02| May | 2019
It is my intention to share some reflections on the highs, the lows, the excitement, the routine, the successes, the failures and everything in between which I experience the course of the next 10 – 12 months, my first months as a full-time principal of a high school. Writing this journal will help me grow. Reading it may make you laugh…
I am addicted (a carefully and correctly chosen word) to my email and my calendar. I am not sure, frankly, if this is a good or bad thing. I lean towards it being a good thing because this particular addiction makes me more productive and responsive. Looking at my calendar lets me know what’s coming and for what I need to be prepared. Looking at my email allows me to reply to people frequently and readily.
These seem important things and my first year at Mullen High School has reinforced this perception.
However, I am well aware of the gratification I receive from feeling like I am doing a great job at balancing many, many things. I am aware that I pat myself on the back, repeatedly, when I believe I am doing a good job keeping many plates spinning.
I suppose there is nothing inherently wrong with this feeling.
What I try to guard against, however, is the idea that I have more going on than anyone else, that what I do is more complex than what others do, that my days are more… wait for it… busy than other people’s days.
I don’t always do a good job of guarding against these feelings. I’d like to do better.
Because, here’s the thing and it’s a thing I knew before I came to Mullen but it’s a thing that is being reinforced each-and-every day, especially in the spring: we are all busy, busy, busy, so busy. We all have so much going on that the term “busy” itself loses any sense of reality.
Who’s to judge who has more going on than anyone else and, at the end of the day, why is this competition important?
It’s not. The magic of this time of year – of pushing through until summer comes – is found not in our busyness, but in enjoyment and celebration of our students, our colleagues and our accomplishments.
As principal, I have to be the ring leader for these celebrations, not the guy saying how busy I am. I want to be the easy like Sunday morning principal, the calm in the storm, the least stressed guy around.
It’s the least I can do for the people with whom I journey.