Investing an extra two percent

I've written at length about the importance of feedback in our work and how that alleviates burnout. Bill Gates' latest TED talk (that anyone interested in education should absolutely watch) highlights the same conclusions I've found on how feedback can yield better results as it relates to perhaps to one of the most important occupations in society: teachers. 

There's nothing unfamiliar about the Gates' overview of our education system as it compares to performance in other countries. Our results are abysmally low. We're tied for 15th (with Iceland and Poland) for reading, 23rd in science, and 31st in math. What are other countries doing in their systems to improve? According to Gates, eleven out of the top 14 countries whose students perform well academically have a formal system for helping teachers improve. 

Let's look at the best academic performer: the province of Shanghai, China. Now, they rank number one across the board,in reading, math and science, and one of the keys to Shanghai's incredible success is the way they help teachers keep improving. They made sure that younger teachersget a chance to watch master teachers at work. They have weekly study groups,where teachers get together and talk about what's working. They even require each teacher to observeand give feedback to their colleagues.

And here's the big number. Creating a system that provides up to date feedback would cost the US $5 Billion annually. This equals less than two percent of what we spend on teacher salaries today.

Finding the time to conclude

I've often heard that the thought most at the top of your mind is the one that shows up when you're in the shower. Or on your commute to work. Or while exercising alone. Or even sometimes when sitting on an airplane.  

While it's clear that moments when you are beside yourself are the moments that allow  the brain to air out, I've found that conclusions drawn from those thoughts are mostly inward looking and personal.

Current events? The cutting edge of whatever is breaking in your industry? Developing a well crafted response to the op-ed in yesterday's New York Times? Putting our stakes in these areas involves similar time, but it's much more difficult to turn nubs of ideas into fully blown out opinions and arguments. This kind of thinking, and more importantly, drawing some kind of conclusion, involves a proactive and patient manipulation of words. It's hard to say I can get this from the tea tree oil in my shampoo. 

In an attempt to try and match all the time I spend consuming information, I'm going to attempt to dedicate more time towards producing conclusions (it's very obvious that in college, or any kind of schooling, class assignments and papers often provide insurance against this kind of passive thinking).

Where do you find your time to conclude?