Resilience

According to the World Health Organisation Icelandic people are amongst the longest living on the planet. On average they make it to over 83 years of age. Despite Iceland being a terrible place to live (food is scarce, winters last for nine months, for a number of days there are only four hours of sunlight and it rains 213 days per year), Icelandic people live more than 13 years longer than the world average. All of that hard living has made them stronger and resilient. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Best-selling author Eric Barker notes the moments in life that made you better, that make you swell with pride when you think about them, from career…

Teachers (and other staff who work in schools) are often our own harshest critic. We are often self-critical and can be REALLY tough on ourselves. We can feel like there is always more that can and should be done and it can seem like our work is never ending. The following simple strategies are the formula for success. Which ones do you do well and which ones do you need to add to your repertoire? Live beneath your means. Return everything you borrow. Stop blaming other people. Try not to judge others. Go an entire day without criticizing anyone. Be the first to forgive. Presume that other people mean well and are trying their best. Admit it when you make…

Change can be hard. Often change is for the good. Occasionally change brings about worse outcomes. The one predictable aspect of change is its inevitability. Coping with change is one of the biggest challenges in schools – the sheer volume, let alone the rate of change, can be overwhelming. Avoiding change fatigue can be critical to preventing change-related stress and burnout. Tips: Make small changes or break big changes into small increments. It’s like running up a huge hill – don’t look at the top, just keep your eyes a metre or so in front of you. Remember to turn around and look back at your progress every so often… that will help buoy you on and spur you up…

Staff in many schools are currently working remotely. Whilst many people will initially be happy to be ‘working from home’ (teaching in your pyjamas sounds great), it does come with its challenges and demands. Everyone who works remotely has to figure out when to work, where to work and how to create boundaries between their work and personal lives. For example, traveling to school has usually been part of our routine. Whilst you gain the travel time, you lose the opportunity to make a clear transition from home to work.           Here are some tips for working well from home. Create a New Morning Routine Your morning routine helps you focus and engage in a productive time. Whilst it can be…

Sad but true – we all have a Use By Date. Whilst we don’t like to think about it, it is inevitable. At some stage we are all going to die. In “The Comfort Crisis” author Michael Easter quotes researchers from the University of Kentucky who had people think about death and the result was…they got happier. The scientists concluded, “Death is a psychologically threatening fact but when people contemplate it, apparently the automatic system begins to search for happy thoughts.” Easter notes that it is similar to being on holiday. If you obsessively dwell on your holiday ending (yes we will be able to travel again in the future), it is depressing and isn’t helpful. However, acknowledging that the…

Most of us have good intentions about looking after our own well-being. We also have a pretty clear idea about what we SHOULD be doing. We SHOULD do the most important things FIRST! We SHOULD get some exercise, even when we are busy! We SHOULD stop and eat a healthy lunch! We SHOULD drink more water! We SHOULD be more positive and optimistic in the staffroom! At times we ‘SHOULD’ all over ourselves! However, having good intentions isn’t enough – it’s your actual behaviour that counts! To reduce our stress levels and improve our well-being, we need to have the discipline to stick to the things we KNOW we SHOULD do. Our own thought processes and self-talk have a significant…

Sleep is something we all do; in fact, we spend around a third of our lives in this strange, unconscious state. A lack of sleep impacts on our physical and mental health. Too little sleep can devastate your body, brain and microbiome (gut bacteria), dramatically increasing your risk of developing a range of chronic conditions. As adults we should be aiming for 7 to 9 hours per night. However, it isn’t just the quantity of the sleep that we get that is important, the quality of sleep has an impact too. In his book, Fast Asleep, Dr Michael Mosley provides advice on how to get a really good night’s sleep. Fortunately, there are surprising and highly effective ways to improve…