My misses of 2017....you are not alone!

I have noticed this week my inbox filled with lovely year-end achievements of my peers for 2017 and I sincerely congratulate them all. For me, 2017 stretched and challenged me in every way.I tried so many new things that did not work out but you know what... they have all contributed to this version of myself that is the best one yet;-) Here are just a few of my flops and revelations this year:

My Meditation Program in TnT schools was not successful.

The videos of anger being curbed, curiosity and focus improving, etc. grabbed me. I jumped in to test mediation in TnT schools and jails. However, I did not take the time to engage all stakeholders and manage deeply ingrained religious taboos in TnT with regards to meditation. All the obstacles reminded me that I cannot change much in education without engaging and converting the two largest stakeholders of our children, i.e., teachers and parents. Here's the video on that project in case you forgot.

As a result of the above lesson, I am about to embark on a new teaching center project with THA empowering teachers with the latest teaching pedagogies and youth development techniques. I cannot ignore any longer a critical stakeholder in children's education.

My GLF programming in TnT schools was not as impactful as previous years.

The data was telling me something was wrong, so this year I spent a total of 2 months in TnT (more time than I have spent in the previous 2.5 years) and confirmed the data. Students are more distracted than usual; teachers are barely keeping their heads above water with outdated teaching pedagogy and our once every few weeks interventions for 1-2 hours was not enough to change anything.

As a result, I have started having students teach what they learned to other classmates. You can read below about how this is working for us in the Middle East region. I also created our patent pending APP GLEAC. It allows any user to access our GLF lesson every day from anywhere on a mobile device. We will see in 2018 where these new developments lead.

I have held the Foundation back from scaling because of my control freak tendencies 

Need I say more. Anyone who had worked with me would tell you I need to know everything at every moment.

This introspection has made me realize I must surround myself with people who have strengths that compliment mine and they are confident in those strengths. Also, I need people I respect and who are not afraid to give me feedback around me. In 2018, my selection process for team members will be " if I do not think I can work for and learn from you and I still hire you still..... then I am feeding the control freak in me!"

I am running a business, and that means I need to also focus on profitability

I have been hiding behind my Foundation for years avoiding being measured in the real world.

If I want to play at a global level and impact millions vs. thousands, I need to have the financial strength to hire the best people, have the latest technology, etc. Money shows up who I truly am and what my Foundation stands for, and that is not a bad thing.... in fact it makes the world when it comes to education an even better place.

I did not bat an eyelid last month sending out a 1/4 million dollar proposal for an educational project knowing that was the cutting edge value I would deliver. I am not a charity, and it is perfectly ok to ask for what I deserve.

I have female workplace prejudices

This was a real eye-opener for me. I found myself getting angry this year when a female I admired could not articulate to me her strength and the value she brings to the table. I got annoyed at a new working mom who left each day for a few hours to grab her kid from daycare and ended her workday at 5 pm ensuring her work-life balance. I also got a bit upset when another new female staffer was taking handwritten notes and then taking days to type it up, so it was accessible to the global team. When did I become this insensitive person against women? Is this some new version of me running a start-up racing against time and limited resources?

I am keeping tabs on myself on this since I do not like it one bit but thank goodness I noticed my elephant in the room that I clearly need to work on.

I am not sure how 2017 was for you, but I know for sure that it could not have been all roses and unicorns. Every struggle allows for our rebirth. So here's to 2018 .... it is new, and we have never seen it before so make the conscious choice to hit refresh every time you get stuck! I am right there beside you;-)