No Excuses Leadership

Find a Hack

Look up "Life Hacks" on the internet and you'll be flooded with amazing ideas being used by regular people in pursuit of simplifying their daily lives. For those of you who have never heard of a Life Hack, it basically comes down to these two things:

1) A strategy, idea, trick, or technique that anyone can use in order to simplify their life.
2) Getting in touch with your inner "MacGyver" to use what you have to solve a problem.

You'll find that some of the life hacks you come across address problems you never knew existed, while others offer solutions you can't believe you've lived your whole life without. Either way, it's the spirit behind the "hack" that counts.  All too often, we as leaders, wait for outsiders to save us. What we should really be doing is looking at the resources we have right in front of us. The wealth of knowledge existing in the colleague to your right or left is, more times than not, an untapped resource. 

TAKE ACTION

I know a school in the NEU Network that starts every collaborative meeting with a short time dedicated to finding solutions to the problems staff members are dealing with. They call this time "Hack My Life".  Each meeting, one person gets to offer a challenge for the team to help solve. From how to find more time to incorporate science experiments into the daily curriculum, to dealing with one or more behavior issues in the classroom, the team helps offer meaningful, realistic solutions to one another.  This process encourages a creative culture of resourcefulness that can work at any site.

BE BOLD

There are nearly 4 million teachers in America.  Every one of them has something awesome to share.  Check out some of these cool teaching hacks or just go to Pinterest and type in "Teacher Hack" to be inspired.