A Powerful Equation

I’m currently teaching my fifth grade students about positive and negative integers in my math class.  We discuss the differences between positive and negative numbers, the distance from zero (magnitude), as well as how to plot points on a coordinate grid.  We also discuss the concept of trends, and how to predict a future outcome based on given data points.  Also, in our school district, we’ve been talking a lot about evaluating a student’s progress from year to year, and looking at data points along a child’s school career, to determine if they are making gains, and whether their progress shows consistent growth over time.  We evaluate these trends to give us specific information about our instruction.

I’ve also been thinking recently that lots of things in life are about ups and downs.  In one’s relationships, career, faith, or weight loss/fitness goals, to name a few, there are often both positive and negative events that mark the path toward our goals.   When we continue to focus on our goals, we envision that we will achieve what we set out to accomplish, given time, persistence, and patience.  We can usually predict a positive trend from previous accomplishments.

Looking at trends helps us to think about any goal toward which we are working.  For instance, in the area of organizing, I can recall many times when I’ve not been as pleased with an organizing strategy within my classroom.  I’d try one method or product to help me organize my papers or files at school, only to completely change the system a week later.  To me, it felt like I was failing in my organizing efforts–that I didn’t know what I was doing–but really, it was one step towards finding what DID work for me.  I’m reminded of Thomas Edison’s quote: “I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  Hopefully, it won’t take us that many tries to “get it right” in our organizing lives, or with our relationships, jobs, or other journeys we’re taking in life.  But I like the general message, because we often don’t see success before we experience some aspect of failure.  The failure points on the “coordinate grid” of our lives aren’t all that much fun to identify, think about, or study.  But without them, we often don’t grow.  It’s rare not to stumble, not to face difficulties, not to meet with failed tries, before we come upon success.  We need to learn how to embrace it and move forward.

Here are some tips for moving forward in in a positive direction in your organizing (or any other) journey:

• Be very clear about your goals.  Determine ahead of time exactly what you want to change. What is your desired final outcome?  In the case of getting organized, what do you want to see at the end of the project?  Visualize it for yourself, and be specific so you are not wavering through the journey.
• Commit goals to paper.  Writing down desired goals is an important part of success.
• Determine ahead of time an alternate path or method if your strategy does not work. Thinking of more than one way to accomplish a goal will keep you motivated when things are difficult or prove to be ineffective.
• Share your goal with a trusted friend or colleague.  They may have perspective on the very thing you are wanting to change.  Having another person’s insight can give you the creative spark you need to move forward.
• Think “long term.”  Just as in the stock market, it’s often hard to gauge how well your goal is progressing in a short amount of time.  Often times, success comes only after a period of time.  It’s the same with many things in life, whether in relationships, jobs, or with getting organized in some area of our lives.

I’m reminded again of my math class, where we often deal with equations.  And in the case of keeping our eyes on our goals, we could use an equation, such as: Success + Struggle = Progress. One must have both elements to have a complete equation.  And, in the words of Frederick Douglas, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”