It’s been a long time since I’ve done a “Learning Inventory” post, and I have certainly learned a lot since that one. I decided it might be best to simply share my summer learning here while I try to get back into the groove of doing these types of posts. Without further ado, here are some highlights from the last 3 months!

Reading List

One of the best things about the summer is having a little bit more time to read. I did not read as much as I wanted to, and the stack of books that I want to read next grew faster than did the stack of books that I was able to read. That’s for sure. However, I did get to read through some good stuff.

First, I finally got to finish reading Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek. I had several friends recommend it over the last three years or so. One friend and leader that I respect told me that she’s read it at least 5 times since it was released (2014). I bought it in late February, and I started reading it in March. I am not really sure why it took me so long to get through it, but I didn’t finish reading it until July. It was a heavier read than I expected. That’s not a negative. I was just surprised. It’s very well done, and you have to do some thinking when you read it. However, Sinek does a great job of laying out the science behind creating an environment and a culture in which leadership and teams can thrive. I know why my friend has read it so many times. I’m going to have to go back to it again, myself. Great read for leaders in any organization.

This next book was something I had to pick up for one of my graduate school classes (I am going through a Superintendent Certification program before I start my Ed.D. next summer). Learning From the Best: Lessons From Award-Winning Superintendents reads a little bit like a Tribe of Mentors-type book. The author, Sandra Harris, sent out a questionnaire to renowned superintendents across the country, asking them questions about leadership, community building, facilitating change, closing the achievement gap, etc… She then took the superintendents’ responses and crafted them into a great resource for school leaders (or those who aspire to be). These superintendents share their real-life experiences and the lessons that they learned along the way. If you’re an educational leader, it might be worth your time to pick it up.

I also re-read The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity by George Couros this summer. I’ve said it before, but this is my favorite book for educators. It was even better this time because I read it as part of a book study with the teachers at our high school. Then it got better still. George Couros came and spoke to all of our 6,500+ district employees at our convocation this year. It is challenging and inspiring stuff. George asks us to think outside the box while sometimes only being able to use the resources that we already have inside of the box. It really challenges my thinking every time I read it, and it inspires me to grow as a leader and to help our teachers and students be innovators in this rapidly changing world. I’ll be going through it again this school year with several groups of administrators. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone in education.

Confessions of a Book Lover

I love books. I have a lot of them, and I will continue to add to my library. I have these visions in my mind of me being a really old man with a legit library in my home, but I’m not a hard core “I have to have a physical book in my hand” kind of guy. I have decent Kindle and iBooks libraries. There is a lot to be said for the convenience of being able to read a book on my phone or iPad when I’m waiting on an appointment or riding as a passenger while my wife drives. Whether I buy paperback, hardback or e-reader versions usually just comes down to which version of the book is least expensive when I set out to purchase it. That being said, I have certainly always been a much bigger proponent of actually reading books than I have been of listening to them. A good friend of mine, listens to a lot of books through services such as Audible, and I’ve listened to a handful over the last few years because someone sent me a “listen to this book for free” link at one point or another. My hangup about listening to audiobooks has always been my concern about not being able to highlight or take notes in the book itself. I still think that’s a valid concern, BUT this summer I finally pulled the trigger and signed up for a monthly Audible subscription.

I got a little frustrated this summer because I was not getting through my reading list as quickly as I wanted to. Between 7-year-old karate practice, 5-year-old gymnastics practice, my own superintendency internship, and grad school homework, I just wasn’t getting to commit as much time to reading as I wanted to. I had a couple trips coming up that I knew would require about 4 hours in the car by myself each way, and I wanted to take advantage of it. I saw an audible advertisement offering 30-day free trials that included 2 free audiobooks. I figured I’d give it a shot, and if I didn’t like it, I’d cancel before the monthly fee kicked in.

Well, long story short, I tried it, and now I’m hooked. I’ve listened to 4 books in the last month and a half. I could have listened to probably twice that many if I felt like paying for more books. I just turn it on and listen anytime I am in my car or when I’m sitting at karate/gymnastics practice. It’s been great, and it’s allowed me to get to some of the books that have been on my list that I just hadn’t made time to read up until this point. I also love the fact that I can listen to it on 1.5x or 2x speed, allowing me to get through books at a considerably faster rate.  As my man Stephen Mackey says, “2X or bust!” It’s really been great for me. While I haven’t mastered the “clip & bookmark” features of the app, I have learned that there is a way to add bookmarks for those important things that I might want to go back to at some point.

The first book I listened to was Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. I’ve heard various leaders and podcasters talk about this one for a while. I knew it would be an important read for me, but again, I never made time for it. Now that I’ve listened to it, it has been a game changer for me! In my role as an assistant principal, learning to manage distraction is a vital skill. There were far too many days last year where I would get home exhausted from work, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you what I accomplished. We have a responsibility to be able to do deep, valuable work, but if we do not learn how to prioritize and manage distractions, we can get caught up in the minutiae of the job and miss out on our true purpose. I’ve implemented several ideas that Cal shared in the book, and I can already tell that it is going to make a huge difference for me, not only in my work, but in my life. For example, one of the biggest and most immediate things I’ve noticed since I’ve implemented some of his ideas is how much lower my stress level has been.

About a year and a half ago, I said something to a friend of mine about a quote I read on Twitter from some guy named Jocko Willink. His response was “Jocko is life!” Well, over the next year, I just kept seeing more and more Jocko quotes. I saw tons of articles about Jocko and his business, and I listened to several podcasts featuring Jocko and/or one of his business partners, Leif Babin. They put out a book called Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win. I finally listened to it this summer, and it is the real deal! Jocko and Leif explain leadership principles that they developed as Navy Seals operating in Iraq, and then they relate all of those lessons to real business/organization applications that they have helped people implement through their consulting business, Echelon Front. The stories are captivating, and the lessons are invaluable. They have a new book coming out on September 25th, The Dichotomy of Leadership. I will definitely be pre-ordering that one. The question is, will it be hardback or audiobook???

The next book I listened to was Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping, and Sex by Aubrey Marcus. This one is was a different read for me, but it was well worth it. I first heard of Aubrey Marcus on Episode 253 of The Learning Leader Show. He said a few things that made a lot of sense to me (and a few things that I definitely don’t agree with as well). After that podcast, I decided to check out his book. I learned a lot, and I have implemented several things from his book into my daily routine (See Do Hard Things blog post). If you are looking for some actionable ways to improve your daily routine, it’s a good book. I do want to give a little disclaimer. Aubrey is a pretty free spirit, and he will say some things that you might not agree with. That’s ok. Just take away from it what makes sense to you, and leave the rest.

I just finished listening to Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph. I talked a little bit about this one in a recent post that I wrote titled “Be Willing to Eat Sh…” In this book, Ryan introduced me to an ancient philosophy called Stoicism. I have a friend that has talked about this book and a few others centered around stoicism, and it always intrigued me. I finally listened to Ryan Holiday on Episode 88 of The Learning Leader Show. This is usually what happens. I listen to an author on a podcast, and then I go buy their book. Well, I heard Ryan at just the right time. My Audible account gives me a new credit on the 11th of the month. I got my newest credit right after I heard that podcast episode, so I decided to use it on one of Ryan’s books. I’m so glad I did. There is so much wisdom in the book, and it is one that I am going to listen to again and again as a reminder of the importance of perspective when dealing with obstacles in life. Great read. It has also inspired me to add several other stoicism-based titles to my list.

Currently Reading

I am about 100 pages into Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Financial Destiny! by Tony Robbins. Don’t judge me. I know there’s a certain impression that comes to mind when a lot of people think of Tony Robbins. A guy I really respect had this on his recommendation list about 5 or 6 years ago, and I totally skipped right over it. I wanted nothing to do with it. Over the last year or so, I’ve heard some other people that I admire talking about Tony’s stuff, and then I watched the Netflix Documentary Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru. After that, I had to give the book a shot. I gotta admit, there are a lot of things in the first 100 pages that make sense to me. It’s a pretty fat book (500+ pages), but I am enjoying it. I am sure there will be plenty of things in there that I don’t necessarily agree with, but again, that’s ok. If I can get a few takeaways that make my life better, that’s all I’m looking for.

New Apps I’m Using

I have fallen in love with the Brain.fm app. I use it to help me focus, relax, sleep, etc… It’s been awesome. I first read about it in Tim Ferris’s book, Tribe of Mentors. I don’t remember who said it, but to Tim’s question, “What’s the best purchase you’ve ever made under $100?,” they said that the brain.fm subscription was their best purchase. Apparently, there’s a lot of science behind the software that creates the music/sounds, and it is supposed to create an environment that affects your brain waves in a way that helps you sleep, focus, relax, etc… You can read about that on their website. I downloaded the app and tried it for the 5 free sessions, and I found that it really helped me stay focused while reading or doing homework. At that point, I went ahead and purchased a subscription for the year. It’s a streaming app, so if your wifi isn’t great, you’ll probably have buffering issues that can be really annoying. With the paid subscription, I’m able to download the music onto my phone, and then I never have a connectivity issue. You can also login to your account from your computer and stream from there. I really dig it.

In the last month, I have also started trying to get into mindfulness meditation.
I’ve heard too many people that I admire talk about the benefits of mindfulness, so I thought I’d give it a shot. To help me with that, I have been using the Oak – Meditation and Breathing app. I got the recommendation from someone else’s blog, so I started using it. It’s completely FREE, and it’s a great app. You can use it for different breathing exercises as well as various guided and unguided meditations. I started using it about a month ago, and then oddly enough, I heard an episode of the Tim Ferris Show where Tim interviewed the creator of the app, Kevin Rose. I don’t guess that had any real significance, but I guess I geek out when I’m using something and then I hear the creator/founder give an interview. Oh well. Great app. Give it a shot if you’ve been looking for something to help you get started practicing mindfulness.

New Morning Routine

Here’s what I’ve been doing for about a month, and I have really been enjoying it.

1. Wake up. We’re shooting for 4:30 a.m. during the week. 5:00 a.m. on Saturday. 7:00 a.m. on Sunday. I’m not perfect on this, but I’m getting better.
2. Ice cold Shower for 1-3 minutes.
3. Drink a glass of water, and take probiotic and vitamin D.
4. Walk to the gym (it’s less than 2 blocks from my house), and alternate cardio/strength days while listening to my favorite podcasts.
5. 10-15 minutes of mindfulness meditation using the Oak App.
6. Daily Bible reading/devotional (listening to focus music with the brain.fm app).
7. Walk back home.
8. Drink a cup of bulletproof coffee while I read.
9. Kids wake up, and the day is rolling from that point on.

There’s a lot to be said for try to get your day started off right. Jocko and Aubrey talk a lot about this in their books, and I am loving the mental, physical, and spiritual results I am getting out of doing this routine everyday. As Jocko says, “Discipline equals freedom.”

I guess that’s about it for now. Thanks for reading along. Hopefully, I can get more consistent about putting this out on a more regular basis. There’s so much learning to do and so little time to do it. Let’s keep learning and growing together. I hope you found something here that sparks a little curiosity in your life.  If you have any questions about anything, you can always ask in the comments, reach out on Twitter (@lutecroy), or shoot me an email at lutecroy@gmail.com.

We’ll see you next week!