Having a clear purpose in your job and being able to align this to that of your school will really help you power through those times of greatest pressure. Use the resilience chat cards (purpose) to support you. If you are not clear about why you do what you do, this step will help.
“I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.”
Leo Rosten
Do you find yourself in any of these situations?
“I’m not feeling as connected to my job/team/school as I used to or I would like.”
“I’m under so much pressure to get everything ready for class / parents / my line manager.”
“I don’t feel like I’m making a difference to anyone or anything in my job.”
“I’m not feeling motivated today.”
“I don’t see how what I do makes the difference – too many other things are in the way.”
If so these are actions you can take
- Be clear about your goals: think through everything you do and why it’s important to you, your team and the school. Make sure you celebrate small wins and successes – it will help reduce the pressure you feel.
- Engage with the school values: ask yourself how your behaviours live up to them and don’t let the behaviours of others affect how you feel. Be generous to others and volunteer when something needs doing – people will reciprocate.
- Build relationships: find time to talk about another team member’s day and ask them what contribution they think you make. Listen to understand the impact you have as perceived by others.
- Reframe your tasks: think about the benefit you are providing to colleagues/students rather than focusing on the activity itself.
- Recognise your language in conversations: focus more on the positives – the good students and colleagues, not just those that cause you problems!
Click here to see the next chat cards – people
If you have any questions or would like to find out more about building resilience or improving staff wellbeing, please get in touch.
Other articles in our resilience and wellbeing toolkit
Resilience and wellbeing toolkit (introduction)
The difference between pressure and stress
The symptoms of stress and lower resilience
Managing stress and building resilience
The major causes of workplace stress
13 tips to build your energy and wellbeing