Monthly Archives: November 2022

The end of the school year provides an opportunity to implement strategies to prevent or reduce burnout. It is not until we are away from a high-stress situation for a while that the brain can move out of reactive survival mode and into a relaxed state where it can ponder the big picture. The intervention suggestions are likely to be ones that you already know. The problem is, when it comes to adding another activity to your schedule, past experiences may have left you with the expectation that there is not enough time – or you’ve tried things like this before and didn’t notice any change. So you stopped. My belief is that when you understand what happened in your…

For staff in schools it can be difficult to switch off. We often think about our work, our students, our frustrating colleagues and unrealistic parents. This can keep us awake at night or hijack our thoughts during the weekend or even the holidays. This happens for many reasons. Technology allows us to be more connected than ever. The work we do is important and generally we are passionate about making a difference. The work is never ending and there is always more that can be done. However, being able to switch off is important to our well-being. Jay Shetty in his book, “Think Like A Monk”, suggests that if you want to become a master at basketball, you should learn…

Positive thinking doesn’t mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life’s less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst. Positive thinking often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of a lack of information. If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive,…