The Principal's Handbook

Prioritizing Time and Well-being for Educators: Back-to-School Strategies with Brittany Stout
[00:00:00] Today, I am sharing an Instagram live that I did with Brittany Stout and brittany is a health. And wellness coach and together, we talked about how to prioritize your time and wellbeing this school year. This is such an important topic.
When we think about. , your own self care and really just how to be the best version of you. You have to take the time to focus on your own wellbeing, right? We always say you can't pour from an empty cup. And I can't stress that enough. And I love this conversation because in this conversation, we're bringing you mindset tips.
We're bringing you health and fitness tips. All the things that you need to do to be healthy this school year. So I hope that you find this episode helpful and you grab a couple of things that you can implement throughout the school year.
Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self care. I'm Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting [00:01:00] mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.
From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work life balance, I'm Barb Flowers. We'll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.
. So I'm excited to jump on here and talk about prioritizing time and their well being this school year. So, , for those of you that don't know me, I'm Barb Flowers and I'm a life coach to, , educators, principals, and really I've been helping a lot of people, , in other professions just with time management in general. It's a huge issue, obviously, that we see when I do life coaching, you know, or really when I talk to anybody.
The number one thing I hear is I don't have enough time. Right. And I've heard that a lot. , I'm passionate, you know, Brittany, I know you love talking about well being and health and fitness and all that. And I'm also [00:02:00] passionate about all of that. And I'm like, I really truly believe that. Everybody should have some sort of health and fitness routine, right?
, what, no matter what level that looks like or how you do that for your lifestyle, but there's definitely all kinds of ways that that can be done. And I think time management is a huge piece of that, right? To make time and, , create time for yourself. That's a huge thing I talk to my clients about is like, You know, your whole schedule when we're managing our time.
The first thing we do is we create a schedule for your own personal time for your own self care. That's step one in creating your schedule for the week because we have to be able to manage our time personally and professionally, but we're not going to be good for others unless we take care of ourselves.
So that's kind of the position I take as a life coach. Oh, I love that. I love that. Yeah. Cause I know, um, you know, Since I am in the schools too and I'm an occupational therapist and also a women's health and [00:03:00] fitness coach But when I'm in the schools as an occupational therapist, you know, it's so easy to to Let your paperwork take over.
Forget into conversations or, you know, sometimes the kid will need something and that was like your paperwork time, so you had to be pulled away. And so, the time that you thought you had, you didn't have, and now you're like bringing your paperwork home with you. And if you had an evening workout planned, then that's the first to go is right, this health and self care activities that we like to do because we don't have the time because the paperwork's going to, , You know come first versus yeah the their health and fitness, you know, so I Definitely you focus on all of that , i'd like to just kind of talk about you know, I have strategies that I give my clients.
I have coached teachers as well with their health and fitness to help them lose weight. , that is [00:04:00] my specialty I help women lose weight and I help them keep it off I help them do that using sustainable habits so that You They can really keep up the habits no matter what season they are in, and I know it's back to school time.
And so, a lot of women are going to have, you know, a lot of teachers are going to have, , their back to school prep, lesson planning. They're going to have their open houses that take place in the evening. But then, if they have kids, they also have kids. Their kids schools open houses, getting their classroom ready, getting, you know, their kids ready for school and also the school extracurricular activities are in the evening.
So I just feel right now is a crazy time of the year as you know, a lot of teachers just came off of summer and had a wonderful summer with, you know, with their families that they weren't in the school and now it's just. A crazy season trying to get ready So i'd love if we could just kind of talk about [00:05:00] some strategies that you give your clients and I can talk about strategies I give my clients on how to prioritize their time with like their health and fitness so that way they can Avoid that overwhelm that burnout that you help them with and also that they can stay on track with a fitness routine Yeah Of course, I mean, as you're talking, I'm thinking about my number one tip for people.
And I know not everybody loves this is like, I'm a morning workout person because like you said, all the things come up. And for me, I love working out and it's still easy for me to be like, I'm busy, like, or I'm tired, you know, like this came up. So if I, even if I schedule an afternoon workout, like you said, other things become priority.
So for me personally, like, even in my schedule now. Five to seven in the morning. And I know five is early is my like personal self care time because I have little kids and they're asleep. And so. That's my time to [00:06:00] get up, get my workout in, get my journaling in, you know, focus on my mindset. And I love like doing a workout and then taking some time and even getting steps on the treadmill where I'm getting some of that mindset work done, you know, , like listening to some positive affirmations and doing things like that.
So I'm getting, you know, Combination, but I really try to schedule like a two hour block in the morning for myself, but I would say, you know, starting out, gosh, even if you take 15 minutes or, you know, some way that you start that routine where you're doing something for yourself in the morning, I think is huge because.
It's really easy to get, you know, like you said, push it off when it's in the afternoon, right? And if you do have something planned at seven at night or till seven or eight it is really hard to expect yourself To then go work out afterwards. I mean it really isn't even a realistic expectation at that point Because you are going to be so tired, right?
And then if you like ramp yourself up to get that energy to go work out [00:07:00] Then you're getting you know your energy up. And so then when you're done working out You're not going to be ready to go to bed. And I like to, , help my clients with like creating a sleep hygiene routine. So that they can help calm themselves down, because I know a lot of times they're up doing, you know, paperwork and then maybe they get lost scrolling on the phone or watching TV just to kind of relax, , but I help them set up a sleep hygiene routine as well, so that way, you know, they can fall asleep, and it also helps a lot of people, that's one of the first things to go to, you know, their, their exercise, their nutrition, and then their sleep, because they have so much to do, and then, They still tell themselves like I'll go work out in the morning, but if you're staying up late When you're right, you know that bed's gonna feel really cozy and you're not going to get your workout in and I feel like it's just that kind of like snowball effect like I'm gonna work out in the evening where you had all that You know [00:08:00] life happened seven eight o'clock at night.
You're now too tired, but you just end up sitting and relaxing, watching TV. So then the next day, you're like, well, going to bed that night, you're like, okay, I'm just going to work out in the morning. But since you stayed up late, then, you know, you're too tired to work out, and you skip your workout there, and then it's just that snowball effect of like, well, I'll get to it eventually.
And then, you know, Christmas break comes and Yeah, they, they, they're not in their health and fitness routine that they used to have like during summer because, you know, I, um, my friends and I say life, life. Yes. Yes. And then the whole time you're having this cycle in your head where you're judging yourself like, Oh, I didn't do it.
I didn't do it in the morning. Why even try? You know, it becomes this like negative mindset then. And that's where the coaching aspect really comes in with the mindset where it's like, you have to have these sustainable habits and you can't judge [00:09:00] yourself. When you fall off or something happens, like it can't be this all or nothing thing.
Like we've got to try to build it in in different ways because the second you start beating yourself up about it, then like you're raising your stress hormones, all kinds of stuff happens. And that's another problem. Yes. And the steps I take my clients through is, you know, first you have to get real on your goals.
Like what are your goals this season? Like what's your long term goal that you want to get to? What are your short term goals that are going to help you get to your long term goals? And because since, you know, we get busy, every season doesn't look the same. And so we want our, Goals and intentions to align with our schedules because that's not an all in or nothing like you said if you can't work out six days a week, then don't expect yourself Don't tell yourself you're going to work out six days a week Because you're setting yourself up for failure And so [00:10:00] after I get my clients set on their goals Then the next thing we do is look at the schedule look at their calendar And And I have them right.
I always have my calendar with me and I always have them write down everything they have going on and I know some people aren't planners, but I really stress the importance of a planner because if you have all those things in the evening, you know, if you come, I don't know how many times I've came home and my niece was like, Oh, I have this tonight at school and I'm like, I had no, it wasn't on the calendar, right?
And so, you know, that kind, if I wanted to work out in the evening, then that just ruined my workout because the school, the kids are going to be a priority. So yeah, I feel, , I always stress the calendars to look at the calendar and just look at what times and days that you can find pockets of times in that you can't work out.
So you're a morning workout person. I, I am too. [00:11:00] Maybe not everybody is, but if a client can look at their calendar and be like, I can get up Tuesday and Thursday in the morning Then mentally they're not sick. They don't have to mentally think. Oh my gosh I have to get up six days seven days a week, you know To go work out in the morning and you're starting from zero or you know And then they can look at and be like I only I get to wake up two times this week and that's manageable And so that way they have their pockets of time and they're not just Not doing anything, right?
They're not just letting it go and forgetting about it. They are still Staying intentional with it. And I stress them to do this every single week because, you know, every day you're putting something new on your calendar. Yeah. Yes. Schedule your workout. Like it's a doctor's appointment or, you know, like you would keep a commitment with somebody else.
I think that's such great advice. And the other thing is that I always tell people, like. Once you start healthy [00:12:00] routines, like you feel so much better. Like if I miss a workout, I feel like creaky. And I'm like, I like feel like I need to stretch. And I don't know, like you just feel so different. It, it helps my mindset.
It helps, you know, so many different things that once you can get yourself to the point where you do it regularly, you'll just feel Yes. Yes. I definitely know since I've been, I've been working out in the mornings before work and like over the past 10 years. So I definitely know if I don't get my workout in or some type of movement, whether it's like walking the dog or, um, Doing um, some yoga or some type of movement.
Same with like my energy levels aren't up. I feel creaky too, just like you. I don't, um, I feel like I'm always wanting to grab extra coffee because I didn't get my heart rate up and my brain ready for the day. So my brain just gets all out of routine and I just, all day I just feel [00:13:00] off. So, but yeah, once you start getting a routine down, then it just becomes a habit.
And it's so much easier to, you know, add, if you're working out two days a week, it's so much easier to add one extra day versus starting from zero days and jumping into three days. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Once you create those habits, it's so much easier because as they say, you know, a body that's in motion stays in motion.
Well, and the other thing, and I've, I mean, you can elaborate, you probably have way more knowledge on this, but that I've been more mindful of and read a lot about, you know, I used to just focus on my workout. And of course, I try to get my 10, 000 steps. But now, like, not getting even if I, because it was easy to run 5 miles and get 10, 000 steps, right?
But now if I ran five miles, I'm like, okay, then I have to get more steps throughout the day because I'm just trying to move my body more throughout the day. Now that I'm a life coach and work on zoom a lot, I'm at my computer and even teachers after [00:14:00] covid, I noticed there are some teachers who are at their computer more doing things from the computer projecting it.
And I think we really need to be mindful of like moving around, moving our bodies all throughout the day. It's not just about like, We get a workout and then we're done for the day for overall health, you know, like we want to be. Yes. Yes. I'm so glad you brought that up. I mean, I, I'll tell you right now. I know during the school year, I am guilty of this too, because it's so easy to sit at your desk, eat lunch and do your work at the same time.
And then before you know it. You know, the kids are coming back into the classroom. And so that is something that I am giving myself this year is also taking the breaks when I need them. So I'm setting, um, an alarm to go off on like my watch or my phone that says, Hey, It's time to move, right? Um, and I know, you know, the smartwatches, if you [00:15:00] sit too long, at the end of the 10 minutes, it's like, hey, or at the end of the hour, you know, it's like, hey, you need to get up and stand if you've been sitting for the whole hour.
But then it only has you getting up and moving for like two minutes, and then you can sit back down, which sounds better than none. But it is really important to remove yourself from your classroom, go out, get some fresh air, get some sun on your skin. And just take a nice walk, and, uh, Not even think about what's coming up.
Just have your mind off of work. Put it on something you enjoy, right? Like just disconnect from work for a little bit. And so that way when you come back, you're all refreshed because that work is still going to be there when you come back. So you don't really need to think about what you have to do when you come back.
Because you know everything that you have to do. Yeah, right. And walking is such a great way to like ground yourself. You know, I've been doing a lot of practicing [00:16:00] of like rewiring the neural pathways in my brain from those negative thoughts to the positive. And one way we do that is from positive affirmations.
And, , I talk a lot about that in my coaching, but another way It's just like you're talking about in walking, is if you're just outside and you're like noticing what's outside, noticing what you hear, what it smells like, , you know, what you see. And when you notice with your five senses, you're not having time to think about anything negative, and so you are taking time to rewire those neural pathways.
So even, so if you're having a bad day, you know, a kid's really being frustrating, there's a lot of discipline, things like that. Going for that walk and really paying attention to your five senses can really help you come back in a more peaceful state and actually rewire your brain. So it's a great practice Oh, I love that.
Can you expand on that and tell me like how your clients incorporate that and like what they have noticed? Well Yeah, so what we call those, [00:17:00] those are actually called PQ reps. , and it's really helping your positive intelligence and that's why it's called that because it's your brain all the time is sabotaging you, right?
With judgmental thoughts all day during teaching, you're hearing like, maybe you're judging kids. Maybe you're judging yourself. Maybe you're judging the circumstance, right? That's what our brain does. It's negative. It's Judges everything. And so really, the only way to combat that, we call it the sage power.
It's this power of really finding like the piece basically. And so in that, you're really trying to just take a minute. And it's almost like meditation, but it's really trying to think about Yeah. Just what's around you to almost distract you from thinking about those negative thoughts. And so I incorporate that with people to just constantly be aware of The first step is recognizing when you're hearing those like judgemental thoughts.
You know, when I start to judge a situation, I'm like, oh, there's my judge. You know, I'm catching the judge in my [00:18:00] brain when I'm starting to judge myself. When I start to judge others, you know, I really just wanna be aware. I catch it and then I take a minute to just. sit and take a breath and try to like kind of clear out my brain and how I do that is I like to personally do touch.
So like I rub my fingertips together. That's one strategy. , like you could do it with one hand. You could do it with both hands, rub your palms together. But when you do that and focus on that, you are like bringing your focus back to your senses. It's a great strategy. You could teach your students too, right?
Take a minute and all like rub your hands when everybody needs a break, take a breath, those types of things. Oh my gosh. I love that. Yeah. Cause on my, every morning when I take my dog for a walk, one of the things I do is set my intention for the day., I repeat to myself, like what I want my day to look like.
And also, , I think on the positive, and I try to say, you know, I'm, I'm, I don't listen, when I go on walks in the mornings by myself, I make sure I [00:19:00] don't have anything playing, I used to love, like, audiobooks, something, but I make sure that those are all turned off, because that is my time, that the, you know, it's one of the one moments that I have that's peaceful, and I want to take it all in, and so, that's something I do is, Look at, , look at what's positive, how I want my date to go, and I just visualize it, and then to remind myself that, , not to judge, right, and, , not to look at the negative of things, I try to look at the positive of things.
And it's not always easy, right? It's a habit that I'm building. So then, during the day, when I catch myself, like, like you said, judging, I'm like, oh wait, where is this coming from? Yeah. I get right back to it and I always say like one thing positive. So that's what I've taught myself and still teaching. If something negative comes up, I try to spin and I try to spin and I have one positive thought with it.
Um, so that way I. Because it's so easy to go into, like, you know, a negative [00:20:00] mindset, and then that can just ruin, like, your whole school day. And then, you know, if you have a rough day at school, you end your day at school upset or stressed and overwhelmed, then, you know, are you likely to follow through on your self care activities?
Probably not, you know, that's probably the time that you're gonna go, you know, have, you know, Stop at the ice cream, you know, store and get some ice cream, take it home and forget your health and fitness goals and all your self care goals. Or for me, it was wine, you know, like, it's like stressful day wine.
Okay. Well, that could be every day easily, but I mean, what it is really, and this is where I say, we can't beat ourselves up when we get negative or when we notice judging because our brains are wired to protect us. And so really it is our, we have our prefrontal cortex that thinks logically, that's the part of our brain that can think positive and You know, where we have our knowledge from and can think through situations in a logical [00:21:00] way, but then we have our primitive brain in the back of our brain and and it's there to protect us, right?
Like, that's how we've survived all of these years. And so our brain, when we're doing anything different, or if we. See something out of the normal or anything like that. It just goes into judgment to protect us, you know, like out of fear, all these judgments come out of fear. And so, and what I see with clients is we judge ourselves the worst, right?
Like we'd never, I always say we never talked to ourselves like as a kid, think, cause that's another strategy I can talk about. But if we thought about ourselves as a little kid, we would never talk to ourselves like that. Or like our own children or. Like the way that we judge ourselves, we wouldn't do that.
And so I think that we just have to be aware of those thoughts because one of the other things that I've been trained in is to actually like picture yourself when you're judging yourself as a, as a child, right? Like when you're an innocent [00:22:00] child. And for me, I have a daughter that looks very similar to me.
So this is easy because I kind of just see her, but like, I would never talk to myself as. A little innocent child, right? Like as a second grader, first grader, the way I do with my inner critique. And so, you know, that's another way to look at it is like. How would you talk to that person who was you before you learn to judge yourself the way that you do?
Oh, I love that. Yeah, because you're not you know If you are used to saying to yourself like, oh, i'm just so stupid You're not gonna look at a little kid and be like you're just so stupid. Why'd you make that mistake? You know, you're gonna talk them through and analyze like let's figure out like what happened What went wrong see how we can fix it like you are smart.
We just need to , you know Fix this problem not this is so stupid. I can't do anything right or I'm so stupid. I can't do anything, right? oh, I love that tip that you give them because then that could be [00:23:00] like a positive mood too versus Bringing you down and making you feel more overwhelmed and stressed and which then leads to more burnout Right that you help teachers with yeah Even like when we're talking about exercise and eating healthy and, you know, if we, I have to do this with myself all the time, right, if we eat a meal that we're not happy with, and then we beat ourselves up about it, like, the more we're like, Oh, I never get this right.
Or I never can eat healthy. I always sabotage myself. The more we tell ourselves that it's a self, Fulfilling prophecy, right? Like it just becomes true because that's what we're hearing over and over. Yeah, I know I have, , some friends who when they first, and clients, like when they are busy in the mornings, you know, , the clients that I had with, , that are teachers, the, you know, they might skip breakfast or they'll try to get breakfast, , on the way and it's probably just like.
You know one of the sugar filled [00:24:00] coffees and like the brownie that you could have got or like the donut But they're really trying to work on their weight loss. They just didn't have time to make their breakfast and so one thing that I help my clients with is have an if then plan and I came up with this when I Was losing weight myself and I was very stressed very overwhelmed and I was always finding myself at , you know At the gas station, getting some fries and milkshake.
Like that was what I needed was a salty and sweet snack. So one thing I teach my clients, , especially during like a busy time of the year is have that, if then plan. So if you are frustrated or in your, because once we get frustrated, stressed, overwhelmed, that's where the cravings start, right? For our food, that's where you might want your wine.
And so if you are feeling frustrated, stressed, overwhelmed. and you know your go to is some fast food, right? , or if you don't have time to [00:25:00] make the food, then And you have alternatives. So, like, mine was, if I, , was stressed and overwhelmed and I was about to pass the gas station that I got my fries and milkshake from, then, I would pull out the food that I packed because I passed it, I passed it the same time every day, right?
And I knew it was time, it was, like, dinner time. So, I was actually hungry. It wasn't just all my cravings. I was actually hungry. And so I packed extra food and now I'm not saying like pack the carrots because you're not going to want the carrots when you're upset and frustrated. Right. , but I packed things that were very nutritious for me, , but still hit those cravings, those taste buds.
So that way I didn't feel like deprived. So, , and I also help women with this when they're busy, like if you're too busy to cook, then do this. So, If you're too busy to cook, then go out, if you have to go out for food, right, then find some go tos that are going [00:26:00] to fuel your body and give it the support that's, , the food that's healthy for you or healthier.
That way you can make it through the day and not just a sugar filled breakfast that you're going to have a crash later. So this might look like, you know, going and getting, , An egg and an egg sandwich versus the brown because you're at least going to get some protein Some fats right some carbs versus just all sugar.
Yeah Yeah, I teach my clients is having that if then plan In the times that you are busy running around or you're becoming stressed overwhelmed because then you're not Going to be thrown off your diet and, you know, go down that rabbit hole, , of, well, you know, I'll try again next week. Yeah, I think that's great.
And I love what you're saying. And another thing that I like to teach people, and I think it goes right along with that is like, , a lot of what we do in coaching is identity work, right? [00:27:00] So like, We call, we do it, your 1. 0 self and your 2. 0 self. So like maybe your 1. 0 self stopped and got milkshake and fries at the gas station.
Your 2. 0 self now is a person who packs. like to bring. And so we like to focus on, like, who do you want to become? And we practice that identity because, you know, when it comes to confidence and keeping goals, sustaining your goals, all of that kind of stuff, it really, like you're saying, it's a shift in your identity, right?
Like, You used to be a person who maybe never did exercise or move their body or eat healthy. And then you shift, you learn more and you shift your identity. And so it's bringing that mindset piece with it. So I think that's such a crucial part that you're talking about, where you're creating plans, where you've shifted.
Yeah, because to reach your goals, you have to start taking actions that align with the values to reach those goals. So I love Version 1. [00:28:00] 0 and version 2. 0 because you are you have to and it's not that all or nothing deal, right? You make those tiny shifts for version 2. 0 of yourself Yeah, there's this gap that you're trying to fill right between 1.
and you're always practicing Like I have my 2. 0 list and i'm always going back like, okay. How am I doing? You know, like Am I meeting all those goals? And then there's a lot of areas that I have for myself and there's areas that I, I notice I go back and I have to recalibrate and things like that. But I always like to think about like who I'm, who is the person that I'm trying to be and act out of that, you know, 2.
0 version of myself. Yes. Yes. I love that. Well, I don't want to keep you any longer. , before we jump off, I want just to kind of recap. , what are some, what are like three strategies that you would give a teacher right now going back to school and then where can they find you? And then I'll give my strategies as well.
Sure. Yeah, so three strategies. Like I said, identify your 1. [00:29:00] 0 self and think about, you know, who do you want to be this school year? Maybe compared to last school year when you think about those identities. Second thing, like Brittany said, take those breaks throughout the day and really just have that time where you're, you're noticing your senses, you're doing some grounding.
It could be a breathing exercise. , and then my third thing would be to really just catch any negative talk you have anytime you're judging. And try to let it go. So those are my three big tips as we go back to school. , I'm here on Instagram at bar flowers, coaching, , Facebook as well. And I also have the teacher burnout podcast, but I'm only having that through October.
, and then I have some, I'm going to be focusing on the principles handbook, which is my other podcast. So those are all ways you can connect with me. Oh, I love that. I didn't know your podcast was going to be ending so you can start a new one. I love that. Yeah, the principles podcast I've had, it's just, you know, when you have too many things you're focusing on, it's really hard.
[00:30:00] So, trying to narrow it down a little. Yes, and you don't want to focus on too many things, because then that'll take away from your self care practices and your health, stress and overwhelm. So, , so as a health and fitness coach and trainer, what I recommend would be, When you're going into this new school year, number one, get, write down your goals.
What are your long term goals? What are your short term goals that are going to get them, get you there? Make sure to write that down and keep it posted somewhere that you can see it every day. So that way, it's in the front of your brain, right? It is, , It's always there. You're always being reminded why you are what you are working for and why and then pull out the calendar I just love a good calendar like pull out your planner write everything down and if you're used to Working out, you know, during the summer, six days a week, and now you don't know how you're going to fit your workouts in because you have so [00:31:00] many, , you know, open houses, kids activities in the evenings, your own kids activities, getting your lesson plans done, maybe, you know, you have those IEPs and ETRs that are due early in the year that you're bringing home to.
Write that all down so that you can find the pockets of time that you can work out. So you might not be able to work out six days a week anymore, but two days a week is always going to be better than zero days a week. And I would say to also get outside and just find some daily movement to step away from your work.
So that way you can avoid that stress and overwhelm that might lead you to those food cravings later on. And, you know, , hurting any self care practices that you're trying to stick with when you're, you know, done after work. Because we don't want you to have to go home and, you know, me, I would be getting the milkshake.
You would be getting the wine and we don't want you to do that. So we want you to live healthy, [00:32:00] happy lives. And so for myself, you can find me at, at I am Brittany Stout. , I have a 30 day, , fitness goal planner for people. So, , if they DM me or comment on this, Oh, I got a thumbs up. , if they come in or DM on this planner, I am happy to send it to them to help them get started.
, with their health and fitness during this busy season of the school year. All right. Awesome Well, thanks britney for coordinating this. This was great. And thanks everyone who joined us live. Thank you Let's do this again sometime. Yeah Definitely. Bye
Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah.