Coach's Corner
YOU MUST BELIEVE YOU CAN…
By Coach Frank Sagasta
WEALTH IS WHAT YOU DON’T SEE
No Stinkin’ THINKIN’ - The class of tomorrow — in the 21st Century.
If I could find a time-machine, I’d go back in time to the spring of 2019 and give the best advice and/or recommendation to my sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade classes. I would say: READ, REMEMBER, RETAIN, RECALL, & REFLECT. Oh…and I’d tell them never to forget that time and information are the greatest commodity of value. So, don’t waste it, because doing those things in 2020 was about to get more complicated mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.
Welcome… to the class of tomorrow!
I highly recommend teaching yourself and your children about this beautiful soul — Dr. Albert Schweitzer a Nobel Prize recipient.
Not long ago, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the great Doctor and Nobel Prize winner was being interviewed in London and a reporter (Sir Joshua Reynolds) asked him, “Doctor, what’s wrong with men today?” Dr. Albert Schweitzer echos Sir Reynold’s sentiments with an answer to a question posed to him within that hall in 1952. He simply replied: “Men simply don’t think.” That question was rather good, but the answer was absolutely extraordinary and so impactful even in the 21st Century.
Over the course of six years, I have read well over 350 books. Some say; that’s dumb or why do you waste your time? And was it worth it? Simple minded as my grandmother would say from time to time. As I continue on the journey of self-education or professional development. I have never seen nor heard words pierce the heart and brand of mind so deep like those of Doctor Albert Schweitzer. And yet, those still resonate within my mind today.
In fact, a student soon to be scholar asked me a question just this week. And it was similar to Sir Reynolds.
Student: “Coach Sagasta…what deplete you?”
I thought for a moment…Wow! Now that is a great question indeed. In the short brevity, I wondered why she’d ask me that question. Then I quickly answered my own question, well who else would she ask! The answer flashed into my mind.
Coach: “I am depleted, when I see the number of individuals who don’t take time to think or read.”
All twenty-seven students were silent. I can hear their breathing and the cool air blowing past my ear from the air conditioning. I can only prematurely think that many didn’t quite understand. So, I restated the answer or my thought. I said: “It breaks my heart to see the effects of too much screen time today. It breaks my heart that many students today aren’t passionate about their future. And worse, some teachers, parents and/or guardians aren’t either
I have been in this field of education for twelve years. And yet, I have watched the culture change as well as the habits of learning change. Empathy has been replaced by emptiness and courage has been replaced for cowardly. Over the last thirty days of instructing and coaching there is no expedient to which a person no matter the level of age or education will not resort, to avoid the real labour of thinking. It is absolutely obvious even to the uneducated person that refuses to think for themselves and buries their head in the sand like the ostrich. That today, in the 21st-century many adolescents and adults are cognitively absent. As Dr. Schweitzer simply replied: “Men simply don’t think.”
The aim of this short blog is in 2021 to regularly take time to reflect and think on the important matters in your personal and business life. That’s right… to schedule time in your calendar — send an invitation to yourself to reflect and think on a specific matter. With all the distractions in life today, we need this as adolescents and adults. Even just 20 minutes of concentrated thinking or reflecting can be truly beneficial and of value to you NOW and for the FUTURE.
YOUR ONLY LIMIT IS YOU!
Thank you,
Coach Frank Sagasta
Husband, Father, Education Leader, and Sports Coach
Bullhead City, Arizona
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