February 27, 2024 • 20 mins
Imagine transforming your chaotic to-do list into a streamlined, dynamic tool that propels your productivity forward. Our guest, Jessica Holloway, TechX Educator of the Year and an innovation coach from Tennessee, gives us insight into her ingenious tiered to-do system. Weekly, she prioritizes her tasks and sets aside time each Friday to power through her list. We also delve into Jessica's unique approach to managing her overflowing inbox and resisting the urge to prioritize urgent tasks over important ones.
The conversation deepens as Jessica unfolds her strategies for managing priorities and the underestimated power of saying 'no.' She provides an inside look into how she establishes her own deadlines for accountability and her team action plan's vital role in filtering what needs to be done. Jessica's philosophy of protecting her 'yeses' and aligning them with her personal and professional goals offers a fresh perspective on maintaining a balanced work-life. Join us for this insightful conversation, packed with practical strategies to enhance productivity and keep focused in the ever-evolving field of education.
Jessica Holloway is an innovation coach for Hamilton County Schools in Tennessee. Her focus is on supporting K-12 STEM/STEAM education across the district. In her 17 years as an educator, she has taught middle school language arts and was a school-based instructional coach prior to her current role. She is a 2019 ASCD Emerging Leader and Tennessee ASCD President.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, a
podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, TammyMusiowsky-Borneman and Christine
Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
In today's episode, we speak with Jessica Holloway
about her tiered to-do systemthat she utilizes each week.
She also discusses how she putsaside time each Friday to work
the list.
Jessica Holloway is aninnovation coach for Hamilton
County Schools in Tennessee.
(00:57):
Her focus is on supporting K-12STEM or STEAM education across
the district.
In her 17 years as an educator,she has taught middle school
language arts and was aschool-based instructional coach
.
Prior to her current role, sheis a 2019 ASCD Emerging Leader
and Tennessee ASCD President.
Hello everyone and hello to ourguest, jessica Holloway.
(01:25):
Thanks for joining us today andwould you mind introducing
yourself and telling us a littlebit about yourself before we
get started today?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Hello everyone.
I'm Jessica Holloway.
I am an innovation coach inChattanooga, Tennessee, and I'm
also a 2019 ASCD Emerging Leaderand Tennessee ASCD President.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So, jessica, you just recently received a pretty
amazing award.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yes, thank you.
So the other night I did winthe TechX Educator of the Year
award for the Child Tech.
It is an organization inChattanooga that brings together
technology professionals.
They do some outreach andsponsors sponsorships and
(02:21):
scholarships for students, andit's just a really great
organization that I've gotten anopportunity to get connected
with.
They also have a group forChottek women that do events
like STEM for her that reallyencourage young girls to see
themselves in technology careers.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
That's amazing and, in your role as an innovation
coach, you know obviously thataward is well suited because
STEM and STEAM is still, I guessstill considered innovation,
right, because there's just somany things changing all the
time.
But you're in charge of thisall for your district, which is
(03:07):
a huge job, and so how do youmanage working with so many
different entities at differentlevels and stay focused?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, I have learned the hard way.
I'll say that I've done a lotof things wrong to figure out
what works for me.
And one thing is reallytackling my to-do list.
It's like laundry no matter howmany things I check off the
to-do list, there's going to besomething else that comes back
on.
So, figuring out how toprioritize my to-do list.
(03:40):
So I've come up with a system,really informal, but it's kind
of like a tiered to-do systemwith what I need to do this week
.
So I typically do this onFriday afternames, so that way
on Monday, mondays are alreadyhard to kind of come into work,
(04:01):
so to work on Mondays with aplan it feels a little bit
better.
So on Fridays I try to look atthe week ahead and think what
needs to be done by the end ofthe week.
Those are my top tier to do.
If it's actions that need to becompleted, if it's meetings,
make sure I'm prepped for anymeetings that I'm going to Then
the next tier are things thatare happening within the next
(04:23):
two weeks.
That, if there's time, go aheadand start preparing and working
on that.
Then after that is just thingsthat are on the horizon.
That again, if I can get tothose if I have time.
It helps me realize not all ofthose things have to be done
right now.
So to alleviate some of thatstress of saying these are the
(04:45):
half-twos, these are theone-twos and these are the
hope-twos, so it just kind ofputs it into organization for me
.
But another piece of that thatI've started doing when I moved
into a district role the amountof emails that I get has
exponentially grown.
So my inbox was running meinstead of me running my inbox.
(05:08):
So a piece of that on Fridaysis I also go back to Monday of
that week and I spot-checked myentire inbox to make sure that
I've replied to all of thecommunication that I've received
, make sure if there's anyaction items that need to go on
the list, that they make it tothe list.
It's just a good way of gettingon habit on Friday just
(05:30):
spot-check Monday into that wayEverything that comes in new
after that Friday.
I know that's where I need tostart as far as checking my
inbox.
So I've put it on my calendar.
It's called Work the List.
It's my focus Friday work thelist, get my list all ready to
go.
So that way Monday I am readyto walk in and be the best
(05:52):
version of myself I can be.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, any strategy that is going to make Monday
morning better is definitelygoing to be welcomed, that's for
sure.
Where do you put the items thatcome up that you have no way of
knowing that they're coming?
Where do they fit in yourmulti-tiered list?
Is it the unscheduled, unknownevents that come up as part of
our work?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Well, if they come to my inbox, there's a pin feature
on email and so they get pinnedto the top of the inbox so that
way I see them separate fromthe other things that are going
on.
Then it just gets added to thelist.
Unfortunately, sometimes whenyou mark something off,
something goes right back intoits place.
(06:37):
But the list is revisedthroughout the week to match
what's going on.
But hopefully there's astructure to it that when those
pop-up needs happen you justtuck it right in and help
prioritize.
Sometimes those pop-up needsfeel very urgent but then if you
look at them you're like I canreally put that on my next week
(06:59):
list.
It does not have to be doneright this moment.
I have until Tuesday of nextweek, so that's where I'm going
to put on my list.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So how do you fight that urge?
Because I know for myself,sometimes when something comes
into my email, I'm like oh, thisis something I can just do
right now and be done with it,and it just makes me put off the
more important thing.
How do you fight that urge tojust do that thing?
Sometimes I don't.
(07:31):
I'm gonna talk a little, okay,good, thank you.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Sometimes I don't.
Sometimes it's very satisfyingto know I can immediately reply
to this email and that's gonnabe done and it doesn't get added
to the list.
So if it's something that isjust a reply, I go ahead and
complete that task, becauseit'll be more time to add it to
the list and then do it laterthan it would be to just go
ahead and respond to thatcommunication.
(07:58):
But if it's something that'sgonna be multi-step and I
realize it's gonna take lessthan 10 minutes to do, it's
gotta go on the list, Especiallyif I'm in the middle of doing
something else and I have dayswhere I am in planning sessions
all day with teachers and thereisn't a moment because my time
and attention is focused on theteachers right in front of me
(08:22):
that we're co-creating plans forEverything on that is going.
It's just gonna have to wait.
So it's okay.
If it's something simple thatcan be just be a response, go
ahead and do it.
But if it's gonna be timeintensive, put it on the list
and figure out where it belongsto do.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Yeah, I'm thinking about too.
You mentioned having someblocked out time on Friday to
get yourself set up for Mondayand kind of look back at your
week.
Do people know about that timeyou have blocked?
Like know that that's yourprecious time so that come
Monday Jessica's like tuned intous?
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I've shared that with my boss.
He asked me one day he waslooking at my schedule and was
trying to figure when to have ameeting.
He was like what is work thelist me?
And I was like I am working myto-do list in my email inbox and
all of the things.
And he was like, oh, that makessense, and so I do let people
(09:27):
know like I won't meetingsduring certain times.
Now I don't necessarily have tosay it has to be exactly this
hour or two hours on Fridaymorning so I can be flexible.
If I do need to meet with aschool or some teachers on a
Friday, I can do it in theafternoon or adjust the time.
But it's always there's a chunkof time on Fridays where I try
(09:49):
to organize myself.
Now there are sometimes thereare Fridays where Fridays happen
and it just doesn't work theway you want it to and I don't
get to the list.
And so that means I try to,monday morning, make sure like I
get a little bit of time ifthere's time in the morning to
get that set up for that week.
(10:10):
But it does always feel like,oh, I'm starting a little bit
behind if I have to create thatlist on Monday morning.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, I appreciate that you don't take your weekend
time to look at that eitherBecause you need the detachment
from like all of that busynessthat you have every week.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, having that boundary is amazing for sure.
I'm wondering we can get socaught up in the I have to do
this.
I have to do that.
That's on my list.
Somebody's asked me to do this.
I need to follow up on that.
How does your own goals, yourown priorities, help you filter
through that list?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I think some of that goes back to.
We have a team action plan withour specific goals that we
wanna achieve by the end of theyear, right, and so the things
that are that we have check-insand measurable outcomes for
those are the things to makesure that the time is being
(11:15):
invested in.
Not that other things areimportant too, but these are the
things that we decided as theteam that we wanted to see our
team grow.
And, for me, what I'mcontributing to and responsible
for making sure that you knowwhat I'm giving time to matches
what I said was a priority asfar as being contributing to the
(11:37):
team goals as well.
So I think some of that is hard, especially when everything
feels important but.
If you don't figure out what'smost important, then you kind of
get into decision paralysis, soyou don't know what it is that
(11:59):
you need to do first.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think having clarified teamgoals like that, like an action
plan, is definitely gonna behelpful there.
Do you suffer from the sameailment that I do, where I often
keep putting it like do later,and then it gets put to do later
again and then do later again.
Do you ever suffer from thatproblem, or is that just me?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I do suffer from that problem if something doesn't
have like a definitive due date,so it hangs out on like the
hope two list at the bottom, andso I sometimes will.
If something doesn't have a duedate, I will create one for me,
simply because I will keepprocrastinating until it kind of
(12:47):
just goes away if I don't havea due date for something, and
then with that I'll often use,I'll put events in my calendar
of like, check in on this orcheck back with this person.
Or I'm really big because I dosupport a large district that
(13:12):
when I schedule support Ischedule support usually for the
entire school year and some ofthem in May.
We schedule for the upcomingschool year, just because you
know there's a lot of requestsand I'm one person for 70 plus
schools.
So if we're going to do ourschedule support, it's best to
go ahead and get those all onthe calendar as soon as possible
(13:33):
.
So I'm a big like if it doesnot exist on my calendar, it is
probably not going to happen.
So that's why it was importantto put work the list, follow up
with this person, check on this,have the due date here, just
for my own accountability.
So it goes on my tier to dolist and it's reminded when that
deadline is upcoming.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
And as a person in a district role, I don't know if
you get a lot of opportunity tolike, say no to things that are
coming in your direction, buthow do you then?
I mean, I know that you filterout your to do list, but is
there.
How is it that you like, whenyou have to say yes to all these
(14:18):
things, what's your process for, like, trying to make sure
things are in the right order,or like that kind of thing?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
That's a tough one.
It's also something I learnedthe hard way about protecting my
yeses and really thinking aboutif.
What am I saying yes to?
Does that align with mypersonal goal, my team goal,
professional goal?
Because sometimes we don'trealize when we say yes to
(14:48):
something, it's a no tosomething else, whether that's
personal time or otherprofessional opportunities that
we may not know about but theycome up later.
So, especially when it comesacross as an invitation, like
when you're invited in to dosomething, it's really hard to
say no for that, for the simplereason like you feel flattered
(15:13):
when someone invites you in todo something.
So you're kind of like oh, Idon't want to say no because
they asked me to do this, and soyou want to say yes.
That's the knee jerk reactionor you're afraid.
Well, if I say no, they'renever going to ask me again.
So I better say yes because whoknows if this opportunity is
going to come around?
And when you do that out offear, flattery, it doesn't
(15:37):
necessarily mean it's a goodchoice for you.
You're doing it for these otherreasons emotional reasons, not
really the cool reasons.
On yes, this is going to movemy work forward.
Yes, it's going to give meanother opportunity to approach
student learning in this way.
When you're just saying yes, tosay yes, it doesn't always turn
(16:00):
out to be a good investment oftime.
I do get a lot of invitations.
I'll say as a district levelhey, we have this new product,
we have this new platform, wehave this whatever curriculum.
A lot of times I just have tosay no, not yet, or that's not
(16:23):
something we're currentlylooking into.
Move student work forward.
A lot of those are outside thedistrict invitations of coming
in, do this, do this, do this ortry this.
We have this for you.
A lot of those are.
That's not really what I needto be investigating at this time
.
It looks really neat and it'sprobably a great product, but
(16:44):
right now that's not where ourfocus is.
As far as district asks, it'snot really like you can say yes
or no, but it is a question ofthe immediacy of need.
Is this something that is animmediate need for students,
teachers, staff?
(17:05):
If that's the case, then youhave to reprioritize and shift
some things.
If it's not, then it's aquestion of how can we get this
in place over time.
Then give ourselves anopportunity to do it right
versus panic, and try to justmake it happen instead of making
(17:26):
it happen in the best way.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
You have given us a lot to think about, and just
listening to your processes isreally helpful, because I'm in a
forever tweaking my ownprocesses.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, me too.
Me too, so listening to youtalk through yours.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Yeah, it's so helpful , but we are at the point in the
show where we need to wrap up,so can you give us a couple of
paredown pointers to send offfor our listeners at the end of
our episode here?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I one would be work your list.
Don't let your to-do list workyou.
So figure out how to scheduletime, to make a plan, to tear up
your to-do list on what youhave to do, want to do and hope
to do.
Same thing with your inbox havea system for spot checking and
figuring out what you have to doright away, what's a quick
(18:22):
response, what's going to takemore time?
And then thinking about youryeses and what you're investing
your time in.
Is that really something thatis aligning to your goals?
And that those invitations thatcome in aren't expectations and
I can say that from somebodywho invites people in to
participate in committees andserve in different ways for the
(18:44):
district.
When I send that invitation out,I'm expecting yeses and noes.
I'm not expecting people to sayyes every time I send the
invitation out.
So I clearly put in myinvitations now, an invitation
is not an expectation.
Does this align with what youwant to see for your own
personal growth or anopportunity to help grow the
(19:05):
students at your school?
If not, that's okay.
There will be opportunities inthe future.
So I really want to get in themindset of make sure your yes
means like yes.
This is good for you, not justgood for me, because I want it
to be mutually beneficial.
So those invitations, notexpectations, no is an
(19:25):
acceptable answer.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yes, yeah, so good, great reminder.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, jessica.
We really enjoyed chatting withyou.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Thank you, I've enjoyed talking about it.
Now I'm thinking about yes, I'mready for tomorrow, my to-do
list is ready to go and be readyto tackle another week of work.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Absolutely yes, I need some G dates on my calendar
.
But yes, ready to go.
Thanks, Jessica.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
This episode is sponsored by the Learning Loop.
The Learning Loop providesprofessional learning, design
and facilitation services todistricts, schools, nonprofit
organizations and businesses.
Internationally.
You can find them atthelearningloopcom.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the MinimalistEducator Podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at planzplson Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
Gaia Moretti.
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, a
podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, TammyMusiowsky-Borneman and Christine
Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
In today's episode, we speak with Jessica Holloway
about her tiered to-do systemthat she utilizes each week.
She also discusses how she putsaside time each Friday to work
the list.
Jessica Holloway is aninnovation coach for Hamilton
County Schools in Tennessee.
(00:57):
Her focus is on supporting K-12STEM or STEAM education across
the district.
In her 17 years as an educator,she has taught middle school
language arts and was aschool-based instructional coach
.
Prior to her current role, sheis a 2019 ASCD Emerging Leader
and Tennessee ASCD President.
Hello everyone and hello to ourguest, jessica Holloway.
(01:25):
Thanks for joining us today andwould you mind introducing
yourself and telling us a littlebit about yourself before we
get started today?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Hello everyone.
I'm Jessica Holloway.
I am an innovation coach inChattanooga, Tennessee, and I'm
also a 2019 ASCD Emerging Leaderand Tennessee ASCD President.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So, jessica, you just recently received a pretty
amazing award.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yes, thank you.
So the other night I did winthe TechX Educator of the Year
award for the Child Tech.
It is an organization inChattanooga that brings together
technology professionals.
They do some outreach andsponsors sponsorships and
(02:21):
scholarships for students, andit's just a really great
organization that I've gotten anopportunity to get connected
with.
They also have a group forChottek women that do events
like STEM for her that reallyencourage young girls to see
themselves in technology careers.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
That's amazing and, in your role as an innovation
coach, you know obviously thataward is well suited because
STEM and STEAM is still, I guessstill considered innovation,
right, because there's just somany things changing all the
time.
But you're in charge of thisall for your district, which is
(03:07):
a huge job, and so how do youmanage working with so many
different entities at differentlevels and stay focused?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, I have learned the hard way.
I'll say that I've done a lotof things wrong to figure out
what works for me.
And one thing is reallytackling my to-do list.
It's like laundry no matter howmany things I check off the
to-do list, there's going to besomething else that comes back
on.
So, figuring out how toprioritize my to-do list.
(03:40):
So I've come up with a system,really informal, but it's kind
of like a tiered to-do systemwith what I need to do this week
.
So I typically do this onFriday afternames, so that way
on Monday, mondays are alreadyhard to kind of come into work,
(04:01):
so to work on Mondays with aplan it feels a little bit
better.
So on Fridays I try to look atthe week ahead and think what
needs to be done by the end ofthe week.
Those are my top tier to do.
If it's actions that need to becompleted, if it's meetings,
make sure I'm prepped for anymeetings that I'm going to Then
the next tier are things thatare happening within the next
(04:23):
two weeks.
That, if there's time, go aheadand start preparing and working
on that.
Then after that is just thingsthat are on the horizon.
That again, if I can get tothose if I have time.
It helps me realize not all ofthose things have to be done
right now.
So to alleviate some of thatstress of saying these are the
(04:45):
half-twos, these are theone-twos and these are the
hope-twos, so it just kind ofputs it into organization for me
.
But another piece of that thatI've started doing when I moved
into a district role the amountof emails that I get has
exponentially grown.
So my inbox was running meinstead of me running my inbox.
(05:08):
So a piece of that on Fridaysis I also go back to Monday of
that week and I spot-checked myentire inbox to make sure that
I've replied to all of thecommunication that I've received
, make sure if there's anyaction items that need to go on
the list, that they make it tothe list.
It's just a good way of gettingon habit on Friday just
(05:30):
spot-check Monday into that wayEverything that comes in new
after that Friday.
I know that's where I need tostart as far as checking my
inbox.
So I've put it on my calendar.
It's called Work the List.
It's my focus Friday work thelist, get my list all ready to
go.
So that way Monday I am readyto walk in and be the best
(05:52):
version of myself I can be.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, any strategy that is going to make Monday
morning better is definitelygoing to be welcomed, that's for
sure.
Where do you put the items thatcome up that you have no way of
knowing that they're coming?
Where do they fit in yourmulti-tiered list?
Is it the unscheduled, unknownevents that come up as part of
our work?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Well, if they come to my inbox, there's a pin feature
on email and so they get pinnedto the top of the inbox so that
way I see them separate fromthe other things that are going
on.
Then it just gets added to thelist.
Unfortunately, sometimes whenyou mark something off,
something goes right back intoits place.
(06:37):
But the list is revisedthroughout the week to match
what's going on.
But hopefully there's astructure to it that when those
pop-up needs happen you justtuck it right in and help
prioritize.
Sometimes those pop-up needsfeel very urgent but then if you
look at them you're like I canreally put that on my next week
(06:59):
list.
It does not have to be doneright this moment.
I have until Tuesday of nextweek, so that's where I'm going
to put on my list.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So how do you fight that urge?
Because I know for myself,sometimes when something comes
into my email, I'm like oh, thisis something I can just do
right now and be done with it,and it just makes me put off the
more important thing.
How do you fight that urge tojust do that thing?
Sometimes I don't.
(07:31):
I'm gonna talk a little, okay,good, thank you.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Sometimes I don't.
Sometimes it's very satisfyingto know I can immediately reply
to this email and that's gonnabe done and it doesn't get added
to the list.
So if it's something that isjust a reply, I go ahead and
complete that task, becauseit'll be more time to add it to
the list and then do it laterthan it would be to just go
ahead and respond to thatcommunication.
(07:58):
But if it's something that'sgonna be multi-step and I
realize it's gonna take lessthan 10 minutes to do, it's
gotta go on the list, Especiallyif I'm in the middle of doing
something else and I have dayswhere I am in planning sessions
all day with teachers and thereisn't a moment because my time
and attention is focused on theteachers right in front of me
(08:22):
that we're co-creating plans forEverything on that is going.
It's just gonna have to wait.
So it's okay.
If it's something simple thatcan be just be a response, go
ahead and do it.
But if it's gonna be timeintensive, put it on the list
and figure out where it belongsto do.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Yeah, I'm thinking about too.
You mentioned having someblocked out time on Friday to
get yourself set up for Mondayand kind of look back at your
week.
Do people know about that timeyou have blocked?
Like know that that's yourprecious time so that come
Monday Jessica's like tuned intous?
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I've shared that with my boss.
He asked me one day he waslooking at my schedule and was
trying to figure when to have ameeting.
He was like what is work thelist me?
And I was like I am working myto-do list in my email inbox and
all of the things.
And he was like, oh, that makessense, and so I do let people
(09:27):
know like I won't meetingsduring certain times.
Now I don't necessarily have tosay it has to be exactly this
hour or two hours on Fridaymorning so I can be flexible.
If I do need to meet with aschool or some teachers on a
Friday, I can do it in theafternoon or adjust the time.
But it's always there's a chunkof time on Fridays where I try
(09:49):
to organize myself.
Now there are sometimes thereare Fridays where Fridays happen
and it just doesn't work theway you want it to and I don't
get to the list.
And so that means I try to,monday morning, make sure like I
get a little bit of time ifthere's time in the morning to
get that set up for that week.
(10:10):
But it does always feel like,oh, I'm starting a little bit
behind if I have to create thatlist on Monday morning.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Yeah, I appreciate that you don't take your weekend
time to look at that eitherBecause you need the detachment
from like all of that busynessthat you have every week.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, having that boundary is amazing for sure.
I'm wondering we can get socaught up in the I have to do
this.
I have to do that.
That's on my list.
Somebody's asked me to do this.
I need to follow up on that.
How does your own goals, yourown priorities, help you filter
through that list?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I think some of that goes back to.
We have a team action plan withour specific goals that we
wanna achieve by the end of theyear, right, and so the things
that are that we have check-insand measurable outcomes for
those are the things to makesure that the time is being
(11:15):
invested in.
Not that other things areimportant too, but these are the
things that we decided as theteam that we wanted to see our
team grow.
And, for me, what I'mcontributing to and responsible
for making sure that you knowwhat I'm giving time to matches
what I said was a priority asfar as being contributing to the
(11:37):
team goals as well.
So I think some of that is hard, especially when everything
feels important but.
If you don't figure out what'smost important, then you kind of
get into decision paralysis, soyou don't know what it is that
(11:59):
you need to do first.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think having clarified teamgoals like that, like an action
plan, is definitely gonna behelpful there.
Do you suffer from the sameailment that I do, where I often
keep putting it like do later,and then it gets put to do later
again and then do later again.
Do you ever suffer from thatproblem, or is that just me?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I do suffer from that problem if something doesn't
have like a definitive due date,so it hangs out on like the
hope two list at the bottom, andso I sometimes will.
If something doesn't have a duedate, I will create one for me,
simply because I will keepprocrastinating until it kind of
(12:47):
just goes away if I don't havea due date for something, and
then with that I'll often use,I'll put events in my calendar
of like, check in on this orcheck back with this person.
Or I'm really big because I dosupport a large district that
(13:12):
when I schedule support Ischedule support usually for the
entire school year and some ofthem in May.
We schedule for the upcomingschool year, just because you
know there's a lot of requestsand I'm one person for 70 plus
schools.
So if we're going to do ourschedule support, it's best to
go ahead and get those all onthe calendar as soon as possible
(13:33):
.
So I'm a big like if it doesnot exist on my calendar, it is
probably not going to happen.
So that's why it was importantto put work the list, follow up
with this person, check on this,have the due date here, just
for my own accountability.
So it goes on my tier to dolist and it's reminded when that
deadline is upcoming.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
And as a person in a district role, I don't know if
you get a lot of opportunity tolike, say no to things that are
coming in your direction, buthow do you then?
I mean, I know that you filterout your to do list, but is
there.
How is it that you like, whenyou have to say yes to all these
(14:18):
things, what's your process for, like, trying to make sure
things are in the right order,or like that kind of thing?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
That's a tough one.
It's also something I learnedthe hard way about protecting my
yeses and really thinking aboutif.
What am I saying yes to?
Does that align with mypersonal goal, my team goal,
professional goal?
Because sometimes we don'trealize when we say yes to
(14:48):
something, it's a no tosomething else, whether that's
personal time or otherprofessional opportunities that
we may not know about but theycome up later.
So, especially when it comesacross as an invitation, like
when you're invited in to dosomething, it's really hard to
say no for that, for the simplereason like you feel flattered
(15:13):
when someone invites you in todo something.
So you're kind of like oh, Idon't want to say no because
they asked me to do this, and soyou want to say yes.
That's the knee jerk reactionor you're afraid.
Well, if I say no, they'renever going to ask me again.
So I better say yes because whoknows if this opportunity is
going to come around?
And when you do that out offear, flattery, it doesn't
(15:37):
necessarily mean it's a goodchoice for you.
You're doing it for these otherreasons emotional reasons, not
really the cool reasons.
On yes, this is going to movemy work forward.
Yes, it's going to give meanother opportunity to approach
student learning in this way.
When you're just saying yes, tosay yes, it doesn't always turn
(16:00):
out to be a good investment oftime.
I do get a lot of invitations.
I'll say as a district levelhey, we have this new product,
we have this new platform, wehave this whatever curriculum.
A lot of times I just have tosay no, not yet, or that's not
(16:23):
something we're currentlylooking into.
Move student work forward.
A lot of those are outside thedistrict invitations of coming
in, do this, do this, do this ortry this.
We have this for you.
A lot of those are.
That's not really what I needto be investigating at this time
.
It looks really neat and it'sprobably a great product, but
(16:44):
right now that's not where ourfocus is.
As far as district asks, it'snot really like you can say yes
or no, but it is a question ofthe immediacy of need.
Is this something that is animmediate need for students,
teachers, staff?
(17:05):
If that's the case, then youhave to reprioritize and shift
some things.
If it's not, then it's aquestion of how can we get this
in place over time.
Then give ourselves anopportunity to do it right
versus panic, and try to justmake it happen instead of making
(17:26):
it happen in the best way.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
You have given us a lot to think about, and just
listening to your processes isreally helpful, because I'm in a
forever tweaking my ownprocesses.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, me too.
Me too, so listening to youtalk through yours.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Yeah, it's so helpful , but we are at the point in the
show where we need to wrap up,so can you give us a couple of
paredown pointers to send offfor our listeners at the end of
our episode here?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I one would be work your list.
Don't let your to-do list workyou.
So figure out how to scheduletime, to make a plan, to tear up
your to-do list on what youhave to do, want to do and hope
to do.
Same thing with your inbox havea system for spot checking and
figuring out what you have to doright away, what's a quick
(18:22):
response, what's going to takemore time?
And then thinking about youryeses and what you're investing
your time in.
Is that really something thatis aligning to your goals?
And that those invitations thatcome in aren't expectations and
I can say that from somebodywho invites people in to
participate in committees andserve in different ways for the
(18:44):
district.
When I send that invitation out,I'm expecting yeses and noes.
I'm not expecting people to sayyes every time I send the
invitation out.
So I clearly put in myinvitations now, an invitation
is not an expectation.
Does this align with what youwant to see for your own
personal growth or anopportunity to help grow the
(19:05):
students at your school?
If not, that's okay.
There will be opportunities inthe future.
So I really want to get in themindset of make sure your yes
means like yes.
This is good for you, not justgood for me, because I want it
to be mutually beneficial.
So those invitations, notexpectations, no is an
(19:25):
acceptable answer.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yes, yeah, so good, great reminder.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, jessica.
We really enjoyed chatting withyou.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Thank you, I've enjoyed talking about it.
Now I'm thinking about yes, I'mready for tomorrow, my to-do
list is ready to go and be readyto tackle another week of work.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Absolutely yes, I need some G dates on my calendar
.
But yes, ready to go.
Thanks, Jessica.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
This episode is sponsored by the Learning Loop.
The Learning Loop providesprofessional learning, design
and facilitation services todistricts, schools, nonprofit
organizations and businesses.
Internationally.
You can find them atthelearningloopcom.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the MinimalistEducator Podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at planzplson Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
Gaia Moretti.
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