Words matter. Are you a Student or a Scholar?

Your thoughts become your words.  Your words become your actions.  Your actions become your life.  Thoughts and words matter.  

I recently spoke at Harlem Prep Elementary School's First Annual Career Day.  It was an honor.

Get this:  At Harlem Prep, they don't refer to the kids as "students," they refer to them as "scholars."  And the classrooms are each named after a college - Yale, Harvard, Princeton, etc.  So from Kindergarten onward, these kids are called "scholars at Harvard," not "students in a classroom."   You have to know this impacts their life in an amazing way.  How can it not?  

What words do you use to describe yourself when you look in the mirror?  When you look at your life?  What words do you use to describe those around you?

One change I'm making today:  so last year I moved into my apartment in West Village.  It's on the most gorgeous tree-lined street and directly across from the FRIENDS building (so basically this makes me Ugly Naked Guy).  I mean...GOALS people!  And yet - whenever I talk about it - I call it my "tiny apartment" and sort of roll my eyes.  From today onward, it's my "home."  If you hear me refer to it as my tiny apartment again, you have permission to correct me.   That might seem like a small thing, but it's actually huge.  For me, my home indicates my place in life.  Calling it "tiny" and rolling my eyes also dismisses the huge steps and risks I've taken to get here.  No more.  It's my home.  

Side note: I was connected with Harlem Prep School through one of my best friends in NYC who I met one night on a rooftop because she said hello to me.  The power of hello is like a pebble tossed into a lake.  The magical ripples just keep going.