The pressure of a perfect season

I don’t mind striking out my first time at bat. It takes away the pressure of a perfect season. —My decades-old memory of something said by a MLB player

When I resumed my blog in January after a hiatus of several months to work on another project my goal was to publish an essay a week until June for a total of about 25 posts.

Soon I was writing two essays a week, and then beginning in March I decided to stretch myself to a post a day for a month.

I didn’t know then that this experiment would extend for 3 months and more than 90 consecutive daily posts, a total that far exceeded my expectations and at this point has created a pressure of its own to have a “perfect season” that I didn’t’ feel in the first few weeks.

More than once I have asked myself why at this time in my life I want to continue to write for publication, and this is how I respond:

I write to better understand topics that interest me, especially those that too often are treated superficially.

I write because it makes me more attentive throughout the day to what I’m reading and observing, an attentiveness that enriches my life.

I write for an hour or two early each morning because I enjoy the slow, contemplative time that routine provides. The most enjoyable part is watching my thinking evolve as I write.

I publish what I write because when I write for an audience I strive to be as clear and precise as possible. And because I prefer to “write short” to focus my thinking, every word counts. For me, that is the most challenging part of the process. (One of my favorite books about writing is How to Write Short by Roy Peter Clark.)

I publish what I write in the hope that what I learn may also be of value to readers, perhaps providing a fresh perspective on a familiar topic.

Not surprisingly, the things that are important to me in my 70s are different from those in previous decades, although I remain very interested in how people of all ages, by themselves and with others, learn and create, find purpose, and persevere when it would be easier to quit.

So, like the baseball player who wants to avoid the pressure of a perfect season at bat, it is time to take a break in my streak to find a more sustainable pace.

I will begin again in the near future with a less demanding schedule.

Have you ever modified your goals or standards to improve the quality of your work or life?

Sometimes the best way to achieve a modest goal is to stretch it

As I returned to this blog in January after a few months during which I was focused on another writing project I had no shortage of things I wanted to say and a large file of notes I could use to get started. 

My goal of publishing an essay a week, however, proved more challenging than I expected because I found it difficult to establish the momentum necessary to enjoy the process.

My modest goal enabled me to put off for days the parts of the writing process that are most difficult for me—being as clear and precise in my thinking as possible.

Procrastination was not fun.

As an experiment I increased my posts to two per week, but that was still insufficient to gain momentum. 

So I again increased my publishing goal, this time to daily, at least for the month of March, which created the sense of urgency and daily routine I needed.

Sometimes when we lack motivation in pursuit of a modest goal the counterintuitive cure is to significantly increase the size of the goal.

Those larger intentions are sometimes called “stretch goals,” and I had this to say about them in Leading for Results:

One theory of goal setting recommends setting modest, incremental goals because people are more likely to achieve them and to experience the motivation provided by that success. This motivation, in turn, leads to continued improvement. 

Another theory says “stretch goals”—goals so large they seem impossible to achieve—and the deep changes they require for their attainment are more valuable in producing significant, lasting improvements.… 

The benefits of both processes can be obtained, however, when their strengths are blended. 

Stretch goals can stimulate deep change, while incremental “milestone” goals can provide mid-course markers of improvement (which could be viewed as incremental goals) and offer opportunities to celebrate success and experience the motivation provided by achieving them. 

Stretch goals by their very nature require… unrelenting focus, clarity of thought, consistent communication, alignment of resources, innovation, discipline, and teamwork.

What are the implications of stretch goals in your work and personal life?

6 important contradictions in life and work

Most of us find it difficult to simultaneously hold in our minds two or more contradictory beliefs. 

Nonetheless, sometimes one idea and its opposite are both true.

Here are several examples:

1. Plan carefully and persist in doing what’s important to you and to others, but be prepared to improvise because of unanticipated events. Plan, but hold those plans loosely.

2. Recognize the value of expertise and research, but also understand their limitations. Be open to new learning while simultaneously inquiring about the evidence upon which recommendations are being made.

3. Trust yourself, but ask respected colleagues and friends to offer their perspectives on your experiences and point of view.

4. Know that one person or a small group can change the trajectory of an organization, but don’t underestimate the power of systems and processes to affect what we think and do each day.

5. Conventional wisdom may offer guidance, but don’t unconditionally follow its dictates. In fact, make it a habit to surface and thoroughly examine the often unexamined assumptions that guide our lives.

6. Aim big. There are situations that require large, seemingly impossible goals to stretch us out of our comfort zones, but remember that such stretch goals are achieved and celebrated in incremental steps.

What contradictions would you add to this list?

Why scripts and formula cannot continuously improve teaching and learning

Each week this summer I’m introducing a blog theme that connects popular and important posts from recent years. Each theme offers a number of perspectives on a perennial challenge of school leadership.

This week’s theme is “creating the future of your school.”

Most problems faced by K-12 teachers and administrators require adaptive solutions—that is, solutions for which there is no one-right answer or script.

Viewed from this perspective, educators’ work is more like the improvisation of jazz musicians than the adherence to a musical score of performers in a symphony orchestra. That means that educators must continuously invent their way forward while keeping foremost in their minds the ambitious goals for student success that inspire and guide their work.

I encourage you to scroll through articles in this thread to find those that match your interests.

In addition, I encourage you to take a closer look at these essays:

“Choose stretch goals over modest, achievable targets”

“Your answer to these two questions could change your school forever”

“The importance of thinking very big and very small”

 

Choose stretch goals over modest, achievable targets

Successful leadership can sometimes be reduced to a small number of fundamental choices. Once those choices are made, they guide decisions and behavior in dozens of situations each week.

One of those choices is between “stretch goals” and modest, achievable outcomes.

A stretch goal, as its name implies, is so ambitious that its achievement almost always requires individuals to leave their comfort zones to make deep changes in their beliefs, understanding, and/or habits.

Like all big goals, stretch goals are achieved through many small daily actions over time.

Modest, achievable goals are attractive because most people prefer almost certain  success to the risk of failure inherent in stretch goals.

In addition, modest, achievable goals typically allow us to work within the comfort of our current beliefs, understandings, and practices.

Stretch goals have several benefits:

• Because stretch goals are almost always by their very nature inspirational, they create energy and bring out the best in ourselves and the school community.

• Because of the significant changes demanded by stretch goals, they typically produce outcomes that far exceed those originally thought possible.

• Because stretch goals are achieved through the accumulation of countless daily actions, they offer many en route milestones, each of which provides an opportunity to celebrate progress.

Stretch goals are risky, and they are demanding. But they also hold out the prospect of possibilities that far exceed those we usually imagine.

That prospect makes the pursuit of stretch goals worth the risk, particularly when students are the beneficiaries of our extraordinary efforts.