Staying ahead of the curve

At this junction in my life, I feel like I'm constantly fighting to stay ahead of the curve in any of my present ventures. I'm a new teacher, and it takes a tonne of time to stay on top of the kids and the material and make sense of what I'm trying to teach them. I'm also a new coach, so I'm trying to soak up as much information as possible in order to pass that on to my future players down the road. And since I'm still fairly young and new at the whole marriage thing (even though, realistically, by year two I feel like a seasoned vet), I'm still learning what it takes to have a solid relationhip. Every day is a new challenge on how to learn as much as possible and utilize what I learn in my day to day life.

Learning from a mentor coach has been extremely eye-opening thus far. I've learned about my faults and inabilities quite quickly working with A, who has almost as much coaching experience as I do life experience (which is intimidating on a number of levels). I keep thinking of the old adage, "The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know" (or something to that effect). Now, I'm not sure who said this, but there are few things in this world that are more true. Every day I work with him, I learn that I have a endlessly more to learn. I've also come to know my bad habits as a leader and a coach, and how my persona plays into the level of respect students/players have for me. So far, I've approached my classes and teams with a desire for them to know things about me and become friendly with me so they feel as though they're in a safe environment. However, A has really challenged this mentality and approaches the leadership position from a very different angle... one of disciplined aloofness... friendly, but distant always as a method of separation between the roles of teacher and student/player. Even though I'm not sure I'd be able to adopt the same approach, he's definitely developed an ability to handle kids in just this way.

I guess it's just being the new guy in town... everything I'm doing seems new, so it's a big challenge. I can only hope that I take in as much as possible and constantly improve. Some days I realize my work ethic prevents this, but I can still work towards improving. Always to improve...

T