Pack a Healthy Lunch, But Don’t Forget to Bring It to School!

By Dr. Andy Jacks, Fellow Center for Innovative Leadership, National Association of Elementary School Principals

My kitchen island looked like a smorgasbord of healthy choices. Fruit, vegetables, almonds, and salads were being organized into plastic bins for each day and I felt prepared for a better week ahead. I was ready to conquer whatever challenge came my way. The next morning, I hustled around the house getting ready and ran out the door, trying not to be late for an early meeting. My favorite tunes were jamming in my car as I sped down the highway. As I put my bag down on my desk in my office, a thought flashed into my mind. No, I didn’t. Yes, I did. I forget my lunch at home! Ugh, all that work, all that preparation for nothing! I didn’t remember to grab it out of the fridge before I left.

Back to my unhealthy norm, I ended up eating a bag of chips and a soda later that day not feeling motivated or good about myself at all. Determined to not forget my lunch again the next day, I wrote myself a checklist. It sounds funny, but lunch wasn’t the first thing I kept forgetting as I ran out the door each morning. My phone. My sunglasses. My laptop. My new checklist covered all of that. I literally checked them off one by one before I left my driveway. It worked and my day started more consistently and positively each of the following days that week. My smile and pep in my step returned. I felt more in control of my life again.

Forgetting our lunch at home is a great analogy for our lives in school as leaders. We have important tasks that we know are great for kids such as a good call home or a class read aloud, yet we get so distracted with other people’s problems, that we forget to follow through. We set it all up on our calendar. We’re going to change our students’ lives around. But then the reality of the busy day gets in our way. We get so caught up and overwhelmed with the million things we “have to do” that we forget to follow through with the interventions or routines that we already decided on doing. We then get frustrated with ourselves for letting the distractions take over our agenda.

The thing is, we have more power to control our day than we realize. Great leaders lead themselves first. One way to do this is through checklists listing out the most important things we need to do each day and week. Don’t assume that you will remember or make time for these tasks. If it’s important, write it down and check it off. It’s too easy to lose focus or get sidetracked with other priorities that seem as important in the moment. Decide the handful of things you must do by the end of the day to make the difference with kids that you know you can make. Tell others what you have on your checklist. Don’t be ashamed or private about it. When others know your priorities, they will help you accomplish them. Your checklist becomes theirs and a new collective effort grows. Celebrate each item you check off as a big deal and mean it. It is a big deal. You should feel good about yourself. What you are doing has meaning and value. Be consistent and accountable actually doing the things you said you would do. When others see you act with this level of intensity and attention to detail, it will influence their work even when you are not around.

That’s what leadership is all about. So next time that you forget your lunch, your sunglasses, or that important task at work, don’t get frustrated. It just sounds like it’s time to write a new checklist!

Dr. Andy Jacks is a keynote speaker at the 2020 Elementary Convention taking place February 3-5, 2021 at the Osthoff Resort, Elkhart Lake. More information and registration will be available soon!