The school year has just started in America. Popular teacher / blogger Elena Aguilar has written that she is back in the habit of working 11 hour days, despite promising herself that she wouldn’t do that again.
Whilst there ARE SOME DAYS when it is necessary to work an 11 hour day, I don’t believe that it should be necessary to REGULARLY work 11 hour days.
I can hear teachers already dismissing this statement as unrealistic. If you are regularly working an 11 hour teaching day then I believe there are likely to be times when you are NOT working efficiently.
Working long days CAN become a habit. At times we allow our work to fill whatever time we have.
There will ALWAYS be more things that you ‘could’ do and more things on your ‘To Do’ list.
To address the 11 hour day Elena is implementing four strategies –
1 Using Google Calendars to manage her time and schedule everything
2 Budgeting for some house cleaning so that she doesn’t spend her limited spare time cleaning
3 Signing up and paying for her exercise class – arguing that if she has paid for it she will attend and
4 Saying “No” more often
It is vitally important to put boundaries around your time. Staying late one or two days per week might be necessary but shouldn’t be necessary for more days than that. If it is then I believe it is timely to review your situation and how you are utilising your time. You are at risk of burn out and that doesn’t benefit anybody!