JUSTIN ROGERS

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Getting inspired

We all have a way in

February 6, 2026

The fact that you’re a human being means you have a way in.

Early on as a teacher I’d easily feel out of my depth when teaching things I didn’t have all the answers to. We get hypnotised in the culture to believing that we have to be experts.

More often than not, we don’t need to wear that responsibility. We just need a way in.

In acting, we’re encouraged to find truth in the imagined circumstances of a character. One of my teachers Miranda Harcourt calls this ‘make it true for you’. The text talks about a cousin? Build an internal reality of that person.

Make it true for you is the secret to finding confidence when we feel out of our depth in other arenas too.

I don’t know about drums and I can’t play the drums. So I have not connection to them right? No way to make it true for me?

Well I’d say the fact that I can’t play the drums is a relationship to the drums. I know what drums are. I had a friend at high school who played the drums. I’ve always liked that drum solo by Phil Collins.

I suddenly have found my way in.

No matter what we bring ourselves to, in any arena, we always have the ability to make it true for ourselves.

Education is about connection. So finding that connection to any material we teach is vital.

Make it true for you and you’ll have a never ending source of connection.

The lucky ones

February 2, 2026

We all have rules whether we know them or not.

We have rules for what has to happen for us to feel successful, to have fun or to feel appreciated.

A good way of finding your rules is to ask yourself: “What has to happen in order for me to feel ____”

And put any desired state in there…

To feel appreciated, for instance you might have to be told you’re awesome, or you might need people to see the work you’ve done and know how long it took you. Or you might be one of the lucky ones who just need to look at themselves in the mirror and smile to feel appreciated.

I say ‘lucky ones’… but the truth is, we’re in charge of our rules.

There’s nothing that says you can’t feel successful every time you take 5 minutes to be grateful.

There’s no rule that says you can’t feel deeply valued every time you show someone else they are deeply valued.

We’re the bosses, y’all. We get to choose the rules.

And while we’re at it, we might as well set ourselves and others up to win.

Outcomes by accident

January 28, 2026

Whether consciously or not, we all have outcomes as teachers.

And depending on the day, they will be of varying qualities. If I’m a bit hungry and tired, in the middle of a school day my outcome might be “To get through this in one piece”

On a better day, my outcome might be “To light these kids up and get them excited about this lesson”

Taking a second state my outcome is always a good idea. We’re all here to do a job and it’s too important to let outcomes be left to chance and to be decided by the whim of your biochemistry or mood.

What is your outcome for your work today?

Happy new year :)

December 31, 2025

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when it comes to reflecting on the year that’s past.

You want to do justice to what’s been, gather the lessons and plan ahead to the new year.

It’s a big task- so sometimes simple is best. Here are two simple questions that have helped me when doing a massive review is a bit much.

1)What were my favourite times of this past year?

      List all the times you were having fun, or felt at your best. Write lots down, both broad snapshots in life and specific moments, get it all down.

      2)What are the commonalities?

        What are the few things that these experiences had in common?

        I.e Being in a new location, working fast and hard on a project, being around people you love and trust… etc

        You’ve simultaneously looked at what you loved from the past year and are building an awesome year ahead.

        Happy new year 🙂

        So. Can. You.

        December 30, 2025

        If they can you can.

        We’d do well to remember that if someone else has gotten a result, that means we can do that too.

        There may well be exceptions to this rule, but why focus on the exceptions?

        If there’s a belief that serves you, you might as well believe it.

        “Yeah but that person is really tall”

        Or

        “Yeah but they’ve got years on me.”

        Or

        “Yeah but I live in the wrong place”

        Sure, if you look you’ll find the exceptions to any rule. And the exceptions are also handy to let us off the hook.

        It’s much risker to choose to believe that if they can you can.

        Don’t let yourself off the hook. What do you want? Has someone else done it?

        Great.

        So. Can. You.

        Print it out

        December 29, 2025

        In a world of screens and never ending interfaces we are faced with an infinity of blank pages if we need it.

        Your writing is at the top of the google doc, and below it is a sea of white pages deeper than that trench who’s name I can’t spell (Marinara? Mayo-nana? Sriracha?)

        The ‘never ending blank’ offers us endless new beginnings which is awesome.

        And it also offers us… endless new beginnings which is awful.

        I feel I’ve just hacked the system. To edit a short video script to day, I did away with my computer entirely. I printed the draft out.

        Printed.

        Yes on real life paper I can write on with a pen or pencil and that the beetroot from my lunch can stain- yeah that kind of paper.

        It was glorious. Suddenly I was an artist again. A worker. My thoughts had real weight in the world. My scribbled notes reflected the messy and quick thoughts in my head.

        There comes a point where we need to get out of the interface of a screen and just hold the blimmin’ thing in our hands.

        When in doubt, print it out.

        See it to see it

        December 25, 2025

        Visions work the same as film scripts.

        To see it… you have to SEE it.

        In order to realise the production of a feature film, the screenwriter has to build the script page by page. Each word adding to the tapestry. The script is a written vision.

        “Here, this is what it will look like.”

        Years before the projector shines the the magical lights of a movie on the silver screen, the movie existed only in someones head.

        And it was just as vivid as you’re seeing at the cinema.

        Before anything exists it first has to be a crystal clear vision.

        To see it in real life, you have to see it in your head first.

        Don’t skimp on the script. See it first, so we can too.

        Do and be

        December 23, 2025

        Here’s a frame to set abstract outcomes succesfully.

        An abstract outcome is what I call something that doesn’t necessarily have a finite beginning or ending. Want to enjoy a day with the family? Have a restful day? Feel like a cool uncle?

        These are all abstract and so they require a frame that pulls them from the abstract into something you can action while not necessarily being able to measure or quantify them

        1. What do you want to do?

        Stealing from the actors’ methodology of objective and action, have a think about what it is you want to do.

        -I want to make my mum feel special.

        -I want to make my niece feel heard.

        -I want my friend to feel inspired.

        These could qualify as objectives for an actor to play in a scene. And if they’re good enough for an actor they are good enough for you! They say a good objective for an actor should have it’s test in the other person. Said another way, is your objective set up in such a way that allows you to, at any moment, use your senses to ascertain how successful you are in your pursuit? This is what keeps actors active and it can do the same for you too.

        1. Who do you want to be?

        This one is less useful for actors, but super useful to you. The strongest force in human psychology is to remain consistent with our identity. So choose the identity you will live into. I will be a loving son. I will be a strong partner. I will be a playful prince. What ever is is for you! When we are intentional about who we are being when we show up, we are far more likely to act in congruence with it when we pursue our outcome.

        So using the frame we put the two together.

        “I will make my mum feel heard and be a loving son.”

        Or

        “I will light my students up and be a master of ceremonies”

        -What you want to do?

        -Who you want to be?

        When the outcome isn’t clear cut, see if this fit instead.

        The worst and the favourite

        December 22, 2025

        Here’s a game, make your least favourite thing the favourite thing.

        What is something you’ve been avoiding? What is a task or activity that either completely bores you or you may even dread?

        Would you be interested in changing that? Okay, here are some questions for you…

        -What would you have to do to that experience to make it your favourtie thing?

        -How would you have to picture it?

        -What would you change about the way you approach it?

        -What would you have to believe about what it’s giving you?

        -In what ways could it be fun?

        -What about it actually benefits you?

        -How could you make the worst part of it actually the most interesting or fun part?

        Most people don’t want to do what it takes to get where they want to go. Life get’s pretty interesting if we can make the undesirable and necessary things unbelievably easy and fun for ourselves.

        I’d say that’s an advantage worth working for, wouldn’t you?

        Take time to make time

        December 16, 2025

        There’s a super persistent myth I fight with every day.

        It says that I’m better off to push through on the work I’m doing than to take a break or a walk.

        In my head, the walk is lost time. Time I would be much better off investing that time in my work.

        The trouble is sometimes pushing through leads to diminishing returns.

        While it seems obvious that continuing to work gives you more time on the work, taking the walk gives you more quality on the work.

        I fight myself every day and when I do end up taking the walk, I’m inevitably hit with new ideas, distinctions and ways forward that I otherwise wouldn’t have seen.

        To get time we have to give time.

        Take the walk, Justin!

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