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The 5-Minute Habit That Changes Everything
Micro-Reflections for Busy Leaders
Dan Watt
June 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
A MESSAGE FROM RUCKUS MAKERS
Last Friday at 3:07 PM a weary high school principal swiped the “Legacy Letter” custom AI prompt from my Ruckus Maker Substack, hit send to their staff, and boom … his inbox was flooded with gratitude. They ended they year on a strong positive note.
That’s the sort of “illegal” trick you’ll steal every week when you subscribe.
Inside you’ll find your leadership edge: Do School Different playbooks, AI prompts that make your job easy (and fun again), and field-tested tools that lead to awards and recognition.
If you want parents begging to transfer in and teachers grinning on Monday mornings, then you should check out the Ruckus Maker premium experience.
Today is the last day to get three months free.
Your day is chaos.
Meetings, emails, fires. Repeat.
Here’s a hard-won secret: the best leaders don’t hustle harder. They pause.
Got five minutes? Let me tell you more. 😉
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INSPIRATION STATION
It’s okay to steal. Feel free to share any of these links and how we write about them and drop ‘em right into your staff newsletter this week.
☀ Fun data dive: What summer was like the year you were born
💥 Anna Wintour on how to create a bulletproof career, survive decades of disruption, and make yourself indispensable
🧠 You become what you scroll: choose wisely
😱 Off for the summer? Maybe check that inbox
THE RUCKUS MAKER MONTHLY THEME: REFLECTION
Micro-Reflections for Busy Leaders
Leadership rewards speed.
Reflection rewards progress.
But most school leaders don’t need a journal retreat.
They need a sharper way to lead in real time.
That’s where micro-reflections come in.
Quick check-ins that sharpen your thinking before the next move.
Five minutes. Big difference.
Why Micro-Reflections Work
Without reflection, busy turns into burnout.
We race from one challenge to the next but miss the patterns that help us lead smarter.
Micro-reflections stop that cycle.
They give you a fast, repeatable system to notice what matters, fix what’s off, and build what works.
No fluff.
No wasted time.
Just sharper leadership.
The 3-Part Routine
Here’s how to run a micro-reflection in under five minutes:
One Win: What worked today?
One Friction Point: Where did I get stuck or frustrated?
One Next Move: What small shift will I make tomorrow?
This works because it balances clarity with action.
Not just “how did I feel,” but what will I do next?
Making It Stick
BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits (another great book we read in the Mastermind) reminds us that new routines don’t work unless they’re attached to habits we already have.
He calls this “anchoring.”
Want this to actually happen? Anchor it.
Try this:
After closing your laptop → reflect.
After brushing your teeth → reflect.
After locking your office door → reflect.
It doesn’t matter where you do it.
What matters is that it happens consistently. Five minutes or less. No excuses.
This isn’t journaling homework.
It’s leadership leverage.
Why Ruckus Makers Use Micro-Reflections
The leaders I coach aren’t trying to run schools like everyone else.
They’re Ruckus Makers.
They know small moves done consistently lead to real change.
Leadership is more than ticking boxes on the to-do list (although don’t get me wrong, I love a good list 😃).
Listen, notice, reflect, lead, and repeating that cycle.
So, have you got five minutes?
Ask yourself:
What moved the needle today?
Where did I get stuck or drained?
What’s one thing I’ll do differently tomorrow?
Sharp questions.
Big results.
That’s how you Do School Different.
Ready to join us?
Pause. Reflect. Lead better.
LEADERSHIP EDGE
🥱 Snoozefest: Does your mission statement puts your staff and students asleep? Or worse … sound like every other school’s mission statement? If you answered YES to either question — you need this 6-question framework and custom gpt.
👔 Stylin’: What does fashion have in common with leadership? Just this.
📚 Ready for your summer reads? Check out these “22 Best Books for School Principals”
🧙♂️ Feel like fiction, but still want to Make a Ruckus? Check out “The Ruckus Maker Flywheel”
MONDAY VIBES
WEEKLY CHALLENGE
Rebel With A Pause.
This week, break the usual flow.
In the hallway, between tasks, or while waiting for the coffee to brew pause.
Ask yourself:
What’s one moment today that lit me up or let me down?
What belief or assumption did I challenge or cling to?
If I were leading boldly, what would I do next? (or, I sometimes ask myself, what would Danny do? 😁)
Now share an insight with a colleague, your team, or in your journal.
I’d love it if you hit reply and let me know how it went!
Disrupt the routine. Make reflection contagious. Do School Different.
Keep Making a Ruckus,
PS … Did you know we have a Ruckus Maker digital magazine? Learn more about it here: https://ruckusmakers.substack.com/about
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