Your quest for Friday: take 1 thing that your office that you do every single year. A chat, an email, a mailing, you name it.
Then, change something about it. Add a new piece of technology. Try a different time. Do different marketing. Make it stand out from another school.
Stand out. Don’t get mixed in with the rest.
Yesterday I presented at IACAC downtown than did a 20 minute podcast with Innovative Educators. What knowledge are you spreading to others? What are you keeping for yourself? I love to share, but for every idea I give out I have 2 more in my back pocket.
Always stay one step ahead of your competition. Two if you can.
Having fun with all of those applications and scholarship essays yet?
Last night we had a chat. 21 kids showed up out of 4,500 invites. I had a big idea for how to spice up the chat, but our chat provider threw words at me like ‘development schedule’, ‘future release’, ‘could be’, ‘perhaps’, and other avoidances.
Maybe I’m missing something, but it’d take about 1 minute to add my suggestion to the page. It’s just hard for me to believe that it can’t be done.
How’s your customer service?
When I posted on the Tribes Ning group about my 25th birthday coinciding with the release of the book, one particular response stood out to me.
And how true is that? I’d guess Paul is somewhere around 35-40. Look at what’s changed in the past 10-15 years. The connectivity of humans, ideas and thoughts. The endless amount of resources available at the click of a mouse. Amazing when you think about it.
And if you’re a “youngin” like me…. what are you doing (every single day) to make sure you take advantage of the resources available?
My thought of the day on ties [I have thoughts about ties very often. They are rarely pleasant.]
Since when did wearing a tie begin to determine the quality of my work and my worthiness as an employee? Is it really that important? When did what you have around your neck become more important than the content and projects you’re pumping out? I hate ties. Especially on Friday.
I’m not a big fan of Monday, but then again… who is? This one started off particularly rough. Speed bumps at work and 4 new tires on my wife’s car for $500.
Then at lunch I ran by home and grabbed the mail. There was a letter from Rehema, a 7 year old from Tanzania that we sponsor. She was writing to say thanks for her birthday letter, in which my wife sent 2 sheets of stickers. The amount of joy over these stickers was unreal to me. How could I not smile and be happy with my life and everything that Americans have after reading a letter like that?
Sometimes it’s the unexpected things that’ll get you through a day. Sometimes the unexpected is half way around the world. Thanks, Rehema. 
Today is Bosses Day. (It’s also my birthday!) Make sure you thank your boss today and treat them well. Be sincere and appreciative of them, maybe tell them of a time they really got you out of a bind.
Some day, if you aren’t already, you’ll be a boss. How will you want to be treated? Start treating yours that way.
Just ran across a quote in Seth Godin’s new book, Tribes, that sums up how I work.
Change isnt made by asking permission. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later. (p. 70).
Hear, hear.
Do something now. Show your boss later. It’s much easier to inflict change this way.
Oh how I long for a flexible workplace. Read this article on Productivity 1.0 vs. 2.0.
Some day….. some day. Until then, put that tie on and see you at 8:30am.