No Excuses Leadership

Value Added Planning

A dear friend of mine, Elia Moreno, just finished a book titled Permission to Rest.  It's about how we as professionals are inundated with responsibilities that often times take us away from what's important. The sheer volume of duties assumed by the average educator, no matter the position, are enough to challenge our spirits from time to time.  Elia's book won't teach you how to remove all of the stresses and frustrations that are revealed in your daily life, but instead about how to manage them.  In the end it comes down to giving ourselves a little bit of grace.

Let's be clear: BOLD Leaders are action oriented individuals who get things done.  But they don't get it all done in one day.  In fact, with huge initiatives like turning around schools, they don't even get it done in a year.  Exceptional leaders like the ones reading this post, learn to map out a long-term vision for results and find ways every day to make progress towards them.  Some days they only take a few steps in their journey, but every step is closer to the goal.  This is what value added planning is all about. 

TAKE ACTION

Most of you know the story about the beach walker and the starfish so I won't retell it. (If you don't, where have you been?)  The great lesson in that story is all about having the right mindset.  Quality over quantity.  Individual decisions that make someone's life better.  Acceptance of your own limitations.  If you are stressed out by all that's on your plate right now . . . STOP!  Take a deep breath.  Choose one important task to focus on.  Add value.  Repeat.

BE BOLD

Permission to Rest by Elia Moreno