Ostrich Mode

Two summers ago, I was experiencing my first August in about ten years where I wasn’t preparing to start the school year as a school leader. Come to think of it, August is a month I was usually intensely professionally busy–whether it was closing up the Teach For America Institute for the summer or running a Rookie Academy for new teachers as the Dean of Instruction. As an educator, the reality was that for me, my professional life was always off-and-popping in August. In August 2021, though, I was finally not immersed in leading a school’s new year or school opening.

I had lots of time for leisure, finally enjoying the beauty of summer. One day, I was chatting with my best friend from college—a friend of almost 20 years at that point—when she mentioned it was her husband’s birthday that day. This came as a huge surprise to me. I could NOT believe it. I had known her husband since 1998–how did I not know his birthday was in August? How had this never come up before?

In that moment, it dawned on me–that in my Augusts–more or less since 1998 on–I had always been in Ostrich Mode. 

What’s Ostrich Mode? Well, similarly to how an ostrich is known for sticking its head in the ground and blocking out everything around it–that’s what I’d do in Augusts past, but instead of burying my head in the ground, I was buried in my work. The weeks leading up to network-wide professional development are always such big lifts, and year after year I’d find the days on the calendar flying by as I hurriedly led my team through making big decisions for the year, making last minute hires, and getting all the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed for the year ahead.

I have no idea how a real ostrich feels, but to me, this was not a bad thing. If Ostrich Mode persisted all year, it’d be troubling but what I found was that after the first few days of professional development (when my network-led PD was over and the metaphoric baton had been passed to my principals), I’d start to peek my head out a tiny bit. Each day I would gradually pull my head out more and more and see more of the world–until the first week of school was over, at which point I could take my head out of the ground and enjoy the view. 

I knew it was a season, and it would pass–and it always did. A client of mine said to me the other day, “My family knows that in the 4-6 weeks leading up to school, they see me at dinner, then I head off to my office to work. The dad who was playing catch and grilling out is away for now, to return when school is in session and I’ve got the year launched in the way I know it needs to be to keep my promises to families and students.”

How the year begins is so important–it sets a course and a trajectory, as well as starts some momentum that can snowball and take on a life of its own. Momentum works in both directions though—the Hot Mess Express can gain ground as quickly as the Excellence Engine can. Ostrich Mode is about sticking your head down to get the work done so that you can make sure your train is moving in the right direction.

So while I felt bad for all the years I a was completely unaware a friend’s birthday is in August–I also know that Ostrich Mode what I needed to do to get school on the right path for the year.

How’s your Ostrich Mode going this year? Let me know if I can help ensure that time underground is on the right stuff.