Together Friends,
How are we all doing? I am personally toggling between full-on preparation for Winter Cousin Camp and a tiny bit of Grinch mode, but sometimes that’s how it is in a Big-Blended-Family-That-Celebrates-Various-December-Holidays. ANYWAY, before you disappear on a much-needed break, a reminder that now is the time to prep for next year! Join us in early February to dive into quarterly planning, and be sure to make a re-entry plan and reset your priorities if needed.
Together Tour: Mark Yarber
This month’s Together Tour features Mark Yarber, an Elementary Area Special Education Coordinator at Northside School District in San Antonio, whose blend of structure, intention, and heart caught my attention the moment I saw his Team Togetherness Chart. I’ve loved NISD ever since I joined them for a series of classes in 2019, and that’s when I met Mark! He started his career working in the Catholic Church as a formation coordinator, and then moved into special education. Mark travels between campuses, supports a wide variety of educators, and still manages to hold clear routines that ground both his work and his well-being. And when I interviewed Mark he shared A LOT of holiday enthusiasm, which made me excited to run this Tour in December!
Mark generously let us peek inside his toolkit – and, as you’ll see, there’s a lot we can learn from how he stays steady, purposeful, and yes, Together, while juggling work with multiple schools.
Tell me about this Team Togetherness Chart!
My foundational system is my Team Togetherness Chart, which lives in a Google Sheet and has four tabs:
- Tab 1 – Big Rocks + Tasks. I list all of my “big rock” duties and break down major tasks under each duty. I also note who I collaborate with for each item.
- Tab 2 – Monthly Task Map. Every task gets assigned to the months of the year—some monthly, some bi-monthly, some one-and-done. On this tab, I also link any documents I’ll need. From there I pull each month’s tasks into a Monthly Later List in Google Keep.
- Tab 3 – Big Rock Later List. As big ideas or long-term projects come up, I capture them here. At the end of the year I decide which to activate in the coming year.
- Tab 4 – Meeting Matrix. This is where I log recurring meetings: who attends, the purpose, and ongoing notes. (Editor’s Note: For more on the Later List and the Meeting Matrix, reference Chapters 7 & 5 in The Together Leader, respectively.)
How do you balance long-term planning with short-term To-Do’s?
Once I’ve created my monthly To-Do lists in Google Keep (separated into work and home lists), I schedule a weekly planning block I call “Mark’s Minutes.” (Editor’s Note: The Together Team calls this the Meeting with Myself. Learn more in Chapter 9 in The Together Leader.) It’s one hour every Friday before lunch. That’s when I move tasks from my Later List into my calendar.
How do you stay organized while moving between schools all week? This strikes me as a big challenge!
Since I travel across campuses, I’ve built in rhythm-anchors:
- 30 minutes of scheduled travel time each morning. This is my built-in buffer and my mental warm-up for the day ahead.
- A one-hour lunch block every day. Before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I often worked straight through lunch – now it’s a non-negotiable. I may shift it up or back slightly but never remove it. I love my Packit brand Lunchbox (the walls of the lunchbox freeze). I just set this in the freezer at the end of the day and refreeze the whole lunchbox and it keeps everything cold as I drive from campus to campus each day.
- Color-coding for clarity. My district-visible calendar has green (personal: travel, lunch, Mark’s Minutes) and purple (work meetings). I duplicate each meeting onto separate campus calendars with their own colors so I can instantly see which campus I’m supporting.
How does Togetherness bring you joy personally?
Togetherness helps me feel like the best version of myself – steadier, calmer, and more prepared to support others. I’m someone who loves order, and when my systems are running well, I have more emotional capacity to show up with kindness and patience.
It also spills into my life at home. I recently bought a TuffShed for my backyard, and using my Cricut to label bins of holiday yard decorations brought me so much joy. I’m a huge holiday enthusiast, so the thought of opening the shed and seeing things organized makes me genuinely excited.
What’s one Togetherness practice you’d recommend others try?
Build a rhythm you can trust. Whether it’s a weekly “Minutes” block, a daily drive-time transition, or simply putting lunch on your calendar – you can’t support others if you’re running on fumes.
Thank you, Mark, for sharing how you juggle the professional and the personal Togetherness, especially in your role that has you on the move and working with so many different teams!
Take 10 minutes today to set up one small rhythm to anchor your week:
- Block a weekly planning hour
- Add a travel buffer to each morning
- Schedule your lunch (yes, literally put it on the calendar)
- Move one task from a Later List into your week
Then let me know—which rhythm did you choose? I love hearing how real humans across the Together community bring structure, joy, and calm into their days.
- Finding a last-minute substitute is hard to do. Enter “The Squad.” Alpha Public Schools created coverage squads from their central office to ensure that all their schools and students are supported.
- Build joy with a Playlist! The Dark Months have begun, and it can be hard to sustain a good mood when the sun sets at 4:30pm. Create a playlist of activities you can turn to when you need a little joy boost!
- What do you do with found time? Many of us have so much to do that it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. But what do you do with surprise extra time (the BEST kind of gift in this holiday season), like when you arrive 30 minutes early or have a last-minute cancelation?
