The Principal's Handbook

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Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go to resource for [00:01:00] 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 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.
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Podcast. Today we're going to be talking about dealing with overwhelm. We've all had those experiences or moments when it feels like we're struggling to keep our head above water. We're trying to check everything off our to do list, and it can feel like just days or a stretch of even weeks where we I have so many things to do, [00:02:00] and when I find myself overwhelmed like this, it often stems from a feeling of doubt that I'm going to be able to accomplish everything is that persistent feeling of falling behind and never quite catching up.
So that's what I want to talk about today is just how to stop having those feelings and feeling so overwhelmed. So today we're going to talk about what overwhelm is. Why we get overwhelmed strategies to overcome the feelings of overwhelm, not only to reduce our own stress, but to be able to help our staff and what to do when everyone around you is feeling overwhelmed.
So first of all, what is overwhelmed? Well, it happens when you feel like you have too many demands placed on you. You feel emotionally overloaded and it's just really, you know, a high feeling of stress. You feel like you can't get everything done. You feel like everyone needs something from you and you're just unable to do it all.
I'm sure we've all had those feelings as a principal. It can be really hard. And so why do we get overwhelmed? Well, it can come from [00:03:00] over committing to things from not setting boundaries with your time, people pleasing and wanting to do things just to please others. Not necessarily because you have to.
Perfectionist thinking. If you feel like you have to do things perfectly, that's going to cause overwhelm because sometimes you don't. tasks will take you so long to do because you want to do them. Perfect. , over scheduling our day, so not leaving time in your schedule for lunch, or just to sit down and just take a minute in your office, because we know that, you know, we already have things on our schedule, but there's going to be a lot of things that come up that are not on our schedule.
Teachers need us students need us, parents need us. So if we overscheduled, that can cause a feeling of overwhelm. That's Typically my area that I need to work on that causes me overwhelm. So how can we stop being overwhelmed? Well, the first step is to change the feeling of being overwhelmed is to recognize why it's happening and what it looks like.
So, , what's causing the [00:04:00] overwhelm for you? What does it look like and feel like? So for me, my example is overscheduling. So I feel overwhelmed when I overschedule observations. When I overschedule, meetings and I, you know, when we have a lot of IEP meetings that I need to be in, because those are things that I can't move around in my schedule.
And then other things come up with like behaviors, discipline, , and just needing to talk to staff. And I just feel like I can't get it all done. And when I'm feeling overwhelmed, I feel very anxious and I become forgetful and I feel distracted. So I want to encourage you to change your thinking about being overwhelmed because we don't have to be overwhelmed.
Overwhelm is a feeling. And in my coaching, I talk about how your thoughts create your emotions or your feelings, which then create your actions. So when we're overwhelmed, we need to change our thoughts about the feeling of overwhelm. So for example, if I'm having thoughts about a long to do list or an overpack schedule, [00:05:00] I need to stop and remind myself that it's all going to get done.
I always get things done that I need to. It's just a busy time and I need to take a breath because that's going to cause more positive action and emotions when I'm thinking like that. But if I keep telling myself, I'll never get it all done, I don't know how I'm going to do it all. I'm so overwhelmed.
There's so much to do. It's going to create these negative emotions. That's going to lead to negative actions. So we really need to think about what thoughts. We're telling ourself also prioritize what needs to get done. So make a list of what you need to get done and break big tasks into smaller tasks.
, so I like to break, you know, tasks, , or even the time that I'm working on a rubric, like an observation rubric takes me a long time sometimes. And so. I break it into smaller time periods that I can just fit in a few minutes at a time. , if I'm planning for a PD day or something like that, I, you know, I just work on it for a little bit at a time.
I make a list of what needs to get done [00:06:00] and I break those big tasks into smaller tasks. I also like to order my list and prioritize what needs to get done. So I look at my schedule for the week. I see what meetings , I have coming up what meetings I need to plan for, work on an agenda, send out an email to that committee.
And so I, I look at the date of when that's happening and I prioritize and schedule that. Also practice time management. I feel like this is one of my strengths. I'm a huge believer that time management, you can get so much done in little pockets of time throughout your day. So what I like to do is time your, I time myself doing small tasks.
So. If I have 10 minutes, I use that 10 minutes for something that I can get done, whether that's working on, , my weekly notes that I send out to the teachers on Friday with dates and information that they need to know. , you know, I will work on a parent email real quick if I have a short amount of time.
So I like to just give myself, okay, I have five minutes, get this done, or I have 10 [00:07:00] minutes, I'm going to get this task done, , and recognize that some tasks just need to get done. And if you're a perfectionist, you can't be a perfectionist about it. It just needs to get done and it needs to get out there because you have five minutes.
Get the task done and send it out. , and I also know I prioritize my time and I practice time management by knowing that sometimes in the afternoon when I'm tired and my brain is kind of done and I can't focus on a task as much, I'm not going to work on that tasks task at that time. So when it comes to observation rubrics, you know, that for me requires a lot of mental focus.
And so sometimes in the afternoons, I'm just, my brain is done for the day. And so I'm better off to take time in the morning to do it because I can do it in about half the time in the morning versus trying to do it at two o'clock in the afternoon when I'm just tired from the day, I'm going to do something else that requires less, um, focus and less thinking.
Um, because I just don't have as much brain power at two [00:08:00] o'clock after a busy day. So thinking about when your work time is, and that's just because I'm a morning person. So whatever works for you, but you know, I try to think about when I can think the best when I have the most energy and when I'm just going to get things done quicker.
Um, also another tip is I try to get as much done in my observations while I'm in there and spend it instead of spending a ton of time after. So if I'm doing an informal observation, which in Ohio, we call our 30 minute observations. I make sure that that's done when I'm in the classroom. I don't take that out of the room with me.
Um, because I'm, it's a 30 minutes. So it's what I see at that time, I get it done. So I don't have to have that, you know, hanging over as a to do list later. Another tip is to delegate. Are there tasks or things that you're doing that you can ask someone else to do? Do you have a secretary that's able to help you with some of the tasks you're overwhelmed with?
Are you doing too much for other people? This was a thing I found myself doing a lot as a new principal. I was [00:09:00] constantly taking on tasks. For teachers, because I wanted to help them out. I wanted to take things off their plate, but the problem was I couldn't sustain it. I was doing too much. And when I asked them to do it instead, they were more than willing.
Um, I just wanted to save them time and, you know, like I said, not add more things to their plate, but by delegating, I learned I actually can empower them to be leaders in the building. So make sure that you are delegating and you're not trying to take everything on yourself. Also, practicing self care is huge with overwhelm because remember, overwhelm is a form of stress and managing stress is so important and self care helps you manage your stress.
So I do this through journaling. I like to journal every morning. I journal, , things I'm grateful for. Negative thoughts I'm having how I can reframe those into a more positive thought to have positive action throughout the day , I like to journal about my goals things that went well So journaling is a great way to practice self [00:10:00] care also exercise fitting this into your day It's so important, whether it's walking, it's getting, you know, strength, training, workout, running, whatever that is for you, moving your body and exercising helps with stress so much and taking care of yourself and having that time to yourself.
So for me, I make that time in the morning. But having time for exercise is very important. Also taking the time to rest. Getting enough sleep. I think too often we, um, we think, oh, it's great if I don't sleep a lot and I, you know, we brag about the fact that we don't sleep a lot and we're getting work done.
But rest is so important. Having at least seven to nine hours of sleep a day sleep. I know that if I don't get enough sleep, it's going to make my school day the next day pretty rough. So making sure you're resting. I like to rest more on the weekends to kind of catch up. , , and it just allows, you know, my body because of the stress of the job to just rest and recoup.
Also make sure that you're creating [00:11:00] routines and habits that help you get things done. So like I was saying, one routine and habit I have at home is I like to exercise in the morning so that I get it done, so that I prioritize my self care. , I like to meal prep on Sundays so that I prioritize eating healthy throughout the week.
So these are routines and habits I've created. But I also like to do that in my workday as a principal. So obviously I'm doing some sort of morning and afternoon duty, but I also have routines of walking through classrooms each day because I try to get in every classroom every day, which is not always easy and sometimes my days get too busy that that can't happen.
But if I make it a routine, it happens more often than not. And so I like to do announcements and then I try to get in classrooms. And sometimes that happens at a different point of the day, but I just make it a routine as much as I can so that I'm consistent in the goals that I want to achieve in the building.
So again, I just want to recap when you're feeling overwhelmed, make sure that you prioritize what needs to get [00:12:00] done. You practice time management, you delegate. You practice self care and you create routines and habits that help you get things done. So now I want to talk to what do you do when everyone around you in your building is feeling overwhelmed?
Because many times when you're overwhelmed as a leader, it's probably because there's a lot going on in the building, which means you Teachers and other staff members are going to be overwhelmed as well. So you have to check in on how you're presenting yourself to others. Are you coming across super overwhelmed and stress?
Are you talking to people in the building about how you're overwhelmed? , because that's only going to make things worse in the building. Remember you're the leader. You set the tone for the building. So the calmer you can stay, even when you're overwhelmed is going to only help others. So make sure that you stay calm and take a breath.
And take a few minutes in your office, collect yourself, , before you come out and see others so that you're in a better state. Also make sure to check in with teachers and [00:13:00] other staff to help them through their own overwhelm. So having conversations with them, um, you know, giving them advice, putting things into perspective for them.
And when I help other teachers with this, it always helps me help myself because when I put things into perspective, like it's really not a big deal, think about, you know, this, or, um, we'll just do this and move on. And I give them advice. It always helps myself because I'm basically giving myself the same advice.
So. Really checking in with teachers and helping them through situations. And then promoting that positive environment where people feel like they can openly discuss things with you, um, when you're, when they're feeling overwhelmed. So having that open door policy to your office so that teachers can come talk to you, um, and making sure that you're letting them know that you're here for them so that when they're feeling overwhelmed, they can talk to you as well.
So it also gives you a feel for the building. Okay. to know what's going on. So that's really important. But just keep in mind that feelings of overwhelm, it's [00:14:00] normal. It's a natural part of life and something that we all experience. So what sets us apart in this though is our ability to respond to when we're feeling overwhelmed.
When we sense that overwhelm, we have the power to decide how we want to react. So we can choose to shift our perspective, engage in coaching our brain and navigate through it, or we can choose to be stressed and anxious. We get to choose that. So I really encourage you to think about your feelings of overwhelm so that you can not only help yourself, but to help your staff as well.
And if you're interested in one on one coaching, I like to coach others on this, you know, or more tips throughout the week. You can find me on Instagram at Barb Flowers coaching. Actually, I have a free guide. If you click the link in my bio for prioritizing your time. Um, I'm also going to put a link in the show notes for you.
And if you're struggling with overall confidence, I provide a free confidence strategy planning session. So during this session, I evaluate your confidence, utilizing the five pillars of confidence and [00:15:00] help you develop personalized goals tailored to whatever areas you need improvement. So this is completely free.
If you're interested in this, reach out to me. , thank you for listening to this podcast episode. If you found it helpful, please leave a review so others are able to find it. I hope you have a great week and stay tuned for next week's episode.
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