Cutting Corners

I’ve had the sense lately that maybe I’ve got a little too much on my plate. Not even necessarily just with work but with other commitments that I’ve made as well.

As an Enneagram three (“The Achiever”), feeling like I’m growing and getting better every day is really important to me. I draw a sense of personal satisfaction from it. Feeling like progress is being made fills me with hope for the future and makes me feel more confident and optimistic.

But I do think there comes a time when we hit a tipping point. Where in the name of growing and improving and progress, we’ve actually taken too much, and it can be to the detriment of the progress we hoped to make.

I write about saying no in Legacy of Learning because I think it is a lesson I will have to learn over and over again during the course of my lifetime. I wrote the book that I needed with the hope that it would help someone else. Here I am in the months after that publication and in need of that chapter.

For some of us, it’s not so much that we need help saying no to others. We actually need help saying no to ourselves. That’s me. I want to say yes to being “full out” as we say in the dance world to all parts of my life. I want to say yes because typically the first question I ask myself at the start of a day is, “Can I be proud of what I did yesterday?” Which is a little messed up and something I’m working on.

Every day is a fresh start. We work hard as educators to give students fresh starts each day. As administrators, we should work hard to give staff fresh starts every day. And it’s difficult to give others that which we don’t have for ourselves. So, let’s be intentional about giving ourselves fresh starts.

I have some tells. You know, tells are the signals of what we aren’t speaking out loud, but they tell the story of how we are doing or feeling. For me, it’s the condition of my closet, purse, or jewelry box.

If things look a mess, I’m often a mess too. I hide my actual messes and internal messes from others, but when I slow down and give myself a moment to notice, it’s a sign that I need to take a step back and evaluate what needs to go, so I can feel better.

Yesterday, I went through my jewelry box. And my travel jewelry pouch which still had items in it from over two weeks ago. And the jewelry pouch that I keep in my gym bag which I use every day.

I had earrings with missing pairs.

I had holiday jewelry still in my gym jewelry pouch from Christmas.

I had necklaces that were tangled and twisted together.

I had beautiful jewelry that I forgot I owned.

In my actual jewelry box, I found a good amount of jewelry that no longer sparks joy, so I collected that to give away to someone who may appreciate it more. And I took great satisfaction in pulling the jewelry that I love out of those jewelry pouches and organizing it all in my jewelry box.

Something about making time for this brought me peace.

And I guess the lesson for me in all of it is that feeling busy is pretty normal. And cutting corners here and there because life is busy is pretty common and needed. But when we find ourselves having to cut a significant amount of corners and find ourselves doing so because we keep taking on more and more with no end in sight, maybe progress looks like taking a step back.

“Our students don’t need teachers who do everything perfectly and instantaneously at a high level. Our students need teachers who are deeply interested in them.” – Legacy of Learning

What systems can you put in place to ensure that you keep your main thing the main thing?

Maybe if I created more systems to protect my peace, I could make more progress on what matters most.