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In this day and age, striking a fine balance between your career and private life is a treacherous endeavor. To make it worse, teaching is not exactly among jobs with good work-life balance. Almost three-quarters of all teachers deal with work-related stress on a regular basis. This plight often originates from external conditions and pressures that are beyond their control.
Still, the good news is that there are numerous stress tips for teachers across different fields and education levels. They revolve around building an inner sanctuary of stability and facing external forces head-on. This approach goes a long way towards fostering a prolific career and leading a fulfilling life. It allows you to greet each new workday with a smile and minimize problems like stress and burnout.
Getting down to basics
Work-life balance does not come easy. Teachers have to worry about grading papers, planning classes, honing skills, scheduling the curriculum, helping students, and a bunch of other priorities. Add to that haphazard lifestyle and you have a volatile mix ready to blow up in your face. Indeed, many teachers find it easier to surrender and enter an autopilot mode.
To prevent this scenario from happening, arm yourself with the right, winning mindset. Resist the urge to work harder and do yourself a favor— work smarter. Yes, there is a huge volume of demands on your daily time and energy reservoirs. However, that doesn’t mean you need to turn your life upside down to meet them.
Believe it or not, the bulk of results stem from a relatively small portion of total work time (around 20%— Pareto Principle). So, you should be careful not to throw in extra hours just to end up wasting them and impeding the fragile balance. Take a good look at your schedule and weed out any time-consuming tasks that don’t really contribute to trimming your workload.
While at it, ditch the perpetual multi-tasking habit. Consolidate similar tasks into blocks and tackle them before proceeding to the next bundle of tasks. This is one productivity tip that aids in your efforts to mitigate pressure and restore work-life balance.
Next, it’s time to free up some time for bonding with colleagues. It has been proven that close relationships bring about better job satisfaction and alleviate anxiety. You are in the same boat anyway and you can probably help each other with advice, experience, emotional support, etc. Lifelong friendships can be often forged that way.
Take advantage of amazing tech tools for a better work-life balance
As a private tutor/ teacher, one has even more tasks to worry about. We are mostly talking about the process of finding the right resources and tools to set up and then get the job done. Fortunately, rather than doing everything the old-fashioned way, today we have another option. It implies staying up to date with the latest learning and education technologies.
Simplybook.me is a prime example of this. The user-friendly platform enables tutors to handle online booking and schedule classes with just a few clicks. What is more, it is packed with other features such as email reminders that help you stay on tracks. It is even possible to accept online payments and integrate a tutoring landing page with an existing website and social media account.
Note that in the process of employing such versatile solutions, you are able to drastically reduce the amount of annoying paperwork you have to do. Along similar lines, technology can help you make your classes more engaging and approachable.
Today, we have a generation of students who are digital natives and frequent social media. Using the same channels, you can also expand your reach and take part in conversations that happen around the clock. The takeaway is clear: a wealth of gadgets and software solutions that exist are not just distractions, but means of enhancing the learning experience.
Therefore, try to keep an open mind. Explore various other tech-infused teaching and career tricks that can breathe life into stale old practices.
What about life?
Once you refine your workdays, get ready to advance into the “life territory”.
First of all, don’t hastate to take a break and unwind every now and then. If you think that you don’t have time for that, think twice. Sometimes, the best thing to do when you have a lot on your plate is to do nothing. Just five minutes out in the fresh air and sun can rejuvenate you and boost your concentration moving further into the day.
It is one of those not-so-obvious work-life balance tips for teachers I like to repeat over and over again.
Furthermore, note that work and home balance is an essential ingredient. Namely, you should avoid bringing the work stress home and vice-versa. Draw the lines and respect them. For instance, if you must tackle some work from home, do it in a separated physical space, ideally a home office. On the other hand, when spending time with family and chilling out, shut down the classroom thoughts.
Finally, make sure you have a life outside the classroom and your job. Get back to that hobby you were putting off for a long time. Doing what you are passionate about is the best filter for mounting stress and it enables you to avoid losing your compass. You probably heard it many times before, but taking on physical activity is linked to additional health (including mental) benefits.
Hit the gym, go swimming, do some pushups at home— whatever suits your preferences and lifestyle the most. These are all incredible activities for balancing teaching and personal life. Of course, we have managed just touched the surface here. The list goes on, so feel free to venture and research further.
Conclusion
Creating a teacher work-life balance takes time and commitment. There are no shortcuts, so take baby steps before leaps and bounds.
Be more proactive and don’t get caught up in the same tedious loop, always stuck in repeat. Work smarter with the help of technology and rethink your current practices. Make an effort to cut down on non-essential activities and nurture more-rewarding career experience.
At the same time, find those gratifying activities that help you decompress and recharge the batteries. Make genuine connections to people around you, prioritize your health, and pursue your interests.
Remember that you are in control, even when it seems that the opposite is the case. Following the aforementioned tips, you should cultivate a remarkable, long-lasting career and enjoy stress-free teaching at its finest.
