You've probably got about ten days before the school year swallows everything else. Do not waste that time worrying about what's coming.
Schools run on urgency. Bells, schedules, deadlines, emails, meetings, and a constant stream of things that need an answer right now. After a while, that starts to feel normal. It can even feel like productivity, like proof you're doing the job well.
But urgency and intentionality are not the same thing.
Urgency is reactive. It pulls you toward whatever's loudest, not necessarily what matters most. You can work incredibly hard all year and still look back wondering where your time actually went.
Intentionality asks a different question: what matters most, and am I giving it my best energy?
Being intentional won't make you less busy. In this job, that's not realistic. But it means deciding ahead of time what deserves your attention and what you're going to protect once things get hectic.
That's what makes these last few days before school starts so valuable. Before the parent emails start. Before the schedule changes. Before the problems nobody saw coming start piling up. This is your window to think about the kind of year you want and what you refuse to let the job take from you.
You don't need to overhaul how you work. Just answer one honest question: what is one thing I will protect this year, no matter what?
Not five things. Not a whole new philosophy. One specific thing you can name and defend when urgency tries to tell you it can wait.
Maybe it's dinner with your family. Maybe it's working out three times a week. Maybe it's staying fully present with students during one part of the day. Maybe it's leaving at a decent hour once a week.
One thing to try this week: write down your non-negotiable. The one thing you won't sacrifice this year. Then say it out loud to someone you trust, a spouse, a friend, a colleague. An intention that stays in your head is easy to quietly abandon by October. Saying it out loud makes it real.
From the principal's desk: For years, I let urgency set my agenda. The shift didn't come from one big decision. It came from asking myself, again and again, whether each new demand actually deserved my best energy before I handed it over.
That small question changed how I led. More than that, it changed how I felt at the end of the school year.
See you in two weeks.
David
educatorlifelab.com