Superintendent Self-Care: 4 Small Ways to Reduce Job Stress

The superintendency has never been easy, but it has become more demanding in the past few years. As the country experiences ongoing polarization and social issues come up at every board meeting, it can be tough to maintain the energy to be effective. Superintendents can end up in a mode of constant nervousness, not knowing when or where the next issue will appear. Unfortunately, this is becoming “normal” for many and thus must be addressed if superintendents are to maintain resilience in their positions.

As I see more superintendents dealing with fatigue, I want to provide a couple of ideas which I hope can make the situation better. Below are a few thoughts based upon experience and observation, which I trust will be useful for those dealing with professional fatigue and increasing job stress.

Healthy Disengagement – Don’t read your work emails or texts after a certain time at night. We all need time to recover from the mental demands of the job and that can only occur if we create time away. The same goes for taking work phone calls or listening to voice mail at night. One can always establish emergency contact procedures so that truly pressing issues can be addressed if required.

The key is to shift your mental focus so that you are not up all night trying to solve the perplexing problems you face on the job. Some couple the concept of disengagement with reading a book, or watching a TV show, regardless, find ways to go to bed at night not focused on work.

Stressful Meetings – To the extent possible set stressful meetings at times when you are at your best, which will normally be in the morning. You will have greater resilience at this stage and will find that your thinking is clearer, and your emotions are kept in check.

Personally, this is where I believe having control over your schedule is important. If you don’t manage your own calendar, make it very clear to your administrative assistant not to set stressful or controversial meetings at times when your energy is exhausted.  Of course, there are times when you don’t have a choice, but to the extent you can make this subtle change I believe you will find that better, more effective outcomes will be achieved.

Establish Routines – Everyone has different routines at the beginning or end of the workday. The key is to recognize calming activities, and to the extent possible, make them part of your work practice. As an example, I personally find that if I clear my email early in the day, I am not concerned by the fact that messages are piling up awaiting my review. I can then more easily manage critical issues as they arise and attempt to keep email messages relatively current.

Everyone will be different in terms of what makes them less harried during the day, but the important exercise is to personally reflect on this issue, produce those activities which are effective in your work life, and put them into practice as part of your routine.

Expectations and Demands – I have written in previous posts that the superintendency takes more than you give it. I believe this to be true and thus expectations and demands must be managed. I will also say everyone is different in terms of how much they can handle while remaining productive. The key is to know the point at which you are going beyond the level where rejuvenation can occur. Often, we think we need to “push through,” but there is a point at which you drain yourself beyond the ability to recover emotionally and physically. We must recognize this point in our work lives and be prepared to manage expectations and demands at that stage.

It is also important to know, when this point hits, what you personally “need” to do to rejuvenate. It may be a quick vacation alone to a cabin, mountain biking a demanding trail, or sitting outside in a shady quiet place reading a book. We all need to know what this looks like for us so we can put it in play when needed. I will also say that if you don’t know what that looks like for you individually experiment with different activities and monitor how you feel, the goal being to figure out what leads to rejuvenation in your life.

I come back to the concept that “the job takes more than you give it.”  I know in attempting to be effective as superintendents we can subtly, over time, lose ourselves. In other words, our hobbies fade, and we forget what outlets make us happy and restore our souls. Clearly this is a mistake, and we must rectify this in our lives.

As you enter a new week it is my hope that you will reflect on these ideas related to your self-care, figure out how to disengage when needed, and determine which activities lead to individual renewal.

If you have practiced, or observed, small ways to reduce job stress or enhance personal renewal it is my hope that you will share those ideas in the comments section below. Please remember that we all gain when we share and learn from each other.