Colleagues,

Day 2 of the five for five challenge: Affirmations
 

• For each negative thought from yesterday, write a positive statement (affirmation) that counters the negative thought.
• Practice saying the affirmations throughout the day.
• If you catch yourself making a negative self-comment, immediately say the affirmation three times.

 
Examples:
Negative: I’m not as productive as I should be!
Affirmation: I do amazing things every day!
 
Negative: Sometimes I’m so stupid!
Affirmation: I am an intelligent and insightful leader!
 
Negative: I really screwed that up!
Affirmation: I make the best decisions I can with the information I have at the time.
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick

Colleagues,

This week we are doing something different.
 
I am presenting to you a 25-minute challenge to become a better leader this week.
 
Day 1 of the five for five challenge: Negative talk
 

• Grab a piece of paper. 
• Reflect for one minute on the negative things you say to yourself.
• Write them down.
• Keep the paper with you.
• Monitor your self-talk and record any other negative things you say about yourself.

 
Cheers!
 
Frederick

Colleagues,

Next week I’m going to try something a bit different.
 
Each morning, I will present you with a task that will take about five minutes.
 
Each day will build on the previous day, so try and keep up.
 
When I have done similar work, it has been emotional and impactful. I can’t promise it will be the same for you, but what if…
 
… in five minutes, for five days, you could do something impactful to grow your own leadership?
 
Wouldn’t it be worth taking a chance?
 
Reflect:

• What is the story you tell yourself about who you are as a leader?
• How does that story help you…
• … and hurt you?
• If you could change or tweak one thing about your leadership, what would it be?

 
If you have a chance this weekend, try and find a favorite picture of yourself as a child. We will use it next Thursday.
 
Have a great weekend!
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick

Colleagues,

Remember the six dimensions of organizations? 

In an ideal organization, the people, structures, and resources are all aligned to the purpose.
 
Because the perfect organization doesn’t exist, there is always misalignment.

​One primary responsibility of leadership is using change processes to increase alignment.
 
Here is part of the challenge:

• Organizations improvement is driven by the growth of the people within it.
• The structures of most organizations aren’t aligned to growing people.
• The structures of most organizations aren’t aligned to help leaders learn to grow people.

 
The first step to getting better at growing people is to grow leaders’ abilities to build the structures and apply the skills for supporting professional growth.
 
Addressing this core issue is one of the primary goals of the daily email. 
 
Be intentional today. Think about what you have learned about growing people. Focus on implementing one thing. Some possibilities (from April 6, 2022):

• Do 5-minute coaching
• Be fully present
• Provide quality feedback

 
If you want to think more about this and you are an educational leader, stay tuned for this afternoon’s episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast in which I dig deeper into these issues.
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick

Colleagues,

Sometimes it is helpful to compartmentalize tasks:

• I write the weekly emails on Fridays.
• I work on APEx on Mondays.
• I develop programming in June.

 
However, compartmentalizing can create a false sense that things are disconnected.
 
The reality is that everything touches everything else.
 
As you go about your tasks, be open to the idea that you will see or learn something that touches on a different part of your work. Plan your work and work your plan, but be open to surprises, opportunities, and serendipity.
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick