Tag: School Cartoons

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Safety is the Best Policy

When I first drew this cartoon, I was concerned mainly with safety in children’s ministry. I had no idea a few years later I would be managing at a printing facility. Since then, I have truly learned safety is the best policy.

Cartoon of a boy with a cast and a teacher

Safety at Work

Before then, I didn’t think too much about workplace safety. I had been in office settings. When I visited warehouses and printing facilities, I let the host worry about safety. I see now how foolish that was. For there are hazards even in an office environment.

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motivation

How Risky is it Really?

crop businessman giving contract to woman to sign
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

My dad was an insurance guy. He was a claims adjustor and an underwriter. His job was to ascertain risk and put a number to it. In other words, he would ask, “How risky is it really?”

He would travel to a building that was going to be insured. After examining it, he would report how much of a risk the building would be to insure. Were their fire hazards? Was the foundation sound? Were there any safety issues?

He would report to the insurance company and the customer. If the client made the improvements, they would save money. But if they took no action, it could cost the client more. Perhaps the insurance company would deem the property uninsurable.

We face risks every day. However, there are instances when we create a bigger risk by doing nothing.

“There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”

 John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Risky Homework

A few years ago, I drew a cartoon about a boy that missed a homework deadline. He concluded he needed homework insurance. But the real problem is that he didn’t take the action needed to complete the assignment.

Cartoon of a boy and a teacher. The boy says, "That was due today? Seriously? I need help.Where can I get some homework insurance?"

Perhaps he was distracted by something he considered more fun. Or he may have shunned his homework because he feared the risk of getting a bad grade. Regardless, his inaction insured that he would get a bad grade on the assignment. There are many ways we indulge in self-sabotage, isn’t there?

Take Action!

Sometimes, it is risky to take action. But may we have the discernment to realize when it is riskier to take no action. I don’t know if the JFK quote was about the space program. Perhaps it was. After all, sending astronauts to the moon was a very risky endeavor. And the president cast the vision when few thought it was possible.

As a result, the rewards outweighed the risks. But we didn’t know that until a country took the risk, did we? Comfortable inaction costs us much. It is better to take a risk. The cost of reaching a goal is far better than doing nothing.

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motivation

How to Keep your Interest Strong

melancholic woman watching video on laptop at home
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

When we start a project, we are excited about the possibilities. Something new can give us a jolt of adrenaline and give us a new passion for the days ahead. But how do we keep our interest strong when we are in the middle of a tough, drawn-out slough?

“The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.”

Horace Walpole

This time of year, high school seniors are well into “senioritis.” They can see that the end is in sight, but the distance between March and May feels like a million miles away. We have all been there. I was probably thinking about this when I wrote this post on postponing school for lack of interest.

Boy asking why can't school be postponed?

How do you keep your interest strong when a project takes longer than the enthusiasm it initially produced?

Focus on One Thing

In the book The ONE Thing, by Gary Keller, the author states that the reason many projects fail is that we don’t focus our energy on the one big goal that matters.

Distractions can take us off course very quickly. The tyranny of urgent matters gets in the way of the big goal that is important but doesn’t seem as urgent when the result is months out.

Focus on the one big goal and visualize what it will be like when we hit that goal.

Remember the Why

Why is this project or goal so important? What results will it bring when it is achieved? When we achieve it, how will it make us feel?

We can get bogged down in the how of a goal and lose sight of the reason we started it in the first place. In Start with Why, Simon Sinek reminds us that when we know why we are doing something, it is tremendously motivational.

Acknowledge the Messy Middle

Every long-term project has a messy middle. We get excited at the beginning and rejoice when the goal is achieved. But in the middle are many obstacles, detours, and frustrations. If it was easy, someone else would have done it already, right?

Any worthy project will have a messy middle. We can acknowledge we are there, focus on the goal and remember the why. It can get us through challenging times.

Keep Your Interest Strong!

Today may be messy. We may be distracted for a moment. But keep going! Whether we have senioritis, a cumbersome project, or a life stage that seems to drag on forever, we can keep motivated and keep moving towards a worthy goal.

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motivation

The Value of Determination

Cartoon of two boys walking. One has a dog in his bookbag. The boy says, "I don't know what's gotten into my dog. Lately, he's been so sneaky."

We all know someone who is determined. Another word for it is stubborn. Anybody who has a pet that doesn’t do quite what they want it to do probably considers the fur baby stubborn. Of course, the pet is probably thinking the same thing about its owner!

Determination is needed more now than ever.

  • The United States has been knocked by the coronavirus pandemic for two months now
  • Some states are allowing businesses to restart
  • Business owners have to figure out how to operate in this new environment
  • Employees have to consider if their jobs are still viable or if they need to find work elsewhere
  • Corporate offices have to figure if it is still best for everyone to work remotely or to modify office space for health and safety

Determination will be as valuable and desirable as an asset as a nice stash of bathroom tissue was six weeks or so ago. We will need to be determined to bring the economy back online. This doesn’t mean we must be determined to make things the way they were. Rather, we will need to use ingenuity, creativity, and patience to make things work in a new reality.

Let’s all lead the way to a new way of doing things. Let’s be as determined as a little dog that really wants to go to school.

Cartoon of two boys walking. One has a dog in his bookbag. The boy says, "I don't know what's gotten into my dog. Lately, he's been so sneaky."
Categories
motivation

Is Dignity Overrated?

Cartoon of a boy in an eagle costume. He says to a girl, "I agreed to be the school mascot if they would pay for my dignity insurance."

Both, my high school and the university I attended have birds for mascots; The Blackhawks, and The Ravens. There were times when I thought it would have been neat to be the person behind the mascot. Then again, being a big bird would have been challenging for anyone’s dignity. Sesame Street’s Big Bird probably didn’t help in the dignity area.

Dignity insurance would be a great thing to have. I could have used that a few times in my life. It probably would have come in handy just the other day. However, I’ve noticed dignity can get in the way of doing something worthwhile and fun. Dignity and pride can keep us from valuing ourselves and our fragile egos over others.

Don’t worry too much about your dignity. Focus more on doing something of value for others and being humane and considerate. Dignity is overrated if it keeps you from doing just that.

Cartoon of a boy in an eagle costume. He says to a girl, "I agreed to be the school mascot if they would pay for my dignity insurance."