The key question: what do I want to be true a year from now?
About five years ago, I felt blah and unhealthy. With three kids under three at home, a busy CEO job during the day, the baby weight still sticking around, I knew that I had to do something to feel better physically. While I knew what I should do--exercise, eat better, get rest-- my daily life felt like life on a hamster wheel. Honestly, I didn’t see where I would get the time to suddenly cook healthy meals or exercise. I just kept drinking way too much wine every night, buying bigger clothes and bemoaning my life. My 40th birthday was approaching and I would just slide into middle age in a sloth-like way, thank you very much.
Then one day, I saw this magnet in a store, and two lightbulbs went off.
Lightbulb #1: On my 40th birthday, I would want to be fit. Lightbulb #2: which meant today I should exercise.
This question was a lightning bolt moment; I started making time to exercise 3-4 times a week after that, always thinking of my upcoming 40th birthday and the goal of being fit to help me when I was hard-pressed for time. Clearly, I bought the magnet.
Fast forward about a year later. Coming home from work, I was drained--we had a ton of personnel drama at work, and multiple times a week there was something to deal with as a result of this: mediating between staff members, crying teachers in my office. I was frustrated and had long ago had enough. I saw this on the fridge, and thought “A year from now I want an end to all this staff drama. I want it to be crystal clear how we operate at our school--what our core values mean for how we act, and what we do and don’t do. I want shared, unified clarity on our mission, and what this means for our actions, and what is non-negotiable about it.” Later that week, I started whiteboarding some ideas. (My team always knew this meant something was in the works.) Pretty soon I had a whole plan to write a manifesto that pulled together our mission, vision, reason for being, and was crystal clear on what we would and wouldn’t do. Staff would be required to read it, pass a quiz on it to get their first paycheck, and it would become the foundation of all we did. While most of the contents of the manifesto existed in various forms and places, the team wasn’t connecting the dots on why when our mission was college for ALL kids, that meant we welcomed ALL kids--regardless of IEP status, first language, etc. So, this manifesto connected the dots for them in a clear, narrative way.
About six weeks later, everyone got their bound, fancy, color-printed copy of The Chicago Collegiate Code, and took a quiz promptly after returning from spring break. All new employees receive it and take a copy to this day, and it was a huge part of eliminating the staff drama.
As a leader, when you’re wondering if it’s time for a change, zoom out and ask yourself the question on there--and listen to the answer. It has changed my life (personally and professionally) and I know it can change yours too.
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What do YOU want to be true a year from now? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Birthday-ing it up on my 40th.