How will you use what you know?

Many students return to school this week. And this time of year will always seem like back-to-school time, no matter how many years it’s been since I graduated.

To me, autumn feels like the time for a fresh start, more than New Year’s Day ever has. Maybe it’s the memory of buying new school clothes and school supplies (I still have great fondness for binders and notebooks, not to mention fall fashions). Perhaps it’s a rekindling of the anticipation of what might lie ahead in a new school year. Or maybe it’s the innate appeal of the chance to try again, to try something new, to try to achieve more than I did the year before.

I often apply these kinds of thoughts to my life and work as the first leaves begin to fall. It’s a time to reflect and plan for what’s next. A time to assess what works and what doesn’t. An opportunity for reinvention and new beginnings.

Above all, it’s an excellent time to ask the question posed by Wendy Wasserstein in The Heidi Chronicles: “How will you use what you know?”

What about you? Does this time of year motivate you or inspire you? How will you use what you know?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. My own personal lesson plan can only be improved by what I learn from others.