“Scatter your flowers as you go; you will never go this way again.”—Orison Swett Marden
In my occupation, I get to start over every 12 weeks or so—with the start of each new term. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. Terms that do not go as well as planned end in due time. Terms that go very well, however, go very quickly. I have yet to have a “perfect” term. In most cases, I become anxious at the end for the term to start again, so I can correct my many mistakes. (I am never satisfied. Though I think this is a good thing, as I pursue kaizen.)
One of the biggest disadvantages to working on such short cycles is that I have such a very short time to make an impact on my students. This could be the only course I have a student. So, it is my one chance to make a difference. Even if I might have students for subsequent courses, as I often do, this is my one chance to make the current subject come alive.
I wrote a while back about the goal of leaving “everything in this room.” This needs to be our attitude every day—albeit, at times, exhausting (though leaving one with a more “pleasant sense of fatigue”). Scatter your flowers for, as Marden wrote, “you will never go this way again.” Carpe momento! There are no do-overs—no Mulligans—in life. There are countless opportunities—as long as we are alive—to do things better the next time (as we should), but now is not to be taken lightly.
Go forward in each day, grateful for the opportunity, excited to the fresh start, and prepared to give your best effort.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow. Scatter flowers wherever you go. Sow seeds of greatness in the lives you touch. Make your mark and move forward.