couldn’t…
So, we are in a new era. An era where artificial intelligence is just beginning to make a daily impact on our lives.
Our children have grown up knowing this was possible while my generation watched movies like Terminator and thought it possible but weeellllll…
It was still a bit sci-fi.
Fun, but not in the realm of true reality for most.
Let’s call it futuristic.
This is part of an email series called 52 Life Lessons that you can access anytime. One email. Each Monday. 52 Weeks. Simple. Powerful. Full of intention to help you grow, heal, enjoy life…and possible even transform a bit.
The best thing I can share with you, as we dive into our second month together, is my personal mantra.
A mantra I just started this year, at the time of writing these 52 Life Lessons and it all stemmed from an amazing book I read.
A book I’ll share below.
My new mantra is simple. It’s three words. It’s powerful. And it’s life-changing.
In Step 1 of the P.O.P. Method, we discovered just how important the PERSON is who sits in front of you during a tutoring session.
In Step 2 of the P.O.P. Method, we went over how important OPPORTUNITY is and just how impactful it can be in opening up new avenues for learning life skills.
And that leads us to Step 3 and the final “P” in P.O.P. - and that’s PURPOSE.
So, without further ado, let’s jump in with both feet and get you popping!
This is the second part in a series of three. For step one, click on over to this post now.
Let’s have a little recap before we dive into the Second Step of the P.O.P. Method that has played a huge role in taking me from tutoring hobbyist to rocking a multiple 6-figure income…yep, tutoring kids!
P.O.P. stands for PERSON, OPPORTUNITY and PURPOSE.
It’s a simple method I have used over and over during each tutoring session whether it’s with one student at a time or a group of kids.
P.O.P. doesn’t stand for quizzes anymore.
In fact, as a former teacher, I really never liked POP Quizzes. They seemed to be sneaky things meant to make sure one did one’s work. And not really a method to determine true understanding or mastery of knowledge.
I mean really, is there a boss out there (if I’m preparing students for the real world, a boss is what they will encounter) who will give a POP Quiz?
I think not.
Sometimes we must look back so that we can celebrate wins that we wouldn’t otherwise bother to notice and see what improvements could have been made. I think this process of a Year-End Self-Inventory is powerful, telling and vital for my growth.
I have so much more to give than I’ve been giving. I’ve been playing small.
When I want to say “shameful” to the above comment or statement of fact, which is not a criticism of myself but a truth, I realize I have work to do on my inner game.
I think I’ll start with naming her.
I resisted for years.
I refused to be involved in the degradation of the written word.
Not because I’m wordy, though as a writer I guess I kind of am, as a teacher, should be, right?
No, it mattered, because to me words have power. And words are so often misunderstood in their unappreciated form, like via text. Let’s just say that texting seemed prone to misunderstanding or miscommunication amplified, to me.
Warning: A tad bit of adult language within.
![[52 Life Lessons] #8 My Mantra...What I tell myself](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57bf58b0ff7c50b7ffb93109/1549379951594-XBTGR8USE1VOHYOORTMR/Girl.Umbrella.jpg)
![[PART 3] How To Run A Tutoring Session For Maximum Results: Jill's P.O.P. METHOD](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57bf58b0ff7c50b7ffb93109/1547484206655-HU96SSAW44OXJXV2YHE3/board-chalk-board-knowledge-54597.jpg)
