Is there anyone you admire or look up to? Someone who is successful in the ways you want to be successful? I’m sure there is. There are a lot of principals that I admire because they are doing great things at their schools. They have the best test scores, the most involved parents, and programs that can’t be found anywhere else. They have it together, whatever it is. At least, that’s how it looks.
I’m not a shy person, and anyone who knows me would say I’m pretty blunt if they’re putting it nicely. I ask people questions out of curiosity, and I don’t mind asking someone a question if I don’t know them that well. I have asked some of these people that I look up to what it is they did to get where they are. I asked what they keep doing to remain successful. The answers? Sorry, there isn’t any one thing they all did. I got pretty standard answers: work hard, listen to people smarter than you, genuinely care about those you serve, be brave and do what is right because it is right.
There was one answer that kept coming up that surprised me. Many of them felt like they didn’t know what they were doing, like they didn’t have it together, like their mistakes outweighed any successes. They felt like they were just treading water, but to me, that looked a lot like swimming.
Everyone struggles. That’s life. A lot of time we struggle privately. Because of that, it is important that we care for each other, pray for each other, and struggle together. We may not recognize the struggle in others, just as I didn’t recognize it in these people.
Those people I spoke with brought up one other thing: they are successful because of the people around them. They know they can’t do it on their own. They need help. They struggle together. That makes it all easier, and the people we work with, and for, make it all worth it.
