By Rick Walker, Executive Director, STARLINK

STARLINK serves as a partner organization to DigiTex, also operating under the auspices of the Texas Association of Community Colleges. Since its founding in 1989, STARLINK has been committed to empowering student success and providing exceptional professional development to higher education communities. Texas public community colleges can access its courses, webinars, and other resources free of charge. We are grateful for our relationship with Rick, who serves on DigiTex’s Advisory Council, his team, and their exceptional organization! 

Rick Walker, Executive Director, STARLINK

“Space, the final frontier…” Just hearing that phrase makes me salivate like a Pavlovian dog.

Let me explain.  Some of the best moments of my life involve a very large, yellow Dickey’s BBQ cup, full of ice-cold milk, a package of Double Stuf OREOs, and an old-school episode of Star Trek playing on TV. 

Proper double-stuffed consumption involves several meticulous steps executed with precision.  First, place the initial “sinker” OREO straight up and down, halfway submerged in the milk.  Let the sinker absorb the milk, then carefully let it go – kerplunk! Success! Immediately sinking, boldly going where no OREO has gone before.  Secondly, place the “floater” OREO horizontally over the milk.  Let it go and watch it float freely.  Now your Dickey’s cup is properly primed for proper double stuff dipping, slurping, and consuming.

By the time Scotty says “I’m giving her all she’s got, Captain!”, you are left with the last few slurps of deliciousness, followed by an amazing avalanche of chocolate sludge.  Tapping the bottom of the cup ever so gently ensures the avalanche of goodness winds up in every crevice of your mouth, signs of a successful mission.

Life lessons I’ve learned from my OREO indulgence:

  •   Learn when to let it go
  •   Float freely
  •   Make time to play and indulge

I imagine if I interviewed every educator about their life lessons learned leading to their success – the answers would be amazing.

STARLINK recently interviewed author Richard St. John, who spent ten years researching “success” and doing face-to-face interviews with Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, Richard Branson, the Google founders, and over 1,000 other extraordinarily successful people.

He analyzed every word they said, built one of the world’s largest, most organized databases on success, and finally discovered “The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common.”

Spoiler alert – not one successful person credited Double Stuf OREOs for their success.  However, the life lessons for the success he curated from the most “successful” people on the planet were powerful principles. The 8 traits successful people have in common were:

  1. Passion
  2. Work
  3. Focus
  4. Push
  5. Ideas
  6. Improve
  7. Serve
  8. Persist

You can view the complete program with Richard St. John at starlinktraining.org. Additionally, we have hundreds of training programs and 20-minute mentors that will assist you in your journey to success.

May you explore strange new worlds in education and boldly go where no educator has gone before with all success and happiness.

I’d love to hear your life lessons learned as a fellow educator.  Email us at [email protected].