LEADER SELF-CARE

Seasonal

Protecting Your Energy

As the days grow shorter and the calendar grows heavier, school leaders often find themselves running on empty. Fall brings the beautiful chaos of progress reports, family conferences, behavior spikes, and shifting energy. But here’s the truth: your school’s well-being is tied to your own. Protecting your energy isn’t selfish leadership — it’s sustainable leadership.

In this season, light becomes limited, but your presence still matters deeply. The challenge is learning to give that light without burning out.

Reframing Energy as a Leadership Responsibility

In schools, we talk a lot about protecting instructional time, but rarely about protecting leader energy. Yet the two are connected. When you lead depleted, it shows up in your tone, your patience, and your decision-making. Teams take their emotional cues from you. In front of the team, you are always on.

Protecting your energy means honoring your limits, setting boundaries with care, and modeling what sustainability looks like for others. It means realizing that “showing up” doesn’t always mean saying yes. Sometimes it means saying ‘not right now‘ or ‘not in that way‘.

Audit Where Your Energy Goes

Before you can protect your energy, you have to name what’s draining it. Spend a week noticing:
– When do I feel most present, calm, and connected to purpose?
– When do I feel reactive, rushed, or resentful?
– Which meetings, tasks, or conversations give me energy — and which consistently take it away?

Patterns will emerge. Once you can see where the leaks are, you can start patching them with intention. Pro Tip: Try ending each day with this reflection: What gave me energy today, and what drained it? Small awareness shifts often lead to big behavioral changes.

Lead with Boundaries, Not Barriers

Boundaries aren’t about pushing people away — they’re about protecting what makes your leadership steady and strong. As Brené Brown reminds us, “Clear is kind.” Setting boundaries helps your team trust you more, not less, because it shows consistency and clarity. Here are a few examples:

Instead of “I’m just too busy right now,” try:“I want to give this the attention it deserves — can we revisit it next week when I can be fully present?”
Instead of “No, that’s not my role,” try:
“That’s important, and I want to make sure the right person supports it. Let me connect you with ___.”
Instead of taking on one more thing, try:
“My plate is full at the moment, but I can offer feedback once you have a draft.”

These are small but powerful ways to honor your time and maintain relational care.

Protect Joy the Same Way You Protect Meetings

Your calendar should reflect your priorities — and your peace. Block time for rest and reflection just as intentionally as you would for walkthroughs or data meetings. Protecting your energy isn’t about stepping back; it’s about stepping into sustainability. Simple shifts can make a difference:

Protect one uninterrupted planning block each week.
Schedule “white space” on your calendar before or after high-stakes meetings.
Do one joyful thing during the school day — greet kids at arrival, visit a classroom, or share lunch with a colleague.

Leadership is heavy. Joy doesn’t erase the weight — but it helps you carry it better.

Make Rest a Collective Priority

If you’re serious about protecting your energy, model it out loud. Tell your team when you’re leaving on time. Celebrate teachers who take a personal day to recharge. Normalize breaks and boundaries as part of the work, not apart from it.

You can’t build a healthy staff culture if the leader is running on fumes. Rest isn’t a reward for getting it all done — it’s the rhythm that allows you to keep going.

A Leader’s Self-Care BINGO

To make this practical (and a little fun), use the Leader’s Self-Care BINGO as a reflection tool. It’s filled with small, tangible actions to help you recharge: “Take a walk without your phone,” “Say no without guilt,” “Spend 10 minutes in a classroom just enjoying learning,” “Block time for reflection.”The goal isn’t to check every box, it’s to remind yourself that energy management is instructional leadership.

and remember...

As the light outside fades earlier each day, remember this: you are the light inside your school. Protecting it is not an act of self-indulgence. Every time you rest, reflect, or say no with intention, you teach your team a quiet but radical lesson:

We don’t have to burn out to make a difference.

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Tanesha B. Forman

I'm a current middle school administrator who loves breaking down complex topics and providing opportunities for educators learn, reflect, practice, and implement methods that foster equity and anti-racism. I believe we win together!

Behind the Blog

Hi, I'm Tanesha.

I’m a current middle school administrator who loves breaking down complex topics and providing opportunities for educators learn, reflect, practice, and implement methods that foster equity and anti-racism. I believe we win together!