EPISODE 230

The October Drift

Big Takeaways

  • If the work you are doing now is not moving your school closer to your 100% vision, not in alignment with your mission, and violating your core values, why are you doing it???
  • Do your systems make your work easier and more effective? Or are you just creating more busy work for yourself?
  • Hot Take: A fishbone diagram or “5 Whys” exercise is not going to help you figure out the root cause of your challenges. They just make you THINK you’ve figured it out because you completed the exercise correctly.
  • We cannot rely on will power to help us stick to our plans. We need to find ways to make following our plans more automatic, or we will abandon them as soon as “life” gets in the way.
  • The summer isn’t the only time we need to be looking at the bigger picture. You should be revisiting the big picture at least quarterly so that you don’t work on things that will not matter in a year. 
If you’re like most school administrators, this is the time of year that we, without even realizing it, are already starting to drift ever so slightly from the resolutions and plans we made at the beginning of the school year. We’re not off track exactly, but things have started to slip a little. And, we’re not too worried yet, because after all, it’s only October. Which is exactly why October is such a dangerous month. It’s early enough in the school year where we still feel like we have time to meet our goals so we’re often lulled into a false sense of complacency. But what we don’t realize is that it is the work we do now that determines whether we will actually meet our goals this school year. So on today’s episode, I’m going to share with you 5 simple shifts you need to make now to keep you from drifting away from your plans and goals and finding yourself off course in January. Take these simple steps and you can get refocused, make real progress before the holidays, and set yourself up for true success this school year #LikeABuilder.

Check out these highlights:
  • Why the “October Drift’ is so dangerous
  • How to re-anchor in your vision, mission, and core values to keep your work on track
  • Why your current systems may be failing you and how to recalibrate.
  • The process Builders use to stay focused on the right work (and not get distracted by work that doesn’t matter).
  • How to stick with your plans even when “life” gets in the way

  • Why “future you” will thank you now if you just do this one simple thing
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