Daily Fresh Starts

It’s that time of year. If you work in schools, you know what I mean. It’s the time of year where we are worn down and at times feel a bit edgy. The problems that persist that we’ve been working to solve are starting to wear on us. And when we don’t feel successful, we blame ourselves. And when that becomes too much to bear, we blame others. It’s the time of year where many people are quite simply getting on each others nerves. We are human. This is inevitable. But it’s what we do when the going gets tough in these last few weeks that can make a world of difference.

I don’t ever remember a time when blaming a student, a colleague, a leader, a team, or even an entire organization has ever changed individual and organizational behavior.

So, this is post is a gentle reminder to check in with ourselves. It’s time to be a little more gentle with ourselves and others. Sure, we’ve got problems. Plenty of them. And we won’t stop trying to do everything we can do make our schools and communities better. We stop having difficult conversations and doing the hard work. But also, as I say in Legacy of Learning, let’s not forget to train our minds to see the good. Not just the good around us.

The good within us too.

In fact, maybe start there. We must lead ourselves first and be our biggest champions. We must learn to cheer ourselves on and build our own hope. We must because this allows us to shine from the inside out. This radical choice equips us with what we need to do the same for those around us.

The other day when I woke up, as I slide both feet into my slippers and made my way down to the kitchen for fresh cup of coffee, I thought to myself, “Do I get to feel good this morning? Did I do a great job yesterday which would give me permission to feel good about myself right now?”

What?! Yikes. If we want to offer the people around us a fresh start every day, we should start by giving ourselves a fresh start every day.

This is what I mean by being gentle with ourselves. Maybe stop being so hard on yourself. We can push ourselves and hold ourselves to high expectations without shaming and blaming ourselves. OK, so maybe you wished you had handled that situation differently. Maybe you wished you had eaten better yesterday. Maybe you didn’t get all of your steps in or didn’t get all of your papers graded.

OK, well let’s not waste today regretting yesterday. Let’s focus on the day in front of us and making what progress we can.

Fresh start this week and every day for you, for colleagues, and for our students.

If you are spending more time lately reflecting on your leadership and impact, I invite you to check out a collaborative post from last week. I joined Sean Gaillard and Lauren Kaufman in reflecting about living a leadership legacy.