Pruning, Chainsaws, and the Real Purpose of Professional Growth Plans

OFF CAMPUS

• 🎧 Are We Training Students to Be Obsolete? A Wake-Up Call for Education

• 📖 A School Where Every Kid Knows Their Voice Matters — and every adult listens like it’s true

• ✒ The Power of Handwriting: it’s far from being a relic of the past

• 🔥 Flames, Forts, and Abandoned Automobiles: perilous play is setting kids up for life in the real world

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Pruning, Chainsaws, and the Real Purpose of Professional Growth Plans

The conference speaker held up a metaphorical branch he'd just clipped and said something that made me stop scrolling: "Growth requires pruning."

He explained that trees grow stronger when we cut back the extra shoots that drain their energy.

We focus their resources.

“The same principle,” he said, “applies to people.”

That line stayed with me all weekend.

It reminded me of Danny's recent post, "The 3 Trees That Cost Me 3 Years."

He shared the story of finally making his life (and lawn) easier by cutting down three trees that were blocking sunlight and taking up too much space.

Danny didn't just prune; he pulled out the chainsaw.

Sitting there, I realized I’d been tending my own leadership garden without stopping to prune.

Different approaches, same result: more light, more room, more growth.

And then it clicked…

Professional Growth Plans serve as our pruning process.

They help us identify what to keep nurturing and what to release so we can focus on what really matters.

Later that week, in my Mastermind group, we were talking about Learner Profiles.

The goal-setting work we do with students is akin to the work we do in our own growth plans.

Both practices build self-awareness, encourage reflection, and foster intentional growth.

When leaders take their own goal-setting seriously, they show teachers and students that growth is something we choose and work at every day.

If you want to make your growth plan more meaningful, these tools can help:

• Danny's 8-Step Goal-Setting Tool

• The OKR Reflection Tool

• Or his book Build Leadership Momentum (how to create a 90-day plan)

So this year, instead of dusting off your old professional growth plan, sharpen it.

Trim the dead wood.

And if you need to, grab the metaphorical chainsaw.

Clear space for what matters most.

Because our growth plans aren’t paperwork. They’re where your vision comes to light and you do your best growing.

Your vision deserves sunlight.

And your people deserve your best.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Bonsai or Chainsaw?

When it comes to professional growth, ask yourself:

Do I need bonsai shears… or a chainsaw?

Sometimes a small trim like refining a routine or clarifying a goal keeps things healthy.

Other times, you need to clear space entirely to let new growth take root.

Either way, leadership growth is like tending a bonsai: patient, precise, and deeply intentional.

This week, try this: Pick one habit or commitment to shape, and one to let go of completely.

SUNDAY VIBES