Thursday, January 28, 2010

doing small things great

We look around a room and see someone in an amazing pose and think "I want to be like that." We hear of a friend going on an amazing trip and think "I want to do that." We see a colleague at work get honored for their achievement and wonder "how do I do that." It is so easy to get caught up in the idea of doing great things or being the best at something that we can loose site of our priorities and the actual joy in doing.

I have been teaching for a few months now and am loving it. Each week gets better and I become more comfortable. I took a class with one of my favorite teachers the other day and was marveling at "how great" she was and wishing I could be like that. I started to compare myself and think about all the things I wasn't doing that she was doing. I then came across the following quote and it helped me re-align my focus.

We can't always do great things, we can do small things great.


As I pondered this quote I realized I didn't need to be great. I didn't need to be the best teacher. I needed to focus on the small things that I could do great while teaching a class which in the end would make the experience great. As I taught class last night I focused my energy on doing these small things with greatness and love. The energy put into the small things made the entire bigger experience - GREAT.