Honored to Speak at The National Conference for the Consortium of State School Boards Associations, Tampa, Florida
It was an honor to speak at The National Conference for the Consortium of State School Boards Associations last weekend in Tampa, Florida.
National Conferences are particularly inspiring because of the opportunity for people across the nation to share, inspire and network solutions to our greatest challenges.
This conference was memorable because I co-presented with my superintendent, Pat Adkins. Our presentation highlighted the great work our district’s staff is doing at Port Clinton Schools. Pat led the presentation and absolutely inspired our audience with the amazing initiatives happening in our district. Our title was “Safe, Healthy and Learning! How Leaders Can Prioritize and Implement Solutions to Improve the Safety and Wellness of Students, Staff and Family as a Crucial Component of On-Going Learning.” Click to Read More
In this presentation we highlighted the amazing work being led by our teachers, guidance counselors, nurses, SROs, principals, assistant principals, administration, board, leadership teams, and truly EVERYONE in our district. We believe everyone in our district is a leader and has the opportunity to lead. We highlighted leadership examples from our custodial, busing, and maintenance teams as well.
We are a district that embraces the lifelong journey of learning and improving. We know we don’t have all of the solutions, but we are proud of what we are doing and the journey we are on! We are on a mission of continuous improvement of culture, care, academics, and service to all. We love opportunities like COSSBA to share and celebrate our staff and accomplishments.
The COSSBA conference was also an amazing opportunity to learn from others!
I really enjoyed listening and learning from speaker Chuck Underwood on Generational Studies that can help us work better with colleagues and help us teach and learn among different generations. He shared his four truths and lots of research and examples to help us develop strategies when working with people from other generations. I am going to read his book, America’s Generations in the Workplace, Marketplace, and Living Room! The focus is learning people’s values and how they make decisions. Good stuff. You can see my sketch note of his presentation over on my Instagram post about the conference. (I shared the animated sketch notes out via Twitter during the conference, and I was propositioned by a representative of a corporation at the conference to sketch note their upcoming conference. Hmmmm.)
I also enjoyed Amy Blankson’s presentation on Fearless Positivity. She addressed the misuse and tackled the accurate definition of ‘toxic positivity.’ (In short ‘toxic positivity’ is malicious in intent or woefully unempathetic. It is not the accidental byproduct of someone trying to do well and help others.) I really liked her research supporting that positivity leads to greater success for individuals, families, organizations and, well… anyone! Positivity even makes you live longer. I am adding her book, The Future of Happiness, to my reading list.
I also learned a great deal from breakout sessions on a variety of initiatives schools across the country are implementing. It is great to hear about the most innovative implementations from schools across America. I am leaving very inspired and with lots of ideas to share with my colleagues.
Even though we were in doors a lot, it was great to experience some nice weather too. Always a challenge to be away from family, especially during spring break, but we are passionate about teaching and learning.
I am blessed and thankful for opportunities to learn and to speak and share!
Prioritize this takeaway: I believe every single person in education has something awesome to share with others at a conference or on a podcast, or a blog, and I think they should be doing it! If not outside their organization, then in it. We are better when we get together, share and collaborate! Education is not going to accidentally improve; education gets better when better ideas are shared, prioritized, and executed. I hope this post inspires YOU to share at a conference the great things going on in your school or organization!
Always forward,
Kelly
I am a professional speaker, and I would like to speak at your event.
A few years ago I added an important ingredient to my annual planning and goal setting process, the ‘my one word for the year’ theme made popular by writers Jon Gordon, Dan Britton and Jimmy Page in their book, One Word That Will Change Your Life.
The concept from the book is that the properly chosen word can summarize our goals and resolutions for the entire year into a single word. A single word allows focus, simplicity, determination, and according to the authors, a greater percentage of success than just making a list. I however do both.
Their book guides you through a helpful process centering around three questions:
What is needed? What’s in my way? What must go?
I have improvised my own method of getting to my own word that works well for me. My method centers around the guidance in the book, my journaling, a deep reflection on the previous year, and listing words that I believe are suitable and choosing among them.
In previous years I have selected such words as: fit, earn, and simplify. The year I chose “fit” my thinking was that my word should center around physical and financial fitness. Fit to serve my family and my colleagues. Mentally fit to take on challenges and stress. The year I chose “earn” it was in similar thinking. Earn the rights to the titles I have in my life as a father, husband, work title, as well as the titles in my life I wish I had, like bestseller, international speaker, among others. I was also thinking along the lines of ‘earn’ the right to run a race, earn the vacation, earn the things I want in my life. The year I chose “simplify” is the year I believe things really changed because I started to think about an improved approach to doing things. The word simplify offered a new approach to life’s tasks; I was to keep things simple and therefore anything could be started and worked on. (Now that I think of it, one year I had the word “Finish” as my word for the year, and that was the year I published Unthink Before Bed, my children’s book on mindfulness and anxiety.) I think you can understand how the one word works from the examples above quite well. It’s living the word in your mind and actions.
This year I believe I have chosen the perfect ‘my one word’ for the year 2023. As I look back at quite a few years and examine what has been missing from my life, and where things went wrong, and what I really need to do to live a good life, I wrote down a good quarter of a page of words that would serve me well, but one word truly stood out and summed up all that I need to do.
My one word for 2023 is the word “ENJOY” because that is truly what I need in my life. While I am fun onstage, in my writing, and certainly have fun with coworkers and family, quite often in my thinking, planning, execution, and alone time, I become a little too serious. Hey, these are not easy to share and confess, but it’s true. This is probably the biggest area I need to work on. I have a bad habit of overthinking and over planning. So, 2023 is going to be the year of ENJOY.
I will:
ENJOY a workout (rather than demand a rigid and formal routine.)
ENJOY my job (rather than stress over what needs to get finished.)
ENJOY the moment (rather than being worried about the past or being anxious about the future.)
ENJOY starting the day (rather than beginning with anxiety).
ENJOY being me (rather than worry about what others think.)
ENJOY my family (rather than trying to do a multitude of tasks all the time.)
ENJOY life.
You get it.
I like the verb of enjoy over the noun of enjoyment. I can only control what I do. I can try.
I’m really excited about my one word, and I can share that in these first 15 days, while they haven’t been perfect, I have noticed a real change in every area. I’m not hyper focused on consistency but rather what I can do in the present moment. My focus is on the now rather that past or future. When I experience a feeling I don’t like, I literally do a recalibration and examine my one word in the moment. “How can I enjoy this task, this moment, this challenge or this time?” It’s working.
My one word for the year, or even previous years, may be of help to you, take it, but I recommend you choosing your one word with intention and reflection, if you like and choose this approach. Your one word needs to serve you, uniquely. You may need a more militant word where I at this point in my life need a softer and kinder word.
I enjoyed sharing these thoughts with you and hope they serve you on your journey to designing and living a better life.
I hope you give the one word of the year a spin and leave your thoughts in the comments below.
This twenty-third episode of The Future Focused Podcast is the start of our second season. This episode focuses on The Four Essential Actions of Leadership.
Eleven minutes and forty seconds of pure “let’s level-up our leadership and design a dynamic lifestyle.” Buckle-up as I share the absolute transformational power of The Four Essential Actions of Leadership. They’ll take you to the next level, but be cautioned: these actions take practice, courage, and skill, and our best developed over time with reflection . The first action is so easy, but the other three are tough, and the fourth separates leaders from everyone else.
You are going to love this episode. It’s note-taking worthy. Share it out, replay, recommend, and subscribe.
I also hope you will consider my book Along Came a Leader as a gift for yourself, a colleague, and administrator, and a family member this holiday season. It’s available on Amazon. It was a work of love. I am so proud of it. Level-up your leadership. Discover the 8 core attributes of leadership and how to put them work to impact lives and lead. We need leaders. If you’ve already read it, I hope you will leave a review.
I also encourage you to follow me on Instagram between now and Christmas Day because I am sharing lots of my artwork. I am drawing a Santa Claus every day and posting the speed-painting video of me drawing it, which is so much fun to watch, alongside the art. You can only find it on my Instagram.
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Looking for a dynamic speaker for your event? • Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. Want to learn more? Send me an email. • Sign-up for Kelly’s Newsletter. Listen to Kelly’s other podcast The Wired Educator Podcast with over 121 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Order Kelly’s book, Along Came a Leader for your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook. • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter. • Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram
I love to read. I’m one of those people that has more books than I have time, yet I always reserve a portion of my day for reading. Reading is my workout for my brain.
I have a stack of books that I am looking forward to reading later, a list I am reading now, a wish-list of books to checkout and I am always adding to my “books to read” list in my journal from the recommendations of friends and people I admire.
I am thankful for my middle school English teacher, Mrs. Romick for providing me with a list of books that made me fall in love with reading. I am thankful for my mother for being a great model of the importance of reading. I am thankful for my father for surrounding me with good books. Books change lives.
I wanted to share with you a list of books that I believe are life-changers. I have read every one and recommended them to others many, many times. Perhaps you can add them to your list or order a copy as a gift for a friend. Books are wonderful.
Here is a list of some of the most influential books in my life: Click to Read More
I also hope you will consider adding my book, Along Came a Leader, to your list too. Maybe you can add it to your “cart” the next time you are shopping on Amazon.
Fred 2.0 by Mark Sanborn is the followup to his New York Times Bestseller, The Fred Factor. The Fred Factor was about providing extraordinary service, inspired by Mark’s postal carrier, Fred. The book was incredibly successful and I recommended it in my review to be included on every leaders’ bookshelf. The archetype of leadership Sanborn created in Fred served as a role model for leaders of all ages.
Sanborn is back with Fred 2.0: New Ideas on How to Keep Delivering Extraordinary Results. I proud to recommend this book to all leaders and anyone wanting to make their life more successful. Fred 2.0 is not just an updated version of his original work, it is a standout work of its own with more lessons on how to create extraordinary experiences for those your work with and lead.
Mark expounds on the four original “Fred” principles:
• Everybody can make a difference.
• Relationships are vital.
• It’s possible to add value in every area.
• You can keep reinventing yourself.
I work with leaders in education, business, families and various organizations, and Fred 2.0 has inspiring ideas for all.
The archetype of service leadership depicted by Fred the mailman is timeless because we understand it is obtainable by all. Whether we are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, a seventh grade English teacher, a high school athlete hoping to become the captain of the team, or a husband and father trying to better connect and serve with his family, Fred 2.0 provides wonderful ideas on making an extraordinary difference.
In my art presentations and talks I talk about turning a mess into a masterpiece and making experiences in the classroom and business meaningful and memorable. Mark takes this concept even further and I love the stories he uses to emphasis his point on why we want to make ordinary jobs extraordinary. Mark offers us so many wonderful take-aways!
Read Fred 2.0 and allow Mark Sanborn help you to find your passion, invigorate your creativity, and inspire you to add your personal and memorable touch to all that you do. As Sanborn reminds us, being a Fred is about what we do, but rather, how we do it, and the person who benefits most from being a Fred is you.
I would love to see a copy of Fred 2.0 in every classroom, home, and business office because everything in the book is doable and will really make a difference. I can only imagine what the world might be like if we were all striving to make meaningful connections and experiences for each other. When we are at our best, we are being a Fred.
If you want to make an impact in the lives of others and fully embrace and utilize all that you can as a leader, you will want to pick up and read a copy of Fred 2.0.
I found Fred 2.0 inspiring and full of great ideas to help me deliver extraordinary results in many areas of my life. Add this to your bookshelf and visit Mark Sanborn’s website.