Mr. Joe's 100 Day Challenge

I worked a little on the presentation I will be making this Tuesday about cyberbullying and still need to complete that.  I am still trying to find the way to reach the students I am speaking to.  The range of differences are great and some of the kids have been great and engaged and others not as much.  I am one that is always trying to reach the ones that are not inclined to be as engaged.  

Then it was back home from the mountains to the beach.  Life is good and the sunsets are beautiful.  

This week has all the normal activities along with the presentation to the high school kids and a QPR presentation at BLS, presented by Kat Mahone, that I will try to sit in on also.  It appears that it is going to be warm this week - so that means the kids will be especially wanting to play outside too.  I am looking forward to our classes and the introduction of the pull up and push up challenge.

I am beginning to get my focus back and today was a very busy day.  After my normal morning routine, it was off to the Eastern Shore to talk to a group of high school students about Leadership.   The room we were supposed to use was not available so we had to improvise and it all worked out.  On getting back to the studio there were phone messages and parents to talk to about how their kids were doing.  

I worked on admin things and on my Parent workshop video - but due to some technical difficulty did not get it complete.  Hopefully this weekend I will get that complete.  Afternoon classes, and then I got to go to an event for the Community Foundation.  The event was to say thank you to all who were donors and had funds at the Community Foundation.  

The Fund I started and that is run by the CFAAC  is the Grants4Teachers Fund.

I just found out today that it has become official that Whole Foods has named Grants4Teachers as the recipient of there community day on June 13.  This should bring recognition to our fund and to the cause of supporting the teachers in our county for their dedication to the education of our younger generation.

 It is getting more recognition in the county and is doing a very good job of providing for teachers.  Our goal is to provide for the needs of teachers so they are not pulling money out of their own pocket to accomplish their goals in the classroom.  I would like to encourage all to give to this fund, and not to think that your contribution has to be a large lump sum.  The way I contribute to most things that are important to me is a chosen amount on a monthly basis.  I believe that a little bit over a long period of time adds up to substantial gains.  When that is duplicated by many individuals then you have a movement.  All changes in society have been made this way.

Finally home at 10 PM I am exhausted and ready for a good nights sleep.  This weekend is about filling my own tank, getting caught up on some study and reading and spending time with my wife. 

Today was very busy with all sorts of thoughts going through my head.  The day started with the Rotary meeting and the speaker today was Josh Rice, a teacher from Southern High School.  This was particularly satisfying hearing him speak as our own Grants4Teachers program has contributed to his agricultural program with some hydroponic equipment.  I learned a bit more about that method of growing plants and I am intrigued by the possibilities.  Do not be surprised if you see a system somewhere in the studio or at my house soon. 

Getting back to the office I was determined not to let another day go by that I felt like I had not put forth my best effort.  I got some admin work complete and was able to get about 75% of a video complete inviting students and parents to take part in our workshops this summer.  In addition Ms. Ariel and I discussed how to get the new black belts taking a larger lead in the school.  I discussed it briefly with them last night and I am hoping that they will lead more BLS community service projects and social events for each of the different age groups.  

Then it was off to North County High School with a group of students who have a club called “Don’t Hate, Collaborate”.  I spoke with them about bullying in general, listened to their concerns and ideas and we will be working with them to create a program for them to take to students in their feeder schools, middle and elementary, as bully prevention programs.  I believe we were able to get the students and teachers talking even more, as there is a general consensus that teachers do not care.  This is a perception that is just not true but our own perception is our reality, so we have some work to do. 

Finally a thought about being a black belt.  It is so easy to get your head full of yourself when you are approaching the black belt level and afterwards.  You have pretty good physical skills and many people telling you how good you are and what a great job you did.  It is so important to remember that being a black belt means that you are starting over in your learning and now have the opportunity to master some of your basics, both physically and mentally.  The story is told about the nearly 100 year old high ranking black belt who was on his death bed.  He was not sad about dying, but he said he was sad because he was just beginning to understand the front punch.  Our growth and understanding of life can only mature when we are willing to open ourselves up, empty our own cup and not think to highly of ourselves, our knowledge or abilities.

Wednesday’s are always almost lost days when it comes to getting things done of substance, accept for teaching classes, just due to the schedule.  But I am having real difficulty in getting myself on track and need a bit of a kick start.  There is still a lot to do in the last quarter of this challenge and I have to be careful not to be distracted by many of the extra things I like to fill my time with when there are real things that can have a real impact on me personally and the school.  

 For me getting back to focused results calls for setting out the goals for the day and being dedicated to completing the tasks without excuses.  So I will begin my day with writing down 5 - 7 projects and tasks that I would like to work on and what I want to accomplish in them - and I will go after them today.  

I am planning a bit of a retreat this weekend too.  I will be going away and secluding myself with my wife in a cabin in the woods up in the mountains on Saturday and Sunday.  We will take some reading and writing material with the goal being to decompress, and refocus on the work at hand.  My next major things to complete in the next 25 days include the registration of students for the summer Focus on Friendship (bully prevention camps) for kids, scheduling talks with parents about the bullying subject and completing the course I will be teaching at AACC this summer on Creating a Culture of Peace in Our Schools.  All of these have been started and now need to be tweaked and completed.  

Everyone is still recovering from the big weekend and I have this thing that I always have to deal with after a big event.  I have a bit of a let down and find it hard to concentrate on the next things that have to get done after a big event.  I am not sure if others have this happen - but today was one of those days.  I did get some administrative work completed, and finalized the summer schedule and got a few things completed that Ms. Ariel needed so she could do her work, but now I have to really discipline myself to get back on track. 

This week we have been doing our Teacher Appreciation and I always love this week, seeing the students enjoy bringing their teachers in and seeing the teachers make one more sacrifice for their students.  They come in with big smiles and make the students feel so good.  So many students showed their appreciation for their teachers at BLS too and that is very heart warming.  It really gives all of us the energy to keep going.  

We had some great classes today and we were able to award the new black belts with their beautiful certificates.  All of them came out on the floor with a new attitude, one with pride and a more ownership of the floor.  They did a great job helping the 9/12 class and the younger intermediate students.  The one message they had for all of them - start training now for your belt testing.  You can never start too early.  Hopefully they will listen to them, having just gone through the experience they now know that it is not time to get lax in their training. 

We all decided to challenge ourselves to being able to do pull ups and as a group of black belts we will be doing that while the others will work on getting better endurance and the ability to do 100 push ups.  Who wants to do 100 push ups with us.  We have a plan for all of them and anyone else that wants to join us. 

Day 71 was the big event: Balanced Life Skills Black Belt Test.  It was especially special for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that this was the first group of students that tested for black belt at BLS who started as white belts.  It was a day to remember with a torrential downpour of rain, a beautiful setting at Camp Letts on the water, the amount of work getting all the equipment to the site and set up in the weather.  

We were privileged to have KJM Dawson (7th degree BB), Mr. Jim (with 30 + years in the martial arts) and Mr. Christian (3rd degree TKD and Aikido instructor) on the panel.  It had been a process for all of the students with training, interviews, projects,  teaching - so many parts to this day and yet summed up by the essay written by Niklas Brake, saying that it was not just a day event but the culmination of years of training and now a responsibility to carry forward in training and teaching.  His essay said “you do not become a black belt overnight, but rather develop into one throughout your training.”

Everyone enjoyed the creative material they put together, the board breaking and then there was the big surprise that they all were waiting for.  That surprise was something that they may never see happen again in their life and will never happen at BLS again probably.  Douglas Gross was awarded his first degree.  The reason was multiple; his training and skills were very good, he completed the student version of the Ultimate Black Belt Test with me a couple of years ago.  He trained with Mr. Jim in Filipino arts, self defense and other subjects that Mr. Jim brings to our school.  It was not my intention as he did these things to award the first degree, but after conversations with some ranking black belts and with Mr. Jim it became obvious it was the right thing to do.  

I will have much more to say and show about the test in coming weeks, but it was a great event, everyone did well and it was a display of talent and attitude that I would like to see from be the outcome for all of our students.  Monday though I was very tired and woke up late.  We had to unload the truck and put the school back together.  Thankfully the adult class on Monday morning were there and willing to help.  Even Kevin B. came over to help and that was very much appreciated.  We got the school put together and talked a little about the test and QPR.  

I went over and taught at Weems, returned to teach classes in the afternoon, followed by a session led by Kat Mahone on QPR - and suicide awareness.  It is so important for all of our community to get this ‘Gatekeeper Training’ as all of us have the ability to save a life, and it may be our own friend or son or daughter.  Do not be afraid of this subject.  Knowledge is freeing and this knowledge has saved lives.  This is a first in a series and we are looking forward to it being a part of our Balanced Life Skills Education Center. QPR Training is always offered to the public for Free.  Please invite anyone you would like to attend. 

So now I am down to the last 28 days and still have a fair amount to complete for this challenge.  I will be looking at that and outlining how to accomplish it all in the coming days.  One more thing that has to be said, THANK YOU, MISS ARIEL.  She is my assistant at the school with a heart of gold, understands our mission and is totally committed to helping to get it accomplished.  Without her the black belt test would not have been the event it was.  If you get an opportunity be sure to express your appreciation for all that she does and how she does it.  I am blessed to have her as a part of Balanced Life Skills.

Well here we are just one day away from 8 students at Balanced Life Skills demonstrating their skills in front of a panel of black belt instructors.  They have been working hard and I am feeling very happy with the results.  I am also looking forward to the future and what they will do and the effect of training on them for the rest of their lives.

I spent the day in final preparations, making sure that the cameras were working and that the truck was packed up.  All of the certificates are ready to go and the belts are in the truck.  When I finally completed my day of preparations at 2:30 or so in the afternoon, I went home and relaxed.  

Sitting on the front porch I was able to reflect on the past years and all of the ups and downs.  I am very anxious for this day ahead, I am excited and happy for the candidates and their family.  Most of all I want the rest of the students in the school to see them perform and to see them ‘be’.  I would like all of the parents of students coming up see that for them it has not been a battle of who or when will be testing for this belt or that belt.  It has been a journey for them - many of the them it has been nearly half of their young life.  

They have seen many students who trained with them move on to other things and not complete their journey for all kinds of reasons.  But that is part of the journey.  Not all have or learned to have the patience and trust in the journey.  They may have had other circumstances come up that did not permit them to continue their training.  Many though were hoping to add something to their resume.  A black belt.  When it did not come as quickly as they wanted they stopped.  Many of them were very talented physically, but could not see the value of all the other parts of training.  Here we have eight students that did see that value or at least trusted the process.  I could not be more proud.

Be sure in the coming days to look at Balanced Life Skills and read their essays and watch what they are doing with their projects and you will see some very good examples of young black belts getting ready for the next part of the journey for them. 

In regard to my journey, there is a lot of work to do in the last 30 days of this 100 day challenge, but I am ready to focus completely on the rest of the goals.  I have reached some of the goals already and I will do a complete review in the next week.  I will take a day or two to celebrate this great day, as celebration is part of having the energy for the next days and weeks.  It is also the energy to support others who are going through difficult times.  I attended a memorial service today for the father of two of our students.  Others in our school have very difficult things going on in their lives and while I may not be able to solve any of them - I can be and will be there as a part of their community - supporting them in word and deeds. Without doing for others what really is the purpose of our existence and training.  Giving and sharing helps us and others at the same time.  

The end of the week, and stil a few things I have to do before everyone is gone for the weekend.  Ordered and picked up linens for the tables, picked up the last of the printing, had a good lesson with Mr. Jim on self defense, wrote several emails to students in the school and took a phone call from a student who was suffering greatly.  

I am reminded in this phone call how important a couple of things are in our lives.  First no matter how stressed we are about something that we have coming in our lives - that usually the things that stresses us are not nearly as important as we are making them out to be, at least in comparison to what others may be going through.  Second, how important it is to practice breathing, meditation, calming and practicing peace ever day - so when those stormy days come you are far more prepared than if you have never practiced before or not enough practice.  

I reminded myself to stop for a moment and recount all that we have to be thankful for in our lives.  I noticed that it is much easier to look at the things that are going wrong (or not the way we wanted them to happen) than to appreciate all that is going well (or the way we perceive as good).  I believe it is good for us to look at this moment that we have and appreciate the good of that moment.  

For me this moment is good and I can be happy in this moment.  Even if there is a snafu in what the plan is - look at all the good things that you can smile at and appreciate.  Life is only as happy as you are willing to appreciate what is good at this moment.  We do not know what the future will be and we cannot change now what has happened in the past.  We can appreciate what is good NOW though and be happy with all of our present blessings.

Today I was on the Eastern Shore teaching a class on bully prevention.  Today’s class was about friendship - healthy and unhealthy relationships.  We had the students create a manual about friendship and the conversations were very lively and informative.

On getting back to the studio it was all about the final details on the black belt test.  I finally completed the testing layout along with a grading rubric.  That is at the printer at this time and one will be completed for each testing candidate.  There is certainly a buzz in the air about the test and anxiety too.  But all of the testers are ready in my opinion and I believe it will be a great day.

We had some great classes last night and there is a good energy in the studio.  I find this happens around testing time, as everyone is very focused.  The goal for all of us is to find our focus on a daily basis - not about getting a belt - but about making a difference.  The difference we make may be in ourselves or in may be in helping others.  But making a difference is key.  

I was thinking the other day how this is similar to running a business.  If all you think about in running a business is how much money you will make or how you can make more - you lose your joy and you are far more likely to not serve your customers well - because all you are thinking about is your self and your wants and needs.  

The same is true on this journey to black belt.  If all we think about is “when am I going to test?”  or “when do I get a stripe?”  you lose the impact of the journey and all the lessons to be learned and you will not be your best.  You are not serving yourself, your classmates or the school well - because all you are thinking about is looking good yourself.  

How can you make this a better journey?  The black belts learned about that in just the last 6 months and I certainly learned a lot too in their journey.  Each group should be working on being their best and how can I be better than the group that went ahead of me.  I do not mean that in a competitive manner.  The question is what can I learn from their experience and testing, how can I improve and what can I contribute to the process?  Sunday will be a great day for this group and their family.  Then the work begins on growing from there.  

There will be one big surprise at the test.  I just ask that when it takes place - that everyone cheer wildly.  You will not have to be reminded.  

Today started off with a meeting in South County with the Signature Advisory Board of South River High School.  While I am the president of the Community Advisory Board for South River High School, after this year I will be working more closely with their Signature, working on ideas and with businesses in developing working relationships and teaching students about real world experience. 

Rushed back to be with the adult class and to teach a couple of the Tiger Tot classes while in between finalizing details on the black belt test.  We have another special event on Monday, April 23, happening at the studio and that is our first QPR session.  Kat Mahone will be leading an instructional session on recognizing the warning signs of someone who may be thinking about hurting themselves and how to talk to them and where to go for resources of help.  Suicide is the number 3 cause of death in our country with over 33,000 deaths occurring every year.  Many times we do not see the warning signs, because we may not be aware of how to identify them or we may be too scared to ask the questions we need to ask.  Anne Arundel County has been very aggressive about educating the teachers and public school system and now we are reaching out into the private schools and the general public.  Please attend one of the sessions planned.  

Our classes went great this evening and each day as we get closer to the black belt test I think all of us get more excited.  I have been grinding my teeth at night with a great amount of anxiety - to be sure this is a perfect day for all of the testers.  This is a special event and there will be one very big surprise at the test near the end of the test that you will not want to miss.