Beliefs

No prizes for stubborness

March 18, 2026

Do you follow rules that no longer matter?

Last year I set a goal for myself to act every day- and the way I did that was by daily making a little video and posting it.

And I did it. Yay!

But the interesting thing was, somewhere along the way I disconnected from the actual outcome.

I set myself the ‘rule’ that I had to post something every day. And so I stuck to that rule religiously.

But in so doing, I lost sight of what I really wanted to be doing: creating something of value that I loved and that other people could love to.

So instead of noticing that and shifting my approach, I stuck to the rule.

So I’m very mindful now of getting rid of that which no longer serves me.

Am I following this rule because I’m too stubborn to change?

Or is it still taking me where I want to go?

Don’t continue to do something just because you said you would…

Each day you learn more and get closer to knowing what it actually is that you want.

And your previous decisions and commitments may not serve the updated picture.

Don’t be stubborn. Be flexible.

Choosing, not waiting

March 16, 2026

What if freedom wasn’t a thing you had to work toward one day having, but it was a choice?

I suppose the first step is deciding what freedom means to you. For me, I defined freedom as not having all my time taken by checking emails or messages.

So instead of waiting till that magical day when somehow I’d outsourced my emails and messages… I just decided to check them less.

I created a structure around when I would check these things. I check social media on a Wednesday and I check email twice a day.

Instead of hours dripping away minute by minute across the days because I was repeatedly and constantly checking these things, I was spending concentrated time blocks on them.

Now I have that ‘freedom’ I was after, and I didn’t have to wait.

What if you didn’t have to wait, but just had to choose?

How you do anything is how you do everything

March 13, 2026

If you just throw your clothes on the floor or leave your dishes in the sink that extra night, what is that communicating to yourself?

It’s saying “this doesn’t really matter.”

And in some ways maybe it doesn’t matter. A little mess here, forgetting about something there…

But what happens when we want to do an outstanding job at something?

We can’t just ‘turn on’ our best work. If you are mostly throwing things aside and forgetting about the details, do you really think you’re suddenly going to be impeccable?

If you want to be outstanding, you have to be outstanding.

How do you do your dishes to your best standard? What is it like to take world class care of your things?

If you want to be outstanding, you have to be outstanding.

Does making learning fun trivialise the learning?

March 7, 2026

There’s a belief I’ve battled with in the past that if we make learning fun, it undercuts the seriousness of the subject.

Whenever I have an internal conflict like this I always come back to outcome. What is this really about? What are we trying to do?

Well with the learning I deliver, my big bold outcome is to bring it to life for the kids. Words can also betray us a bit here, because you hear a word like ‘fun’ and that might conjure images of a hectic classroom, a ball bouncing off a window and no one listening to each other.

So maybe the word ‘fun’ isn’t the right word.

What I’m really looking for is life.

There is life in a kid’s eye when they are transfixed by a giant digger doing construction next door. There is life in their eye when they notice an adult is in a bad mood. And there is indeed life when they are learning something they love.

The only thing that can trivialise learning is a trivial intention.

If you’re looking to make ‘fun’ of something, yeah you’re probably going to be a bit disrespectful.

If you’re looking to bring something to life, though? Well now you’re playing a game I like. And there are a million and one ways to bring something to life. There are quiet ways, big ways, busy ways and gentle ways.

Let’s take seriously our job to create vibrant, living connections to the learning we share.

That sounds fun to me

It’s all relative.

March 4, 2026

Your worst day could be someone else’s best day. An ‘average’ win for you now was once life changing.

What was once a dream may well now be your reality.

It’s all relative to our perspective. So with that being the case, we’d do well to pick a perspective that empowers us, right?

Ouch, growing!

February 28, 2026

Isn’t it a wonderful trick of the universe that growth requires resistance?

For a muscle to grow, it needs to meet something that is too heavy.

As teachers, the hardest days are the ones that form us.

As actors, the hardest audiences make us the strongest.

It’s easy to say this, of course. But it really counts when you’re in it. And if you’re in it. Know that you are growing.

Quality Time

February 24, 2026

Quality time is time spent on good things.

Quality time could be 5 minutes.

Quality time is also turning ordinary time into durations that feel more productive. I find that an hour of uninterrupted work can feel hellishly unproductive. But if, in the middle of the hour, I go for a 5 minute walk or have a stretch break, the time (which is now shorter) feels much better,

We can transform the feeling of time with what we surround it with.

How do you turn ordinary time into extraordinary time?

Frames

February 19, 2026

Film makers use frames to tell a story.

Painters use them to contain their window into another world.

Architects use them to direct our gaze

And we get to use them to dictate how we feel and what we do.

What frame do you want to put on this experience? What story do you want to tell yourself?

Change your frame, change your life.

The true joy in life

February 18, 2026

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

George Bernard Shaw

Stories

February 17, 2026

Humans love stories.

We use them to make sense of the world around us.

The danger here is we can make stories that don’t serve us.

‘I’m not smart enough to do this’

‘It’ll never work out for me’

‘I can’t do that because I’m too (insert quality of choice)’

These are just stories. Yes, stories are helpful to help us make sense, to have a beginning, a middle and an end.

But if we tell the wrong story, we can find ourselves in the final chapters feeling unfulfilled.

We can choose our stories, so might as well pick a good one.

JUSTIN ROGERS

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