What to do when the timer’s almost up

It’s July 31, which means there are a whole lot of people out there thinking “tomorrow is August??!” and perhaps freaking out a bit. 

I work with clients where tomorrow is the first day of school (!) and with clients whose students don’t arrive until mid-September. While sometimes discussion of the new school year can feel really focused on school and district leaders, the reality is that our whole society is impacted by the start of the school year: it’s a big shift in the year for any parent, or really, anyone who is affiliated with anyone in the school system. If you have people who are parents of school-aged children on your team, this means something to them–whether it’s a more predictable schedule now that the patchwork of summer childcare is over, or different availability syncing with drop-off and pick-up.

Of course, so many folks in education or youth-adjacent organizations have programs that start with the new school year, or fall sports league start up, or the highway gets more crowded as summer vacation season ends.  No matter what it signifies for you in your leadership, the reality is: the countdown to the new school year in ON–and whether there are single or double digits facing you, it’s coming. 

As a CEO and as a principal, when the new school year started appearing on the horizon, I found that time divided itself into some distinct periods:

“The Spring”

At some point each fall, I’d inevitably start to think about the next school year and pre-plan my spring. Whenever I did, the spirit of this era was, “I have plenty of time to do this for next year, and I can’t wait to dig in and really get this right” –also known as “the spring.” I was heard to say all over, “Oh, in the spring I’ll be able to (lead the new curricula process… figure out a new Student Information System…really clarify the vision for…). I had glorious visions of this magical, mystical time where I would have so much space on my calendar because I had figured it all out, everyone was rocking and rolling and I’d have thought about all these projects and initiatives I knew would move the organization forward.

Spoiler alert: this mythical time was never as glorious as I imagined. In reality, I’d maybe squeeze in something here or there, but then something else would come up and I would deal with that… then it was end of year… then it’d be the beginning of the summer and time for vacation and pretty soon we were at the next phase:

“Wait, there’s how long?!?!”

Not gonna lie, there were often some PG-13 rated words that went along with this moment when I inevitably looked up, saw the date on the calendar and was like, “Wait, the next school year is how close?” All my glorious visions of spring time productivity vanished, and I started dividing the to-do list into must-dos and nice-to-dos—and then crossing off alllll the nice-to-dos and putting them on the later list. It was go-time people! I’d work feverishly, squeezing in time here or there, multitasking on a road trip or at a conference on all the must-dos, until I got to the next phase:

“Oh, I really wanted to do this but now it feels too late”

If you’ve ever seen Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, you know how I looked in this phase. Morose. Glum. Over it. I really really really wanted to make this the year I (got writing to a better place… finally had my instructional coaches clear on their roles… had an amazing back to school friend-raiser) but now it simply felt too late. I watched those dreams go down the drain and felt like, “How did this all go by so fast?”

Maybe you see yourself in one of these moments now–or recognize these phases yourself whether you’re a client who starts this week or has another six or seven weeks to go until the First Day of School. It’s a funny time of year, because while every school leader in the land is past the “the spring” (ah, that glorious spring, land of so much promising productivity), some folks may still be in the “Wait, there’s how long?” and still others have already been to the metaphoric graveyard to bury their dreams. Regardless, I’m here with a message from the other side…and this may actually come as a surprise to you (it would have to my former self!):

It’s never too late.

After going through a few of these cycles, I realized that when Sir Elton sings “It’s never too late,” he was right! (as he almost always is). It’s never too late. While the uninterrupted imagined productive days of spring can go by too soon, the reality is there are a lot of ways to make progress in a school year, even if you are on a tight timeline or your ideal has already passed. This could mean running a pilot… starting an initiative to begin after Quarter 1… planning for a second semester launch… there are so many ways to keep making progress, and just because it’s a little closer to the school year right now than you wanted doesn’t mean it can’t be done this year, or at all.

I am here to tell you progress is still possible and there are ways to expand time (like by hiring someone to take on some of the work you have–where a consultant’s additional expertise can come in handy!).

If you are wondering what it could look like to get an assist on an initiative, or make sure this year is still the time you get that Big Dream Started despite the fact you are solidly in the “Wait, there’s how long?!?!” or the Eeyore-esque “It feels too late” time, book a call with me and we can talk about how I can help and what this might look like within your particular context.