Activity Isn't Transformation - Episode 14

Schools are busy.
Programs. Initiatives. Events.

But here’s the real question—
 is any of it actually changing outcomes?

In this Daily Spark, we draw the line between activity and transformation… and why doing more doesn’t always mean moving forward.

Less activity. More impact.

If the fire’s lit — share the grit. 

🔥 FIREtalk is a Courageous Fire Production, hosted by Terrence Davis. It explores courageous leadership, real conversations, and the decisions beneath growth, wellness, and impact.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is a daily spark from Firetalk. There's been something on my mind, and I just think that I need to say it out loud. Uh, I heard something recently and it struck me. It struck me kind of hard. Like it made me think pretty deeply about it. And I heard that schools are often optimized for activity, not for transformation. And it kind of hit me. I had to break down what that means, optimized for activity. Like, and I thought about all the things that we do in school. Then I thought about not for transformation. And I thought about we're supposed to be transforming the lives of students, ourselves, our community, all of those things. And the more I thought about it, the more it hit me. Because if we're being honest, and I would say we should, we should just tell our truth. Our truths are different depended upon who we are. We're always doing something all of the time. It's another program, it's another initiative. They keep coming, it's another event. Calendars stay packed. And it all sounds good. It does. And it actually feels good. And more importantly, all of those things that we're doing, it is good for kids. It's good for families and it's good for the community. So it's like we're full of activity, but here's the question: is it actually changing anything that mattered? Because activity and transformation are not the same things. They're not, they're different. Activity keeps us busy. We're moving, we're doing things. Transformation changes outcomes. And so when I think about that, I think about what is the system for? Is it for us to be busy or is it for us to have outcomes just at that level? And in education, we can fall into this trap of doing more and more and more. And that's where the reflection got me because I feel like we're just doing more stuff, not just. I feel like we are doing more things. And I don't feel that I know we're doing more things without ever stopping to ask what we're doing. Is it actually working? Is it? We celebrate a movement, we reward effort. Those are all good things, but we don't always measure its impact. And the reality is this you can be incredibly busy. There's a show about it. There's an episode that was released about it recently. You can be busy all the time and still not moving forward. You can feel those calendars. I just looked at my calendar, especially given this time of year. We're in March, April, May. It's the busiest time of the school year. They're full and not change student outcomes. You can keep adding more and still miss the mark. So here's what this keeps coming back to me based upon what I see and what I'm feeling right now. Transformation requires intention, it requires focus. And unfortunately, or fortunately for you, it requires saying no to things that look good so you can say yes to what actually works. Because at the end of the day, we're not measured by how much we do, we're measured by what actually changes. That's today's daily spark. Less activity, more impact. If the fire is lit, share the grit.