A mentor asked me this question over coffee a couple of weeks ago. *Would you use a teaspoon to dig a hole?, *they asked. *Of course not!, *I replied.
And then they showed me how I was doing just that, every day, during a particularly busy period.
Instead of taking the time to find or create the right tool for the job, I was working long hours metaphorically ‘digging a hole with a teaspoon’.
I took one day out from doing the work, and spent it working out the best process for getting the job done (which included making more of my teammates’ skills).
This time of year is always crazy busy for us. As schools near the end of the school year, there’s a desire to wrap up last year’s thinking, and start casting ahead to the following year.
Of course, the deadlines we all impose on ourselves are entirely artificial. New ideas don’t get born on August 1 (or whenever your school term starts). They come at all times of the year.
So even when it feels like an impossibly busy time to be thinking about implementing something new, it’s actually as good a moment as any to remind yourself of this:
You need to give yourself a permission slip not to work so hard, but to spend some time working out how to work smarter.