65 Things You Should Do Right Now To Avoid Teacher Burnout Stress Reduction by Joel Wagner - November 10, 2007September 3, 20123 This past Tuesday, I took a day off of school. This is not normal for me, and I even had to fight my urge to go up to school and make sure things were running smoothly. I even drove up to the school and chose not to get out of the car. Why? Because I had a chance where I knew I could relax for a day and things wouldn’t fall apart. I suppose it’s sort of a building process for me of letting go of my band. I don’t like to miss school. I remember my parents encouraging me when I was in high school to miss a day when I didn’t fell well. I have been debating missing a day just to miss a day for over a month and finally bit the bullet. A friend says that her principal encourages the teachers to take a “mental health” day each month. I have nearly 50 sick days available and so I figure I’ll use some this year. Taking off of work is a great trick to avoid burnout. We’ve all seen those teachers who show up to punch their time card, and then race the students out the door at 3:29. If we’re not careful, we too will turn into those teachers. I’ve been doing some research lately and found a few articles that relate to job burnout. The Simple Dollar is a great place for some practical, common-sense advice about personal finance. Trent writes about Dealing With Professional Burnout Without Quitting Your Job. WebWorkerDaily has a good article about How To Cope With Job Burnout. Vandelay Website Design shows us 12 Ways to Avoid Blogging Burnout. Collective Creatives shows us How to Recover & Recharge from Creative Burnout. Agile Ministry shows us visually in an article entitled Leadership: Balance or Burnout? BootStrapMe shows us 20 Tips To Avoid Burnout. Intensive Care For The Nurturer’s Soul sends us 7 Keys To Avoid Burnout. Rags Studio shows us How To Avoid Burnout. Andrew Shim tells us 10 Tips To Avoid Burnout For Home Business Owners. Taking these articles and looking at some of their key points, I have compiled a list. Read the articles for more details: 65 Things You Should Do Right Now To Avoid Burnout Stop now! Not tomorrow, Not soon Make a list of the items that you do at work that you enjoy Make a list of the items that you dislike doing at work Spend a week or two doing only the tasks you enjoy Hand off some of the burdens Compress the periods where you do the things you don’t like If there are strong interpersonal issues and you work in a large organization, request a transfer to another area If the situation is truly untenable, work on preparing your resume to move on A job that makes your entire life miserable is not worth it, no matter what Get some help Reach out of yourself Hibernate, Sleep, Take a serious break Start a side job Choose a topic that you’re passionate about Set a realistic schedule Plan ahead Celebrate you accomplishments Have a long-term focus and avoid focusing on current problems Don’t spread yourself too thin Limit the time you spend on statistics Accept guest posts if you need more content than you can produce Build a network Use designated times for email Find things that motivate you Take a break Dump it all out Escape for a while Read a book Take a walk outside Set up a “busy schedule” and stick to it Schedule down time Squeeze in walks Avoid overwhelm by making lists Put your perfectionism on the shelf Get support Eat at least one meal a day with family or friends Set up accountability Build in consequences Eat right Set up email filters Turn off email and the phone for set hours Play hard Know your own “Relax” buttons Watch your estimations Lay down the law Prioritize by your core values Put intensive self-care as a top priority Practice the 3D Principle (Do it, Delegate it or Dump it) Learn to say no Learn to let go Avoid multi-tasking Slow down Ask who’s the boogey man? Listen! Ditch things that aren’t important but restore your dream fully If your dream cannot be restore fully. Look towards God for refinement Lastly, you need to have someone to talk to if you need to talk! Don’t lose sight of your principles Stretch yourself Be realistic Learn how to communicate effectively Manage your time Don’t blame yourself (or others) Enjoy the ride Read 25 Tips For Less Stress Joel WagnerJoel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.
What an awesome list! I have a hard time with #34 (perfectionism) and will work something to death to the point that it isn’t fun anymore. I also have trouble with #41 (emails and phone) and my husband is always telling me that they are luxuries and not necessities. Unless it is my parents (who are in their 80s), I shouldn’t have to feel like I need to answer it whenever it rings. I have gotten better at that, but it is hard. Thanks for the suggestions of some things to do.
This is a great list. It seems that the list provided is common sense, but when you are in that mode of stress, nothing seems as common sense. “Be realistic”, I think is one that everyone needs to remember at all times. Not only can this list be applied to teaching, but to students as well.
Yes. I am working on putting my 25 Tips For Less Stress together into an ebook with some added tips. I hope to have that finished by the end of this month. As I hear from more young teachers and those of us who were once young teachers, I realize that stress is one of the largest factors in quitting the teaching profession. Lingo_33 also brings up a great point about the validity of student stress. I wonder if I could work on putting together an Instant Destress Guide For Students also.