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Small steps, long term improvements
28th February 2025
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." – James Clear, Atomic Habits
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable half-term break. As we return to school, refreshed and ready for the challenges ahead, it’s a good time to take stock of where we are. Schools are lucky places to work, in that we have 6 clear points in the year to reset, refocus and think about how we make things even better for our students and staff.
I’m about 15 million people late to James Clear’s Atomic Habits , but I instantly connected with the ideas within about how success isn’t about making huge, dramatic changes overnight. He outlines why goals without defined actions so rarely work. Instead, it’s about building small, sustainable habits that compound over time. In our schools we’re often great at this – we think about where we want to get to and the steps we can take to get there.
The book sets out really clearly the four processes needed to develop long term habits – here I’ve applied them to developing the habit of reading:
- Cue – Identifying the trigger that initiates a habit. This could be a scheduled time for reading or a specific location set aside to read.
- Craving – Creating a desire or motivation to follow through. Encouraging students to enjoy the process by selecting engaging books or rewarding small achievements helps build a positive association with learning.
- Response – Taking the actual action that forms the habit. By making small, manageable changes—such as starting with just ten minutes of reading a day—we build consistency without feeling overwhelmed.
- Reward – Reinforcing the habit with positive feedback. Celebrating progress, tracking improvements, and recognizing achievements keeps motivation high and strengthens long-term commitment. Programmes like Sparx reader, which is used in many of our secondary schools, really help with this.
We've encouraged all members of our school communities to reflect on their daily routines. What small change could make a meaningful difference? Could it be arriving five minutes earlier to class, participating in one extra discussion, or setting aside time each evening to review notes? These tiny actions, repeated daily, shape our future success.
This term, I’ve challenged myself to make a few small changes. I’ve downloaded the app and it sends me reminders about what I’ve set out to achieve. Small steps will lead to long term improvements I’m sure.
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." – James Clear, Atomic Habits
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable half-term break. As we return to school, refreshed and ready for the challenges ahead, it’s a good time to take stock of where we are. Schools are lucky places to work, in that we have 6 clear points in the year to reset, refocus and think about how we make things even better for our students and staff.
I’m about 15 million people late to James Clear’s Atomic Habits , but I instantly connected with the ideas within about how success isn’t about making huge, dramatic changes overnight. He outlines why goals without defined actions so rarely work. Instead, it’s about building small, sustainable habits that compound over time. In our schools we’re often great at this – we think about where we want to get to and the steps we can take to get there.
The book sets out really clearly the four processes needed to develop long term habits – here I’ve applied them to developing the habit of reading:
- Cue – Identifying the trigger that initiates a habit. This could be a scheduled time for reading or a specific location set aside to read.
- Craving – Creating a desire or motivation to follow through. Encouraging students to enjoy the process by selecting engaging books or rewarding small achievements helps build a positive association with learning.
- Response – Taking the actual action that forms the habit. By making small, manageable changes—such as starting with just ten minutes of reading a day—we build consistency without feeling overwhelmed.
- Reward – Reinforcing the habit with positive feedback. Celebrating progress, tracking improvements, and recognizing achievements keeps motivation high and strengthens long-term commitment. Programmes like Sparx reader, which is used in many of our secondary schools, really help with this.
We've encouraged all members of our school communities to reflect on their daily routines. What small change could make a meaningful difference? Could it be arriving five minutes earlier to class, participating in one extra discussion, or setting aside time each evening to review notes? These tiny actions, repeated daily, shape our future success.
This term, I’ve challenged myself to make a few small changes. I’ve downloaded the app and it sends me reminders about what I’ve set out to achieve. Small steps will lead to long term improvements I’m sure.
