How Full is Your Bucket?

If you are one of the two or three non-Park School students who read this blog, you may have noticed that I've made several recent references to a "bucket". This bucket, in case you were wondering, is a metaphor coined by a psychologist named Donald O. Clifton.


Each of us has a bucket. In it, we carry our sense of well being. When it is full, we feel great, but when it is empty, we feel terrible. The fullness of one's bucket is determined, in large part, by one's interactions with other people. Every interaction we have with another person helps fill or empty their bucket.

Every time we do something the least bit positive to another person, like saying "hello" to them or holding the door for them, we are filling their bucket. When we ignore a greeting or shut the door in someone's face, we are emptying, or dipping into, their bucket.

What's interesting about this is that every time you fill (or dip into) someone's bucket you are doing the same to your own. Filling buckets makes you feel good, while bucket dipping makes you feel down.

I introduced the bucket idea to the 5th graders at Park at the beginning of the school year. They understood it right away. I asked them to practice filling buckets and told them that an easy way to start would be to greet people, by name, with a smile.

The results have been amazing. Once the kids discovered how good filling others' buckets made them feel, bucket filling took on a life of its own. One can now hear a chorus of "hi's" and "thank yous" and the saying of names around here every day. Many kids go out of their way to try to fill the buckets of people who are down and sometimes, people who are known to be unfriendly.

Filling buckets sometimes pays unexpected dividends.

One thing I do is greet cashiers and checkers at the various stores at which I shop. I mean, think about it. Cashiers have kind of a thankless job. They have to deal with hundreds of strangers each day. Many of them are in a hurry, preoccupied or view the cashier as a non-person.

I make a point to be pleasant to them. I don't engage them in conversation, but I do say hello, ask them how they are, make eye contact, smile and say "thank you".

Simple, right?

The result is that many of the cashiers who work at the stores where I shop regularly will hold their line open for me, or open their line when they see me. They then greet me with a smile and ask how my day has been.

Try it yourself. Start small. Say "hi" and "thank you". Smile. Use people's names. Make eye contact. I think you'll find that filling buckets like this will make you feel pretty good and that your days will be more enjoyable.

Soon, you may find yourself looking for other ways to fill the buckets of others' and therefore, your own.

Sometimes, All You Have to Do Is Show UP

Jonathon Sanchez is a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants.

At the beginning of this baseball season, despite having a great arm, "nasty stuff" and being selected to play in the World Baseball Classic, Sanchez was thought to be only the 5th best starting pitcher on the Giants.

Sanchez's basic problem was that he had a way of emptying his own bucket - getting mad at himself for making a bad pitch, or worrying about how the umpire was calling balls and strikes. Sanchez often pitched well for the first few innings of his games; then something would happen to upset him and he would fall apart.

So poorly did Sanchez's pitching become that he wasn't allowed to start anymore. Instead, he was sent to the bullpen so that he could practice.

A couple of weeks after being sent to the bullpen, one of the Giants' other pitchers, Randy Johnson, got hurt. Sanchez was chosen to replace him.

Excited about his second chance and confident that the things he'd been practicing were working, Sanchez told all of his friends and family about his upcoming start. Most of his friends promised to watch the game on TV, but one decided to come to the game.

That person was Jonathon Sanchez's dad. He lives in Puerto Rico. He had never seen his son pitch in the major leagues.

When Jonathon Sanchez found out that his dad was going to be at the game, he said: "I'm really pumped up. My dad is going to be at the game."

On that night, July 10, 2009, Jonathon Sanchez threw a no-hitter.

Sometimes, just being there is enough to fill someone's bucket, and people with full buckets are capable of extraordinary things.

Navigating a Blog

Hey Everyone:

Thanks for reading my blog and thanks for all of your comments. When reading your comments, it occurred to me that some of you may not understand how to use all of the things that are on the blog, so I decided to write this post to explain some of its features to you. This will help you fully enjoy anyone's blog and perhaps give you some ideas for your own.

One thing you should know is that there are many videos linked to the blog. There videos on Tinikling, juggling, rope jumping and a dunk by a girl. The latest video is linked to "The Ripple Effect". I think you'll like them.

To watch any of the videos, simply click on either of the play icons (the little triangles). Watch "The Ripple Effect" first, let me know what you think of J Mac's story.

Another useful little gadget is the BMI calculator. This can be found just below the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon. To understand what it is for and how to use it, read my post "Weight Obsession". BMI is something we will be talking about later this year.

Farther down the right hand side of the page is a Video Bar. This is a link to all the videos I've posted on YouTube. These are mostly dance routines created by Park School students. Just click on the bar to see them.

Below the video bar is a Label list. This is an easy way to find old posts. Click on the label that interests you and Blogger will open all posts related to that subject.

Enjoy!

The Ripple Effect

Ever throw a pebble into a pond and watch the circular wave its splash makes grow into a wider and wider circle, affecting everything on the surface of the pond? That's the ripple effect. Filling buckets works that way too.
Here's the story of a coach who gave a kid a chance to play, a kid who believed in himself and the ripple effect it had on everyone at the game. Watch this video and the latest bucket to be filled will be yours…