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A test for your focus......Did you pass?

Writer's picture: Maggie Martin RileyMaggie Martin Riley

I recently came across this selective attention test.


Watch the video below.  It only takes one minute and 21 seconds to engage with.  



You might want to have your ILT take this test before summer leadership week.


Below are spoilers so check out the video first.


What does this test have to do with school leadership?


Perhaps this take-away is obvious but I see leadership teams struggling with it ALL THE  TIME.


What you pay attention to matters!  


And often, in the spring, we’re tired.  We decide to coast through the end of year rigmarole and just make it through the June trainings we’re required to attend.


But what I know is that feeling like our time is wasted or unimportant actually contributes to our burnout and disillusionment.


As leaders, we have the ability to bring meaning to any work we do and this is even more essential when we’re running low on energy.


Tired leaders need a clear focus.


And it’s better to decide that focus ahead of the meetings than try to make sense of a barrage of information during the session.  


Without clarity, we count the baskets and miss the giant gorilla! (IYKYK)


Here’s what I’ve been working on with leadership teams this spring:


  • Get clear on FOUR things that matter to YOU and that you will focus on in your leadership from July to October.

  • These four important commitments should be your filter for how you receive all information about initiatives, changing assessments, district priorities, etc.

  • This filter will help you to make sense and manage the impulse to think you have a billion things to focus on in the fall.  NO.  You have four things.


I’ve been doing this work with leadership teams and they report feeling less stress, greater clarity, and more willingness to attend spring learning events.


Try it and let me know how it impacts your June learning.


Your coach in life and leadership,


Maggie


PS - Starting the year strong is a cliché for a reason.  You will feel a greater sense of community and shared purpose when your leadership team has the foundational tools for communication, dealing with conflict, and a commitment to support each other in the work.  That’s why I’m offering Leader of Self:  Team Foundations.  This is a one day seminar just for you and your team that I host at my retreat space.  We set you up to win for the coming school year.  Reserve your date HERE.  


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