Where Were You This Time Last Year?

When I was a head of school, I knew exactly where my time would make the biggest difference.

In classrooms.

Everything I'd read and everything I'd seen pointed the same way. Of all the things a school leader can do, being present in classrooms, watching teachers teach, giving real feedback, and showing that instruction matters most, has the strongest link to better teaching and better learning.

So every year, I set the goal: get into more classes.

And every year, something got in the way.

A parent who needed to be seen today. A teacher out sick and no sub. A safety issue. A staffing problem that couldn't wait.

Then came the bigger, slower things. A new strategic plan. An accreditation cycle with its self-study, committees, and documentation. Board meetings, and the preparation for board meetings.

None of it was trivial. All of it was legitimate. And week by week, the classroom visits quietly slid off my calendar.

By the end of the year, I'd spent far less time in classrooms than I'd planned. The next fall, I wrote the same goal down again.

The quiet stall

Here's what strikes me now: I never decided to stop visiting classrooms. I believed in it completely. I just never protected it.

That's how most leaders stall. Not with a dramatic failure, but quietly, one reasonable week at a time.

So let me ask you the question I eventually had to ask myself:

Where were you this time last year?

If the honest answer is "pretty much right here" (same goal, same list, same "after this busy season"), you're in good company. But it's worth looking at what that's costing you.

Standing still isn't free

It just doesn't send you a bill.

For me, the cost was teachers who didn't get the feedback they deserved, and students who didn't get the benefit of it. It was also a slow erosion of my own credibility, with my staff and with myself. Each year I said instruction was my top priority, and each year my calendar said otherwise.

Your version may look different. Maybe it's the business you meant to grow, the team you meant to develop, or the hard conversation you keep postponing. But the price is usually the same: a year you don't get back, opportunities that go to people who were ready, and a little less trust in your own word.

It's not a willpower problem

If effort were enough, I'd have been in classrooms every day. I wasn't lazy. I was busy, and busy always wins without a system to stop it.

Looking back, my goal stalled for three reasons. Yours probably does too.

1. The goal was fuzzy.

"Get into more classes" sounds clear, but it isn't. How many? Which ones? For how long? A goal you can't measure is a goal you can't miss, so it never feels urgent.

Try this week: Rewrite one important goal so a stranger could tell whether you hit it. "Visit three classrooms for 15 minutes each, every week" is a goal. "More classes" is a wish.

2. There was no plan for Monday.

I had the goal. I didn't have the time blocked. So every open hour went to whatever was loudest.

Try this week: Put the action on your calendar as an appointment, with a time and a place, the same way you would a meeting with your board chair. Then treat it that way.

3. Nobody was holding me to it.

No one asked whether I'd been in classrooms that week. Not my board, not my staff, not me. And what nobody checks on quietly disappears.

Try this week: Tell one person what you're committing to, and ask them to check in on Friday. A colleague, a coach, a spouse. Just knowing someone will ask changes what you do.

A year from now

A year from now, you'll be in one of two places. You'll be copying the same goals onto a new list, or you'll be pointing to real progress.

The difference won't be how much you want it. It will be whether you built a system that protects it.

That's exactly what we do in the Success Roadmap, my three-session live program for leaders who keep setting the same goals. Together, we turn fuzzy goals into clear ones, build a weekly plan you'll actually follow, and put accountability in place that keeps you moving when life gets busy.

We start Thursday, November 5, at 2:00 pm ET. And there's a full refund if the first session isn't worth it to you.

Learn more and save your seat →

Whatever you decide, take a minute today to answer the question honestly.

Where were you this time last year? And where do you want to be next year?