"Max Capacity" Alert

The other day while sitting in a training with other administrators I had a thought that I shared out loud...

"Do you ever get so overwhelmed with everything you HAVE to do, that you just want to do nothing?"

With countless amounts of paperwork, documentation, meetings, more meetings, deadlines, phone calls, emails, to-do's, to-don't's, should do's, should not's, rescheduling meetings, oh and don't forget more meetings it's amazing we even function most days.

I am constantly going, constantly checking, constantly saying sorry for where I fell short.

We forget our main reason for why we do---what we do.

We are here for the 500 or more kids that walk into our buildings each day hungry for food and hungry for learning.

My question for those of us in leadership positions is this:

Are we putting so much on our teachers' plates they feel this "Max Capacity" Alert all the time? I know there are some things we HAVE to do, but are we really thinking about what matters most?
When our teachers feel overloaded are we giving them time to adjust and work through it?

Or are we demanding more? Questioning more? and Expecting more?
Some days we all feel this "alert" and it's a terrible feeling. It makes us question our whole career and what we do every day. It undermines what matters most, and that is the WHY?

Why do we show up each day? To educate, inspire, and LOVE our students.

When we hit "max capacity"....as leaders, teachers, business men and women, moms and dads, husbands and wives, men and women. Take the time to pause and reflect and know that worrying about the deadlines, the emails, the angry parent, the judgmental faculty member, the rude co-worker, the screaming toddler, the eye-rolling teenager, all of those things are so little compared to the big picture.

Notice the smaller details....MAKE THEM HUGE.....the hug, the smile, the nice text, the woman you helped in the parking lot who's car battery died, the mom you helped console because she was worried, the first grader you helped to have a wonderful day, the quiet time listening to music with my kids, dancing with them, giggling with them, putting a band-aide on their boo-boos, kissing them goodnight.

Don't let one small bad thing ruin the thirty good things you did today.