Next Time, Try This

I’m sitting next to a stack of essays, coffee in one hand, pen in the other.  As I read, I celebrate great writing with enthusiastic comments in the margin.  Bravo!  Genius!  Fantastic!

I circle mistakes; usually I find semicolons used improperly, weak verbs, or sentence patterns with no variation.  Immediately, I find myself writing, “Next time, try this,” as I scribble out a plan for their writing improvement.

I realize how discouraging a bad grade feels.  The only thing that soothes sometimes is that plan for “next time.”  These strategies for development keep our focus on growth, not setbacks.

I remember a parenting book that taught me to correct a child’s behavior and say “next time” right away.  “Next time, don’t jump on the furniture,” or “next time, don’t spread the peas all over the kitchen wall.”

It really works.   It’s like a little mantra that reminds us we are all on a journey of growing, of getting it right eventually.  “Next time” invites me to rise up to a challenge, and it keeps me from the despair of failure.

I think of that with my overeating, my fits of dark emotions, my bad choices with my time, my harsh words.  Next time, I’ll change something.  Next time, I’ll grow a little bit more into the woman I want to be.  And the beauty of the “next time” expression is that it starts immediately.  I don’t have to wait till tomorrow or next year. 

When I get it wrong, I think of an immediate plan for development.  We’re moving forward, don’t look back.  Start fresh!  It’s next time right now. 

There’s always another chance to grow.  I want to be as gentle with myself as I am with my children or my students.  If I fail today, I remember that next time, I can try this. 

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Journal:  If I’ve already messed up today, how can “next time” help me?

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  1. I so agree with this philosophy, and I practice it all the time myself. I don't think it matters that we do things perfectly all the time, but that we have the attitude of wanting to, and trying to, and trying again when we fail.

    And more importantly, how can we see our bad behavior coming next time, and try to prevent it based on how we reacted last time? Eventually we have to learn to stand outside ourselves and sort of watch, as though we were a second person. Meditation helps a lot with this.

  2. You are so right about this way of looking at mistakes! I'm glad you condensed it to “Next time, do this” because I think I might remember it better than I have in the past.

  3. I think this is good, especially with students. I actually said that today with a student before I even read this post.

    “Next time,” also reminds me of the scripture that says, “His mercies are new every morning”. Right now I'm student teaching and lesson plans are killing me. Doing lesson plans in college (assuming the class is perfect), and doing lesson plans for an actual classroom that have to be implemented (realizing all the challenges that can happen in a day) are two different stories.

    Although I waited until the very last minute to complete my lesson plan today, God showed me his grace. I remembered the scripture about his mercies being new everyday, and I heard a quiet voice saying to me, “Next time start on this earlier.”