The Principal's Handbook

What If You Could Really Leave Work at 4?
[00:00:00] In today's episode, I wanna talk about what if you could really leave work at four o'clock every day? Stay tuned.
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 mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.
From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work life balance. 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.
Welcome back to the podcast. Today I wanna start by asking you a question that might feel a little bold, but I think is a very important question for you to reflect on what if you could actually leave work [00:01:00] at 4:00 PM every day and still be an effective, respected, and energized school leader.
And when I say 4:00 PM that might be a different time for everybody. As a principal, I worked eight to four every day. Some principals I know are on an earlier schedule and work seven to three. Some people might work a little bit later, but whatever your schedule is, what if you could actually leave at your contracted time?
What if you did not have to be there every day? Two hours extra , or an hour after everybody else leaves. ? I know. I know. It might sound impossible, maybe even laughable for some of you, and you think there is no way I could ever do that. But I wanna tell you today, it's not impossible.
It really isn't and it actually can be done. And that was my experience as a principal. So I wanna talk about that. But I also just wanna let you know a lot of, I've had a lot of podcast episodes in the past about the importance of focusing on your self care and I just wanted to just let you know some that
you could go back and listen to episode [00:02:00] 59. I had Will Parker on the show and we talked about wellbeing and he talked about this idea of leaving, um, and not staying after every day. In episode 63, I talked about navigating burnout. In episode 65, I had Nick Davies on the podcast and we talked about wellbeing as well as episode 66 with Bonnie Finnerty.
We talked about wellbeing and health for principals and her experiences. So if you wanna go back and listen to those and just get an idea from other people that this is possible, go back and listen to those. But right now. I know many of you are in the home stretch of the school year, and so I really wanna focus on thinking about your days and how you spend your time.
, is eight to four possible for you? And thinking about your year and how it felt, and maybe reflecting on ways that you could have had this eight to four schedule. And if not, it's okay. How can you make that happen? And summer really is the. Perfect summer really is the perfect time to [00:03:00] reflect on what you did this current school year that you could change for next school year.
So some things to think about, grab a notebook or if you're driving, just reflect on these things. , but I wanna do a quick audit together. , so I want you to ask yourself, what parts of your school year felt aligned with the kind of leader and person you wanna be? , where did you feel in alignment?
Were you leaving at the time you wanted to leave? Were you taking care of yourself? Were you the leader that you wanted to be when you were at work? What did that look like? What parts of your year felt aligned with the kind of leader and person you wanna be? What parts felt heavy on sustainable or just downright overwhelming?
We've all had those parts. Was it discipline? Was it staff emotions? , was it working with new teachers? What felt heavy on sustainable or downright overwhelming? A lot of principals I talked to had a very heavy evaluation this year, so maybe it was teacher evaluations. [00:04:00] Think about what that was for you.
And how often were you able to leave school by four o'clock and truly be off the clock so it's not leaving school at four o'clock and you get home and you work from five to 10. ? How often were you able to leave school by four o'clock and spend time with your family?
When did you feel most present at work or at home? Which is a really interesting question. Where were you the most present? Were you at present with work? Were you present at home? Or maybe you weren't present , in either environment? And sometimes when we're stressed, that happens, right? We're at work, we're thinking about home things, or we're just stressed, and then we're at home, we're thinking about work things.
So when did you feel the most present? And if you didn't think about that to reflect on not feeling present at all, wherever you were. And what boundaries did you set that actually worked? So did you say, I am going to have a boundary of not working on the weekends, or I'm gonna have a boundary of not working past five o'clock?
What boundaries did you set [00:05:00] and where did boundaries feel impossible to hold? . Maybe you were trying to set a boundary that you were going to leave every day at four o'clock and it didn't hold or maybe two days a week you were going to set a boundary to leave at four o'clock.
Where did those boundaries feel impossible to hold? And did you feel like you were reacting all school year or were there moments where you felt ahead and in control? Did you ever have times that you were able to plan two weeks in advance? Or were you being reactive all year? These are great things to think about. or was there a certain time of the school year that you were like, I was really ahead in November, December, but then the second half of the year came and I got behind? You know, think about that. Where did you feel in control? Were there certain months? Were there certain areas that you were always planned ahead?
What systems did you put into place that made your life easier and which ones felt like a mess? Maybe you have a great system for your PBIS, but your RTI is a mess. [00:06:00] Maybe you have a great system for how you communicate with staff, but communicating with parents isn't the way you'd like it to be. , which systems made your life easier and which ones felt like a mess?
Which task did you carry that someone else could have helped with or even owned Completely. Are there areas that you could have delegated that you didn't delegate? What could you have done differently? And how did your leadership style evolve this year? What moments made you proud?
This is an exciting area to think about. If you've been leading for one year or 10 years, , hopefully every year you're evolving. So thinking about where did your leadership style evolve? Did you get better at hard conversations? Did you get better at delegating?
Did you get better at. Listening to other people, like where did your leadership style evolve this year, and where did your energy go and did the things that mattered most get your best energy? So thinking about how you're using your energy during the week. I talk about [00:07:00] this a lot, that, I have higher energy levels in the morning and earlier in the week.
As the week goes, I get more tired and , my brain power, my energy isn't as good as it was
early on. So what I'm asking here is, did the things that matter most to you get your best energy? Did they get your best times of days? Best time of the week thinking about that. And finally, what would next year look like if you could do it all within an eight to four day?
What if you could do all the things you wanted to do, what if you could be the most effective principal that you could be from eight to four? And I used to talk to my teachers about this too, right? I'd say we are working really hard when we're here, and then we're going to leave it all behind and go home.
When we're here, we're putting in a hundred percent effort. And then when it's time to leave, we're leaving. We're disconnecting. We're setting those boundaries, going home, spending time with our family. And being home,. The goal is to be present in [00:08:00] every location you're at.
If you're at home, you're present at home. If you're at school, you're present at school, and you do what you can and you're really intentional. To get as much done during that time so that you can go home and recover and be with your family during your evening time. So I really wanna encourage you to reflect on these questions.
If you're walking, if you're driving, maybe go back and listen to them again. , take some time to journal on these. These are great questions to think about and reflect on the school year. What did you like about the things that you did?
What did you not like that you wanna change for next year? And I just wanna share my story and why I'm so passionate about this idea of an eight to four mindset. One because I know it's possible and I really. as a principal, had to have this eight to four mindset pretty much from the beginning as an assistant principal, and it worked out well because my principal that I worked with had that mindset.
She didn't have to stay after late. She got a lot done during the day and it just, she was a great delegator. It [00:09:00] wasn't a thing that she had to work all the time, but. Things had to shift for me where I had to be the eight to four principal, because when I became an assistant principal, I already had a 1-year-old and I had just found out I was pregnant as I became an assistant principal.
And , after my first year of being an assistant principal going into my second year, , I had , a new baby, a 2-year-old, and I was finishing my PhD, so I had a lot of things on my plate , and it was a lot to do, and so I couldn't be at work every day till five or six.
Now, when I say the eight to four day, I say that's the norm. There are days you're going to stay after. There are days you're going to have conferences. There are days you're going to have a parent meeting that runs late. . But staying after school should be the exception, not the rule. It's not the rule that every day , you're staying after school till five o'clock.
It's the exception, not the rule. And so that's what I had to live by because I had two little kids at home waiting for me, or I had to [00:10:00] go get them from daycare, and my daycare closed at five, so I couldn't stay every day super late. I had to create systems and had to work as hard as I could while I was there so that I was able to go leave work at four o'clock, go get my kids, and have my evenings at home.
So you have to remember, it's not about doing less. When I'm talking about the eight to four principal mindset, it's about doing the right things, having the right systems in place at the right times, giving yourself permission to have boundaries to draw a line at the end of your workday.
To not be available for everyone 24 7. It's giving yourself permission to put yourself and your family first. And I know a lot of people have trouble with this, and I see this a lot, I hear from people who wanna be principals and they say, , I have little kids. Should I do it at this stage in my life?
And my answer is always yes. If you have the right systems in place, you could do it at any stage in life. And of [00:11:00] course, that always looks different, but. Like I said, if you have that eight to four principle mindset, it really is about reframing your thoughts about how you lead and really being present and intentional when you're there because we know there's so many things that go on during the day.
But you just have to be able to be intentional about your schedule. You have to plan ahead and I talk about, a two week mindset. You have to be able to do all of these things to create systems that work for you. So you can leave at four o'clock. So I'm sharing this with you because I believe so strongly that.
Principles need to hear this message. Just because you're working longer hours does not make you a better leader. It's what you're doing in the hours that you're working. It's how you're being intentional. Your value as a leader is not tied to how many hours you work. That can actually make you less effective, not more effective, because you're tired, you're getting burnt out.
And if you're thinking, okay, this sounds [00:12:00] great in theory, but how? Well, that's exactly what I'm excited to help you with. Over the next couple of weeks, we're gonna be talking about this eight to four principle mindset. I also have some exciting things coming down the pipeline about. This eight to four principle and some ways that I can help you with that, where I'm gonna share some tools, strategies, and shifts that really helped me control my schedule.
So I was able to work eight to four. And if today's episode resonated with you, if you're sitting there thinking, yes, I want that, I wanna be able to work eight to four, I want to be the eight to four principal. I want it to be the exception, not the rule that I stay after school, then I want you to just start reflecting on your schedule now and see are you living in your ideal schedule?
Are you working towards what you want? Do you have time for yourself? Do you have time for your family? Do you have time for friends? Think about yourself as a whole person, all the areas of your life. Are you happy with how your life looks now? Because that's what we're gonna be talking about. It's [00:13:00] about being a whole person.
It's about creating this life that you wanna live it. You get to design what your day looks like at work. You get to design what your day looks like at home. And all of that relates to this idea of the eight to four principle of being intentional, of choosing. That work won't control your life of choosing that you don't have to work 60 hours a week to be an effective leader.
And that's what I wanna help you with. So if you love the show, if you're listening on Apple, scroll down in your app and leave a review. Keep in mind you have the power to shape your life according to the mindset you choose. I hope you have a great week, and I'll see you back here next time.