The 5 minutes this week that will save your holiday break
This routine clears the way for you to rest, recharge, relax and avoid taking your stress home with you on your holidays
Do you ever get to the holidays at the end of a hectic term, feeling like a large part of your brain is stuck in the unresolved worries you thought you left behind at work? Perhaps you get back from your break, having switched off completely, only to feel your strategic memory has been completely wiped and you are starting the term from scratch again.
Well, you are not alone. I know just how easy it is to fall into these traps. You are already feeling drained and looking forward to some much needed time away, and instead you are bogged down with worry or unable to get the start you ned to act with clarity, energy and intent when you return. The 5 minute “Progress Save” leadership routine is designed to help take the pressure off your nervous system so you can enjoy your break - rest, recharge and reset, the way you deserve.
The demands on the profession impact on your ability to lead and to switch off
Teaching is already highly demanding profession and leading in this context adds even more complexity. When the pressures on teachers and schools as a whole increase, so do the demands on you. Research across the workforce shows that 7 in 10 teachers describe their work as unmanageable. Even more report experiencing moderate to extremely severe levels of stress. This burden has an additional impact on you and the mental load you are carrying at the end of term.
When you make it to the end of term, working relationships are under additional strain, people are tired or recovering from illness, deadlines have collided and you are paddling to keep things together and afloat. You (along with your colleagues) really need and deserve the break!
However there are some common traps that are waiting for leaders like you, and the high stress moments leave you easily susceptible to them.
Two traps we want to avoid
There is a strong temptation, when under stress and barely hanging on until the clock ticks over at the end of term, to just turn off the laptop, leave everything where it is and promise yourself you will sort it all when you get back.
However, in education, it is hard not to take the work and the worries home with you on the weekend and it can be even worse at the end of term especially in leadership when complex the responsibility falls on you to steer the direction after the break.
There is a high risk the frustrations, responsibilities and worries you have been managing, follow you. This reduces how fully present you feel with family and friends. It can impact on your sleep and ability to feel fully rested. In extreme cases your nervous system perceives impending threats are waiting for you when the next term commences. This makes it impossible to relax or focus on anything else. Instead of recharging, you feel even more anxious, frustrated and resentful.
Another trap is where you manage to close off completely from the work, feel rested only to return to the pile of unresolved problems that were left hanging weeks earlier. This can leave you wondering where you left off, having to retrace your steps to remember those critical actions and priorities before you are able to start developing a clear action plan for the weeks ahead. You are starting from square one and there is a risk from sliding into higher levels of reactivity as the term progresses and you play catch up.
Without a clear strategy to mitigate these traps, your mental health, wellbeing as well as your capacity to lead effectively are at risk.
Mental Health Note: If you are experiencing significant and persistent symptoms of burnout, anxiety, depression, you are not alone! Please seek the support of your GP and a trained counsellor or psychologist. Your mental health matters. Lifeline is available 24/7 for critical cases.
5 minutes this week, a page and a pen that will save your break
All you need this week is 5 minutes to save your holidays and give yourself a clear starting point for your return.
I call it the Progress Save. We don’t just want to save your holidays we also want to make sure that there is a process that helps save your progress when you get back.
A leadership routine, is a tool that helps create your own routine ways of operating. Processes that you come back to regularly that support you develop positive habits for leadership growth.
I promise this just needs 5 minutes. It is critical though to mark the time in your schedule and make it happen. I have tried to make this as frictionless as possible, but it will require some mental effort, courage and determination from you to make it work. You got this. Your future self is relying on you!
The“Progress Save” Leadership Routine
What you need
5 Mins - but you can take more if you have it.
A page - in your diary, journal or notebook, on a notepad, from the copier, wherever! Just make sure you don’t lose it. If you regularly use your diary or notebook for planning this makes sense. Keep it secure and somewhere obvious you know you will be going to right away when you return.
Something to write with.
Distraction free environment while you do this.
Paid Subscribers - Download the PDF template for this leadership routine here!
Method
Get your phone or a timer and set it for 2 minutes seconds (or 40% of the time you have)
1. Shake it Off
Make a list (bullet points are ok - it is not an essay) of everything that is on your mind right now about your work. Don’t try to fix them. Write them down. Just write! This includes the hopes, priorities, worries, joys, fears or whatever else is pressing in on your thinking (or how you are feeling) at the moment. Get them out of your brain and onto the page.
Write until you have emptied these thoughts onto the page, or the timer goes.
The beauty of this process is that any time your brain is feeling full, writing like this (physcially ‘writing’ here rather than typing) is a proven approach to reducing anxiety in high stress situations. Naming your feelings, worries and thoughts on a page allows your nervous system to feel more regulated and gives you enough time and distance to engage your executive functioning.
Getting this distance helps to prevent the worries from descending into your thinking at 3am in week one of the holidays or days before you return to work.
Reset your timer for 2 minutes again (or 40% of the time you have)
2. Save to Recalibrate
Now write down the questions and priorities that will be critical to driving your work when you return.
Help your future you begin the next term with renewed clarity. Capture the really important things you need to begin with that you will need to develop, investigate, plan for or remember.
Again, when the timer goes, stop. You are still not trying to fix anything.
3. Set a Clear Finish Line
Ok, you have one minute on the clock now. Make a list of the critical ‘to-do’ tasks that you must complete before you can switch off for the term. These are the essential things that can’t wait for you to get back after the break.
With this you achieve clarity and a clear designation of where the finish line so you can leave, knowing you did what you need to do.
4. Save to Find
Make sure you protect your thinking here. Save your page somewhere you will find easily when you get back.
THAT’S IT! You just took deliberate, proactive steps using the Progress Save leadership routine to save your holidays and set up for success when you get back.
Being able to switch off and enjoy your holiday break is critical to not only protecting your mental health and wellbeing, but also to being able to reset on your return and continue to lead with clarity and intent.
Enjoy your holidays!
Shaun
Tried this? I would love to hear from you
I am still learning the ropes here and finding the things that are most helpful.
If you tried this and how it impacted on you, your break and your work, please get in touch. If you have any questions or tips that will help make this process even better, please leave them in the comments below!
AI Disclaimer
100% Human Creativity and Content: Every word in this article is written and crafted entirely by a human. No artificial intelligence is used to generate or outline any of the articles, tools or ideas it contains. All illustrations and images are by the author, used under license or with permission.