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Episode 84: The 5 Things That You Should Definitely Do This Summer

Episode 84 Show Notes

 

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CLICK HERE to learn more about 1-on-1 Leadership Coaching

 

The 5 Things That You Should Definitely Do This Summer

1 Rest

2 Play

3 Connect

4 Plan

5 Grow

 

1 Rest

    • Most of us don’t really rest during the school year.
    • Go from one crisis to the next
    • What is real rest?
    • To actually shut it down.
    • I had a coaching client last summer that had NEVER put an away message on his email. 2 weeks with family. TELL STORY
    • If you keep dipping in and out of school, you are not going to get real rest.
    • Acknowledge how long it took for me to learn how to shut it down.
    • Sleep. Read a book. Watch a show. 
    • Hustle culture has equated rest with laziness. 
    • If you want to have a long and happy and fulfilling career, you have to learn how to rest

 

  • Schedule your good intentions. What, when?

 

2 Play

    • We go stir crazy
    • That’s where play comes in.
    • I really wish that I had more time to ____________________
    • I can’t remember the last time that I ___________________
    • Some of my coaching clients: artist, swimming, gardening, baking, golf, biking, pickleball, crochet, hiking, camping, (Baked a loaf of bread)
    • I really wish that I had more time to ____________________
    • I can’t remember the last time that I ___________________

 

  • Schedule your good intentions. What, when?

 

3 Connect

    • Our loved ones often don’t get the best version of us during the school year
    • Dumb dad
    • Reconnect emotionally, improve relationships, repair relationships
    • Inner circle (me: my wife and three daughters)
    • Next ring of the circle (my wife’s family, friends)
    • How? DEVICE FREE conversations
    • Don’t have to spend a lot of money to connect emotionally
    • Apply the same level of active listening to a loved one that you would for a parent in your office.
    • Apply the same level of active listening to a loved one that you would for a parent in your office.
    • How? (Especially with teens)Take an interest in what they are interested in.

 

  • Schedule your good intentions. What, when?

 

4 Plan

  • Of course you are going to plan.
  • I don’t mean for the school year that starts this fall.
  • Schedule some time to think about the future of your school.
  • Things that will happen more than one year in the future.
  • Get a piece of paper, just start writing. Notebook even better.
  • Describe your school in 5 years. 
  • Use as much details as possible.
  • Create categories: Culture, enrollment, teachers, teacher morale, students, profile of a graduate, finances, facilities, whatever else comes to mind.
  • Now use even more details to describe this preferred future
  • PREFERRED FUTURE
  • One page for each category. Start to reverse engineer what you describe.
  • If I want our enrollment to be X in 5 years, what do I have to do this year, next year, in 3 years?
  • If I want our facilities to be X in 5 years, what do I have to do this year, next year, in 3 years?
  • If I want our culture to be X in 5 years, what do I have to do this year, next year, in 3 years?
  • QUESTION
  • This summer, which school year are you planning for?
  • This one
  • When are you planning for the school year that is 5 years from this fall?
  • We spend most of our time planning how to get through this school year.
  • If we don’t envision it and plan to get there, it will not become a reality.
  • Your notebook will be your GPS, your road map.
  • Schedule your good intentions. What, when? 

 

5 Grow

 

2 things that I recommend

  • THRIVE Academy
  • 1-on-1 Coaching

 

Call to Action

I usually try to keep it to one thing. But, this summer I want you to schedule these five things into your calendar:

 

1 Rest

2 Play

3 Connect

4 Plan

5 Grow

 

Being a private school leader is a VERY difficult job. You have to make hundreds of decisions every day, and you have to keep everyone safe, increase enrollment, keep the parents happy, keep the board happy, motivate the teachers, deal with student discipline, beat last year’s test scores and come in under budget.

  • Are you feeling tired, discouraged and overwhelmed?
  • Do you ever feel like the pace that you keep is not sustainable?
  • Does the school tend to invade your weeknights and your weekends? 
  • Do you feel like work-life balance is a myth?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then I want you to check out THRIVE Academy.

 

THRIVE Academy is an online course with 39 lessons, over 9 hours of video content, and  an 86 page workbook with guided notes, reflection questions, calls to action and more AND you get live office hours on Zoom for the first 6 weeks.

CLICK HERE to learn more about THRIVE Academy!

I am excited to share a brand new resource with you. It is a 9 page pdf called: “How To Use Verbal Judo To Have Better Conversations With The Parents At Your School” What is “Verbal Judo”? "Verbal Judo" is a communication strategy that focuses on using words effectively to de-escalate conflict, resolve disputes, and achieve positive outcomes in various interpersonal interactions, particularly in high-pressure situations. 


George Thompson and Jerry Jenkins wrote a book called Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art Of Persuasion. So, I have taken several important strategies from the book and applied them to your life as a private school leader. CLICK HERE to grab your free copy of “How To Use Verbal Judo To Have Better Conversations With The Parents At Your School”.

 

I want to say thank you for listening to the podcast by giving you a FREE GIFT. It is called The 7 Steps To Having Successful Meetings With Upset Parents. This guide is an 11 page pdf that gives you a step by step plan to have better meetings with the parents at your school. Every good coach has a game plan. Every good teacher has a lesson plan. Too many private school leaders don’t have a plan when they sit down to meet with an upset parent. Well, now you have a PLAN! CLICK HERE to get the guide!!

 

I’ve created a free resource for you called “The 6 Things That Every Private School Teacher Wants From Their Leader”. This guide is a 6 page pdf that will be a game changer for you. I guarantee you that if you do these 6 things, the teachers at your school will be happy to follow you. CLICK HERE to get the guide!

 

I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. CLICK HERE to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week!

 

I’ve created another FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can CLICK HERE to get “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. Thanks!

 

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!

 

If you have gotten value from listening to the podcast, I would love to work with you 1-on-1. I would love to take my experience and help you to feel less overwhelmed and frustrated or help you have success if you are a brand new leader. I also work with private school leaders who are aspiring Heads of School and want to accelerate their leadership growth or experienced leaders that are moving on to a new school and they want to get off to a great start. If I’m describing you, then CLICK HERE to learn more about working with me 1-on-1.

 

CLICK HERE for a bunch of free resources, including Plug & Play PD's (video webinars with guided notes) for you to use with your teachers, Top Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books, TED Talks and much more!

 

Please follow, rate and review this podcast. The rating helps this podcast to be heard by more leaders and your review gives me valuable feedback so that I can better serve you in future episodes. If you got value from this episode, please text the link to an aspiring leader at your school. Thanks!

 

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