Ben Vikionkorpi | Coach

Ben Vikionkorpi

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25.01.2022 Do you want to be where you are right now in five years time? Do you want to have the pain, the disappointment, the negativity of your current reality with you ...in another 5 years? What are you doing about making sure that you don't stay where you are? If you were to be in exactly the same position in 5 years time, would you be 100% happy? The same workplace, same behaviour problems, same admin and colleague issues, same financial situation - if you are happy for all these things to be exactly the same in 5 years time, then you are either truly lucky, or truly happy in your misery. Even if you just want a bit more financial security, then change needs to happen. If you don't want to go to work teaching everyday with the same attitude you have now, then change needs to happen. Whatever you want different for yourself in 5 years, you have to start working on achieving it now. I don't know anyone that wants to be exactly the same in 5 years, but most people don't have a vision or a plan to achieve their vision or change their current reality. They just fly by the seat of their pants and hope for the best. Don't let this be you. Pick something. Develop a plan to achieve it. Work towards it, everyday. You'll stuff up, make mistakes along the way. But being aware of them and adjusting your performance will keep you on track to achieving your 5 year goal.

24.01.2022 Hmmm, insert alcohol, drugs, shit food, risky behaviours..... Then wonder why feel like shit, act irrationally and aren't happy with our lives.

24.01.2022 So you've worked hard all week. Busted your ass. Late nights. Early mornings. Getting marking done. Trying to run the family. Fit in some training of your own. ... And now it's Friday afternoon. What have you told yourself that you deserve? What are you justifying to yourself? Are you a chip person, chocolate person, ice-cream person or alcohol person? Maybe beer and pizza. Wine and nibblies. But do you really deserve it, those treats, those blow outs? Do you and your body deserve those toxins, that junk? Or do you and your body deserve cleanliness and healthy choices? Or do you deserve to keep working on yourself, mentally, physically, pushing towards your future vision? Do you want the chips, or do you want that vision in your head, working towards your goals like this 10 year olds physique vision. It depends on your goals, what you're trying to achieve, that will determine whether this is serving you or not. Eating or drinking this stuff occasionally, there's nothing wrong with that. But when it becomes habitual, routine, your normal, then it starts to build up on you and to have long term effects. Slowly but surely. I'm not into it at the moment. Because I have a clear vision of what I'm trying to achieve. It is bigger than the instant reward, those feel good chemicals, I get from eating junk. I also know these are a trigger for me blowing out my weekend, ruining the work I have put in all week. If I blow out Friday night, my weekend is gone. I neglect following my plan, my journaling, my training, my mindset. Being aware of your cues and triggers that instigate negative actions and behaviours is a crucial step in being able to grow, to achieve your goals, and stop being stuck where you currently are. Are you taking the right actions for you tonight, or are you living in ignorance? Are you aware of what you're doing? Whatever your choice is, I hope it serves you well, and that you don't regret it tomorrow.

23.01.2022 How grateful I am that I am a teacher. It is a truly amazing job. I love it. I love working with kids. I love the ups and downs of the job, the challenges, the... rewards. I genuinely enjoy going to school everyday. I wasn't always this way. So what changed? I changed. I made a decision that I didn't want to be who I had been for my whole life. I didn't like who I was and what I was doing. The change started becasue I jumped onto what I perceived to be a no risk month long program. I thought no risk becasue it wan only $100 for the month, work my butt off, provide a testimonial of my success and then get my money back. That was my mindset. I didn't want to commit to anything, not even for $100, unless I knew I could get it back. Tightass lazy turd. But in that month, something changed in me. I really felt like I started to stumble across someone who I wanted to be. A couple of years later, and I'm a totally different person now. It took a kick in the ass to start to change. And I'm grateful for that. Little did I know that it was going to change me professionally as well. Since I started REALLY working on me, not some crap ass attempt, I have changed who I am in the classroom, how I teach, how kids see me and how staff react to me. I didn't expect that. But because of these changes, I now love going to work. I love the difference I make. I don't stress out so much about the curriculum, it's the connection with the students that counts. You get that right, curriculum sorts itself. Now because I am much more aware of me and my actions I understand people better and really see them now, so I can develop better relationships with them. I really try and make a massive difference to kids now, much more than I used to, because I want kids to love coming to school and enjoy being with their teachers, not wishing they weren't there. I don't want kids to have shit teachers, because I've seen too much of that in my career. But I also totally love the benefits of the job. I love getting to spend the holdings with my amazing family. For that I am truly grateful.

22.01.2022 This is what teaching is about. Creating such amazing trust and respect in our relationships with students that they go out of their way to do something amazing... for you off their own back. Having this picture drawn for me by a year 7 student and then given to me on the way into our home group just absolutely made my day. In fact, it has made my year. This is probably a semi regular occurrence in primary school but it rarely happens in high school. For this to be given to me by one of my Groote Eylandt girls who I only met this year, just makes everything I do worthwhile. These kids are sent to live with host families to get a better education and hardly then get to see their own family. To have these indigenous girls welcome me into their lives and trust me enough, a nearing middle aged white man, to produce something like this is just amazing to me. To have these kids willingly and freely create something like this for me epitomises what I am trying to do in this online community. Teaching is only partly about the curriculum. It truly is mostly about creating amazing relationships with your students. If you aren't trying to do this, then you are focusing on the wrong thing. But you can only create these amazing relationships with students if you have an amazing relationship with yourself. Working on and improving on yourself is hard and ongoing forever, but you cannot even begin to imagine the impact that you being good with you will have on everyone else around you.

20.01.2022 We are all so much greater than what we currently accept from ourselves. We can all do more, be more, achieve more, be we let ourselves get in the way of achiev...ing what want from our lives. You are in control. Do not be prisoner to your own inner voice, your demons, your self doubt. You are in control of your future your thoughts, your mind. Take control. See more

19.01.2022 Intention vs Reality? What is your intention, but what is your reality? How are you wanting to live and teach, but how are you actually living and teaching?... 'I'm going to be organised this term' and then the next term begins. 'I'm going to start eating well Monday' and then it's three months later. Your values (happiness, time, freedom, security, love, etc.) need to match with your priorities (work, family, making money, etc.). If they don't align, then the best of your intentions will never happen. Check in with yourself. Realign yourself. Turn your intentions into reality.

19.01.2022 I always thought that life is just what it is. It happens and you go along for the ride. Consequently I never really planned out a strategy to achieve anything ...really. I have always just kind of stumbled along, finding my way in the rough, thinking this was normal, not knowing any better. The idea or working with someone, a mentor, was a far off idea, a kind of 'what do I need a mentor for?' mindset. It wasn't until life started to take me to a place where I didn't want to go that I started looking for something. I didn't know what I was looking for. But I ended up finding a coach who turned out to be a mentor to me that helped give me the skills that I needed to turn my life back into a direction that I wanted to go in. I never realised the importance of having a mentor until I found one, one that I wasn't even looking for. Life has a habit of putting things in front of you that can make a difference to your whole life. If you have open eyes and an open heart then you will see the opportunity when it comes your way. But if you are closed off and not looking, then you will miss the potentially life changing opportunities that come your way. I grew, I got direction, I outgrew my mentor, we parted ways. It happens. People come into your life that will serve a purpose and then we move on. That's okay. I was happy with that decision. But I didn't realise how much I'd miss having a mentor to work with, to help keep me accountable to myself. I have really been missing that sounding board, that guidance. I continue to work on myself everyday, but have also been looking for someone else to fill the mentor void. Someone that resonates with me. It's hard. I haven't filled it yet. But I'm still looking. But it means that I have not been as accountable to myself as I should be. I'm looking to someone or something else to help guide me, for me to work with, to help me. But through all this, I realise that while it is great to have a mentor, a guide, a coach to give you a new set of skills, a new thought process, a new way of thinking, that ultimately it comes down to yourself and you keeping yourself accountable to yourself, through good times but especially the bad times. But this can only happen when you are willing to open your eyes up to your failures, your vices, and see them for what they are, see that you are the problem, that your habits, your behaviours, your choices are the problem, but that you are also the solution to yourself, your errors. This is hard. Most people don't have the skills to do the change on their own, keep themselves accountable to themselves. This is where working with a mentor comes into the equation. I guess it's like the chicken or the egg coming first scenario. But most people will need a mentor to make change in order to then be able to help themselves. This is what I do and offer to teacher, because after teaching for 18 years, I understand what it is like trying to fit everything into life. Marriage, parenting, teaching, coaching sports, renovating houses, dealing with loss, etcetera. We all have our own shit. I understand. I still try and fit everything in as well as working on myself and coaching online. It's difficult. But nothing that lasts ever comes from being easy. Self-improvement is always ongoing. It is a lifelong journey. And that should be exciting for you. Seeking a quick fix, a six month program and then 'I'll be right again after 6 months' attitude won't cut it. Once you really start, you'll realise it is a forever journey. All the top business people, successful people, self-improvement mentors all have their own mentors that they work with. We all need someone. So when you are ready, I'll be here as a mentor to you. But you have to be ready.

18.01.2022 My little gym mate. The consistency of this 10 year old kid amazes me. Continually wakes up at 6am to come and train with me. No alarm. No push from me. He has ...long term goals, he can see his future and he works towards it each day. He gets cranky with me if on an off day, he sleeps past 6 and I don't wake him up to train. Blows my mind. I had to wake him today. I didn't want to. I wanted to be 'nice' to him and let him sleep in because 'he's a kid, he needs his sleep'. But then I thought I'm not being nice if I don't wake him because he wants to train'. So I woke him. It completely transformed his and our day. He finally got comfortable squatting under the barbell, doing 6 sets of 12 - 15 with 25kg. Then proceeds to continue with the rest of the leg day. Amazing effort from an amazing kid. But it comes from me changing my life over the last 2 years. He would now not be doing this if I didn't start working on myself. My oldest son has his goals. He hates gym training but loves training for cricket. So he's doing his specific core and strength work for cricket. My wife is also working with a mentor now. She's starting on her journey. We are all on our journey. But our journeys are all different from each other, and are completely different to what they would have been because I made the decision to change 2 years ago. Making the decision was easy. Implementing it, taking action and being consistent has been the hard part. But now I can finally see how it is rubbing off on the people I love. I used to push it on them. Want them to make change. But nothing was happening. It left me frustrated annoyed, 'Why won't they change, can't they see how amazing this is?'. So I stopped pushing it on everyone. Stopped telling them to change, to do things better. Instead I chose to lead. So I just do what I do now. I lead with love, I lead by example. I live how I want to be living, and it makes a hugely positive impact on my core people. By being the person who I want to be. I drag people up to a higher level, not by forcing them or telling them, but by showing it through my actions. The kids at school see me as some huge bodybuilder with a funny walk. But then they get into my class and say to me 'you are really inspirational'. And I'm not trying to be. I'm me. The power and influence you have is stupendous. You don't realise the influence you have. When you make the right decisions for yourself on a daily basis, and change slowly comes your way, you help other people to slowly make change and then start to live the lives that they actually want to lead. You are worthy of change. The time to change is now. Make the decision. Then start changing. How? Do 1 thing different each day that you know is good for you. Keep doing it. Then slowly add in more good things. Stretching, meditation, walk, lift, run, journal, eat less, eat more nutritious food, don't eat after dinner, yoga, listen to podcasts. 1 thing and do it everyday. You're future you will love you for it.

18.01.2022 Chasing your goals and dreams means performing consistent repeatable actions over a prolonged time frame. Sounds boring huh! This is something that has really b...een emphasised to me over the last 2 years. Prior to that I was always after the instant result, the quick change, the dramatic transformation. And occasionally you can get some quick results, but very rarely are they sustainable. I made the mistake (again - it's so easy to fall back into old habits) of trying to cut body fat really quickly this week. I just get so frustrated at it taking so long to get rid of my beautiful love handles, that I chase a quick result. I do that by big calorie restriction and cutting all carbs. I started that again Monday, and then by Tuesday night I was getting really tired, cranky, not being the nicest person to hang around. But I didn't know why. I started blaming work, my over committing, but the real reason was staring me in the face. I know for me, when I cut carbs too low, I get shitty, emotional, cranky. It works at losing bofy fat, but at what expense? Being a cranky Dad, Husband, Teacher, Colleague, becasue I'm chasing a quick result to overcome a lifetime of bad habits? I did get super lean 18 month ago. But I wasn't spending any time with my wife, we were falling apart, but I wasn't aware. I thought I was growing as a person, changing physically, changing mentally, but I was actually distancing myself from the people I love. I was cranky and hungry and not fun to be around. We had a conversation, it was painful, but it was what I needed to hear. I realised that in trying to transform myself I was neglecting, causing pain and distancing myself from my family when in fact I was trying to do the opposite. O thought we were closer, but my wife felt further away from me than ever! So I needed to keep changing, but with a new awareness. The last 18 months I have been reworking my priorities, my commitments, my eating, training, life, to give me the physique, the marriage, the family, the mindset, my teaching approach, my transition to online that I desire. It all takes time. Constantly reworking priorities because life changes. It is about being AWARE! Aware of actions, triggers, but really the reasons, the outcome you are trying to achieve that is causing you to act in that certain way. I don't want to look that super lean like I was in the photos from 18 months ago with my monkey face. I enjoyed feeling that way, but I remember what it cost me getting there. Don't get me wrong, it felt amazing being really lean, but I did it too quickly, suffered too much, and it started hurting when lifting becasue the bar would be digging into my bones. Top left was yesterday morning. Top right was 5 months ago. I have gained considerable size in 5 months. That is what I'm know after. I enjoy lifting heavy. Training hard. Eating more. Feeling good. Eventually I'll get to a size where I'm happy to stay at and will be able to lean out a little. Be aware of the different priorities in your life. What is important now may no longer be important in 12 months time. That's okay. We are meant to grow, change, adapt. But most people seek comfort and security, staying the same and then wondering why they are unhappy. Moments of comfort are great. But when your whole life is comfortable, you're on a fast track to unhappiness and death. Work out what is important to you right now. What do you need in your life, to change. Pick 1 thing. Go for it. I use physical training as my glue to hold my life together. It is a super important part of health. Your glue may not be training, it may be meditating, journaling, reading, painting, horse riding, something positive that benefits you. Make sure you are doing it everyday. Be consistent in it. Doing that will help you to become more consistent in other aspects of your life. Most people are amazing at being consistently unhealthy (drinking alcohol, eating unhealthy food) everyday. Start being amazing at being consistent in something that benefits you, that actually serves you and helps you. Just stick with 1 good thing for 6 months. Because you won't see change tomorrow. But if you repeat it everyday for 6 months, then you will notice the difference in 6 months time. Long term goals. Not short term gratification. See more

17.01.2022 A real dose of gratefulness and perspective often comes through the pain of life. The pain of loss of life, especially when it is a young person, has a sobering... effect on us. We do what we can to avoid our own children feeling pain, but when that loss has a direct impact on your own children, it impacts upon us even more. It was devastating seeing my son so upset at having to deal with his first loss of life. But at the same time it made me so grateful that I have a beautiful, healthy, happy family. We often get caught up in our own worlds and focus on the negativity within it, rather than looking at the big picture and seeing all the amazingness we have in our own lives. Sometimes we need a kick in the ass with real loss to make us open our eyes and get out of our own self-ingulged misery. Very few people actively seek pain. But when it comes your way, which it will, will you choose to let it negatively impact you resulting in really shitty choices? Or will you use it to reflect on your own life, your amazingess, become grateful for what you have or use that pain to make your life better? It is all just a choice that you make. Do not let pain break you. Use pain to make a great you.

15.01.2022 No. Such a simple word. Yet how hard is it for us to say. There is something innate about teachers and their inability to say no. Obviously it's not exclusive ...to teachers, but we're just really shit at it. Why is that? It has to do with the type of people that teaching attracts. For the most part, teachers are people that are there for other people as their job. Our job is to give of ourselves to help make other people's lives better. And so in order to do this, we never, ever want to disappoint or let anyone down. So when there is more to be done, even though we can't do a good job of it because we have already taken on so many other things, we still take more on, rather than just saying 1 syllable: no. It's so simple to do, it's just not easy. That fear or letting others down, of not looking professional, that fear of judgment is our own insecurities. By gaining confidence in myself since I started my personal development journey, I now have the ability to say no without any sort of guilt. Because I don't have guilt, I can clearly articulate the reasons why I am saying no. Then there is no issue. No miscommunication. What is the result? I can focus more on the things I currently am doing, can get them down more efficiently and professionally resulting in better performance. And then because I've been more productive because I'm not overstressed, I can then usually go and pick up that extra work if someone else hasn't already done it. Stop trying to take on so many things. Do the things you currently have really well. Finish them properly, then move on. Don't take on more than you can handle just because you are too weak to say no. Stand up for you. Your life, your happiness and your students are worth it.

15.01.2022 Hmmm, insert alcohol, drugs, shit food, risky behaviours. Then we wonder why we feel like shit, look like shit, act irrationally, moody, and aren't happy with our lives.

13.01.2022 This is an important part of being able to control your daily habits, behaviours, choices and interactions. I was reminded of this today when I found myself ge...tting frustrated at owing money to my kids - money that was given to them for birthdays etc. but hadn't been banked and then has disappeared into spending over who knows how long. Why was I getting frustrated? Did it really matter that we had to pay them back some money when we have the the money to do so? I remember a time when I was back in year 6 or 7. My family had been going through a few tough times with separations and ensuing financial trouble. I had been an avid Comm Bank school bank book banked and had $1000 to my name in 1991 or 92. I remember Mum having a conversation with me saying she needed to use the money because there was something that desperately needed paying for. I can't remember what, but I know I cracked the shitties (being my spoilt, selfish younger version) and crying. It was desperate times as it would not have been used if it wasn't absolutely necessary. This memory made me realise that I absolutely hate having my kids present money being owed back to them because it has not been spent by them because I still have some deep seeded issue around my $1000. I was getting a little emotional around the conversations when we were working out how much the kids were owed - because of my own issues from my past. That moment of clarity allowed me to changed my emotion and therefore actions / behaviours in the moment to be more positive and to just respect the situation and then solve it. This scenario made me think about how many of our potential actions in the classroom are impacted by our past experiences, especially when being tested by a pushy student. It is so important that we recognise / be aware our past and its issues in order to be aware of our current actions / responses to situations, to get the best outcome, and not just react emotionally and most likely make a poor decision.

12.01.2022 What am I trying to do with Teacher Transformations? I want to have as many teachers as possible teaching at the absolute peak of their capability. I have seen ...far too many teachers in my 17 years teaching well below their potential, due to them being in a less than ideal physical, emotional, mental, spiritual condition. I know from experience being in a place of great health has an immense positive impact on my teaching. I have more energy, I teach better, I make better decisions involving student behaviour, my output is better because I am more efficient, I enjoy being at work more etc. I despise hearing teachers whine about being at work and working with kids - this is your job - and I want to do what I can to stop it. You can all help me out in my endeavour by reflecting on where you are at in your teaching, make changes to be better than you currently are but also by having conversations with (whining) teachers to discuss with them how important it is to be looking after yourself so you can teach at maximum capability. We need to change the negative discussions that occur in schools by teachers and show them how to have positive discussions about loving work wanting to be there, the successes we have in school with students, etc. So we can stop the negative chat train. It does my head in heating it. It starts with you not behaving in the expected whinge manner like most people, but showing positive grateful behaviours and leading by example. Let's make some change together. See more

11.01.2022 It's getting to that time of term. Marking and reporting deadlines are upon us. It can be a stressful time. But how are you letting it affect your interaction...s with your family, your loved ones? I have heard of teacher families feeling the pressure to get out of the house, leave the teacher that's marking alone because they get stressed, tired, cranky. That it is better to be kicked out of your own house for the weekend because they don't feel comfortable being in their own home because of the attitude of the teacher marking. Is this what you envisioned for yourself when you started teaching? Is this how you get at this time of term? It shouldn't be this way. Your work should not be negatively impacting upon your family. If you love marking, are happy to be around and can communicate that effectively with your family then that is ideal. But if you are getting shitty because of the noise they are making, the distraction they are creating, maybe you have got your priorities wrong. Have you communicated effectively what you need during this time? Have you negotiated times with your family to allocate marking and reporting time? Teaching is super important. But it is just a job. We have chosen this profession and it is a privilege. But teachers often let this 'identity' control their whole lives. Our job is to communicate. But we often fail to effectively communicate with our own family surrounding times of stress and anxiety. Better communication means less stress and less anxiety. Our whole weekends, late nights, early mornings, we often let be controlled by marking and reporting. Because we think that is what we need to do.But we need to be more efficient at what we do. Manage our time better. Communicate better. Not make our families and loved ones feel unwelcome around us during this time. Think about your actions and behaviours at this time. Are you being the person you want to be? If the answer is no, DO NOT BLAME work, school, marking for it. You are in control of your own actions and behaviours. No one else. Take responsibility for your actions. Make the necessary changes you need in order for you to be the person you want to be in these stressful times. See more

10.01.2022 Isn't it interesting how you can give years of your life to 1 thing, and be doing an amazing job at it, but 1 error, 1 wrong comment, how quickly people turn on... you. 1 thing I have learnt over the years is you can't help how other people react to life. All you can do is control what you do, be in charge of your own emotions, and not let your emotions affect your actions. Crazy how this skill is so important, and that I'm teaching it to my heart 7s, but many adults don't have this skill. As humans, this is super important, but it is especially important as teachers. How easy is it to react emotionally when a student acts inappropriately, challenges you, does whatever that is not acceptable in that scenario. But what has happened to that kid before they got to school that day, what shit has gone wrong for them? It is part of our professional responsibility to stay emotionally in control, even when challenged by other people. Work hard at staying calm, working through the scenario. It will always end better than having an emotional outburst.

10.01.2022 How are you measuring your teaching success? What does success look like for you in a school setting? Is success just getting through the another day, not losin...g your shit at a kid or at the leaders? Do you only see your success as all kids passing their assessment? Is success you finally getting that kid iver the line? Or is it finally getting the kid to open up and actually say something to you? Is it a new teaching mefhod that came off amazingly well? Or a new method that failed dismally and you now have that option to refine it, make it better and re-implelent it? Or is it finally getting your staff to buy into your philosophy, own it, take it as their own, implement it and start to see the school going where your vision is? You need to be able to measure your success for what you are doing nd what you're trying to achieve. If you can't say what your success will look like then you are flying blind, and you will eventually crash. Have a purpose for your teaching, rather than just simply getting through.

09.01.2022 I wanted to stay in bed yesterday. I was really tired, mentally and physically. My knee had flared up and I had to have ibuprofen to reduce the heat and swellin...g Thursday night. I totally could have stayed in bed and slept. I could have totally used all those excuses to not train before work yesterday. But that is no longer who I am. I have consistently developed my routines and habits through persistent repetition over the last couple of years. Making time, not finding time, but making time to do the things that need to be done (not want you want to do or feel like doing) to achieve your goals is how you make change to routines, habits, structures, processes, whatever you want to call it. Relentless persistence of goals. This doesn't mean you're obsessed. It just means that you have razor sharp focus and dedication to achieving what is important to you at that point in time in life. So by sticking to my training routine, I set myself up for success yesterday. What did success look like for me yesterday? Not yelling at students, not biting someone's head off, not pointing out the idiocy of teenage behaviours even though they are clearly evident. It also looked like me comforting one of the students that train with me at lunch. Her confiding in me her hate for another student because of the actions of this other student causing relationship bust ups. It was her crying when talking to me, me providing a shoulder to cry on and then a hug to say it's all okay. In front of other students. All above board. But this is teaching. It's not just about academic achievement. It's relationship building. It's people building. It's showing humanity. Not just how to perform to achievement standards. Would I have been in the right mindset to help out when needed yesterday if I didn't stick to my routine? I think you know the answer. Do what you need to do so you can be the best person you can be for your students, your family, yourself.

09.01.2022 Even with the best of intentions, we sometimes say things to students that unintentionally offend them, make them mad, upset, etc. Most times we don't mean to. ...I'm not even going to go into why we sometimes do intentionally mean to offend. But sometimes we just genuinely stuff up. I recently shaved my head again (no biggy those that know me - pretty regular occurance) but it has been a big deal here. But one of my year 11s walked into class today with a new haircut. Looking at it I thought it looked like his hair had been cut by his friends at the weekend, probably at a party or something. Seems to be the in thing to do. I asked him what happened to his hair. He said 'I dunno, just woke up like that', 'better than your hair'. I said okay and kept teaching. But then I just got the giggles looking at his hair while trying to teach. I apologised but was giggling. He said 'what? What's wrong with my hair? I said 'it looks like a caveman's haircut'. (It deadset does!). But he then said 'What's wrong with it; my Mum cut it'. Oops!! He then proceeded to put on his hat to hide his hair. I apologised and said I'm a horrible person. I continued letting him wea his hat. But the damage was done. Potential pillar of trust in our relationship - gone! Self-Conscious teenage boy - achieved. Killing it today!! Not. If I could have a take back I would. But I can't. So i just have to work harder now to win back everything I just knocked down with one comment. Oh well. You learn from your mistakes. But it's not okay to keep making them. Live and learn.

06.01.2022 What are the 5 biggest struggles in your life? If you could alleviate all the stress, anxiety, pressure from your life, what would be the 5 things you would remove?

05.01.2022 Are you practicing gratefulness? This is an essential element in growing as a person, in developing happiness. What do you have to be grateful for?... How about the fact that even through all this covid stuff, that our job security, our pay has not been effected one iota. Nada. Yes, the government is looking at legislating a pay freeze for the next 12 months. Worst case scenario, you stay on the same pay for you are now on. Grateful: massive union fighting for you to get your pay increase. There is always something to be grateful for. It is just whether you allow yourself to see it or not

04.01.2022 Did you make your students lives better today? Did you do it through relationship development? Did you do it through amazing teaching? Did it come from awesome planning?... Unfortunately not every day will be amazing, no matter the level of planning you do, the relationships you have built or the teaching practices you have down pat. We are the professionals that need to be in control of our own actions, but someday's our students lives just do not allow for them to be in control, to make rational decisions when faced with adversity and shit just hits the fan. But it is up to us to provide an environment where that kid can feel safe and secure enough to let down their guard so we can work with them. A place where they can go to in times of need. A place where trust is paramount. This can only happen of you have done the work, not n just at school with kids and the schoolwork, but the work on yourself that you need. How can you possibly help anybody through bad times if you haven't sorted your own crap out. There its always something crap happening. But it's how you respond to the crap that either sets you apart, makes you stand out as a teacher and an amazing person, or reinforces that you are just the same as everyone else. The question is: who do you want to be?

03.01.2022 The paradox of life. We are always trying to do things for ourselves to make our lives easier. But by living an easy life, we never push ourselves, find our li...mits or see just how much we can accomplish. Living an easy life makes life hard. Living a hard life makes life easy. Pushing ourselves to our own limits regularly is hard, tiring, fatiguing, draining. But doing this regularly allows us to get comfortable in this pain so that when shit really does hit the fan in life we are better equipped to be able to deal with it. Learn to live a hard life and your life will be easier.

03.01.2022 What is your vision for your future? Continuing on from yesterday's post. You need to have a vision for the future. If a 10 and 13 year old can have a vision ...for their future, then why don't you? When they are enacting their vision, why aren't you? I have my vision. It is huge. It is scary. I don't know if I can achieve it, but I'll absolutely be working to see if I can achieve it. You might be thinking: I don't need a vision for my future I'm happy with where I'm at I don't know, that's too far away I just go with the flow No plans, just see what comes my way Or whatever other myriad reasons for not having a future vision you might be telling yourself. Lots of people say they are happy with where they are, they have everything they need. But let me ask you: Are you really happy? Do you actually have everything you need, forever? If nothing changed, is what you have right now everything you want and dream of for when you leave this world? If the answer is yes, then I take my hat off to you. That is amazing. Congratulations. But my educated guess is that you don't have everything you dreamed of from your life, achieved everything you've wanted, seen everything you want to see, had all the experiences you've ever wanted. This is why you need your vision. It doesn't need to be physical, but it could be. It doesn't need to be financial, but it could be. It doesn't need to be volunteering and making a difference, but it could be. I don't know what you're future vision looks like or entails. That is for you to work out. But I have the skills and tools to be able to help you start seeing that future and actioning that future. You might have some audacious goals that are currently so far out of your reach, they seem impossible. But they aren't. You just need to work out what needs to be done to get there. If you're not 100% happy with your lot, right here, right now, then you owe it to yourself to start seeing that vision for your future. Flying by the seat of your pants may be fun, but you're always reacting. And you have to be ready for as many bad times as good. Start seeing the future you want. I will be launching my program in the second half of this year. I will be creating a community of teachers away from the public eye where we can share with each other, help, support and guide each other to becoming who we want to become. It will be starting with achieving a physical change through looking at the reasons why you have not yet achieved your ideal physique. We will be exploring the reasons why, the stories, the excuses, the mentality that exists around these things, so we can change these stories so you can finally achieve the body you want. Because we all want our bodies to be a little better. A little tighter. A bit smaller. Or a bit larger. Whatever your goals are. We all want to feel more confident in our bodies. And you know what? From my experience, by achieving a certain physique that I'm happy with and feel confident with, I am a much better teacher because of it. And you will be too!

02.01.2022 Bit of a funny old week this one. Said good bye to the in-laws after being with us for 3 weeks. It's always nice seeing them, especially for my kids. However, ...it always make you appreciate your family, space and the quiet when guests leave. My step Dad ended up in hospital with an infection in his hip that he had replaced a few years ago. They replaced the ball at the end of the femur and cultivated a specific antibiotic for him based on the bacteria that was causing the infection. He's all put back together and back at home now. It only took me 6 months, but I had my first workplace injury at my new school. I was rushing to help a student finish her woodwork job after returning from suspension, when the chisel I was holding bumped the safety guard, slipped from my hand and cut my leg without me even realising I was injured. Blood was pouring out before I knew I was cut. After some student and teacher help, and 5 stitches later at the medical centre, I returned to work, only to have the cut start pissing out blood again. My firefighter manual arts colleague was actually really concerned something had gone wrong and so school called an ambulance to take me to hospital. Turns out everything was fine, just the local anaesthetic had worn off and the vein I knicked started bleeding again. Everything is fine. It all turned out well. It has just been a strange week. But have I let it affect me? No. I've done enough work on myself in the past few years to allow me to be able to cope with and process all the happenings of life jn a controlled and conscious manner. To me these are only minor things, but for other people it may have all been too much. The best time to start improving yourself is now. Not waiting for the right time. Not waiting to get through. Not waiting until monday, or next week, or whatever story you are telling yourself. Starting now means that you are a day closer to achieving your goals than starting tomorrow, 2 days closer than starting monday, 2 weeks closer than waiting until next month, etc. etc. Work our what you need to be better and then start working towards it everyday. Become prepared for the unplanned.

01.01.2022 Four weeks in. 3.3kg down. Is it good? Is it bad? Too much? Not enough? What do you think? Trying to do a body composition change during COVID resulting in extr...a workload and now with kids returning to school - why would you do that to yourself? It's going to be too stressful, you can't by the foods you want. You can't get to the gym. You can't train properly. I don't have time because I have too much online developing to do. Now I have to transition back to face to face teaching. The kids are so spread out with what they've learned or not. There's too much work in it. Blah blah blah. They're all just EXCUSES we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better, to justify why we aren't looking after ourselves the way we should. My rationale: if I can do it in times of stress, being crazy 'busy' (shit word that), then it will be so easy for me when life settles down a bit. Isn't that what we're all waiting for - for things to get easier and then you can commit to yourself? But we all tend to try and wait until the time is right. 'When I get through this, then I'll be able to do it'. Guess what? It doesn't happen. The only time that matters is NOW. You will NEVER get today back. That is a day wasted in you making the change you need, that you want! It's not actually about the weight. Yes, weight loss is nice for internal motivation - 'sweet, this is actually working', but it can also work against you. It can de-motivate you when the scales don't respond the way you want them to. It's about changing your mindset, your thought processes around the conversations you have with yourself. How many times have you said to yourself 'I shouldn't, but I've worked hard so I deserve this treat.' 'It's alright, I'll be good tomorrow.' I've already stuffed up now, I'll keep going and then start again Monday.' Teachers are the worst for this. We are always looking to start again Monday, waiting for Friday to finish, waiting for the next lot of holidays. I know, because I used to do this heaps, and I still catch myself doing it every so often. This whole 'I deserve thing.' You know what? You only deserve what you put into life. You will only get what you put into life. If you don't put time into having great relationships with your students, you won't have a great relationship with yourself. If you bitch about other staff members at work, you'll also get bitched about. If you eat shit, your body and mind will be shit. The one thing you deserve? You deserve to make the right decisions that will benefit you in the long run. You deserve to eat right today. You deserve to train today. You deserve to meditate, journal, go for a walk, all today. You deserve to choose the right things that will have a positive impact on your life. You don't deserve to treat yourself badly. You don't deserve that piece of cake. You don't deserve that extra glass of wine. You are more worthy than that. You are a role model for young people whether you like it or not. You have made a decision to stand up and speak in front of students 5 days per week. You have made the choice to be in a position of power to help influence young people's minds. If you are not in the best shape possible then you are doing the students a disservice. I don't just mean physically, I am talking about mentally, emotionally in control. This is what is important. You can be super-fit and still be a dick to kids. You can be overweight and be really nice to the kids. But what is going on with that conversation with yourself? Why are you being horrible to other people? Why are you not looking after yourself? Why are you not setting the best example of yourself to your students, but also to yourself everyday? Why are you letting these happen? When is the last time you were really nice to yourself? The last time you told yourself ' I really like who I am? You know what? I love who I am. I love my life. I love teaching. I love my family. You deserve to treat yourself with respect, with love. You deserve to have amazing conversations with yourself. You deserve to make the right choices that will take you to become that best version of yourself that you can see ( and if you can't see it yet, start imagining what that best version looks like). You deserve to chase it, to achieve it. When those negative conversations with yourself change to positive conversations, that's when the real change occurs. If you control your mind, then you control your body.

01.01.2022 I started writing this post last week. Lots of things stopped it from happening but it's here finally. This is how I feel looking over my year 12's, feeling pro...tective, wondering if I've done enough for them, to prepare them for their external assessment. I worry so much about them. Not because they are incapable, but just because I want them to do really well. But I've been trying to work out why I feel so worried for them. The answer: my own self-doubt. Why? Brand new subject, not in my trained study areas feeling insecure about my own knowledge of the content. I let those fears of inadequacy impact on my thoughts, attitudes, actions. I had some sort of a funny face at the end of a lesson with them last week. They asked if I was okay? I said 'I'm just concerned I haven't done enough for you. I think about this subject more than any other and I just want you to do really well'. They replied with 'you do more in this subject for us than all the other teachers together. You do heaps for us. The others just say look at the syllabus, it's your responsibility'. Super sweet. Yes it is their responsibility, but I am there to help them, give them the tools they need to be as successful as they want to be. I am their teacher, and that's my job. I will help them until the last day I can. How funny after 17 years of teaching, I still have self doubt, fears I'm not doing good enough. But I'd rather be this way because it pushes me to be better for the kids. I'm glad to be out of my comfort teaching areas because it makes me work harder. I'm so grateful for my opportunities to do what I get to do, but I don't ever just want to be comfortable, because I know I don't work as hard when I'm comfortable. I work better under pressure. But it creates doubt and fear, but I need that to be a better teacher. What makes you a better teacher?