
I am a big fan of Stephen Covey. I have read several of his books and attempt to put many of his practices into use in my everyday life. After finishing up my third full year as a school assistant principal, I am finally beginning to feel I have a firm grasp of what my role is at my school (for now). I have worked very hard in my current position to learn as much as I can to be the best at my job that I can be and I am sure there will always be more. This is definitely not a bad thing, but I am now at a point that I feel I must focus on staying balanced in all aspects of my life.
The good news is I am a really good multi-tasker... especially at my job. The problem is, this has led to me doing so much at one time so often that my mind is always on overdrive. While working so hard at my job, I have not taken as much time to maintain a consistent outlet to help me relieve stress. This summer I have started back on a regular exercise routine and I must say I have been much more relaxed. I forgot how much it helped me decompress and reflect!
For me it is exercise and my health and for you it may be an imbalance of another sort. I believe that most of you reading this are probably very driven at doing the best job possible as well. You work very hard and will always be up for a challenging task. My question is this... In all of the effort you put forth at work, does it lead to an imbalance in your life somewhere? If not that is awesome. If your not sure start here.

So what causes a lack of alignment as seen by the first set of arrows in the picture above? I believe what keeps most schools from being aligned and failing to achieve the most important goal is: