Think and Grow Rich Chapter Six Imagination 2 ... My Thoughts

I'm teaching summer school. All last week, the week I had off, I thought and planned and worked on ways to make it fun and productive. I worked on those plans all week and came up with a theme. Sometimes I was mad at myself for taking this on and working on it so hard.  "Why are you doing this?" Then I remembered: right now it's necessary for personal reasons. Once back to reality, I kept planning. I went to the public library and checked out 35 books. The librarian is coming to my classes to speak Wednesday. She's going to talk about story telling. She's going to tell them a story. It's all woven into our theme.

Here's my point: I discovered that I am getting more creative and willing to try new things because I'm believing in myself more. The more I believe in myself and what I do, the better my imagination works. The same with all of us. I'm not sure I'm explaining it well, but I'm liking what I'm feeling.

I'm reading a book that Bob and Anna Bassett were talking about. There's a chapter in it about WORK. It's talking about successful people. Guess what? Most of them work all the time! They love to work! For YEARS I've been trying SO hard not to work so hard after hours. I can't do it. I must do my best. Now-a-days, it's more fun than it used to be though. I love it when my imagination creates ideas out of the blue and I listen and believe it. I don't mean to sound like "I'm all that" because I like to work. I just like to keep on top of things and make sure I know what I'm doing the next day/week. After reading this chapter, I'm okay with me and wanting to work and learn and grow. I'm in heaven!

Guess what else?! It's also okay to have some self-doubt. I read in this wonderful book that actors worry about being good enough. Athletes wonder if they're good enough, too. Mike Meyers, the comedian, wonders when the no-talent police will come and arrest him. I had butterflies going into summer school today. I was nervous. I always am.  It's okay!! I ask myself every time that happens, "After all these years, why am I still nervous on the first days?"  Once I'm on, I'm on. Stephen King writes rapidly to outrun the self-doubt that's always waiting to settle in.  Once the athlete is on the court, nothing stops him or her. The before jitters and doubts are OKAY! Of course, we want to push through our self-doubts ... We want to keep pushing through them ... At the same time, they help push us forward, too.

Today was the first day of summer school. I had my plans down to the second. They were written in sequence. I had the PowerPoint ready, the books ready, the benchmarks posted, the word of the week posted (PASSION), the folders ready, the "8 to be Great" poster for the students to glue to their folder ready. Pencils were sharpened ... I was ready. And all that planning paid off. I know, it's what we do every day. Nothing I did was that special, BUT I feel GREAT. I planned hard and put together a unit from scratch. I'm proud of myself and love it when the imagination works like this. I like what Hill said about the creative imagination and Use and Strong Desire.

Now I'm ready to get my blog and audio up a notch. Watch me! I'm ready! "Imagination, let's do it!"

May joy, happiness, and imagination follow all of us for ever and ever ...

Cindy Manoske