Leadership LessonSlow Down to Get Ahead—Reclaiming Focus

Adapted from www.mindful.org/slow-down-to-get-ahead

Myth: Rushing through our daily tasks and projects, doing many simultaneously, gains us time.Truth: Rushing results in loss of clarity and focus on our vision and distracts us from being cognitively and emotionally available.

Cost of RushingMake mistakesRedo and redoReduce effectivenessLose purpose and directionStay in endless cycle of task completion with no developmental growth or progress

If you’re rushing and rushing and not getting the results you want, take a moment to reflect, re-evaluate and re-direct your energies…

5 Steps Toward Focus1. Determine your ideal outcome; clarify

your vision.

2. Define success for yourself.

3. Identify the incongruence between your actions/behaviors and your ideal.

4. Identify the strengths needed for success.

5. Develop those strengths.

Get Ready to Reflect & Re-evaluate!

Determine your ideal outcome (clarify your vision).

What does your ideal life (both personally and professionally) look like?

What does it feel like? Do your actions align to your described

ideal? What actions/behaviors if taken or

adapted would move you toward your ideal?

#1

Define success for yourself.

Complete the following: I am successful because I … I experience feeling successful when I…

#2

Identify your incongruence.

Tune in to your daily routines and behaviors—which of these, if any, do not move you toward success?

What actions if taken would yield better results?

#3

Identify the strengths needed for success.

What skills are needed to achieve your vision?

What strengths do you already possess? How will enhancing these strengths

help move you toward your vision? What skills might you develop in order

to realize your vision?

#4

Develop those strengths. You have the content knowledge, skills,

and disposition to achieve your vision. Hone, cultivate, and expand them starting

today!

(Perhaps the newProfessional Standards for Educational Leaders would help you clarify your vision and identify your strengths)

#5

FOCUS ON THE PRESENT AND THE

PAST WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF.