It can seem like an impossible task for teachers who constantly grapple with government initiatives, written reports, and national strategies, but with the right approach teachers can find ways to ensure they don’t get buried by bureaucracy and live a balanced life.

Gladeana McMahon, renowned life coach and presenter of ‘Ease the load’ and ‘Get ahead with Gladeana’ shows on Teachers’ TV, says: “I have often found that teachers are their own worst enemy. Most teachers try to be perfectionists, but the reality is that no matter what you do there are only 168 hours in a week. Teachers need to stop thinking in terms of what they ‘should’ or ‘must’ be as this has been shown to have a detrimental effect on work life balance.”

Here are Gladeana’s top tips for a healthy approach to life and work:

Learn to let go

How much time and emotional energy do you waste wishing things or people were different? No matter how many silver coins you throw in the well, your wishes definitely won’t come true. Don’t deplete your energy by going over and over things in your head; you’re actually fighting against reality and thinking in circles. So wise up and learn to accept the things you cannot change.


Put things right

If a lesson plan goes drastically wrong in the classroom, think about the reasons why it happened and work out how you can avoid that happening in the future. Or if you’ve made an unfair comment about someone or something, own up, apologize and put it right if you can – it won’t kill you. Remember everyone messes up sometimes. People who manage stress well know that it is not making a mistake that is the problem but how you deal with it and move on.


Stop putting yourself down

Each time you demean yourself, you also erode your abilities to handle stress which means you’re more likely to make bad decisions. If you want to stop putting yourself down, get out of the habit of saying: “I’m useless at teaching PE/ I can’t draw to save my life/typical of me to get it wrong” and change it to “I found that hard/I guess it will take a bit more practice to teach PE effectively”


Just because you think it doesn’t mean it’s true

Thoughts are funny things that can play tricks on our suspecting minds making us act in ways that do us no good whatsoever. Imagine you see someone you know across a road – you smile and wave but no response. What’s your immediate (printable) thought “Oh, she didn’t see me” or “What have I done wrong?” The choice is actually yours. You can tell yourself something negative and make yourself feel bad or you can change the way you think into something that will make you feel better about yourself, other people or the world. After all, why would you choose to always think the worst – where’s the sense in that?


Look for the evidence

Sometimes we make mistakes and all that proves is that we are human. However, most of the time we can end up feeling ashamed, guilty, depressed and anxious for no reason at all. When you have these feelings instead of just accepting them remember that they are based on what you are thinking about yourself or the situation you find yourself in. So when you find yourself thinking thoughts like “What will people think?” ask yourself what evidence you have that people will think anything at all – let alone anything negative. How do you know that people will be thinking a certain way? Once you start to look for evidence it’s amazing how hard it can be to find!


Take responsibility

No one is going to make anything happen for you so make it happen for yourself. Even when someone has treated you badly or you have been unlucky you can turn the situation around. Don’t personalise bad circumstances, as the more you believe that you were singled out for bad treatment the more you are likely to limit your chances of success. Remember, it could happen to anyone. You can shape your future but only if you learn to be brave and take risks. Positive people take risks even if they are scared.

Get away early and take your breaks

You are no good to anyone if you are tired, staying late all the time and using your personal time to manage your workload. And maybe you could cope better if you scaled down your expectations. Take a long, hard look at things and you might find that it is simply not possible to get everything done. Or you could talk to your colleagues who have similar workloads and ask how they manage it. There is always someone you know who seems to manage without coming in excessively early or leaving late taking lots of work home with them. If they can do it so can you. Talk to your Department Head or Head Teacher if you need to scale down some of your work. Take responsibility for a realistic workload – at the end of the day it’s a case of what can be done gets done and what can’t has to be left for another day.


Be grateful

People who are thankful for what they have are more positive and less stressed than those who constantly think about what they do not have. Although Mrs Hill’s Year 5 class has yet again managed a stunning performance in assembly leaving you feeling eclipsed by her success, she is unlikely to be so successful on sports day when you come into your own. Take time during the day to think about what you have to be grateful for – it could be your colleagues, resources at the school, wonderful parents, a great teaching assistant, etc.

Learn to like yourself

If you don’t like yourself, why should anyone else? People who learn to like themselves are more likely to be likeable, are less likely to be put upon and are much more likely to ward off stress and be happy. You can change things you don’t like about yourself, but don’t use them as an excuse not to like yourself. Here’s an exercise in self-appreciation: write a list of 20 things that you like about yourself and that you think you are good at.


Drop the perfectionism

Perfectionist thinking is perhaps the greatest hurdle to a sensible work/life balance. Perfectionists are ‘all or nothing’ thinkers and find it hard to accept the concept of ‘good enough’. Break your perfectionism by using the ’80/20 rule’. If you manage to get what you want and do what is needed 80% of the time you are doing well. If you wait until something is perfect or the conditions are just right you could be waiting a long time. Instead of pawing over reports for hours and hours, find out how long it takes your non-perfectionist colleagues to complete a task. Try to complete the task within the same time, and resist the temptation to constantly check your work. You will be amazed at how much you can get done and still produce a quality product.

Do you have any tips on achieving a better work life balance? Let us know what works for you.
jennifer.beckles@tes.co.uk

For more advice on work life balance visit www.gladeanamcmahon.com