February actually concludes eight months of blogging for me. I’m fairly certain that eight months of any practice cements it as a habit. If only I could incorporate exercise and healthy eating so firmly into my routines.
Something interesting is starting to occur and I’m not sure how to handle it. I’m beginning to receive invitations to participate in things outside of my normal realm. For example, I’ve been invited to present at an upcoming technology conference, to participate in teacher candidate development at a local university, to write monthly on another blog, and to participate in a couple of surveys and studies. These invitations have all come about because someone noticed me through this blog.
My first instinct is to say “no” to all such requests. I don’t know about all of my administrative colleagues, but my life’s a somewhat delicate balance as it is. Between evening activities for school including meetings, athletic events, concerts and dinners and evening activities with my own children, I can barely get it all in. I’m fiercely protective of the one evening per week I get to swim and the only home cooked meal my family enjoys is at their Omi’s house or provided by a dear friend. How do I fit in additional activities or accept invitations to present? To be really frank, I also hear my husband’s voice asking, “and how much are you getting paid to do that?” to which my answer is always, “nothing, it’s just a good thing to do.”
With at least thirteen years left in my administrative career, I also consider if each accepted invitation will be good for my future. Will it make me a better administrator, adding something to my value as a future superintendent? That’s a good three years away, but everything I learn now should ultimately make me a better leader later.
How and when to accept and how and when to say “no, thank you”?
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Kim –
This is from someone at the other end of the spectrum – I’m looking at probably another 28 years of work at this point (I gave up 8 years when I left the state of Florida so I’m starting over.). Within the next few weeks, I’ll also have TWO little ones at home with my wife.
Perhaps some of these opportunities may open some doors for you beyond your next 13 years in the system if that is of interest to you — consulting gigs that may allow you to travel the country or the world for instance.
Just my $0.02 – but if you can strike a balance, I think each opportunity merits individual consideration based on how it aligns with what you expect to be doing beyond retirement.
Congrats and best wishes!
Scott
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Kim — In some respects, you are already ‘presenting’ to a remarkably diverse audience…so it’s a matter of considering the value added component of taking a literal stage on occasion. Miguel’s suggestion that it can lead to bigger things is absolutely true, and you’re one of the few that would certainly be valued as a conference speaker (etc.). Chris, like you, is also approached to do the speaker circuit, and while everyone opens up doors for him, his real passion is in the school, while he still finds time to occasionally speak when the situation is truly unique (as I experienced first-hand with him).
Remember, there are summers and weekends. Beyond that, consider the option of saying that you’ll speak no more than 5 times a years ‘during school hours/days’…and decide ahead of the invitations what type of situations would be most intriguing TO YOU. If an offer matches, great. If not, no worries. Either way, know that we all appreciate your administrator’s voice in this blogging pool!
Keep it up…and don’t be surprised for even another day that the invitations are coming your way. Audiences crave authentic voices. You have that in spades!
Cheers,
Christian
Kimberly,
As administrators, we are a very unique position that few people understand. It is one where we try to balance our family and their importance with all the other things that can come along. After awhile, we must learn that we cannot continue to add on to the plate as it too full. That is when one must decide what to keep and what to add. As I have grown in my role as an administrator, I have learned that sometimes the best thing you can do is decline an offer with grace while leaving the option open for later involvement. We are not at the point where our schools are moving in any significan way to adopting the Web2.0 technologies but when that does happen, I am sure that there will be more asked of me. When does start to happen, I will have to decide what is important and what will have to be passed on to some who is capable of giving it the time it needs. As you, I am also looking for advanement and know that decisions that I make now will impact later on. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a magic formula. You seem to have identified what is non-negotiatable. Work from that. And if you do come up with something “magic”, pass it on, there are more of us who would love to be let in on the secret 😉
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Kim,
I struggle with this issue as well. I’ve got the added burden of trying to start a school that is *supposed* to be out there as a very visible school for my district.
I like to go to events where I feel like I’m learning things that I can bring back to SLA or network in ways that can be beneficial to SLA.
And then I balance it against how much it takes me away from being at SLA. The past two weeks, I’ve felt more disconnected from the school than I’d like because between outside meetings and SDP meetings, I’ve been away from SLA on parts of five different days in nine. That’s too much. I’m going over the meetings I’ve got over the next month, going over every extra blog entry I write, etc… and making sure that I’m keeping my priorities where they need to be.
Kimberly,
I think that it is great that you are starting to get noticed. How exciting and it gives me hope. I think that you hit on the key when you said “balance”. It is easy to say yes but much harder to say no. Getting a lense, filter or someother criteria to judge your request through is probally a priority, and it sounds like you have one. One thing that could happen is maybe this will lead you outside of education which could open up a whole new world. If not it will certainly give you lots of experiences for your superintendent role that you seem to be preparing for.
Congrats on your “offers” and good luck,
Brian
Kimberly, I encourage you to go for it…whatever it happens to be. Maybe, superintendent is too trivial a job for you. Maybe, so is principal. Maybe you’re opening yourself up to a bigger world, and you’ll have more of an impact if you accept those invitations.
On the other hand, you could look at those invitations as just something else that seeks to distract you from what you’re really focused on doing.
My dad always encouraged me to accept speaking engagements…and I’ve noticed that when you have something to say, the speaker is just a conduit for the message.
Best wishes,
Miguel
Great post, Kimberly. My boys are only going to be young for so long. After that, I don’t get their childhood back.