Writing the Wrongs

October 18, 2018 / Oskar Cymerman

I’m wrong a lot. I think we all are. I have a hard time admitting it because of pride. But pride never gets me anywhere. It just makes things more difficult and goals more impossible. Then I get angry. And then… I do it all over again.

Sometimes, I’m wrong due to self-righteousness. I convince myself that I know how something should be done or viewed and work too hard to convert others to my point of view.

But the truth is that everyone lives a different life - one filled with their own experiences. So regardless of who my audience is - my students, my colleagues, or my friends - I need to remember to respect and validate their unique life experience and to always respect their choice to accept or reject my views.

Other times I just get it wrong professionally. I get excited about something - a new app or a way to teach. Then I implement it and it bombs. Such feedback calls for analysis.

I also catch myself doing things for wrong reasons. I started blogging and writing thinking that I want to one day make enough money writing to do it full time.

But the truth is that I enjoy writing. It allows me to slow down my mind and to write some of the wrongs - to reflect on my shortcomings and failures and to become a more thoughtful person. I hope that each such reflection helps me improve in some small way. Maybe with time these little improvements can add up to something big but I need to remind myself to be patient.

I also want to help students, parents, teachers, and other professionals with my writing. I get excited every time I create a tool or a resource that helps someone learn, or teach, or gain a skill and that is enough. No amount of money can bring on this excitement.

It is the rare life experiences that have the biggest impact because they break up the routine of the daily grind and help us look at why we do what we do.

A recent Fleetwood Mac concert reminded my wife and I that we don’t make enough time and effort to plan such experiences.

A phone call from an Illinois middle school assistant principal and her student reminded me of the reason I write. She asked me if she can make photocopies of some chapters of one of my books so her teachers can use them in their classrooms. I said yes, as long as it helps kids learn.

It felt right. It felt good.

It was so easy yet it eluded me for so long. But I’m righting this wrong right now through my writing. From now on until forever the e-book (PDF) versions of my education books will be free.

Like them or hate them.

Use them or don’t.

Here they are:

Crush School: Every Student's Guide To Killing It In The Classroom (And Teachers Dig It Too)

Crush School 2: 10 Study Secrets Every High Schooler Should Know

Crush School Student Guide: Learn Faster, Study Smarter, Remember More, and Make School Easier

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Learning Ad Infinitum

October 11, 2018 / Oskar Cymerman

“The ratio of something to nothing is infinite. So just do something.”

— Peter Diamandis

Ad Infinitum, a Chicago-based Death Metal Band formed in 1999. It split-up shortly thereafter. The founders probably intended to play together forever. But nothing lasts forever the saying goes.

Individuals die. Objects perish. But if people and things can’t live forever, can ideas?

No one makes plans to just cross days off their calendar of life and then slip away into nothingness. We strive to leave something behind; to make an impact. We want our ideas to live on. We want them to be significant enough that someone takes notice.

There is no one formula you can apply to find significance. There are many ways to increase your odds but having ideas is an essential part of every such formula. Volume is key - the more ideas of various kinds you generate the more of them will be good enough to share. But you must accept the fact that most of your ideas will be bad so that eventually a few of them will be great.

You must keep the volume up. This is what I keep reminding myself of and keep telling my students. Keep the ideas coming. Write them down. Test a few that seem viable. Ask other people what they think. Figure out the first step you can take to put an idea to life. Invest time not money into this idea. If it doesn’t work you lost nothing but gained everything.

If you created it, got feedback on it, researched about it, tried it, and failed… you learned. You’re getting closer. Even inching forward is moving forward - it beats standing still.

The key is to start coming up with many ideas, try them out, see them bomb, reflect on what happened, learn from it, rinse, and repeat.

Most of your ideas will suck but they will make a big difference. The few that don’t will make all the difference.

Ask your professional self: What are my ideas to improve my process? What am I doing with them?

If the answer is nothing you might be standing still. If you’re okay with that stay as you are. But if want to do something then do something.

This is mostly a pep talk to myself but if you’re at a crossroads and are lost like me it might be helpful to know that quantity is what eventually leads to quality.

So whatever it is you what to do - do it often, ideate with it, experiment with it, reflect on it, keep improving it and getting better at it. Learn Ad Infinitum.

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Hi! I'm Oskar. I teach, write, and speak to make learning better.

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tags / teaching teens, parenting teens, deeper learning, independence, lifelong learning, simplicity, skills, success skills, learning, making life easier, kids