Remember that ad from the early 90’s, “Stop the Insanity” Susan Powter would shout. Her focus was about overweight people who just continued to do the same thing over and over while expecting different results. As a school leader, you’re constantly juggling multiple priorities—meetings, classroom observations, staff development, and the daily surprises that come with managing a school. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and lose sight of what truly matters. You probably find yourself about this time of year saying, “STOP THE INSANITY” with crisis after crisis, time bandit after time bandit pulling you off the most important work. You feel like you have to do it all. But here’s the thing: the most effective leaders aren’t the ones doing everything—they’re the ones doing the right things.

If you’re an early career principal or school leader struggling to find Clarity in your role and focus on high-impact tasks, you’re not alone. The good news? There are practical steps you can take to prioritize your time and leadership actions, ensuring you make a lasting difference in your school.

Here are five steps I lived by that can help you prioritize your leadership actions and regain control of your time.

1. Define Your Big Picture Goals

Before you can prioritize your actions, you need a clear sense of where you’re headed. What are the major goals for your school this year? Whether it’s improving student achievement, strengthening school culture, or increasing staff development opportunities, your daily actions should align with these big-picture objectives.

Action Step: Write down 3-5 key goals for your school. These should be broad enough to inspire but specific enough to guide your leadership focus.

2. Delegate Tasks That Don’t Require Your Direct Involvement

Not every task you handle as a school leader will directly move your school toward its goals. High-impact leadership actions are those that align closely with your big-picture objectives. These might include conducting classroom observations, leading instructional planning meetings, or developing your staff’s professional growth. These are the tasks that make the biggest difference in the success of your school.

Action Step: Make a list of your daily and weekly leadership tasks. Identify the top three that have the greatest impact on your school’s goals, and commit to making them a priority.

3. Identify High-Impact Leadership Actions

One of the most powerful time-management strategies is delegation. There are many routine tasks that don’t need to be done by you, and delegating them to your assistant principals or administrative staff can free up time for you to focus on high-impact leadership actions.

Action Step: Make a list of tasks that can be delegated. Create a plan to assign those tasks to the right people on your team.

4. Schedule Regular Check-ins to Reflect and Adjust

Leadership isn’t static, and the demands on your time will shift. It’s important to regularly reflect on where you’re spending your time and make adjustments as necessary. A weekly check-in allows you to assess your progress, celebrate your wins, and realign your focus.

Action Step: Set aside 30 minutes at the end of each week to reflect on your progress and adjust your priorities for the upcoming week.

5. Create a Daily and Weekly Focus Plan

Without a plan, it’s easy to let the urgent override the important. Creating a daily and weekly focus plan helps you protect time for your high-impact leadership tasks. By using time blocking, you can schedule these priority actions and ensure they don’t get sidelined by emergencies or distractions.

Action Step: At the start of each week, block out time for your top-priority leadership actions. Treat these blocks as non-negotiable to stay on track.

Ready to Take Control of Your Leadership?

If these five steps resonate with you, I’ve got even more tools and strategies to help you lead with clarity and confidence. I’m excited to announce that soon I will be launching a new digital course, Take Control of Your Leadership: A Road to Awesome Map for Early Career Leaders. This course dives deeper into time management, delegation, and leadership priorities, giving you the roadmap you need to lead effectively without getting overwhelmed.

Sign up here for our mailing list and newsletter to get early access, exclusive bonuses, and special pricing when the course goes live.

Have a #RoadToAwesome week

Darrin

Darrin Peppard Dr. Darrin Peppard

Dr. Darrin Peppard is an author, leadership coach, consultant, and speaker focused on organizational culture and climate, and growing emerging leaders. Darrin is the best-selling author of the book Road to Awesome, and is the host of the Leaning into Leadership podcast. As a ‘recovering high school principal’, Darrin shares strategies and lessons learned from 26 years in public education to help leaders gain clarity, find joy in their work, and walk in their purpose.