Episode 7 Show Notes

Episode 007: The Top 4 Productivity Hacks For Busy Private School Leaders

The “Secret Sauce”

• Be Intentional
• Believe That This Is Possible

The Top 4 Productivity Hacks for Busy Private School Leaders

• Leverage the power of an index card
• Claim some white space
• Tame your inbox
• Decide when you're going to leave school at the end of the day

• Leverage the Power of an Index Card. Picture this: On the corner of your desk is an index card with a list of 3-4 things that you MUST DO today. Each task on that list begins with a verb. Every time that you come back to your desk, the first thing that you do is look at that index card.

• Claim some white space on your calendar. 1) Things about which you have no choice. 2) Time to work on your Must Do List. 3) 5-10 minutes during the school day and 20-30 minutes outside of school where you intentionally prioritize yourself. 4) Schedule your “Good Intentions” (start with 30 minutes a week, even better is 30 minutes, 3X/week). Schedule two specific times per day for email. Every Friday afternoon, claim the white space on your calendar for the following week

• Tame your inbox. Remember that “your inbox is a chronological list of everyone else’s priorities” You are going to have the self discipline to decide WHEN you are going to respond to emails and then you are going to follow the 2 Minute Rule. 

• Decide when you are going to leave school for the day. Then schedule it into your calendar. Do you remember when you were in High School and you had a big project that was due in three weeks? How long did it take you to finish that project? If you are like most people, IT TOOK YOU THREE WEEKS! This is because of something called Parkinson’s Law. Definition of Parkison’s Law: “Work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.” So, Parkinson’s Law applies to your work day as well. That’s why you are going to start deciding when you are going to leave school at the end of the day.

CLICK HERE for Laura Vanderkam’s TED Talk “How to gain control of your free time".

(The links below are affiliate links. If you purchase through this link, I get a commission of 4% of the price of the book to help defray the costs of the podcast and the website. You don’t have to use these links.)

CLICK HERE for Laura Vanderkam's book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think 

CLICK HERE for Laura Vanderkam's book Off The Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done

If you implement any of these strategies at your school, I would love to hear from you! Send me a quick note at [email protected] and tell me about it. I can answer your questions and I’m also good at giving pep talks when you get stuck!

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Music by Twisterium from Pixabay