Open Loops

Two Ways to Use Your New Found Early Morning Hours

Leaving the office at a reasonable time to push more priority out of the last hours of the day into the first hours of the day is a great strategy for getting more things done.  If that’s all we do, we may still find our productivity lacking.  Two additional co-strategies maximize the effect that we may get by becoming early risers.

Post-It Possibilities

I’m presently preparing a presentation for a conference that will be held in May.  I’ve placed a large piece of chart paper on my wall and have begun attaching Post-It Notes, on which I’ve written points that I intend to make during my presentation.  Later, I’ll move and re-group these small points into larger groups that represent larger concepts.  As I wrote and re-grouped, I became more aware of how easy the Post-It Notes made this process.  I also began to think how indispensable these little colored pieces of paper have become to my productivity.  Here is a few ways that I’ve been using them:

• Planning points and sub-points in presentations
• Bookmarks
• Posting goals on my bathroom mirror so I’ll see them everyday
• Creating seating charts on clipboards
• Scheduling teachers and classes
• Masking off completed areas of paper forms before copying to create a new “master”
• Labeling desk areas for sorting stacks of paper (File, Action, Refer, Trash, etc.)
• Writing Hall Passes that stick to clothing
• Leaving notes on doors of parents whom I’ve missed during home visits
• Writing next actions on the paperwork that constitutes my current project so I don’t have to start all over or try to remember where I was.

These ubiquitous small yellow, blue, and pink papers have become essential in my daily professional life.  What “tool” has become essential in your professional life?

Americans and Their Time at Work and Home

The results of a survey conducted by Day-Timers yielded some interesting information about American attitudes related to personal management, including time at work, time at home, goals, success, and happiness.  There’s so much information in there, but here are a few tidbits that stood out to me:

Where Are You?

Today, my school district begins its annual End-of-Grade Tests (EOG's).  This is the time to check to see if our students have gained one year of learning for one year of seat time.  This is not the only time this year we've assessed our students.  Each 9-weeks, we also administer our quarterly benchmark assessments.  In addition, students have been assessed with teacher-created tests and quizzes on a weekly basis.  Students in the lower grades (K - 2) are being assessed continuously throughout the year, as we use the Literacy First method of teaching reading, which calls for intensive assessment.  If we do our jobs correctly and make small adjustments throughout the year, based on our assessments, our results on the EOG's should not be a surprise, but a confirmation of what we knew all along.  How, though, does this translate to us, as adults?

Pick A Point

I was flying last Sunday and my flight instructor reminded me, just before having me perform a maneuver, to pick a point to fly towards.  It didn't matter what it was, a factory, water tower, mountain, city, or a lake, the important thing was to fly toward something that didn't move.  This outside visual reference guaranteed that I flew in a straight line.  When in straight and level flight, you want to make sure that you don't climb and descend like a roller coaster going up and down, you want to maintain a steady altitude.  You also want to do this without having to constantly stare at the instruments.  So, you look at the horizon and then pick out a spot on the dash board or windshield that lies on that horizon line.  By keeping that spot on the horizon line, you are able to maintain a constant altitude.  That spot on the windshield or the water tower that I'm flying towards is my goal.  I get to choose it.  It keeps me moving in the direction  that I want to go. It does this because it doesn't move.  To keep us moving forward in our lives, we should have goals as well.  Well-written goals are the key.  Here are some guidelines for effective goal-writing.  Goals should be SMART: