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Overwhelmed and constantly stressed—that’s a recurring theme for most people in education. For principals, this comes not just from the number of tasks on their plates but also the feeling that they are always dropping everything to put out a fire.

During the edLeader Panel “Simplify and Organize Your Ed Leader Life,” Sean Precious, Chief Academic Officer at Together4Schools, shared five steps for organizing tasks and structuring days so that principals can reclaim time and get back to what they want to do most: support teachers. The edLeader Panel was part of Trailblazing Leadership Week, featuring insights from education leaders in the trenches of providing a high-quality learning environment for all.

First, like teachers, today’s principals are more likely to report burnout and are leaving their positions—and the profession—earlier and in bigger numbers. Three of the main reasons they feel burnt out are:

1. Administrative overload
2. Constant task switching (pulled in a multitude of directions all day long)
3. Unclear expectations

But most importantly, they are always thinking about what they have to do next, living in a constant state of stress. Principals often work 60-hour weeks, yet they seldom feel like they’ve accomplished something. In essence, principals have executive function overload.

Precious’s goal is to help professionals design and optimize their workdays. For principals, the system is rooted in thinking about how they would plan their days as classroom teachers. Then, he helps them create predictable daily workflows that leave them more in control of their days and the time spent on tasks.

5 Steps to Reclaim the Day

1. Do a Calendar Audit

Write down everything you do during the work week. Include details not only on the tasks but also on the time devoted to them, like what time you get to work and leave, how much time is spent on administrative tasks, how much of your day is instructional leadership, etc. You need to see how you’re spending your time before you can optimize it.

2. Do an Audit of Your Systems

For this method, you need to have a calendar that shows everything you do, but you also need to understand the different ways everyone is contacting you and what one single tool you can use to help organize everything else.

Precious recommends email, but others have had success with organization apps, reminders, etc. Whichever one you select most likely won’t be able to talk directly to the others, so you will need to experiment to determine how you will get the information into your main tool.

3. Set Your Week Up for Success

Think about a time during the week when you feel the most relaxed, where you could commit an hour. Set aside this time every week to reflect on the past week and then plan the next seven days. Make sure you record every meeting, presentation, and conversation that you know you will have to have that week, but don’t do more than seven days, as school environments change quickly.

Organize your inputs and reminders for the week. Because he uses his email inbox as his organizing tool, Precious sets up email reminders for this week. For instance, if he has a meeting on Wednesday and needs to create and send the agenda, he sends himself a reminder on Tuesday to send the agenda and one on Wednesday about the meeting itself. You can also create recurring reminders for weekly tasks.

Make sure to include time in each day for addressing urgent, unexpected issues as well as time for instructional coaching. Block an hour a day for “firefighting” and one for working with teachers.

4. Review Your Task Lists Daily

For 15 minutes in the morning, go over the to-do list for the day. At the end of the day, spend 15-30 minutes reflecting on the day and then review the next day. This double review of tasks allows you to feel prepared for what’s ahead instead of constantly feeling like you’re cramming for a test.

5. Collect, Sort, and Scrub

As part of your daily review, you need to look critically at the tasks on your list. You might find ones to deprioritize, delegate, or defer to another time.

In order for any new system to work, it needs to become a habit. Precious says many clients notice a difference 30-45 days into the process. While it can seem like you’re adding more work at first, most discover that they can reclaim an hour a day and cut their work weeks down to 50 hours.

In fact, he recommends that if you’re setting up your work week on the weekend, you find a day where you can leave an hour early during the week so that you are still at 50 hours. The ultimate goal is to get home earlier, focus on families, and have time to do the things that bring you joy.

Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, Simplify and Organize Your Ed Leader Life, presented by ERDI.

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Article by Stacey Pusey, based on this edLeader Panel