Starting a new school year? Remember this.
Technically, we may only be a few weeks into summer, but for many education leaders across the country, “summer” is over. And they are hard at work preparing for the next school year.
I remember this time so well from my years as a school and network leader. Feelings of optimism and excitement about the new school year were tempered with anxiety about being ready for it - along with a sense of disbelief that my long-anticipated summer break was already over, and here I was, already feeling behind and overwhelmed with under enrollment and vacant positions.
We were just getting started again, and somehow it was already “crunch time.”
It’s NOT an easy time to have perspective. But in the last few years of my career, I’ve gotten to work with nearly a thousand leaders and watch them go through a fake version of “starting anew” when they lead their “new team” (our actors) in a multi-day simulation. I feel like I’ve gained much more perspective.
If I could talk to my former self – who was getting ready to start a new year – here are some things that I would tell myself.
It’s not all about you. Whatever you tell yourself or have been led to believe, the success of the year is not all resting on you. Everyone else’s performance is not just a reflection of you. Many wonderful things will happen this year that aren’t because of you. Challenging things will happen that aren’t your fault. Take responsibility for your role as a leader, without being egocentric. It’s simply not reality that this is ALL about you.
Follow your heart. By all means, create priority documents and playbooks, but don’t get lost in them. Also give yourself the space to know where your heart wants to take you. Your emotions are a powerful form of intelligence. There is wisdom in our hearts that is different from our brains. Listening to that wisdom won’t mean everything magically falls into place, but it will mean you get to sleep better at night no matter how things shake out.
Focus on what you CAN control. Let go of what you can’t. You can control whether you choose to care about other people, but you can’t control what they think about you. You can control how earnestly you try, but you can’t control the result. It’s scary to let go of what we can’t control, but once we do, it can be so liberating.
This time of year can be hard. I hope these help with perspective or bring you some value. If any of them resonate with you, I would love to hear about it!
