We have to try and get a little stronger, Lord knows we do, with each and every day (War)

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

Recently, Thomas Oppong posted on the benefits of using to-do lists. In fact, he advocates two to-do lists - a daily list and a master list.

Thomas: Move at most 5 things you HAVE or NEED to get done in a single workday to the daily list and focus on checking those off for the day: nothing more.

You can always add more to the daily list once they’ve been done.

The tasks on your daily list are the only thing that deserves your focus for the day — they are your high-priority or daily highlights.

These high priority items sound like urgent important tasks (as Stephen Covey labels them).

I do this and pretty much spend every day dealing with urgent important items on my list. Lately, it seems that every time I open my emails there is at least one urgent important thing for me to action. These mount up quickly.

Therefore, I often have little time for the not urgent but important items and not many people ever think their task is not important, otherwise they wouldn't send them out.

It's a dilly of a pickle.

It is the moral behaviour that determines one's success or failure (Hsing Yun)

Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash

It is the moral behaviour that determines one's success or failure.

Ysing Yun

Success is not measured by wins and losses, but by the character and resilience of the team (Andy Reid)

Andy Reid

Time for some more of Marshall Manson's thoughts on leaders. 

"Good leaders listen. Good leaders create an environment / atmosphere where people can do their best work. Good leaders motivate.

Great leaders coach, encourage, develop, and motivate so that their people perform and achieve above their own potential."

Food for thought.

Hours are like diamonds, don't let them waste (The Rolling Stones)

70% of Americans said they “never had enough time,” in 2011. It rose to 80% in 2018.  It's probably 90% in 2024.

Wednesdays, especially, have turned into a manic day for me. No one wants or needs to know how busy I am, but Wednesday's become a full-on day. Chocka.

So, I turned to Dan Rockwell for advice.

Here he is on four ways to do less but get more done. I'm keen to see if any of these will work for me on Wednesdays.

#1 Choose one important thing to do today. 

I’m talking about choosing one or two places to invest your time, energy, and talent in order to make meaningful contribution.  

This one is impossible on a Wednesday

#2. Make your own decisions.

A person who lets others run their life does what matters to others.

Don’t live to only serve yourself, but don’t let others run your life either.

Realize you chose to work where you work. If the downside of your job is heavier than the upside seek a new job.

Not a practical solution for my Wednesdays.

3. Go to bed.

What fool believes tired people get more done? You get more done by getting enough rest. Too much rest is exhausting. Too little rest is debilitating.

I'm usually exhausted by 9.00pm and usually sleep until my 4.30am alarm.

#4. Put white space on your calendar.

Back-to-back meetings indicate poor management. Get more done by realizing schedule management is self-management.

Yes, I think I need to reorder a couple of things on my Wednesday schedule.

My favourite things (Rodgers and Hammerstein)

Coltrane's famous quartet (Elvin, Jimmy and McCoy)

The benefits of collaboration are many and varied. 

I'm listening to John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy playing on Evenings at the Village Gate as I write this and they couldn't have sounded this awesome without McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman on bass and Elvin Jones on drums.

The five musicians together form and sustain an intensely symbiotic, creative whole.

Same thing goes in sorts of other arenas. Including school.

Paradoxically - selfishly, I get a personal buzz from collaborating with others. It's great for thinking beyond the usual. Ideas can be explored beyond what I would come up with on my own.

It's a social occasion, too, therefore it's often a lot of fun - especially in my current environment.

Collaboration is all about relationships. Everybody finds their comfort zone being challenged in a collaborative environment.

Back to Coltrane Dolphy et al. Greensleeves is a favourite of mine and unbelievable on this album!! Just five people in tune with each other. 

Collaboration at its finest!

The speed of our forward motion is directly related to the velocity of the people around us (Seth Godin)

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

This year, Professional Learning and Development has embraced the idea that each individual campus should work together on projects like their own learning.

Taking Seth's quote as a starting point, I would say forward motion at our campus is in very good hands. It's a safe culture here, where people can advance their thoughts and ideas in a nurturing, collaborative environment.

I wouldn't want it any other way.