Eureka! There is a “silver bullet!”– SCN Encourager 5/7/2014

Forget what you’ve been led to believe.

There is such a thing as a school communicator’s “Holy Grail!”

And after about five weeks into my extensive three county search (limited only by my $83 SCN travel budget), I’m excited to reveal my findings.

Originally I thought our elusive “silver bullet” – the always effective and totally easy tactic for all that ails us – would involve some kind of technology, or at least an app.

I was so convinced of this that I formulated a sure-fire Six Step Tech App Usability Protocol.

Here are the six ninja master steps that work for me every time:

1.  Desire a “must have” app based on the hype and snake oil promises.
2.  Download it and see if it helps in any way.
3.  Go find one of our tech mentors to see what I’m doing wrong.
4.  Act like I know what I’m doing, but listen to the inner voice telling me to “skip it.”
5.  Desire the next “must have” app based on the hype and snake oil promises.
6.  Rinse and repeat…

It took a few tries, but I eventually discovered that the school communicator’s “silver bullet” has nothing to do with a tech tool or an app with a colorful icon.

So my quest continued.

As fate would later dictate, I heard a story on the radio of a woman in Australia named Naomi Simson.

Naomi says she’s a “mum” and a business woman.

She’s a bit more than that, I’d say, because the business she started 13 years ago has now served more than 2 1/2 million customers.

Naomi says it also took her awhile to latch onto her “silver bullet.” (See? I’m not a total knucklehead.)

She thought her version of a “silver bullet” would be propelled by her organized Type A personality, her relentless “get ‘er done” attitude, and a laser-like focus on her business.

But she was wrong – in fact, it was these characteristics in their raw form that nearly doomed her enterprise.

Then she came across a “silver bullet” that made a miraculous difference in both her life and her business once she began using it consistently every morning and night.

She’s not lying.

She has earned a national Entrepreneur of the Year Award and her company was named the best place to work in all of Australia.

All because of her “silver bullet” she says.

Naomi calls her secret  “silver bullet” her Daily Gratitude Diary.

I was shocked to learn that it’s nothing more than a journal and a pen.

Daily Gratitude Diary?

Oh, brother! What’s so bullet-like or speedy-kwik about this?

Even Naomi admits that observing, acknowledging, and honoring all of “the good” around her everyday takes discipline and time.

I’m sorry if you’re as disappointed about this revelation as I am.

This whole gratitude thing seems like a lot of extra effort to me.

But don’t despair yet, though.

There’s just got to be a quick and easy world-beater app out there that I haven’t discovered yet.

And I’ve still about about $19 left in my SCN “Quest of the Holy Grail” project account!

Tom Page, SCN