Working harder or smarter isn't enough

“Here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place,” the Red Queen tells Alice. “If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland)

Sounds like a lot of the advice we've received as educators doesn't it?

We're told that if we want to be good principals or build better schools, we need to run at least twice as fast. And, many of us are doing just that, only to find ourselves in the same place we were when we started (except now we're exhausted, burned out, frustrated, and even more overwhelmed).

It's time to stop it.

We've been sold a falsehood and many of us are killing ourselves trying to be what we've been taught good principals are. But simply working harder will not get you farther.

Working "smarter" won't either.

Because "working smarter" usually involves doing the exactly what we were doing when we were working harder, only with a few more "hacks" and "tricks" to make doing the same work easier or more efficient.

But what's the use of being more efficient at the wrong things?

What we need is not more work, harder work, or smarter work. We shouldn't be looking for ways to get the same work done more efficiently, in less time, and with less frustration.

The question shouldn't be "How can I do this work more easily?" The question we should be asking ourselves is "Should I be doing this work at all?"

You see, most of us take the "kitchen sink" approach to dealing with the challenges in our schools, and I get it. Right now especially, our challenges can feel so overwhelming. It almost feels like we are fighting challenges on every side -- from teacher burnout and overwhelm, to Covid fatigue, to uncertainty about the future, to students who are struggling emotionally, behaviorally, and academically and the list goes on and on and on.

It can feel as if we need to deal with ALL of these challenges right now.

But trying to fix all these things at once is futile. You'll spend your days batting at the symptoms and not addressing the root.

It's why so many of us stay overwhelmed and exhausted.

Instead, you need to get to the root cause. What's driving all these symptoms?

(You may think the root cause is Covid, but I assure it it's not. Covid has just exacerbated the root cause that already existed in your school.)

Once you understand the root cause, the work before you becomes clear. No longer are you wasting time and energy chasing every symptom only to find that you aren't making any real progress at all. Instead, you can deal with the root cause that's holding you back and remove it once and for all.

The choice is yours. You can keep running in place wearing yourself out fighting symptoms and working hard at the wrong things.

Or, you can take a step back and locate your schools' root issue and eliminate it once and for all.

Here's what I know. If you keep working harder or even smarter at the wrong things, you will eventually wear yourself and your staff out. Not only that, but you'll look up one day and realize that all that work hasn't gained you a thing. You're still in the same general place you've always been.

You've worn yourself out for nothing.

But, if you take time to understand the root cause of your challenges you can eliminate them for good. Instead of feeling exhausted, you'll feel energized because you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. You'll feel confident because you know that the work you're doing will actually have a payoff, not in the distant future, but THIS school year. And, you'll know that the work you are doing actually matters.

If you want help figuring out your root cause and a plan for solving it this school year, that's exactly what we do at Builder's Lab. I'll help you take a look at your challenges, understand what's causing them, and then help you develop a plan for eliminating your root cause once and for all.

There is still time to get your ticket for our next Builder's Lab January 30-February 2, 2022 but you'll have to hurry. Click here to get your ticket today. www.mindstepsinc.com/builders-lab