Save Time, Beat Burn out, Find Freedom

Teaching is one of those professions that can provide us with such a sense of purpose and fulfilment but it often comes with a price.  Many teachers quietly struggle with serious stress, anxiety and are simply exhausted. The demands of the job are overwhelming and it leaves them with little time to actually enjoy life. 

Time is above and beyond the biggest resource and challenge for teachers. There never seems to be enough of it both at work and at home.  

It will take most people 10,000 hours to become a master at something. This is a dedicated 5-7 school years. In my 13 years in the classroom I mastered my use of work time and free time and can’t wait to share my time and energy management strategies with you.

Imagine, having evenings and weekends to yourself, engaging lessons for students all done on smooth autopilot.

Yes, this could be you. What people struggle with is the gap between knowing how to manage time and the skill in applying it. In fact, teachers happily teach their students these strategies and sadly don’t apply them themselves. 

Here is the secret to achieving the freedom you deserve!

Turn Overwhelm into Freedom in 5 Easy Steps 

1. Determine where your time is actually going. How much time is spent on emails, perfecting worksheets, searching for the perfect lesson plan on line, at the photocopier? Take a detailed time audit. Write down everything single thing you do for every hour of the day for one week. Make observations, draw conclusions. 
2. Connect time spent to your values. Your values will help you determine where it is you want to be spending your time (with your family, in highly engaging student conferences, marking spelling tests or perfecting worksheets). Then the real fun begins - once you see it right there in front of you, this is fuel for change. Alignment happens when values match how we spend time, energy and money. 
3. Establish your boundaries. Boundaries are the imaginary lines that separate your physical space, your feelings, needs, and responsibilities from others. Without boundaries you get taken advantage of  because you haven’t set limits about how you expect to be treated. A good rule of thumb - if it isn’t a “Hell Yes!”, it’s a “Hell No”. 
4. Use a Calendar! Apply some creative problem solving and some good ol’ google calendar skills to start building the life you really value and you can get in alignment with. 
5. Get into an Email routine – It’s easy to get coaxed into checking your inbox and clicking ‘refresh’. If you are checking it every hour or two, it can waste more time than it’s worth.Try to maintain a 1-2x per day inbox clearing routine to save a lot of time. Get into the habit of responding once you read an email to save time re-reading it later. Delete or move emails you have dealt with out of your inbox to keep the space free and clear. 

Finding more time for yourself and to get stuff done is a small part of the bigger picture. To make more time for yourself you have to truly believe you are worthy of it, have the courage to speak your truth and be aware of any unhelpful thought patterns that hold you back. The Pathway to the Conscious Classroom is a lesson plan for teacher wellness. It is designed to help educators overcome burnout so they may transform classrooms and lead inspired lives. 

Ready to overcome burnout and lead a conscious classroom and inspired life right now? I’ve got you. Book a free clarity call with me.