Back when I was working as a principal, the word accountability used to make me a little bit nervous, and I know I’m not alone. In those days, fear was the main motivator used by my superiors for hitting our targets. However, today, I want to talk about accountability that comes from a place of love.

We know that holding ourselves to account can be difficult. Sometimes we say to ourselves that we’re going to hit the gym after work, but then, when the time comes, the motivation to go just isn’t there. And when it comes to holding others accountable, things get a whole lot trickier.

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Today, I have two very special guests on the show. First, I have the creator of The Main Idea, Jenn David-Lang. The Main Idea was developed with the thought that school leaders are so busy working in the field that they struggle to make time to research all the latest strategies and resources available that would actually help them become better leaders. I found The Main Idea incredibly useful when I was a principal, and I know you will too.

I also have Kim Marshall, founder of the Marshall Memo, on the show. Kim condenses vast amounts of information into an easily digestible format to keep school leaders informed of the journals and articles coming out on the subject of education. Jenn and Kim have recently collaborated on the book The Best of The Marshall Memo, and I’m thrilled to have them both on the show with me this week!

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Here we are at the end of 2019. Now, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be filled with excitement for a fresh start and new goals for the New Year. However, we also feel the burn of disappointment for the targets we didn’t reach and the experiences we missed out on in the past year, and that can create a lot of discomfort and reluctance to really analyze what went wrong.

The way we set goals is incredibly important. Sure, achieving your goals is important and feels great, but that shouldn’t be the only focus. If we set goals that are easy to achieve, what’s the point? Setting easy goals doesn’t serve you, and it certainly doesn’t serve your students and staff.

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We are continuing on with December’s theme of self-care. We spoke last week about what self-care really is and why it often takes a back seat when it comes to our work as school leaders. Now you have that in your consciousness, I want to discuss how to build up your self-care discipline, so you can incorporate it into your life in a way that serves you.

Just like anything, having boundaries around your self-care is incredibly important. It’s so easy to neglect yourself when your work is demanding, as it is when you’re the principal of a school. A lot of us even think about self-care as selfish, but when you consider self-care as for the benefit of everyone you deal with in your day-to-day, you’ll see a huge difference in your life. 

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Oh, my gosh, we are at episode 100! To mark this momentous occasion on the podcast, I’ve got a special treat for you this week. I have Daniel Bauer on the show, the mastermind behind Better Leaders Better Schools. I’m so happy to have Daniel here and I know he’s going to have a ton of amazing insights for you.

Daniel has had an amazing journey up until this point. As is the case with so many school leaders, Daniel got to the top of his profession and was disappointed with the lack of professional and personal development opportunities for school leaders, so he started his mission to cultivate better leaders while still in the job of principal and has not looked back.

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