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Why do over 500,000 people follow author Seth Godin on Twitter, buy his books, read his blog, and attend his courses? One of the reasons is that Godin suggests ways to live a powerful life by helping others do the same. As educators that’s what we strive for as well.

At an event organized by Godin in New York City at the weekend, teachers and coaches were among the many people to ask: ‘Here is where I am stuck in my life, how do I move forward?’

Godin - author of books including Tribe and Linchpin - does not like the label ‘self-help’. But here are five lessons from the day that might help teachers.

1. Destroy what’s perfect to make it better

The record industry was perfect. Composers wrote. Artists performed and recorded. Publishers published. Radio stations played. Distributors distributed. Record stores sold. Consumers bought.

Everyone knew their role, and everyone played along. There wasn’t much you could do to improve the system.

Music is still being made today, but that system is completely destroyed. Now, you can listen to virtually any song that’s ever been recorded. You don’t have to buy an entire album to listen to a song.

The lessons is that there are many cases where you can’t improve things at the margin; you have to make a complete break with what has been working in order to create something that is better. Sometimes you need to change a rule that everyone assumes can’t be changed.

What are the things in your lives that can be incrementally improved, and what are the things that need a break from the past?

2. Reassurance won’t help you succeed

The problem with “you’re doing a great job” is that you never get enough. We hear it, but then we start questioning: “Did she really mean that? Why didn’t he say something more forcefully? Why did she only say that once?”

You can’t go into anything meaningful expecting external positive reinforcement. If you do, you’re probably not going to stick with it long enough to succeed.

Solving problems and making changes are hard things to do - and if you are a teacher, they are hard for your students as well.

Accept that whatever you’re trying to do is not going to work, but be prepared to do it anyway. Learn. And then do something else that’s not going to work. Repeat until something works.

Educators mold students every day. Do we give students the mental toughness to forge on knowing that what they are trying to do will probably fail? Each of us can create safe-to-fail environments in our classrooms and schools.

3. Create stories to make lessons memorable

Do you want to inspire a group of people to help you solve a problem? Do you want students to want to learn? Do you want students to do well on a test?

You need to develop stories that others want to repeat. And the subject of the story needs to be people like us do things like this.

The story is the way we communicate to make things happen. People repeat stories that resonate. When Oklahoma teacher Sharon Ricks has her students make stories about elves, and then comes to class dressed like an elf, what do you think her students will be talking about to their friends and parents?

When eduvangelist Kevin Honeycutt talks about the ornament that he is wearing that was designed and 3D printed by one of his students, what do you think people go home talking about?

How are your stories inspiring others to tell others that people like us do things like this?

4. Build your own brand

A brand is a promise that you make so that when people see it they know what to expect. It works for business and it can work for teachers.

Are you the teacher that makes the French Revolution come alive? Do you bring challenging fun challenges to class? Are you the person who takes a special interest in others and makes them feel special? Do you help teachers find fun, instructive challenging activities for their students? That’s your brand.

To build it, you need to take action and make sure others know what you stand for.

What’s the promise that students see when they see you? What’s the promise that other educators see when they see you?

5. End underperformance by creating shared goals

Overcoming the inertia of people doing things the same way they always have is a challenge.

People tell themselves stories about how hard they work and what they are accomplishing, even when those are not the things that you - as their teacher or manager - want them to do.

Consider this: they are not underperforming, they are just enrolled in different scripts. To succeed, you have to gain their attention and their trust and encourage them to chase shared goals.

Godin talks about creating purple cows - what it means is creating something that stands out, grabs attention, starts a discussion and is memorable.

And as a teacher, once you have your students attention, how do you keep them engaged so that they are following your stories and your vision?

Mitch Weisburgh is an edtech consultant and runs Edchat Interactive, which helps teachers share practices that work in the classroom.

Angela Maiers has been a school teacher and university professor and now runs Choose2Matter