"Lethal Simplicity"

Anyone that knows me well knows that I'm a huge fan of Florida State University since I was born in Tallahassee and raised in Ocala. FSU has a new football coach this year named Willie Taggart. He is a breath of fresh air with new ideas. He loves to use the term, "lethal simplicity" when describing how he wants his football program to run.

Lethal Simplicity means not getting too fancy. It means embracing quality over quantity. Instead of having an offensive playbook with 342 plays, it might have a playbook with 120 plays that are ran really, really well.

I think those of us in PreK-12th education can embrace the concept of "lethal simplicity" as well. We often try to do to much. We get caught up in a new fad. We add and add and add to our plate without taking anything off. As we head into 2018-19 in August, I'm going to be working with YPS to embrace a little more lethal simplicity. We need to make sure we're focused on the simple things that need to be focused on. We've had success with our "Real World Boot Camp" and "Main Things" days in all buildings and we need to continue on with that focus.

Simplicity isn't a bad thing. Simple is good. I like to brag that we don't try to get too fancy here in York. The world has enough "fancy" already. We try to roll up our sleeves and work. Hard work isn't fancy. Hard work isn't always fun. But, hard work gets the job done in all walks of life.

Be ready to hear the term "simple" a lot from the York Dukes in the coming years. It's OK to simplify. It's OK to re-focus and fine tune efforts. Hard working teams and organizations that emphasize "simple" things often outshine their fancier, less focused competition. Simple is good!