Don’t let your Blueprint for Success fall by the Wayside!
Remember those goals you had before the year started? Now that we have started school, how’s that working for you?
You were going to leave school on time. You were going to exercise. You were going to be more present with your family. You were going to stay positive, avoid the drama, and definitely not check email at 10:30 at night.
I’m smiling as I write that because I’ve been there.
Once school starts, the calendar fills up. The emails start coming. A parent wants to talk. The copier breaks at exactly the wrong time. Someone schedules a meeting that absolutely could have been an email. Before you know it, the promises you made to yourself in August begin disappearing.
Don’t let them.
In my keynote, Finding Your Blueprint to Success, I talk about three pillars that helped me navigate thirty years in education. They aren’t complicated. But I’ve learned that when I get away from them, life gets complicated pretty quickly.
Pillar One: Take Care of Yourself and the People You Love
You cannot continually give everyone at school the best of you and bring the leftovers home.
Your family matters. Your health matters. Your faith matters. You matter.
Try this: Pull out your calendar right now and schedule one thing with someone you love. Dinner. A walk. Your kid’s game. Date night. Mass. Breakfast with your mom. Whatever matters to you, put it on the calendar and protect it like you would an important meeting.
Your calendar never lies about your priorities.
Pillar Two: Prepare Yourself to See People
Schools move fast. If we aren’t intentional, people become tasks.
The student becomes a disciplinary referral. The parent becomes an email. The custodian becomes the person we call when something spills. It’s almost like we are at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
“Next”
“Next”
Slow down.
Try this: Tomorrow morning, before you unlock your classroom or office, ask yourself one question:
“Who might need me today?”
Then keep your eyes open.
Someone may need encouragement. Someone may need grace. Someone may simply need you to notice that they aren't themselves.
Every desk has a story. Every colleague has a story. Every family has a story.
The question isn't whether someone will need you today. The question is whether you'll notice.
Pillar Three: Get the Pebble Out of Your Shoe
You know the pebble.
That email. That colleague. That conversation you're avoiding. That decision you keep replaying. That one small issue you've allowed to occupy an enormous amount of space in your head.
We can climb mountains. Sometimes it's the pebble in our shoe that wears us down.
Try this: Identify one pebble that's stealing your energy, joy, or focus. Then make a decision: address it, remove it, ask for help with it, or stop giving it permission to control your day.
And remember this when you walk into school tomorrow:
It’s not the critic who counts, but the one who is in the area each and every day!
You Can Do This
If school has already knocked you off your Blueprint a little bit, that's okay.
Reset.
You don't need a new school year. You don't need January 1. You don't need Monday.
Take the walk. Make the phone call. Schedule the dinner. Have the conversation.
Notice the quiet kid. Encourage the exhausted colleague. Say the prayer.
Go home.
Tomorrow, get up and do it again.
That's leadership.
So wherever you are in the school year today, keep going.
Protect what matters.
See the people.
Get the pebble out of your shoe.
And remember: you don't have to be perfect to make a difference. You just have to keep showing up with purpose.
I'll be cheering for you.
More importantly, I'll be praying for you, your family, your colleagues, and the children God has placed in your path this year.
Find your Blueprint.
Find your Red Bench.
And when school gets heavy, and it will, pull up a seat, and remember why you started.
If this resonated with you, consider picking up a copy of my latest book, Finding Your Red Bench - A month-by-month guide for school leaders.