Dear Eagles,

Thank you for visiting with me last Thursday and sharing your concerns regarding the badge process. (Several of our older Eagles requested a meeting with me to discuss badge requirements).  Eagles your opinions, ideas, and requests are very important to me.  I take all of the feedback I receive into careful consideration.  I salute your willingness to respectfully dialogue with me.

After taking the weekend to consider the ideas shared, I have a few comments.  My analysis of the meeting was that a spirit of fear was an underlying current.  Fear of failure can drive us to never start on a big goal.  Taking the easy road seems like a good idea sometimes but in the long run it doesn’t prepare you for bigger challenges.  The things we tell ourselves set the path for our success or failure.  Comments like, “I hate reading” “I am not good at math” “I am not very smart” “I am slow” “other students are smarter than me” “I need someone to teach me how to do this” “I don’t want to look stupid” “I can’t focus” set your mindset in a positive or negative way.  Allowing fear and a negative mental mindset to take over will rob you of success.

Abraham Lincoln lost eight different times running for various political positions.  He never gave up and was later elected as the President of the United States and helped our country overcome slavery and save the union.  J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, was so poor she couldn’t afford a computer and manually typed her novel.  She was turned down dozens of times before her book was published.   Malala Yousafzai was shot and wounded for her belief that girls should be allowed to get an education.  She has taken this terrible experience, and become a globally recognized advocate for education and women’s rights.  All of these amazing people could have quit when they encountered a challenge but they didn’t and our world is better for it!

On a very personal note, I want to be transparent with you and share one of my failures.  When I was about 20, I wanted to start my own real estate company.  To start a real estate company, I had to pass a state test and take 90 hours of classes.  I failed the test by roughly 5 points.  I was embarrassed, disappointed, and fearful of future failure.  I decided to push through and take it again and I crushed it and passed with a good score.   Over the years of running my real estate firm, I employed at one time 67 people and helped hundreds of people purchase homes.  I used profits from my business to invest in myself and also charities that were important to me.  My passion for housing expanded to the Philippines where I helped a nonprofit purchase a home for poor children.  To house my growing business, I built 1730 Tierra de Mesilla which is now our school.  Eagles if I had quit after failing that test, look at all I would have missed.  Not only would I have missed out, but others around me would have missed the good that I brought to the world.

Eagles when you give up or don’t push yourself, you are not only holding yourself back but you are hiding your gifts and talents from the world.  You bring special talents and gifts to our world that only you can deliver.  The hero’s journey can be challenging but each day that you work hard and tackle your goals, you become stronger and wiser.

The reason badges are challenging is because we know you are capable of doing hard things!  The reason Guides don’t “teach” you the material, is because once you learn how to teach yourself you will be equipped for harder projects down the road.  In the real world, you will need to rely on yourself, team, and ability to find resources to solve hard tasks.  That is why we have in place, brains, buddies, and books.  The experience you get now will help you bring your ideas and gifts to the world will full impact.  The badge requirements will remain the same and to move to the next studio, certain badges must be completed.

One of my favorite sayings, is “how do you eat an elephant?”  The answer is “one bite at a time.”  This catchy phrase encourages us to take a big hard goal and break it into smaller “bite size” portions.  Eagles I know you can do this!

Go Eagles!

Anna
P.S.  Just call me Anna or mom if that applies….Principal Anna makes me feel weird.  I am a fellow traveler learning right alongside you.