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Transformational Resiliency – A video Blog
Dear all,
About 18 months ago, I filmed this video, and placed it onto youtube. I was seeking to outline some of the concepts of the ideas of Transformational Resiliency.
Simply put it is an approach to connecting, empowering, building relationoships with, and enhancing a child’s personal resilience though purposeful actions.
I offer it here in this blog post as a means to support and connect with you, and to provide a context for the broader ideas that I hope to bring to the community of educators who are seeking to support children in developing resiliency.
Peace, Dr. Rob Martinez, AKA @ResiliencyGuy and DrRobM_FSUSD on #twitter
Dr. Martinez will be presenting at the National Conference on Resilience in Education in Las Vegas the weekend of December 5-6, 2015. Check out the following link for more information on the conference.
“Sometimes”
Source: “Sometimes”
I hope that you hav give yourself a moment or two today to recognize the amazing individual that you are. Just this week both of my older sons each lost a young friend well before they should have. In each circumstance, there was apparently nothing that could have been done to stop the tragic loss, and yet, the message his home that we only have this one opportunity to be ourselves, to be human, to connect with others, to focus on being the best and most amazing person that we can each be.
Though my general goal is to seek to #empower others to focus on their personal growth, development, and resilience, each one of the strategies I promote focus on the importance of #connectedness with those in your life.
Connect, connect, connect! Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate!
Give yourself the opportunity to be part of life, to help others, and to love, love, love!
To my sons, all four of you, I love you! Dad
@ResiliencyGuy on twitter.
“Sometimes”
“Sometimes” by Resiliency Guy
#Resiliency Sometimes its about being present in your world, and offering support to those that need it without hesitation!
#Resiliency Sometimes its taking a moment to see the love that is in your world and making a decision to give love back to the world!
#Resiliency Sometimes its facing a small issue that has held you back, and making a determination to persevere, that leads to massive growth!
#Resiliency Sometimes its about appreciating the life before you, recognizing that each challenge of the past led you here, and moving ahead!
#Resiliency Sometimes it is about hope, belief, mindset, that help build your goals and passions. Don’t underestimate your human potential!
#Resiliency Sometimes its not just about checking off boxes in your plan, its about taking a step, re-evaluating, then stepping again!
#Resiliency Sometimes its about taking off the limits of the world, and recognizing that every successful person is a human being like you!
#Resiliency Sometimes its about giving trust to those in your world, so that you free yourself to grow and expand your perspective!
#Resiliency Sometimes its about persistence, seeing the future you, and knowing that you have the power to become who you want to be!
#Resiliency Sometimes its about igniting a passion deep within yourself, or others, so that their light within becomes a palpable guide!
#Resiliency Sometimes its about providing others with the skills, tools, insight, to empower them to face their challenges with gusto!
#Resiliency Sometimes its taking on a huge challenge, one step at a time, with dedication and focus, to conquer the world.
#Resiliency Sometimes its about letting your passion soar, unleashing the burst of ideas within your head, and about hoping to connect with another person.
Here’s hoping to connect with you!
Dr. Rob Martinez, aka @ResiliencyGuy on twitter strives to empower individuals to develop their personal resilience, and to work to engage and support all of our children through purposeful actions and behaviors. He will be presenting at the National Conference on Resilience in Education the weekend of December 5-6, 2015 in Las Vegas, NV. Plan on attending!
National Conference on Resilience in Education
Connect, Appreciate, and Build a Sustainable Transformation
Connect, Appreciate and Build a Sustainable Transformation
Connecting: When we connect, even for a moment, we demonstrate the ability to build relationship, be human, show love, and to build a community.
When we connect with those in our environments we take the first step in demonstrating to them that we care, that they matter, and that we believe in the value of them as a person with individuality, ideas, and thoughts that matter to us. We tell them that not only do we care about them, but they have a place in our world, and in our collective reality. Whether this connection is a simple acknowledgment, a wink and a nod, a brief conversation, or a heartfelt hello, we must strive to ensure that we are making these connections.
Think about it, in your world, when people take that moment to actually connect to you do you feel more alive. I think that as we go through our busy days, we often become so consumed eith our internal thoughts, our minds focused on problem solving, and with gathering information from our technological devices, that we sometimes forget to recognize that others are seeking to connect with us. For example, as I was ruminating over my day’s work, driving home, stopped at a stoplight, with the news radio blarring at me, I happened to look to my left.
It took just a few seconds, and yet there she was. An elderly African American woman I didn’t know, sitting in the passenger seat of the car to my left. She smiled, gave me a little wave with her small right hand, and nodded to me. It was no more than a few fingers being lifted to let me know that she saw me, and that smile and nod refocused me into realizing that my work-day, though long, filled with the troubles of others, and with complex problems with solutions that were hopefully on their way, was actually not that bad at all. She let me know that she saw me, she connected with me, she ackknowledged my exsistence, and I was grateful.
Appreciation: If we miss a moment to show appreciation, we miss an opportunity to potentially change the world! Don’t miss those moments!
Do moments in your day seem to fly by in clusters where you move from cluster to cluster without recognizing the efforts of others? For me it happens all too often, and I want to be better at recognizing the efforts of others, then in demonstrating appreciation for the efforts of others. This will take a conscious deliberate effort in seeking to notice these efforts, and a purposeful response to demonstrate that I’ve noticed, and appreciated those efforts. Please consider joining me in these efforts.
It could be as simple as saying, “Thank You.” It could be as simple as writing a post-it-note with a smile on it, and leaving it in a conspicuous place for the person to find, or it could be a brief email, text, snapchat, tag in a twitter post, or any other entry into the technological stream that the person swims, to let them know that you noticed, and appreciated their efforts. The venue isn’t the important thing, it’s ensuring that the person that you want to demonstrate appreciation for realizes that you care, you noticed, you appreciate them, and that you are not taking for granted their efforts.
Our world today is moving so fast, and yet, it is these moments that are so important to us as people, and it is these moments that could actually make an impact on our personal story, the story of the people in our world, and the broader world in general. Consider how your reality might change if you offered more appreciation to others. Could you ingnite a new way of acting with people in your reality? Could this new way of acting spread to those people, and their realities? Could we, as some have said, actually change the world by initiating a “Chain of Appreciation” that links us all together? What if we could? Why wouldn’t we?
Building a Sustainable Transformation: This takes ideas, dedication, and follow through! #Resilience #EachPersonMatters
To change the world is no easy feat, and yet, what could be more meaningful? So to those that actually dare to take on this challenge with me, I say, “Welcome, to wherever you are,” and “Let’s travel this journey together.” Whether you are a teacher, an educator, a person who cares about others, or the head of a major corporation, it just doesn’t matter, since no matter who you are, you do have the ability to change your world, impact the world of the people within your world, and quite possibly, change the entire world.
You simply need ideas that you believe in, dedication to initiate a change in your own behavior, and perserverance to follow through on your own behavior. In addition, if you create opportunities for others in your world to follow your example, and set expectations for those in your world that will lead to them supporting your ideas, then your goals become closer to your reach.
As this blog suggests, if you seek to increase your personal connections with others at every opportunity, if you begin to increase your appreciation for others that you are connecting with, you will be taking significant steps to build a sustainable transformation in your world, that can, and will, impact those in your world, and quite possibly ignite a change to our collective world. I ask again, What if we could? Why wouldn’t we?
Peace, Rob Martinez, Ed.D.
Dr. Martinez, strives to empower adults to build environments for children where they can “Grow in Peace. He can also be found on twitter as @ResiliencyGuy and @DrRobM_FSUSD
Dr. Martinez will be presenting at the American Associationi of School Personnel Administrators Conference, “Human Capital Leadership Summit” in Monterey, California, on December 3, 2015, and at the “National Conference on Resilience in Education” in Las Vegas, Nevada, the weekend of December 5-6, 2015.
The Success Iceberg
The “Success Iceberg”
Are you building your “Success Iceberg?”
Do you recognize the efforts of others as you view their success?
Are you planning and implementing your next step to greatness?
Or, do you need a little nudge to get you going? If so, read on my friends!
For those that are desiring to become something more, reach a certain status, and/or want to advance yourself to be successful, consider the importance of planning, implementing your plan, and sticking to it as you engage in your personal journey. This process of personal development is yet another form of Transformational Resiliency. It’s about empowering yourself to initiate personal change, seek personal growth, expand on your personal development, and accept that you can be in control of your destiny.
The commitment that you make to yourself must be the ignition of your success. You must first make a decision regarding something…
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Every Connection Counts-Build #Resilience-Promote #Grit Development
Every Connection Counts-Build #Resilience-Promote #Grit Development
My dear friends,
In case you hadn’t thought about it recently, this post is directed at helping you to be reminded that each connection counts, every moment is precious, each interaction is unique, and thank goodness it is our human ability to connect with others, to be able to realize the importance of every minute we have, and deeply understand that when we interact with others that those moments are a true gift of humanity whose dividends can change the world.
Further, when we accept and use these precious gifts as we proceed through life we are better able to propel ourselves into the world to create an impact of positivity that can send ripples of kindness across the world. Yes, we absolutey should “Toss Kindness Around Like it’s Confetti!” Consider how our world would be a different place if we brought the same excitement and enthusiasm we demonstrate for our sports heros when we happen to see our co-workers in the morning.
Think for a moment about a single day and the connections you make, or choose not to make, or make and don’t recognize their importance. Consider how you approached these interactions, and reflect: Could I have been better? Was I intentional in my actions? Was I purposeful in my approach? Was I present for the entire interaction? Did I seek to engage and support those that I interacted with? Did I leave the interaction believing that I did what I could to assist the person I was with, and was I satisfied that I made the interaction a growth opportunity for myself and those interacting with me? Or, like most of us, because we are frequently thinking about a thousand different things we move from interaction to interaction without being present, intentional, engaging, supportive, thoughtful, empathetic or focused on the actual interaction.
The challenge is of course to appreciate each and every interaction, and to employ our best strategies and skills during our interaction times with someone else. Tomorrow, I challenge you to thoughtfully approach several of your interactions, or even just one. Maybe this interaction will be with your partner, a co-worker, your boss, a brand new person, just choose, and think and act differently. Consider that the moments that this other person is choosing to share with you are unique experience for them. What is their perspective? What is their motivation for sharing these moments with you? What do they want to remember from this interaction? I challenge you to make this time all about them, and you might be surprised at how much better you might feel about yourself, and your own humanity.
Here’s another few questions for you: Do you appreciate those in your proximity? Do you recognize and acklowedge each person as a unique being with their own perpspective, goals, motivations, and challenges? Have you taken the perspective that you actually might not know what each person in your immediate surroundings is dealing with at any given moment? Think about it, if you watch television, then you have heard the news that there must be literally millions of individuals who are wondering if they are depressed, filled with anxiety, and debilitized due to stress. Quite frankly, it’s a bit overwhelming to consider the number of individuals in your proximity that need extra support, care and love, and yet, you have the capabilities to potentially provide support, care and love to this other is well within your reach! It sure is great to be human!
Yes my friends, tonight, I am espousing the gift of being human. If you are reading this, you are human and you need to interact positively with everyone for their benefit and yours. It is especially important if you are in a position of authority, or if you are serving in a role of a teacher. Consider the importance of your role with children, and recognize that the moments that you are interacting with children you actually have the ability to create opportunities for #Resiliency to develop and flourish, and even more opportunity to develop #Grit. When you are present, when you engage, when you support, when you are purposeful, when you are intentional, when you are empathetic, when you are encouraging, when you help children to believe that they can survive, overcome, face adversity, and learn and grow, you are Super-Human!
Our ability to connect with others is a gift. This ability to empower others is so powerful, and each of us can infact create a positive impact on the world. Why on earth would we not?
Be powerful, be human, be amazing, be a positive life force that supports others. Help students to grow in peace, and help others to find peace in their growth!
Peace, Rob Martinez, Ed.D., @ResiliencyGuy
The Success Iceberg
The “Success Iceberg”
Are you building your “Success Iceberg?”
Do you recognize the efforts of others as you view their success?
Are you planning and implementing your next step to greatness?
Or, do you need a little nudge to get you going? If so, read on my friends!
For those that are desiring to become something more, reach a certain status, and/or want to advance yourself to be successful, consider the importance of planning, implementing your plan, and sticking to it as you engage in your personal journey. This process of personal development is yet another form of Transformational Resiliency. It’s about empowering yourself to initiate personal change, seek personal growth, expand on your personal development, and accept that you can be in control of your destiny.
The commitment that you make to yourself must be the ignition of your success. You must first make a decision regarding something that you are passionate about, think through the steps you must go through, and firmly decide that you will follow your steps no matter what obstacles come your way!
Next, you will need to work harder than you have ever worked in your life. Why? Because your success must be that important to you, and you must recognize that no one is going to come and do it for you. Own your choices, own your actions, own your successful steps towards your goals!
Third, maintain your personal commitment, and carry through with your daily behaviors, even when the tiny voice in your head might wish to delve into self-doubt, or veer your away from your overall goal. Focus on your success, strive tor personal bests, and acknowledge the growth in yourself.
Be aware that set-backs are a natural part of growth. How many times does a baby fall on their way towards toddling around? You can handle these minor halts in growth, and as you have done in the past, you can ovecome them to improve, to gain confidence, to build new skills, and to conquer any hurdles that come before you!
Finally, remain ever vigilant, and relentless in pursuit of your success! This persistence in your thoughts, actions, and new skills and behaviors will propel you towards acquiring the level of success you desire.
Some might think to themselves, “Can I really do this?” or, “Am I truly worth this type of self-commitment?” Let me be clear in providing you a response to these self-doubts! “You are that important!”,
I undestand that making a real personal commitment is dificult, that the real work is difficult, and I also want you to understand that the true rewards received as a result of this personal commitment and completion of the real work will taste sweeter to you than ever before!
Now, identify your success, plan your steps to attainment of your goals, and get your behind to work!
Peace! Rob
Rob Martinez is becoming well-know as “ResiliencyGuy” and “Dr. Resiliency” and can be followed on twitter @ResiliencyGuy and @DrRobM_FSUSD
Refresh, renew, rekindle, reflect, and recharge those batteries
I think that each person has an unlimited ability to bring positivity to the world, and yet, if each of us gives, and gives, and gives without taking time to recharge our batteries we do run the risk of running on emply, and sputtering out like an old VW Bug. Thus, it is important for each of us to refresh, renew, rekindle, reflect and recharge those batteries.
Refresh
Each of our journies is important, and yet, if we stay on the same course for too long we run the risk of running ourselves into a rut. We must remember to pull to the side of the road, take a pit stop, small the flowers as they say, and heck, even eat a candy bar. It’s the simple pats of our lives that can become so important to refreshing our spirit, our palate, and our perspective of the world. Maybe your choice will involve a smooth bottle of red wine, an oyster or two, or even some freshly cooked french bread, just remember to take that moment, breathe, breathe again, and smile before you get back on your journey.
Renew
Have you done something new lately? Tried painting, sung a new song, karaoke perhaps, or even taken a new route though the grocery store. It might seem so simple, yet having a new experience, or even changing up an old experience can lead you to see things in a differrent way. Our eyes, senses, brains are all looking for new ways to see things so give them the experiences they desire. By keeping things fresh we offer ourselves new growth opportunities.
Rekindle
Have you taken a step back, and considered why you do the work you do? Is it just for a paycheck? Is it just a job? Or, have you found your passioin? Or, do you remember why the work you do is your passion? Or, do you need to find a new passion in the work you do? Simply put, your passion should guide your work, and if it doesn’t, take some time to rekindle your passion, or find a new passion in your work, or find new work that you can be passionate about. My dad once said to me, “If you do what you are passionate about you will never work another day in your life.”
Reflect
Upon review It might seem just a bit selfish to consider refreshing, renewing, and rekindling your life, and yet, the practice of reflection is so essential to mindlfulness and growth, and is of paramount importance to self-actualization. For those that don’t take time to reflect they run the risk of self-presumption, and potentially false confirmation that what they have done or are doing is always right. While those that take the time to reflect on their actions, their choices, their thought patterns, and their lives, place themselves in a better place to change things for the better. Remember, reflection doesn’t mean that you have to review everything, and change it all! It simply means that you give yourself time to consider things and determine how you can improve parts of you personal puzzle for self-improvement.
Recharge
Believe me, I am not perfect, and often I am one of those folks that doesn’t give themselves the opportunity to refresh, renew, rekindle or reflect, and I can absolutely feel my batteries getting drained as I drive myself into a rut. I have realized that I find it difficult to sustain a super high energy level with no rest, and I need to be reminded to slow down, take a pit stop, smell the flowers, eat a candy bar, and enjoy it wirh a smooth bottle of red wine.
Remember, it’s okay to give, and give, and give, just understand that its also okay to give yourself some time as well. You will be glad you did.
Dr. Rob Matinez is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, and is a Board of Director for the Association of California School Administratorscan. He can also be followed on twitter as @ResiliencyGuy and as @DrRobM_FSUSD
Take time for self reflection
My wonderful colleagues at ACSA took the time to post my latest piece of writing on the blog for all 17,000 California Educators! What an honor to have them share my thoughts with an amazing collective of educational administrators. Feeling very hubled, grateful, and a bit excited about future possibilities! Thanks ACSA for your dedication to supporting and caring for all of our 600+ million public education students!
Take 3 moments!
Take 3 moments today!
Sometimes I wonder if our days pass too swiftly. We seem to move from one event, issue, problem to solve, to another, without taking any time for reflection, personal assessment, or understanding of the impact of our lives, or the results of our deeds.
Last week on the 25th anniversary of Dan O. Root II Elementary School being opened, where I was fortunate to have served as the principal for two years, assistant principal for two years, and before that, school psychologist for thirteen years going back to 1989, I took a few moments to do just that; reflect, assess, and understand.
Reflection
As I entered the campus I reflected upon the many hundreds of times I had previously walked onto the campus. I reflected upon the literally thousands of IEPs I attended to, to the hundreds of classroom observations I had accomplished, the thousands of conversations with a multitude of people, the many relationships that I had developed and forged, and how I had honed many of my personal and professional skills at this school.
I reflected on how I grew up as a professional educator there, how I had developed into an educational administrator, how I learned so much from the teachers, support staff, parents, and especially the children. I let it sink in that over the course of my 28 years in education two-thirds of my work had been accomplished at this one school. I found myself being grateful, and a bit worrisome as I wondered if I had always gotten it right, knowing that I had indeed made mistakes along the way.
My memories brought me back to the comaraderie of the staff, the commitments we had made early on to support children, the risks we had taken to do it differently, to be cognizant of our effects on children, and to help children know that we were here for them, not ourselves, yet, in the end, we were all benefitting from this symbiotic relationship we called school. I was flooded with emotion thinking about the great times, the difficult ones as well, and the work that we had collectively accomplished over the 25 years with students that walked the halls, grew up, and were now returning to the school with their children. This was a great reflective moment.
Personal Assessment
I made it a priority to personally assess who I have become as a person, the personal and professional me. Again, knowing that I am not without fault, I wanted to gain perspective on the dissonance between the person that I want to be, the person that I think I am, and the person that others believe me to be. I believe that by understanding this dissonance I will be better at melding the three perspectives so that the person I want to be actually shows up for others to see and believe in, and that my actions are aligning with the person I think I am.
Now, not to get too technical, but I reviewed my personal leadership blueprint that was developed with the assistance of the “Flippen group” who conducted a 360 degree review of perspectives of work folks about me. I have also worked to better understand the needs of my family members who often-times take a back seat to those with whom I work for. Lastly, I have taken some time to personnaly consider my career goals, my personal “@ResiliencyGuy” goals, my “Transformational Resiliency” blog, and my next steps to become an inspirational speaker and writer.
Needless to say, there’s a lot on my plate to assess, and the point that I am trying to make is that I’m taking the moments to accomplish that assessment, and to then make actionable steps to accomplish the identified goals based on priorities that I have identified. That assessment will be for another blog as the point I’m trying to make here is that as you pursue your goals, dreams, and successes, take your moment to assess where you are, and consider if others would measure you or see your perspective the same way, and make some choices on how you want to proceed.
Understand the Impact of Your Life
Let me take you back to the Dan O. Root II 25th year celebration for a moment. As I was chumming it up with old friends, a tall slender six-foot young man with a long pony tail came in the door, and made a bee-line towards me. His eyes looked vaguely familiar, and his freckled smile was also striking notes in my memory. As he approached, one of my colleagues from the back said, “Troy Stewart.” I reached out my hand to the young man and said, “Troy, great to see you.” He asked, “You remember me?” I responded “Of course!”
He went on to say that he had stopped by my office over the last year a couple of times but the people he spoke to said I was in meetings, which was probably true. After we chatted for a few minutes about how he has continued with school, was graduating from high school this year, and was really into studying design, and architecture, he said to me, “I remember on the last day of school when you left I was running through the park, and was headed home, when I heard someone calling me, Troy, Troy, Troy!”
He went on, “When I turned around, I saw you at the edge of the school-yard, and I thought to myself, I don’t want to be in trouble on the last day of school, but I still went back, and then you gave me your Dan O. Root II jacket that had the word “STAFF” on it. I still have the jacket hanging in my grandma’s house.” He went on, “You taking the time to give me that jacket, and making me part of the staff, when I was just finishing third grade, made a difference for me. Thank you. Thank you for caring about me.”
I remembered. I remembered bringing my good Dan O. Root II shirts to school because I probably wasn’t going to be using them much after leaving the site, and I remembered giving that jacket to Troy, and quite honestly, I hadn’t thought about that jacket since the day I had given it to Troy, and yet, this one act quite possibly was a small, yet intricate part in saving this boy. I saw Troy again this weekend at his high school graduation, and personnaly congratulated him on his success. I think he is primed to continue his education, and I know that the educators at Dan O. Root II are largely responsible for helping to build his foundation upon which he has grown.
I know this has been a bit of a long blog entry, and yet, I hope that it inspires you to take three moments for you, especially if you are an educator, and your year is coming to an end, which will hopefully lead to a new beginning next school year. Take a moment to reflect, take a moment to personnaly assess, take a moment to understand the impact of your life, and indeed see the successes in the deeds you have accomplished. You deserve it, and those in your world deserve it.
Remember, “Let the measure of our success be seen in the lives we help children live.”
Peace, Rob Martinez, Ed.D., AKA @ResiliencyGuy @DrRobM_FSUSD “Dr. Resiliency”
Recipes For Resilience 