Leadership, like composting, can be a little messy.
But that’s where the magic happens.
Turns out a colony of red wrigglers has a lot to teach about patience, process, and the quiet work that happens beneath the surface.
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OFF CAMPUS
🎧 Stop Asking “What Should I Do?” Start asking, “Who am I?”
❤ The Red Hats Are Back! What is the most disruptive thing a school leader can do? The answer might surprise you
🐛 Worm Scientists: they literally do the worm
🚀 The Ultimate Science Project: how microgravity affects reproduction and regeneration of… what else? worms
A MESSAGE FROM IXL
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A Little Wriggle Room: Tales from a Worm Farmer
The other day, Danny asked me, “Do you have any bonsai trees at home?”
I laughed and replied, “I don’t have any bonsai trees. But I do have an indoor worm farm.”
Then… silence.
My worm farm isn’t as graceful as a bonsai, but it’s strangely satisfying.
There’s something gratifying about feeding a handful of carrot peels and coffee grounds to a hidden world that quietly turns waste into something fertile and new.
Every week I lift the lid and check how my little compost crew is doing.
Usually they’re calm and steady, silently turning scraps into rich, dark soil.
Until last weekend.
When I opened the lid, the top tray was alive.
I mean ALIVE alive.
There was a solid, wriggling carpet of red worms covering the entire tray.
For a moment, I wasn’t sure whether I’d done something terribly wrong or wildly right.
Were they suffocating? Overpopulating? Celebrating?
It was chaotic, pulsing, and messy.
But it was also beautiful.
Beneath the surface, everything was working exactly as it should.
Leadership (and growth) can feel like that too.
We spend so much time trying to make things look neat and controlled, pruning like bonsai artists.
We sometimes forget the power of what’s happening under the surface.
The quiet work of transformation.
The messy, fertile stuff that turns experience, feedback, and even failure into wisdom.
Compost doesn’t look beautiful while it’s breaking down.
But given time, it becomes rich and full of potential.
So if things look a little wriggly in your world right now, take heart.
It might just mean your leadership ecosystem is thriving.
Especially if you’re a worm farmer.
If you’d like to join a community where the work is sometimes messy but leads to genuine growth, that’s what we explore every week in the Mastermind.
Or, you can always shoot me a DM for the DL on starting your own worm colony.
Stay moist.
And go stir the compost 😉
TIP OF THE WEEK
Look for the Signs
Growth isn’t always tidy.
Sometimes progress happens quietly and is almost invisible.
This week: Pause to check on a project, team, or goal that feels stalled or messy.
Look for subtle signs of growth:
Small wins that aren’t immediately obvious
Team members experimenting, asking questions, or taking initiative
Artifacts of progress like notes, drafts, or shared ideas building behind the scenes
Even when things feel messy or chaotic, these signals show momentum is happening.
The foundation for bigger breakthroughs is quietly taking shape.
SUNDAY VIBES
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Keep Making a Ruckus,
PS … apropos of absolutely nothing, give this a listen
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