Ten Habits for Busy Principals
Ten Habits for Busy Principals
Speaker: [00:00:00] today, we're gonna be talking about habits that help me be a better leader, I decided on this topic because I just listened to a podcast from Ed Mylett. He's somebody I love who's a very famous , high-performance coach, well-known, and he talked about 20 good habits to have. I forget what the exact topic of the podcast was, but I was listening to it, and I was thinking through, what are the habits that I do, and what are the habits that I think are so important that actually help me be a better leader?
Even though they're just habits that happen in my day-to-day life, they're not necessarily related to the job as a principal, it's just things that I do all year that to me really help me be a better leader, a better mom, a better wife, just better for everybody all around. So I wanted to talk about those things in no particular order.
So I have 10 habits I'm gonna share. Again, they're not in a particular order. I'm not giving you these habits, go out and do these things right away. I'm just telling you what works for me, the things that I really find are helpful for my [00:01:00] own growth and development and just wanted to share them today with you in the podcast.
So the first habit is time for myself in the morning. So as a mom of two kids who constantly need me, , even though they're 9 and 11, they're getting bigger, but it seems like when they're here, it's just Mom, Mom, Mom. You know, or I'm running them around to sports. Then you get to work as a principal, and everybody needs you.
You're super busy. You're on all day, and so for me, when I get home, I'm exhausted. It doesn't matter if I had the best sleep, I'm still exhausted. It doesn't matter if it was a normal day, I'm still pretty exhausted. And so for me to get up at 5:00 AM and have a couple hours to myself is the best feeling ever.
That's when I like to do my laundry. I do dishes in the morning sometimes. I do my workouts. I do a Bible study. I take time to journal. I just take time for myself in the morning, and I love the quiet. So when I go to work and I've had that time, it [00:02:00] just feels so amazing because I always say I've already had a portion of my day before work even started, and it was all about just time for myself.
So if you're able to, have that time for yourself in the morning. That's really important. . The second habit is exercising and being active. I am such a firm believer in just moving your body and being active. So some things that I like, I've done Beachbody, or Body it is now, for years.
, I still have memberships to that. Now I've been doing the LEAN Lady's Edge. It's a workout that you do from home, and it's an app on your phone. The thing I love about that program is for principals, it's only 23 minutes a day. So even in the summer when I have more time, I like to do a workout like that so that I can just spend more time walking and just having time to myself.
But that's a great, , workout program if you're looking for something. It's called The Lady's Edge. , You can find them on Instagram, but that's an app as well. But just being active, I have found as I get older, I just feel so much better when I move my body in the morning. So when I do some sort of [00:03:00] workout before work, I feel so much better.
And I do something every day, even if that's a 15-minute bike ride on my indoor bike, if that's a 15-minute walk on the treadmill. I do something every day because I find that it's so good for me to move my body. I think it's really important to be walking, getting your steps, doing yoga. I just think about longevity and, , aging and feeling really good as I age, and I feel good at work.
I had to run after a student The one day and I was like, "This is why I run sometimes," right? Or, "This is why I do cardio," 'cause I was running after a first grader and I could catch him. So it's just things like that, you know, that you keep yourself in shape, you keep yourself healthy, and you just feel good.
So that's my second habit, is exercising and being active. The third habit is focusing on eating healthy, and I do this by following an eating program. So I think it's really important that you have some sort of program or some sort of healthy eating rules that you're following, and it could be rules that you make for yourself,
that you eat a vegetable at every [00:04:00] meal, or you get a certain amount of protein in. Just something that you're focused on to have healthy eating habits because you feel so good when you eat healthier. When I'm off track with my eating, like if I go on vacation or something, I feel like crap. I feel sluggish.
I feel tired. And so I'm really big on focusing on eating healthy, and part of this is, this habit goes with that eating healthy, is meal prepping. So I meal prep all of my meals. I eat a lot of the same things. , I make egg sandwiches that I prep ahead of time for breakfast. I usually prep salads for lunch, and then I figure out dinner with my family.
But if I can do that, one, it simplifies just what I have to do to eat healthy, but it also it's less thinking about what I need to eat, and then I'm prepared. Because if I'm not meal prepped and prepared for the week, it's harder to eat healthy. So really focusing on eating healthy, focusing on eating what makes you feel good, and for everybody that's different, right?
I know , a lot of teachers that I've worked with have different meal plans [00:05:00] that work for them and make them feel their best. For everybody, that can be completely different, but just focus on eating healthy and focus on your overall health when it comes to food.
My fourth habit, which goes along with this, is drinking a lot of water. So my meal plan that I focus on is called the 2B Mindset. , Ilana Muhlstein, you can find her on Instagram. She's amazing. But one of her big principles is to drink, . at least half your body weight in water,
so I like to focus on about 150 ounces of water a day, which is a lot of water for me. But, I feel so much better when I drink that amount of water. And you might be thinking, as a principal, I'm gonna be running to the bathroom all day. But what I do is, again, it goes with having the mornings to myself.
I have a routine of front loading my water in the morning. So I get about 75 ounces of water before I even go to work so that I can drink less water when I'm at work because I don't have time to be going to the bathroom all day and I don't think about it as much because I'm so [00:06:00] busy. So I really front load drinking my water in the morning, , when I'm exercising, before exercising, and when I'm getting ready.
So that's another habit that I do, is I drink a lot of water, and that makes me feel really good. Habit number five is disconnecting from school each day. I do this every day by not having email on my phone. I do this by coming in every day and just focusing on spending the evening with my family or knowing the priorities that I'm going to be doing after school.
I would rather stay after school for an extra few minutes than come home and do work later. It's been important for me to find ways to disconnect from school, because I used to think about school all night when I came home. I would think about discipline, I would think about things that I wanna do in the building.
I would just think about all kinds of things, and I realized it wasn't good for me, but it also wasn't good for the staff, because then I would come in the next day with all these ideas that I wanted to implement, and that's not good for anybody. It goes along with what I've really been preaching and talking about, which is this idea that we have to [00:07:00] have fewer initiatives, and we have to have fewer things that we're focusing on, so that we can just do fewer things well versus too many things that we're not doing well at all.
And so if you're able to disconnect from school, it really helps with that. And, I have a free guide, I'll actually link it in the show notes, to help you disconnect from school. But some things that you could do are having hobbies outside of school, running your kids around.
I like to run my kids around and read books when they're at their sports. , I'm typically not working on school things. I just really like to disconnect from school each day, so I think that that's really important for my mental health. So that is habit number five for me. Habit number six is keeping my weekends focused on family.
So I am divorced, so I don't have my kids every weekend, but if it's not a weekend with my kids, I try to really focus on my husband and spending time with him. , Otherwise I'm focused on the kids, or even if it's not my weekend with them, me just getting to their events, their sporting events, things like that, and being present when I'm there with them.
, [00:08:00] Because, , it's funny, as my kids get older, they really call me out if I'm on my phone, if I'm not paying attention to them all the time, and
So I really try to keep my evenings and my weekends focused on family and focused on being present in the moment, and thinking about this idea that, I only have a short amount of time that my kids are little and they're living at home. It's crazy to think about, but they're 9 and 11, and I'm like, I have about 10 more years, and then they'll be graduated from high school, less than that, and onto their own things.
And so I really wanna make the most of that short amount of time that I actually have them at home with me when they're young and want to spend time with me or even have the time to spend with me. So that's another habit I really prioritize. Also, I was reading, , Be Your Future Self Now by Ben Hardy, and he has an exercise where he talks about, be yourself in the future., Let's say you're 60 years old and you would love to go back in time to the age that you are currently. , What would that be like for you if you got to see your [00:09:00] kids at 9 and 11 again, so I try to think about that. If I was 60 and wanted to see my kids at 9 and 11, being with them would be such a huge gift, and so I'm given that every day.
So I really try to keep my weekends and evenings focused on my family and my kids and my husband. My seventh habit is listening to audiobooks and podcasts when I get ready in the morning. So I love to, , have a routine where I work out in the morning. I usually walk a mile and I'll listen to Growth Day.
So that's an app that has a lot of , motivational speakers. He He has a motivational talk of the day that he does. There's Monday motivation, so I love listening to that for motivation. But then I also listen to different podcasts, but a lot of audiobooks.
I've really gotten into audiobooks versus, , physical books because at night I'm so tired and so it's really hard for me to read a physical book. I've been reading a lot of leadership books on Audible and it's as I get ready in the morning, , and I'm doing my [00:10:00] hair, my makeup, all of that, I'm listening to a book on Audible.
So that's something that I do and that's just a way that I get my reading in every single day. , I'm learning something. If I do a podcast I'm really selective about what I do because I don't want it to be things that it's going to make me want to go do another initiative or buy something or buy another book, but I try to do things that are really focused on a topic that I need to hear.
That's a huge habit for me is listening to an audiobook or podcast when I'm getting ready. The eighth habit for me is protecting my sleep. So I'm huge on this. I'm huge on making sure that I'm sleeping at least seven hours every night., I am a person that if I don't sleep seven hours I am cranky, I don't feel good.
, It is not good for me. My husband I think functions on five hours of sleep and that is his minimum. He wants to get more, but it's just where he's at right now. And I can't do it. , If I have five hours of sleep I'm very cranky. I'm not performing at my best. So for me, protecting my sleep and making sure I [00:11:00] get seven to nine hours is really important.
Rarely do I get nine hours, but that seven, , like I said, I get up at 5:00 so I make sure to be in my bed by 9:30 so that I'm asleep by 10:00 because that's a huge thing for me if I don't get that seven hours. I don't feel good and like I said, I'm not at my best. So protecting your sleep is huge. And there's some really good, , podcasts and books on sleep that, , I've been really thinking a lot about keeping my room cool enough.
Is it dark enough? You know, so all of these things I have to focus on making sure that the TV's not on because it really does mess with my sleep. , So I think it's really important to invest in learning about what can help you sleep better because I went through a short period of time where I was waking up at 3:30 in the morning and then not able to go back to sleep and it was miserable.
, So I would be at work and I would just be so tired. So it's really important. That's a great habit is protect your sleep. The ninth habit I have is creating a network of people that support me. So this [00:12:00] is a huge one and I've thought about how does it help me be a better leader? Well, I have such a great network of support.
I have my family My husband, my parents, my ex-husband that help with the kids, right? They're great at helping with the kids when I have school events, , just supporting me in all that I do as a principal because it's really important. I mean, there are times where, , I have this mindset that I like to leave work, , as soon as I'm able to on most days, but there are days you have to stay after, or there are days that I have stuff that I have to do that I need to stay, or there are activities that I'm staying for.
And having that network of people that can support you and that can help take the kids or that can help, , just in any way is really, really important. , Other people that really support me is one of my best friends is an administrator as well. We talk on the phone all the time. So just having that support, which goes with...
It could also just be other school leaders, it could be colleagues, people that you work with. But being able to talk to people who are going through the same things that you're going through. [00:13:00] This is why I think coaching is so powerful and why I love coaching principals, because having that experience, talking to somebody else who has the same experiences as you and knows what it's like, feels so supportive, and it can just help so much.
So having some sort of network of people. I know, , also having, , leadership groups that you can go to. Here we call them, , professional learning communities for principals, but there's also, they call them IDEA groups, where you work and collaborate with other principals. Whatever you have, but find that network of people that get you and can support you.
And my tenth habit is scheduling everything in Google Calendar. So this is huge for me, , but this is something every day I'm constantly looking at my Google Calendar. I love that it comes up on my Apple Watch. , I'm looking ahead to what events I have. I use it for my grocery list. Who do I need to get a card for?
Whose birthday is coming up? What parties do we have? Do I need to get a gift card for somebody? As a principal, I feel like there's always something that [00:14:00] you have to get a gift or a card for. So just always looking at your Google Calendar of the different events that you have. That helps so much.
It helps with my stress and overwhelm because if I have it in my calendar, I know it'll get done. So even the smallest things that I need to get done the next day, that might be things even at home, I'll put it in my Google Calendar. , It's a great idea if you don't work out to schedule a workout, schedule a walk, schedule some sort of self-care if that's not something that you're doing yet.
So scheduling everything in my Google Calendar is a habit that has just helped me be so productive and helps me remember things even when my brain feels scattered because there's so much going on. I have a custom habit tracker that I actually created for school leaders that you can track habits.
It's habits for the building, but it could be for personal habits as well so I'm gonna link that in the show notes as well. So I just wanted to share those 10 habits that really help me be a better leader. I'm gonna go back through them quickly.
So habit one, time for myself in the morning. Habit two, exercising and being active each day. [00:15:00] Habit three, focusing on eating healthy. Habit four, drinking a lot of water. Habit five, disconnecting from school each day. Habit six, keeping my weekends focused on family and being present.
Habit seven, listening to audiobooks and podcasts when I get ready. Habit eight, protecting my sleep. Habit nine, creating a network of people that support me. And habit 10, scheduling everything in my Google Calendar. So just because you heard this, if you're not doing those habits, doesn't mean you should go out and try to do all the things that I'm doing.
But the purpose of this is just to start thinking of maybe some habits that you already have that are really good, or what are some habits that you need to start creating that you think would help you make a better leader. So pick something off the list if you don't have a lot of good habits in place, and start just trying one thing at a time.
All right. Well, I hope that you found that helpful. Remember, you have the power to shape your mindset with the thoughts that you choose. So I hope you have a [00:16:00] great week, and I will see you back here next time
