The Cardinal Way

I receive the Daily Discipline emails from Brian Kight every day. Honestly, I read them MOST days, but there are some that I just look at how long or short it is and that's the determining factor of whether I will read it or not. Luckily, I read the message below this past week. It was a good reset and reminder for me both personally and professionally. You see, it's easy to be disciplined with responses when things go the way you planned. It's more difficult when life throws you a few curveballs, but that's when we need to remain focused on our PURPOSE and really think about what RESPONSE will help us get there with the OUTCOME we desire.

"Life is an endless flow of events. That's one of the early fundamental understandings of E+R=O (Event + Response = Outcome). Events never stop. We are always living through the unfolding events of the day, environment, and era in which we live, none of which we control. When we are gone, events will continue.

Events are indifferent to our opinions of them. Events affect us, but they are unconcerned with our preferences, our expectations, or how prepared we are for them. They just keep coming.

Opinions, preferences, and expectations may be central to your life, but reality doesn't consider that. Events are what they are and happen as they happen, no matter what opinion you have of them.

The important thing is not your opinion of an event but your response to it. This is a difficult emotional hurdle for some people. Events you prefer and prepare for may be worth understanding, but once actual events unfold, the reality of th event trumps whatever expectations you had. There is only what happens, not what you expect or prefer to happen. Your responsibility is to respond well and with discipline to whatever happens and not drop your discipline when you don't like the events you're experiencing.

The weak and undisciplined person blames and complains when events deviate from their expectations or don't align with their preferences. The strong and disciplined person focuses on responding well to events as they are, wasting no energy worrying about events that never happened."

So when things deviate from what we expect, let's Ignite, Connect, and Empower each other!

• Our students, parents, staff, and coaches who attended the first PTSA and AABC meetings this past Tuesday and who plan ways to support our students, staff and school community. The next meetings are on Tuesday, September 12th at 6pm in the Cardinals Nest.
• All of our staff members who volunteer to sponsor a club and/or activity at SHS. This Wednesday was our first club meeting iPass and it was amazing to see so many students connecting with each other!
• Our band, athletic department and grounds for working through logistics together so SHS could host the Spirit of Atlanta (a top 15 marching band in the world) this past week. Not only was it a beneficial experience for our students, but the group also donated $1,000 per day to support the SHS band program.

Website: https://www.perryschools.org/sh/
Location: 971 East Banta Road, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone: 317-789-4800
Twitter: @SHS_Cardinals