Tag: communities

8 Signs That Show You’re Doing Well in Life (Even if You Don’t Think So)

June 27, 2022

 

Did you ever scroll through social media profiles of influencers sharing their picture-perfect lives full of glamour and success and wondered how they got there?

If you’re anything like me, you later looked at your own life full of struggles, fears, and unaccomplished goals and felt frustrated about your own progress.

You might think of all the things you still need to take care of and wonder why your life feels so miserable while others seem so happy.

And most importantly, you feel like you’re massively behind in life.

You start to feel a little anxious. You believe you’ve made wrong choices and start to feel like a “failure.”

Sadly, wondering whether we’re “enough” is a common thought because comparing ourselves to others is now easier than ever before.

Social media and societal expectations make it hard to acknowledge our own progress because we’re so focused on what others are doing and achieving.

Yet the truth is, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, even if it might seem so at first sight.

We usually think that others are doing better because we only see the bright sides of their lives. And that’s partly because our perception of what a “good life” should look like is so screwed due to unrealistic expectations.

You might see someone’s big house and their fancy vacation photos, but you have no idea how peaceful or miserable they actually feel in that house or during that vacation.

Ultimately, “good” and “better” are based on your perspective. You can be happy with very little or own anything yet feel miserable.

The good news is, whether we’re doing well in life is mostly defined by small elements of our daily life:

You know what you *don’t* want

If you know that you don’t want a typical office job, you’re a huge step ahead — even if you don’t know exactly what kind of job you want instead.

You might not know what your ideal relationship would look like, but you might know exactly what you don’t want based on your previous experiences. This information alone will help you make the right decisions too.

You can celebrate the wins of others

So many people believe they need to constantly compete with their colleagues and friends while the truth is that we all can win.

We’re living in an abundant world full of options and opportunities for everyone, and it’s possible that we all do well in life.

You’re not hyped about every new trend

So many people’s purchasing decisions are based on what society and random ads tell them to buy. Similarly, their big life decisions are also shaped by those trends.

Escaping that cycle isn’t always easy, but it’s possible: You can live your life according to your own needs without following every new trend.

I used my last phone (a Samsung Galaxy S8) for almost five years until it broke down.

Phones are useful devices, but they can also be our greatest enemies. Most people spend way too much time staring at their screens anyway, so I consciously decide not to prioritize having the newest devices.

And I never understood why I should pay thousands of dollars for a new phone if I could get an older model for almost no money.

Once my old phone broke down, I extended my contract and got a new phone for free. It’s not the latest model but is a lot better than the previous one and does everything it should do. I’ll use it until it doesn’t get the job done anymore, and then I’ll get the next one.

The same is true for any other device I use in my daily life.

Most people live paycheck to paycheck because they’re drowning in small monthly payments for items they purchased to prove their social status.

If you can ignore those stupid games and make more thoughtful (and sustainable) choices, you’ll be able to detach yourself from that pressure to constantly buy things you don’t even care about and instead use your money to create a life you enjoy.

So many people think their material possessions will help them be happier or feel “more successful,” yet what truly happens is that they end up feeling miserable and drowning in consumer debt.

Luckily, genuine happiness isn’t rooted in “things” but in relationships and our inner emotions.

You’re a little skeptical

Questioning life helps you look beyond the surface and find new paths you’ve never thought about before.

Most people do whatever they’re told to do without ever asking why. They act like puppets because they don’t want to take responsibility for their actions.

By doing the opposite, you’re stepping up for yourself and showing the world that you want more than the ordinary.

You feel connected

The good news is, you don’t need dozens of friends. In fact, the number of relationships we can nourish at a given time is finite anyway, and it makes more sense to maintain a small number of meaningful relationships instead of having shallow conversations with hundreds of people.

And if you don’t feel that sense of connection yet, you can now start to consciously build your circle with like-minded people. You could, for instance, join local events and clubs to meet people with similar interests.

If that feels too hard, you could even just start by joining online communities, which might later lead to real-life friendships as well.

You know how to step back to enjoy life

Researchers even found that having a purpose can prolong our lives.

Having a strong purpose is also one of the common attributes of blue zones, which are five specific regions of the world where a great percentage of the population lives up to age 100 or more.

Yet, in Blue Zones, purpose isn’t necessarily defined by your work.

Their definitions are loosely translated as what makes life worth living. And if we’re honest, for most of us, our work isn’t what makes our lives more meaningful.

It’s our relationships, the voluntary work we do, or our hobbies that add meaning to our lives.

Yet more than half of America’s employees report that they lack proper work-life balance and work more hours than they feel comfortable with.

Working less and spending more time on other activities isn’t always easy because most of us grew up being told that we need to be hardworking to be worthy, yet it’s crucial.

And even just being aware of this fundamental truth is a step toward living a better life.

You’re not afraid of asking for help

We’re all good at certain things, yet we suck at others, and there’s no shame in being bad at something.

Whether it’s asking a friend or getting professional help — allowing yourself to get supported is the ultimate lifehack because it helps you save time and do things correctly instead of struggling on your own.

You can admit your mistakes

Blaming others is always easier and more comfortable, yet, it’s also what keeps us stuck.

If you can accept that it’s mostly your own choices and actions that have led you to your current life, you’re more self-aware and emotionally mature than most people will ever be.

Final thoughts

Even though we’d all like to have a little more stability and certainty in our lives, the truth is that we’ll never have it.

We’re all living for the first time, and each challenge we face just teaches us new lessons about ourselves and the world we’re surrounded by.

And even if we constantly want to improve ourselves and be happier, healthier, and wealthier, we need to stop sometimes and appreciate the progress we’ve already made.

At the end of the day, life is finite. So what’s the point of constantly chasing new goals if we never sit down and relax, never watch sunsets, or never dance until our feet hurt?

3 Keys to a Better 2020–21

July 17, 2020

In response to the upheaval of the pandemic, researchers and the leaders of over 100 schools focused on three fundamental areas of education, whether it’s in person or virtual.

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The pandemic precipitated a historic education disruption. In response, my colleagues at Baylor University and I gathered educators from around the world in virtual learning communities to determine how best to respond. Leaders from 112 schools met in virtual communities in May, June, and July to identify what is most important in education, regardless of delivery method.

In general, we decided that the three most fundamental emphases should be on well-being, engagement, and feedback. We imagined a pyramid in which well-being is the largest section, at the pyramid’s base; engagement is the middle layer; and feedback is at the pyramid’s peak.

WELL-BEING

Well-being is the base of the pyramid because Maslow’s hierarchy takes priority over Bloom’s taxonomy. Maslow’s hierarchy categorizes basic human needs, and Bloom’s taxonomy identifies different levels of learning. If students’ and teachers’ physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being are not intact, then nothing else really matters.

Before they began addressing academics, the most successful schools ensured that they cared for teachers and students’ well-being. To that end, administrators set up multiple connection points each week to check in with teachers at their convenience. They asked teachers two simple questions: “How are you doing?” and “What do you need?”

Teachers and administrators also made weekly well-being phone calls to every student’s home. Some homes received three calls a week, particularly if there were concerns about family well-being. Several schools used mentor groups of students and faculty to generate ideas for service learning projects for their families and communities. These projects helped students think beyond themselves and reduced isolation. At one school, for instance, a team of five students created a tech support hotline for students or families struggling with technology issues that arose through distance learning.

COVID-19 map of California: Latest coronavirus cases by county

ENGAGEMENT

The second level in the pyramid is engagement. Students don’t learn if they’re not engaged. Whether learning occurs virtually or in person, we came up with what we called the 4 Cs of Engagement: content, competition, collaboration, and creation.

Content: Through the spring, teachers discovered innovative ways to deliver content. Schools already using robust learning management systems like Schoology and Canvas made the transition to online content delivery relatively smoothly. For teachers of pre-K through second grade, Seesaw proved an invaluable tool because of its ease of use and the ability it provides to give and receive feedback. Tools like Edpuzzle and Pear Deck allow teachers to incorporate questions and interaction into videos and Google Slide presentations.

Competition: Friendly competition, particularly for reviewing surface-level knowledge, has always been an excellent way to engage students. Quizlet has long been an excellent review tool for almost any subject area because of its large number of quizzes that have already been created by teachers and students. Also, its format enables students to receive immediate feedback on what they do and don’t know. Kahoot! has been a favorite for a number of years now and allows students to interact with each other in a game format, whether in person or over distance. Gimkit, developed by a high school student who liked Kahoot! but thought he could improve on it, is a great tool for review: It’s fast-paced but allows students to repeatedly review questions and also records how many questions each student answers correctly.

Collaboration: With the move to distance learning, teachers shifted the tools they were using to facilitate virtual student collaboration. Three tools I was not aware of at the beginning of the school year that have proved to be invaluable are Parlay, Mentimeter, and Mural. Parlay allows teachers to track discussions virtually as students discuss meaningful texts. Mentimeter allows students and teachers to collect real-time data on students’ questions in the form of word clouds, rankings, and multiple-choice quizzes. Mural is a digital workspace for virtual collaboration that allows teachers and students to post, group, and reorganize ideas in real time.

Creation: Student content creation allows for autonomy and significantly boosts engagement. Tools like , Piktochart, and Padlet allow students to create digital images and content. Screencastify, GoFormative, and Loom allow students to annotate and explain complex problems. Flipgrid enables students to submit pictures and videos for feedback from teachers and students. Apple Clips and iMovie give students the opportunity to tell their own stories.

FEEDBACK

We get better through forms of deliberate practice that also provide opportunities to receive feedback. All of the tools we used for engagement offer opportunities for both deep and immediate feedback.

Whatever tool they use, great teachers know that they need to establish the criteria for success with students. Effective success criteria include answers to the following questions: (1) What does a good example look like?, and (2) What’s in it for the student? Students need examples and a reason to improve. With clear success criteria, students can self- and peer-review work. Instead of thinking in terms of the content they will cover next year, great teachers think about the skills and knowledge that students will be able to demonstrate and how they can provide feedback to help them get there.

With the uncertainty ahead for 2020–21, clarity in these three areas is more important than ever. The good news is that well-being, engagement, and feedback are not new—they have always been the key to a good education. We just need to leverage resources to implement them well in 2020–21.