It's a Matter of Time

Where did all time go?  

How much time do I have left?  

Time flies when you're having fun.  

I don't have enough time to get it all done.

These statements view time as an uncontrollable force. The fact is that time is an exhaustible resource.  Like money, you only have so much of it, and if you don't budget it, you won't have enough when you need it most.  When determining your effectiveness, a good starting question to ask yourself would be this.

"How am I spending my time?"

But before you go there, I'd encourage you to embrace the mindset of waste leads to haste.  In other words, if you don't watch the minutes you waste, you will be forced to rush through the minutes you have left, and ultimately, you will waste those minutes as well.

10 Ways to Stop Wasting Time

1. Stop checking your phone, and set a time that you will check it.
2. Turn off notifications on your phone.  These are big-time time-killers, and they do nothing but steal minutes from your day.
3. Build a regular routine into your day for getting your job done, and follow it.
4. Check email only at specific times and don't check in between.
5. Analyze how much time is lost in between tasks.
6. Reduce the number of minutes you lose in lengthy conversations.
7. Set alarms and reminders on your phone for completing tasks and don't ignore them.
8. Use the task feature on Google or Outlook calendars to ensure the completion of tasks.
9. Schedule a block of time in your day just for you to get your job done and let no one interrupt you.
10. Set daily deadlines to complete tasks and end your work day.  Deadlines accelerate productivity.

It's All a Matter of Time

Time is the constant, but how you use it is the variable.  To reach success, creativity is important, but productivity precedes creativity.  In fact without productivity, you'll never have the time to be creative.  If you can focus your efforts on optimizing your minutes, you will bank plenty of time to become more creative and ultimately more successful in your role.  

Zero is not a Number

I have been thinking about the number zero for a while, and what it actually represents. If you think about it, zero does not mean that 0% of something was learned. It means 0% tried,  0% was attempted, 0% was done. Zero means nothing to those that give it as well as those who achieve it.

Let's be frank.  Zero is not even a number. It actually is a letter which stands for Opting Out of Learning. It's not just that students opt out of learning, it also means that teachers opt out of guaranteeing learning opportunities for students. It means holding students accountable is optional. It means learning is also optional.

Can We Afford for Learning to be Optional?

I don't want my students to choose whether or not they want to learn. I want them to choose how deeply they will learn. I don't want them to avoid the task and say, "just give me a zero". I want them to decide how inspired they will become about learning and how committed and passionate to the learning they will be. I never met a zero that inspired learning and even a deeper commitment to it; therefore, shouldn't we have a grading system that doesn't allow learning to be optional?

Just a thought. What do you think?

Expectations mean Nothing

Words mean little if they're not backed up with action. 

Threats of consequences without follow-through result in deafened ears the next time the threat is made. Failure to affirm expectations met leads to a "Doing Well Doesn't Matter" mindset. 

Expectations mean little to nothing at all until they are coupled with accountability. 

Accountability solidifies expectations when words don't. Accountability keeps the standard high because threats won't. Accountability adds value to a job well done. 

Talk is cheap. Actions matter. Leaders of excellence set the same high expectations as everyone else, but the expectations that mean the most to them are the expectations they set on themselves to hold everyone accountable for meeting the goal. 

Do your expectations matter to those you lead?  The answer is not in their adherence. It's in your leadership skill of accountability and your support to guarantee that expectations are actually met by all. 

The GEARs of Excellence

Every organization aspires for excellence. Some dream for it, but the best envision it. They believe in it. They see it and then they plan for it. The difference between the average and the excellent organizations is not their visions of excellence. The difference lies in the drive excellent leaders possess and the gears they build to get their organization to reach the highest levels of success.

The GEARS of Excellence

Goals 

All schools have goals but many aren't truly focused on school improvement. Leaders of excellence

guide the school to establish 3-5 goals that address areas in need of improvement, and they are SMART: strategic, measureable, attainable, results-oriented, and time bound. Furthermore, these goals are monitored and followed with obsession and compulsion. 

Expectations

Every organization is full of expectations, but what sets excellent organizations apart from average ones is the simple fact that expectations are 100% aligned with the behaviors needed to accomplish the goals listed above. If an expectation isn't aligned with the goal, it is revised or abandoned altogether.  Goals most always are followed with expectations. 

Accountability 

What gets measured gets done, and leaders of excellent organizations monitor their goals as well as their expectations. Think about it. What's the point of setting a goal or making an expectation if you're not going to ensure that it is accomplished?  Accountability is the only way leaders ensure that things get done and the only way they hold people responsible for following through. 

Results

Average organization thrive on checklists, but excellent leaders search for quality in the work people do. To ensure progress is being made, great leaders find unique ways to gather data to best determine if actions and expectations are resulting in student growth. Without measureable results, people will go through the motions and miss the opportunity to become more effective and efficient. 

Greater GEARS = Greater Success 

The interesting thing about gears is that they work best when they work in concert with other gears. One bad gear can kill the entire machine, and the great leaders realize that their job is to create the conditions as well as support systems that inspire all people to create their own gears that will make the entire organization better. The greater the gears and the more synchronized they are, the more excellent the organzation will become. 

What would you add to this concept of GEARs?

Closing the Summer Achievement Gap

Summer is here, but that doesn't mean learning stops.  Over the summer all kids regress if they do not continue learning, reading, thinking and solving real-world problems.  Sadly many kids return to school from summer break lower academically than when they finished the year.   Now that may not be a massive problem if a student is in the top of his class, but for struggling students, it is a huge problem that we must devote our attention to solving.

Summer and Poverty
My personal kids will get a wide variety of experiences this summer.  Camps, trips, events, and a wide variety of memories and learning experiences will be gained.  When many kids think of summer, they think of adventure and a smorgasbord of experiences where learning is subliminal.  But sadly children of poverty will not have the same experiences or memories of summer simply because the majority of their learning adventures actually happen at school and without those summer experiences they fail to add on to all the knowledge that they learned during the school year.

This video further explains how the opportunity gap exacerbates the achievement gap.

Summer Can't be a Break Anymore
Let's face it.  Kids of poverty will regress over the summer.  That is a fact, and it is critical that all educators view summer as different kind of learning, the kind that is both exploratory and recreational.  We must find ways to take our students places and expose them to historical markers, museums, shows, new places and literature that will help them maintain their present level of performance.

Here are a few ideas that you can use to extend learning throughout the summer for all students, especially those of poverty.

• Open the library a couple of days per week with a action- filled summer reading program.  
• Use your athletic programs to offer camps that also include learning and character development.  
• Create day trips to fishing ponds, local museums, parks, historical places, etc.
• Partner with local churches or clubs to have water days or craft days.

No matter what you do or where you go this summer, always remember that if we want to close the achievement gap, we must close the opportunity gap first.  It doesn't take must time or resources to offer these experiences to our kids.  Experiences are ultimately learning opportunities, and if schools can make plans to provide those experiences to students of poverty, learning for all kids will never stop, and more importantly students will return to school next fall refreshed without having regressed.

What ideas do you have to close the summer achievement gap?

Unleash your Excellence with The HULE Rule

Success is the goal, but why do a few make it while the rest fake it? To reach the pinnacle of excellence, the most successful understand that it must be pursued with all of one's might and all of one's heart.  Excellence is not a destination but a journey that never comes to an end.

The secret to successfully attaining the highest levels of long-lasting excellence is not found in the superiority of your skill set, nor is it revealed by pounding your chest and proclaiming your abilities and accolades. The secret to finding the highest levels of excellence can only be discovered through your commitment to the Hule Rule.

Hule Rule
If you seek to achieve the optimum level of success, the Hule Rule is your best bet, and by commiting to both tenets within the rule, you will experience unprecedented growth and personal as well as professional success.

Stay Humble
Success is easily attained, but ego makes it difficult to maintain.  The most successful people stay humble.  They rarely mention their accomplishments without celebrating the folks who contributed to the accolade.  Perpetual humility requires constant selflessness, an inflexible focus on elevating others, and a continuous pursuit of improvement.

Humility precedes virtuosity.

Hustle Hard

Continuous improvement can't occur without hustle.  The harder the hustle, the greater the growth.  The greatest success stories don't rest on individual successes but use them as data points to guide them toward their next steps for future effort and hard work.

Good things come to those who wait, but they are only the things left by those who hustle.


Hule is a Product of Wisdom
Humility by itself is nice, but without hustle, it yields no growth.  Hustle without humility may produce results, but it will be at the cost of sustainability as followers are turned off to egotism.  The Hule Rule is a product that ultimately yields wisdom because without either tenet, long-lasting progress is negligible, and positive change is impossible.

The wise don't seek success or the recognition that accompanies it.  They seek wonder and the possibilities that come from elevating others. Furthermore, those that HULE continuously evolve into a better version of themselves each day.    In its truest form, the Hule Rule is wisdom in action.

What other ideas would you add to the Hule Rule?

10 Strategies to Succeed in the Most Important Interview

Winning in an interview requires lots of planning, researching and practice.  Making the right first impression counts.  Finding the right suit, shining those shoes, and getting your hair just right sells the first impression.  Sitting up straight, making eye contact and speaking eloquently illustrates just how well you will perform in your job.  All of these things will help you win in the interview enough to get the job, but they won't necessarily be enough to help you success in the most important interview.

The Most Important Interview
The hardest interviews are not the ones that land you the job.  They take place after you get the job.  Every person you meet is sizing you up.  They are gauging your knowledge.  They are interested in whether or not you are there for them.  Yes, the interview after you get the job is a continuous cycle of questions and scenarios to see if you are truly equipped to do the job for which you have been hired.

How to Succeed in the Most Important Interview

1. First impressions are golden. Don't underestimate the value of them.
2. Don't focus on titles and positions; focus on all people by greeting and treating them equitably.
3. Listening is critical, for it establishes your open-door policy.
4. Ask questions to show your desire to know more about the people you will lead.
5. Gather as much information as possible before making big decisions.
6. Seek input from followers on ideas to make the organization better.
7. Show your desire to learn from those that you will lead.
8. Communicate the successes that you see with the entire community because they show you value the work already in place.
9. Find opportunities for growth instead of weaknesses.
10. Celebrate the hard work and commitment that you find in both word and deed.

Bonus - Find the expertise throughout the organization, because they are the leaders that you can depend on to more the organization forward.

What else would you add?

The most important interview requires a lot more than just the 10 ideas that I shared, and it requires a passion to connect with every person throughout the organization.  I'd like to know what you would add to this list.  Drop a comment and share your ideas to win in the most important interview.