^{Second Innocence}

John Izzo's concept of "second innocence" means recovering those feelings of enthusiasm, faith, presence, and curiosity associated with childhood and blending them with the knowledge and experience of adulthood.

Through a series of compelling stories full of insights about life, John Izzo offers a collection of uncommon thoughts on common themes. Having been a minister, a university instructor, an author, a corporate advisor, and a leader of spiritual retreats, Izzo brings a wealth of wisdom to this journey to second innocence.

In one of his anecdotes, he speaks to a teacher who has decades of experience, yet has managed to stay fresh and excited about her work. Afterwards, he draws the following conclusions:

1. Never stop being a craftsperson. A year after meeting Mrs. O'Donnell, I decided to ask her: "What is your secret?" She laughed and assured me that she had no "magic formulas." But then she told me that every year for the past 20 years she had identified one area of her teaching that she wanted to improve. This past year she set a goal to make the children feel more loved than ever before. All year long she tried to get better at that one thing.

Though she never used the word craft, I believe part of the secret to keeping our wonder at work is to never stop practicing the craft of our work. Craft--a deep attentiveness to the details of our work--is becoming a lost art in our microwave, super-automated, mad-rush society. Being a craftsperson is to always focus on some part of our particular craft that we are working on improving. Nothing will keep you charging out of bed more than a firm commitment to something you are trying to improve. What part of your work are you trying to perfect this year?

2. Never think that you've seen all the possibilities. Mrs. O'Donnell told me that about 10 years ago she started visiting the classrooms of the younger teachers. While she told me that they were "a bit crazy," each year she tried some of the new techniques that she observed in their classrooms. "When you are young, you are always finding new ways of doing things," she said, "and then some people find a rut. I guess I never found it." Instead, Mrs. O'Donnell found in the classrooms of those novice teachers new approaches for things that she had been doing the same way for 30 years.

Paying attention to our craft is to look at something we have seen a thousand times and to see still more possibilities. By the time we reach midlife and midcareer, it is easy to think that we have done it all before. Perhaps we get past our expiration dates when we stop assuming that we've exhausted all the possibilities--when we recognize that even after our 20th annual conference, myriad possibilities exist for new programs, speakers, formats, and more. Even after 300 meetings of the association senior staff, opportunities for change are countless if we decide to remain open to them.

A sure prescription for expiring is to keep doing the elements of your job exactly the way you have always done them. Perhaps we should occasionally throw out all of our old templates--the conference agenda, the staff meeting format, the way we do performance reviews--and tackle the tasks of our work as if we have never done them before. What new ways of doing routine things have you tried lately?

3. Never forget the deeper purpose of your work. Mrs. O'Donnell told me that she keeps a box of reminders, small mementos that keep her from forgetting what a difference a teacher can make in a person's life. Whenever she gets a bit discouraged, she takes out of the box notes from students and parents, small objects of significance, and so forth to remind her of the real purpose of her work. It's her secret for getting past her expiration date.