“Two out of Five”
The Ruckus Maker Flywheel Chapter 7
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What if you stopped giving your best to things that don’t matter?
Jordan hasn’t called Max.
But something is shifting.
Today she listened to a podcast that introduced a game changing idea.
She turned in a strategic plan without obsessing over it.
And she took a walk instead of a meeting.
No one noticed the difference …
Except her.
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The First Step
Jordan sat in the staff lounge, chewing her salad and watching the microwave spin someone else’s lunch into oblivion.
She wasn’t in her office.
Wasn’t checking her inbox.
Wasn’t finishing the strategic plan that was due in exactly one hour.
Her phone was facedown on the table, but the podcast still played through one AirPod.
Max’s voice came through steady and plain, like he was talking just to her.
“Most school leaders waste their A effort on D-level tasks,” he said. “Because the system rewards compliance more than clarity.”
Jordan paused, fork midair.
A effort on D-level tasks.
That’s exactly what the strategic plan had become.
A slick PDF for the district office.
No one on her staff had read last year’s version — including her.
It sat in a binder on a shelf in her office. Glossy. Useless.
She opened her laptop and pulled up the document.
Three sections were already written in district-approved language.
A few acronyms.
Some nods to “equity” and “data-driven decision-making.”
Plenty of words.
Not much meaning.
She scrolled to the end, typed in a generic conclusion, added a placeholder chart from last year, and exported the file as a PDF.
The whole process took eleven minutes.
She attached it to the email.
Subject line: Strategic Plan Draft – Jordan
Body:
Let me know if you need anything else.
Then she hit send.
No guilt.
Just curiosity.
A few minutes later, her phone buzzed.
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