While reading What Kindergartner Teachers Know, I have a task: create a statement, my teaching philosophy.
“My house will always be open for learning and closed for yelling and discrimination. I want an environment that shows my kids that education is very important and that it can also be fun and enjoyable.”
Discipline, discipline, discipline. I am just not going to accomplish what I need if I don’t do what I need to do. I am a creature of habit and I easily give in. I cannot do that. I need to stay disciplined. I need to be aggressive in learning.
I still watch tv in the morning. I wake up at 5:30 now. Is this good? It’s an improvement! I had a hard time waking up at this time. So this week it’s time to take it up a notch and stop watching TV in the morning. At least so it’s not the first thing in the morning.
I am constantly running out of time. And that’s not good. I have a lot of ideas. I have a lot of learning that I want to do. I have the motivation. Now I have to find the time!
One thing that I am always forgetting, or I should say not remembering enough, is design patters. Mostly GoF, but others as well. I know a few right from the top of my head, like Singleton, Observer, Template Method, Factory, and maybe 2 others. There are 23. Do I need to say more. So what I want to do is refresh my mind again. And do it on a level so I really learn it. By that, I mean document my knowledge on my blog. I plan on doing that by creating a new series. I will then write a blog post about it.
If this series is successful, I can then do something similar for SOLID and other patterns. I think this might be real fun and a great learning experience.
To jest mój nowy pomysł! Zawsze chciałem żeby moje potomstwo (narazie mam dwóch chłopców, 4 miesiące jeden, 4 lata drugi) umiało się posługiwać językiem polskim. Nie tylko mówić, ale też czytać i pisać. Wiem że to nie jest i nie będzie łatwe. Ale też wiem że będzie pożyteczne. No i mam determinacje!
Czytając książkę 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child, którą bardzo polecam, pomyślałem, fajnie by było połączyć się z innymi takimi rodzinkami. Wiem jedno: naszym celem jest nauczenie dwójki synów języka polskiego.
Po co mi ta strona? Głównie po to żeby dzielić się z innymi moimi pomysłami, ale też czerpać od innych informacje, prowadzić dyskusje, itd.
Goal for today was to wake up at 5:30 and not go back to sleep. Done that. Another goal was to spend a good chunk of my free time in the morning on dev improvement. Not so happy with that result. I have to keep forcing myself to do the things that make me uncomfortable. Yes, I have to keep doing them. I get instant reward for not doing anything. But later on, I don’t get rewarded. Or, I think this is something like that: you might get results later on for hard work, but you get instant results for not doing anything. 🙂
Do I have the motivation to do the things that I want to do? I think that’s the question that I need to ask and keep asking myself. Right now, the answer is: depends. Depends on how I feel on that day. I need a little bit more discipline.
Wasting time is a very big thing for me. I easily waste a lot of time doing things that are not important. I easily get distracted. Not the best thing to do.
I need to do manage my time better. Much better.
Yesterday, I said that I will start waking up at 5:30am and no TV in the morning. I followed up and delivered today. No TV in the morning. It’s tempting. I would love to see and check out what’s going on. But when I do that, I don’t get to read my motivational things, like quotes, like my kindle.
I need to force myself to do the things that are not comfortable for me. This is going to be a challenge. A real one. A really, really big one. But I can do that. Why? Because it’s good for me. It’s what I NEED to do. And it’s great to change things up and do the things that make me better.
I think I have the tools required to do it. I think I have the motivation to do it. That’s who I am. That’s why I have been successful in my professional life. I have been moving up every year. I have been learning a lot every year. I need to keep doing that.
Fabian
My son Fabian is not listening. He is playing tough with my wife. She doesn’t have a lot of control over him. I think he needs to be kept on a short leash. I know it’s tough. I have to learn a lot. My wife has to learn a lot as well. I keep telling her daily. I found a few books that should help me. I need to read them. I also need to document what I learn so I can remember and apply it later on, if need to.
One thing I told my wife today is that she shouldn’t always start with a NO. She should set some rules and then rewards based on whether he does them. If not, still reward others. Also, after she sees that he did something right, compliment and reward him! It’s a work in progress.
OK, I have wasted enough time already. My wife is gone for over a week now. I am still having hard time to go to sleep at a right time. I am still not waking up at the right time.
Time to change that.
Tomorrow is the first day. There is really no excuses. Sure, things have been a bit different since my wife and my 2 sons left. But it’s time that I put my free time to good use.
Starting from today, I have a simple rule. Go to sleep before 10. If I go to sleep after 11, sure, then I might have to adjust my time, but I don’t see why I should be going to sleep that late.
I wake up at 5:30 am.
What do I do then? No TV at the start. I can read some quotes. I can read some motivation stuff. I could actually read my kindle in the morning during breakfast.
After that, I want to read for at least an hour dev related stuff. My goal for the 2 months is learn Algorithms and learn Hibernate on a deep level. I also want to deepen my dev knowledge.
I know I wanted to start working on the project. I think that’s 2nd in priority. Actually learning, reading, and spending some good quality time on practice is my #1 priority.
I know it’s easy to just start reading FB, twitter, etc. That’s comfortable. But that’s exactly what I should NOT be doing. Really. Stas, do the things that make you uncomfortable. That’s how I can grow.
I need to shake things up. I don’t want to waste time. That’s not me.
I am getting back to the right focus on my blogs. I have written a few entries in my Investing Notebook. I see some action there. I still need to write some more for Pragmatic Cratsman, and more for the Lifelong Learner. But I don’t want to just write because I have to. I want to write because I have something to share.
There is another thing that I want to learn and master: digital photography. I found a few excellent resources that I will read. I think it’s going to help me understand some real basics. I need to do that if I want to improve my skill. I need to get the basics right. Maybe then I can buy a better camera.
I am really not sure what to talk about during our Toastmasters meeting tonight. I have some ideas. But of course, I’m doubting myself. Should I talk about competing against yourself? I feel like I already talked about it.
I think I know how to start. I’ll talk about Coach Wooden and the book I’m reading now. It’s called “Wooden” and he shares his lessons that he learned throughout the great career that he had. It’s a great book. I should bring it with me to the meeting.
One interesting thing the coach raises is that he never talked to his team about winning. He always stressed something else: give your best. And then whether he won or lost, he would judge the outcome whether he felt that he’s given the best he has. Same thing in Toastmasters. We should not be competing against anybody. We have people at different levels. Some might be better, some might be worse. It doesn’t matter. But we should be asking ourself constantly: am we giving all that we have? Have I done my best. If not… things have to be changed.
