Welcome to Sunday Funday, where we bring calm amid the chaos.
Last week, we named the problem: many administrators are performing several jobs inside one title.
This week, we confront what that does to the day.
Imagine trying to write four different documents at the same time. You type one sentence in an evaluation, answer an IEP question, respond to a discipline concern, and then return to the evaluation. Technically, you worked on all four. In reality, none received your best thinking.
That is not multitasking. It is attention fragmentation.
Researcher Sophie Leroy calls what remains after switching tasks “attention residue.” Her research found that when people move away from an unfinished task, part of their attention remains stuck on it, reducing their ability to perform well on the next one. In other words, changing tasks does not mean your mind has fully changed focus.
For school leaders, that residue accumulates all day: the unresolved parent concern follows you into the observation; the unfinished evaluation follows you into the IEP meeting; and the student crisis follows you into the conversation with a teacher.
Many leadership calendars are full but structurally weak. Every open space is considered available. Every interruption is treated as urgent. The work requiring the deepest thought, feedback, planning, coaching, and problem-solving, is expected to survive in the leftovers.
It rarely does.
This Is How Leaders Go for Great
Great leaders create lanes for different kinds of work.
Build three recurring leadership anchors into your week:
Compliance Anchor: Protected time for IEPs, documentation, evaluations, and deadlines.
Instructional Anchor: Classroom visits, teacher feedback, student work, and coaching.
People Anchor: Student, staff, and family conversations that require your full presence.
Then add one short response buffer each day for the issues you know will arise but cannot predict.
These blocks will not make emergencies disappear, but they will keep every request from becoming an emergency. When a true crisis interrupts protected time, reschedule the block immediately. Do not allow important work to quietly vanish from the calendar.
The Sunday Shift: Your Next Move
Choose one responsibility you routinely complete “whenever you get time.”
Give it a recurring appointment for the next four weeks, with a beginning, an ending, and a clear purpose.
