In a 9-to-5 job, your work is over at the end of the day. There will be more work tomorrow, but today’s is done.
But we don’t have 9-to-5 jobs. Our work is ongoing, overwhelming, recurring, never-ending. You will never be done with all of your work.
We look forward to the cycles of the school year because they provide a measure of our progress. When the last bell rings and students head home for summer vacation, we know we’ll finally have a chance to catch up, get organized a bit, and look to the future.
But in the relentless day-to-day of our work, how do we give ourselves a sense of progress? How do we find the traction we need to keep the day from just slipping away?
You’ve probably had this experience: You spend a few minutes answering an email, and five more arrive while you’re answering that one. At this pace, how can you ever keep up with your inbox, much less get anything else done?
Or perhaps you work all day long putting out fires, going to meetings, responding to requests, and doing what you planned to do. At the end of the day, have you ever felt like you got nothing done, despite all that activity?
There’s a simple way to get traction and prevent the day from slipping away. I call it benchmarking.
When you benchmark, you know when you’ve accomplished something. If you use a paper to-do list, crossing off a finished task is a form of benchmarking. It’s tangible, it gives you positive feedback, and it gives you a sense of accomplishment and closure.
Another benchmark is what’s popularly known as “inbox zero,” when all of your email has been processed. Your work may not be done, but at least you’ve seen all of your email and made a decision about what to do with each message. Your stress level drops immediately when you don’t have any mystery emails waiting in ambush.
For me, getting my desk clean is another productivity benchmark, as is going through the big pile of paper on my desk and adding next action stickies.
As an instructional leader, you might set a benchmark to visit a certain number of classrooms each day, or have a certain number of substantive conversations about teaching with your staff.
Why does benchmarking work?
- It gives you a focus
- It gives you a specific goal
- It helps you decide what to squeeze into a spare moment or do before you leave
- It helps you recognize when you are and aren’t spending time on the right things
What do you benchmark? How does it work for you?