As of the moment of writing this message, my stress level is unbalanced on the high side. My district is going through some changes and I will likely be changing positions soon. It definitely ebbs and flows. I am not always this stressed. There is just a lot of deadlines looming over my head right now. I think I need to increase my capacity by believing in myself more and trusting I am capable of the work. I also need to reduce some of my high expectations for myself. 

This school year the stress level has been higher than in the past. Aside from takin gon more responsibilities this year, there are issues that arise that I personally do not have solutions for. Not having solutions to assist with solving a problem affects me stress level the most as my mind is always on with "How can I make that better". I need to learn to focus on what I can help with and understand that I am doing my best and if I don't have the answer, it's going to be ok.

My stress equation is not balanced. I do need to increase capacity and reduce my own expectations for myself. I think if I use some of the management systems discussed here, I can increase my capacity. It's hard to be spot on everyday. I can work on not being so hard on myself. That in itself would help lower my stress level. 

A low wall in place is to let the secretary know that I am in classrooms. She can send calls to my voice mail or take a message for me. She is a great person to help me get into classrooms daily. The only reason that I'd want to be called out of a classroom for is if a student is having a meltdown or is having an emotional breakdown. The rest can wait for 30 minutes. 

I feel that I am in the Orange level every day at school this past year. Before last year there were moments of Orange but the majority of my day was Green. I may have to reduce the expectations that I place on myself and mix in a bit of self care to increase my capacity. My director is wonderful but we had a huge change over of admin over the past few years so the senior admins had to really step up to take on regional capital projects - exciting to see the impact we had on our communities but it truly is another job. 

I have 2 work areas: one in the front office with my secretary and my clerk and one in my private office. If I need "walls" or time to get work done, I go into my private office for a quiet or protected space. My office staff are great at taking messages or fielding solicitors so that I am not inundated with lots of phone calls throughout the day. They do text me when there is a safety issue or high-level discipline issue that I may need to handle right away, especially if it's close to the end of the day. They also know not to interrupt me during walkthroughs and observations unless the sky is falling as I will only be out of the office for short spans of time.

I view this as a dynamic mechanism. There are certainly days that are more stressful than others and times of year that are more stressful than others. Being able to recognize this and adapt in the moment is important in terms of daily stress. Proper planning will help with the busier times of year. In all instances, it is important to recognize both our capacity as well as our expectations. 

My stress equation is not balanced. We have had a lot of change in our district over the past year. I've taken on added responsibilities on top of my already packed role. In small districts, we wear so many hats and trying to navigate is difficult at times. I think I personally need to reduce expectations so I can feel a little more balanced. 

Stress is always in this position. deadlines, paperwork, emergencies. 

Definitely need to reduce by finding other ways to handle completing the forms that were required to complete at the present time.

I definitely need to reduce the expectations that I have for myself and that others have for me. As I have previously stated a large problem with getting things done and out of my office is the open door policy I have established and that my teacher now come to expect. It is simply not possible to keep the door open so to speak as much as I have in the past and accomplish all of the things that are requiring my attention and the things that need to get done in order to be in classrooms and be the true educational leader I want to be. 

Wow-- this module really captured in a succinct way a core challenge for me. It is necessary to increase my capacity, but as I do so, I have not addressed expectations of me from me or others. In fact, in some ways I may have been mistakenly increasing my expectations of myself. I can't do everything-- and to try to is hubris. I am learning to reduce expectations by learning to narrow my focus on the 'right work' for that time. 

I need to do some of both, reducing expectations and increase capacity. 

Need to remain in the present & give myself constant reminders that I will get the job done. 

I love Covey's Time Matrix with the four different quadrants. When I am living in Quadrant I with everything being important and urgent, I find that I get stressed and burned out. This leads me to Quadrant 4 where I do nothing which is not effective either. Over the last couple of years I have strived to calendar my big projects and break them into smaller chunks. This has me working in Quadrant II, the important but not urgent category. As I have done this, my stress level has reduced immensely. 

At this time we are into the 4th week of the new school year. I have focused more on getting the most important things with timelines first. Since I am in a new school this year , I have prioritized visiting classrooms and getting to know the teachers teaching styles and students . I am hoping that by being present more often in classrooms and on the yard I can deal with discipline and issues while I’m outside and save me time to focus on what I need to do when I’m in the office.