The Power of Habit

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The Power of Habit

Have you stopped to consider the tremendous power habits--good and bad habits--have on your character, your life, your relationships, your health, and your leadership?

Habits are unconscious but powerful. Consider this except from The Power of Habit:

When you woke up this morning, what did you do first? Did you hop in the shower, check your email, or grab a doughnut from the kitchen counter? Did you brush your teeth before or after you toweled off? Tie the left or right shoe first? What did you say to your kids on your way out the door? Which route did you drive to work? When you got to your desk, did you deal with email, chat with a colleague, or jump into writing a memo? Salad or hamburger for lunch? When you got home, did you put on your sneakers and go for a run, or pour yourself a drink and eat dinner in front of the TV? 

“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits,” William James wrote in 1892. Most of the choices we make each day may feel like the products of well-considered decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits.

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The Secret to Getting Parents to Read Your Emails

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By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

Recently I noticed a strange phenomenon during school pick up times. All of our parents were in their vehicles with their heads bowed. At first I thought, “they are praying for our school!” Upon closer examination I realized that they were looking at their smartphones! Almost without exception parents were absorbed in their small screens. 

My Director of Advancement, recognizing this long before I did, started sending our weekly communications during afternoon pick up periods immediately prior to students being dismissed while parents are waiting in the pick up line. This significantly improved the percentage of our communications being read by parents.

In addition to sending email communications during pick up times:

  • Keep your emails short.`

  • Use bullet points.

  • Write to fit on a small screen.

By doing so, you will increase the number of parents who read your emails. 

Layers of Accountability: Are We Accountable to Parents?

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Layers of Accountability: Are We Accountable to Parents?

"Schools serve the families in their communities. School Principals serve the parents of those families."

Most of us, whether from a parent or a principal perspective, would agree with those statements. Nevertheless, it remains a topic of heated debate, frustration and misunderstanding. In my experience as a school principal, much of the frustration arises out of a lack of comprehension of what I would call 'layers of accountability'. 

To whom are we accountable? School principals, in their leadership are accountable on a number of different levels ...

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But Didn’t His Acne Clear Up Beautifully!

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But Didn’t His Acne Clear Up Beautifully!

The Trouble with Avoiding the Issue That’s Killing Us

It might have been in an old issue of The New Yorker or maybe I just imagined it – a single frame cartoon in the darkly amusing style of Charles Adams. It shows two octogenarian ladies standing in front of an open casket at a funeral parlor, ‘viewing the remains’. One dear old soul says to the other:

                                      “But didn’t his acne clear up beautifully!”

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Same Sex Marriage and the Christian School

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Same Sex Marriage and the Christian School

Our relatively comfortable Christian world in the US has changed.

One of the most disturbing images I've seen in a long time was one of the White House lit up in rainbow lights to celebrate the Supreme Court's decision legalizing same sex marriage. 

This picture saddened and angered me. How did we arrive at this place?

The day after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress. His speech summoned a nation to war and became among the most iconic in American history.

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. ”

June 26, 2015 is also a date which will live in infamy. On that date the Supreme Court of the United States legalized same sex marriage.

I am saddened but I am not surprised by the Supreme Court's decision. I am saddened because our country continues it relentless march to Sodom and Gomorrah. I suspect that everyone reading this article feels like Lot, whom Peter describes this way in his second epistle:

“… Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard) .2 Peter 2:4ff”

I am not surprised because we long ago sowed the seeds that eventually bore the fruit we see in the Supreme Court's decision. Actually, it is not so much the seed that was sown as the seed that has not been sown.

Let me explain. 

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Five Benefits of Paperless Board Meetings

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Five Benefits of Paperless Board Meetings

My readers will recall my three-part series (some of the most popular on my blog) titled: Why I Went Paperless and You Can Too. I am still paperless and even more proficient than before. I’ve elevated working without paper to the next level. 

My school board meetings are now paperless. No more emailing documents, making copies, creating binders, etc. Everything related to school board business is at our fingertips—all of the time.

Our board members are delighted. For  a year now we have been using DirectorPoint for our school board paperless workflow. It has revolutionized the way we prepare for board meetings and communicate before and after the meetings. We are saving time and money. 

I asked John Peinhardt, President of DirectorPoint, and a new sponsor of the Christian School Journal (thank you!), to share the benefits of paperless board meetings. Here is his guest post. 

Binders and emails simply do not address the communication requirements of modern, progressive, boards. 

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World-class: Dangerous or Desirable? Part 2

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In part one I defined kingdom-class as follows:

A kingdom-class Christian school is one that is among the best in the world because of the quality and impact of its educational program. It sets a standard of educational quality and innovation worthy of emulation by both non-Christian and Christian educators throughout the world. 

Its students are prepared for college and career in a globalized, connected, and competitive world. They are also prepared to use their God-given gifts in fulfilling both the Creation Mandate1 and the Great Commission. Its students’ lives are transformed, others are served, and God is glorified. 

A kingdom-class education includes the quality measures that constitute a world-class program but expands and deepens them to include a biblical worldview. A kingdom-class education educates both the mind and the soul and seeks to glorify God, not man so that we obey Jesus’s command to "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matt. 5:16

Defining an objective does not mean that it should be done. The fundamental question is: “Should we strive to be world-class, or more accurately, kingdom-class?” While for some the answer may appear to be a self-evident “Yes!,” for others the answer is less obvious. How we answer this question strikes at the core of our mission as Christian educational institutions. It is right, it is imperative, that we question the assertion that we should strive to create kingdom-class schools. There is much at stake.

I believe we should strive to be kingdom-class. I share my reasons below to strengthen the resolve of those already convinced, to convince others who harbor doubts, concerns, and honest questions, and to invite thoughtful dialog among all.

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