Goal Set and Care for Yourself (cont.)

The very first thing that an administrator needs to realize is that self-care is necessary to be successful in their personal and professional life. What time is better to start making changes that lead to better self-care than the summer?

A 2020 Harvard Review article indicated that when making changes you need to look to build routines instead of habits. The article stated, “A habit is a behavior done with little or no thought, while a routine involves a series of behaviors frequently, and intentionally, repeated. A behavior has to be a regularly performed routine before it can become a habit at all.” Creating positive routines over the summer can lead to the routines continuing once the school year begins.

Let’s talk about routines. The first thing to do, and I know that this is a tough one, especially during the summer, is to wake up thirty minutes to an hour earlier each day. This will allow you to start your day any way that you want, but most importantly, it will give you time for yourself. This extra bit of time will make it so that you can create positive routines that will help you be better and feel better. During this extra time, you may want to begin a running routine, daily reflection to start the day or maybe even reading a book for twenty or so minutes with a cup of coffee. You can even listen to a podcast such as The Mindset Mentor which helps you identify how to think in your own head on such topics as relationships, habits, and success. This podcast stresses successful people waking up early! By waking up early, you are not taking away any time from your friends and family since they are probably still sleeping.

Another thing that can be done in that extra time in the morning is daily planning and goal setting. Daily planning is imperative to success in anything, but definitely in your personal life. If you do not plan your day, the day will plan you and you may not get anything accomplished which leads to a very unsuccessful or unproductive day. Something even better to add into the routine of planning your day is to plan the night before. This will allow you to focus on your goals and give you a purpose from the moment you wake up. Planning the night before also gives you a sense of accomplishment and may even allow you to sleep better.

Goal setting is extremely important in your personal and professional life. An article in Forbes magazine identifies that when you are goal-setting, the goals need to be ones that can be accomplished. A simple way to set goals is to utilize SMART goals. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

There are many different ways to create SMART goals. All that you need to do is Google SMART goals and a plethora of different methods are available. The biggest takeaway from creating a SMART goal is that you will be writing the goal down. Having a goal written down will allow you to plan how to reach the goal. Personal goals can be to lose 10 pounds by the end of the summer, read each night for twenty minutes, or be able to run a 5k by the first day of school. The great thing about creating a professional SMART goal during the summer is that you can take the anxiety and stress out of creating one by taking your time.

By defining these goals in the summer, the routines created will continue once the school year begins. These goals can even be created in school during the downtime you have while working at school, just make sure that one of them is an educational growth goal.

One of the goals that all school administrators should have is to relax, refresh and recharge while the school is not incredibly busy. This will look different to everybody. Take the opportunity to actually have a lunch break during the day. This may not seem like a big deal, but how often do administrators actually sit down and have lunch during the school year? Utilize some time in the day to take a walk around the outside of the building. This will allow you to see if there are any building issues, but it will also allow you to get fresh air and be in the moment and enjoy the outside. Start building those routines!!!

Begin to use your calendar as a lifeline. Over the summer, try to plan certain work things into your calendar. Items such as a lunch time, walking the school, classroom visits (just to see how the summer work is going), and even selftime. Did I just say self-time? I did! It is something that can be scheduled during the school day. It may be fifteen to thirty minutes of office time that you just take a break. By beginning to schedule these things, amongst others, you will begin the routine of doing it during the summer which will lead to it happening while school is in session.

These ideas seem pretty simple, but if they were really that easy, wouldn’t we all be doing them? The thought behind starting these routines during the summer is that they will become habits if continued through the school year. None of the routines that I have suggested will take time away from your family, which is the best way to reset and recharge. I mentioned utilizing your schedule as a lifeline. Make sure to schedule some family time into your schedule to make sure that it happens. The school and the work will always be there, but family is your reset button!

Person Has In Common, Forbes, Dec. 2013. https://www.forbes.com/ sites/danschawbel/2013/12/17/14things-every-successful-personhas-in-common

DePaul, Kristi. What Does It Really Take to Build a New Habit? Harvard Business Review, Feb. 2021. https://hbr. org/2021/02/what-does-it-reallytake-to-build-a-new-habit

Dial, Rob. The Mindset Mentor podcast. https://open.spotify.com/ episode/73dATfm7RmXYJRafnRVcfa

Dr. James Robinette currently serves as the Director of Personnel and Recruitment for Consolidated High School District 230. He has also served as the Director of Human Resources and Public Relations at Country Club Hills School District 160. Dr. Robinette previously served as principal of Congress Park Elementary School. Before that, he was the principal at Barbour Two-Way Language Immersion. Dr. Robinette has presented at several Illinois conferences including the annual IASPA conference (2023), Kane County ROE Institute Day (2020), ESSA Conference (2019), IPA Conference (2018), as well as the Statewide Conference on Bilingual Education in 2017, 2018, and 2019 and nationally for the annual Two-Way Dual Language Conference (2017) and AASPA (2023). Dr. Robinette resides in Lombard where he currently sits as a D44 School Board member.

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