Self-Care in Five Minutes

When you hear the term “self-care,” it’s easy to think that it means spa days or long bubble baths. While both of those activities are awesome for self-care, there are LOTS more things you can do in only five minutes. And let’s face it — when you’re most in need of self-care, five minutes may be all you can spare.

While none of these activities will solve all the problems you might be having, taking a break to do something for yourself will help you to reset so you can face whatever you need to do.

How to add these quick tasks to your day:
~write them in your planner
~set reminders on your phone
~choose a few times during the day when you will do one of these tasks (when you pour your morning coffee, when you first get to school or work, during your first break of the day, as soon as you get home, etc.).

So – here’s a list of 50 activities you can do in five minutes (or less).

1 – take a quick walk around your school or workplace

2 – stretch or try some yoga poses in Office Yoga

3 – pet an animal

4 – write in a journal

5 – search the hashtag #inspirationalquotes on Instagram

6 – read a chapter in a book

7 – read a magazine

8 – pray or meditate

9 – do some neck rolls or shoulder shrugs

10 – look for something pretty or funny or inspiring around you – take a picture of that object (or person)

11 – listen to a favorite song or playlist

12 – balance on one foot, then the other (“tree pose” in yoga), or use a Bosu balance trainer

13 – watch birds at a bird feeder or fish in an aquarium

14 – wash your face & use a good moisturizer

15 – drink something – coffee, tea, water, wine – whatever is suitable for the time of day!

16 – water some plants

17 – listen to a podcast

18 – listen to a book on Audible

19 – clean out a drawer or part of a closet

20 – take just five minutes and clean off your desk or workspace

21 – buy a plant

22 – buy some flowers for yourself (if you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, they have the best flowers for the best prices!)

23 – if you like to cook or bake, browse for new recipes online or in a cookbook. (Some of my favorites: Love Welcome Serve, What Can I Bring?, Pioneer Woman – Super Easy!. One that I’ve pre-ordered and can’t wait to get: Celebrate with Babs!)

24 – rearrange a bookshelf or an area you see frequently

25 – light a scented candle

26 – give someone a hug

27 – watch funny videos on TikTok

28 – make plans for dinner or doing something fun with a friend

29 – write a letter, send a card, or send a text to someone you love

30 – call someone you love

31 – read an inspirational book

32 – think of five things that are going well or that you appreciate

33 – try hand lettering

34 – try knitting or crochet

35 – stand up and walk around

36 – declutter your computer desktop or downloads

37 – take a bath or a shower

38 – find (or make) a new playlist on Spotify

39 – do some squats or lunges

40 – find a new workout to try on Beachbody on Demand

41 – think of something you love – blue hydrangeas and beach scenes, for example – and search those hashtags on Instagram

42 – floss and brush your teeth

43 – put on your favorite comfy pants. Here’s my favorite Lululemon option and my favorite Amazon option.

44 – put a tennis ball on the floor and roll your foot over it for a quick foot massage. Switch to the other foot.

45 – diffuse some essential oils. Lavender is especially calming.

46 – relax in savasana (corpse) pose.

47 – write down whatever is on your mind. Sometimes called a “brain dump,” this is a wonderful way to clear whatever is on your mind, process it, and let it go.

48 – eat some good chocolate (these milk chocolate sea salt caramels are my favorite)

49 – watch a sunrise or a sunset

50 – read a favorite devotional (one of my favorite books is Melanie Shankle’s Everyday Holy and The Bright Life by Jen Wise).

Here’s a printable list of these tips!

5 Minute Self-Care List

What would you add to this list?

8 Tips to Reset Your Classroom Environment

Any time is a good time to reset classroom your classroom environment. If you are bothered by anything in your classroom (student engagement – or lack thereof, messy areas, unkind comments, incomplete assignments, etc.), it’s time for a reset.

Read through the list of tips that follow, try one or two, and let me know how they work for you!

1 – Clean up the classroom! You don’t have to do this all by yourself. Get your students involved in the process. They can clean out their cubbies, desks, book boxes, or binders. (Show them how to take everything out, throw away the trash, put away items that belong somewhere else, then only return what they need to keep.) It’s a good idea to make this a monthly task.

Clean off classroom surfaces and put away everything you can. Clean up your teacher spaces.

Straighten up bookshelves and other areas where students use materials.

You will be amazed at the difference a more orderly classroom can make.

2 – Change your seating charts or seating plans. If you need to impose more structure about where students sit or when they are allowed to move around the classroom, do it! Just tell them that this is something that your class needs to work on in order to make a better learning space and here are the new rules. Then – enforce it. They will adjust if you are consistent in your expectations.

3 – Think about your top three procedures for your classroom.

Here are mine: how we enter the classroom and get to work quickly, how we do turn & talk or think/pair/share, and how we transition (to change classes, end of the day, etc.) Review those three key procedures. As you go through the day, if there is some small procedure that you see needs review (not blurting out or when to sharpen pencils, for example), re-teach that part at the point of need. (In other words — don’t spend an hour in the morning going over every little procedure for your class.)

Instead of your having to do all the talking or explaining, have your students discuss them (using turn & talk with a partner or triad), then share. If time allows, a fun way to review is to ask a student to model what NOT to do, then have another student model what to do instead. You always want to end this modeling with the correct model, not the incorrect one.

4 – Revisit your classroom norms by listing what is going well in your classroom and what you might want to improve.

This is a great conversation to have with your students. If you do this, try very hard to listen to what they share and try not to dismiss their suggestions.

As they list their ideas and discuss, remind them that your classroom is a “benevolent dictatorship”. You will listen and take their thoughts into account, but you might not implement every single thing they suggest. The buck stops with you, in other words.

You could do this as a brief activity when you get to that part of the day OR you could do it all at the beginning of the day. I find it’s helpful to do a few of these early in the day, then do others later in the day. It seems to keep kids’ enthusiasm for the activity at a higher level.

5 – Have your students do some reflective writing in journals about what they think about their year so far and what they would like to do to make it even better during the second half of the year. I use our class dialogue journals for this activity. Read about how I use those journals HERE.

6 – Use some picture books to generate discussions about creating a better classroom environment. Here is a link to my post with some picture books I like to use at the beginning of the year. However – these books are great to use at any point in the year or to revisit, even if you read them earlier.

Once you’ve explained or reviewed procedures, now you’ve got to reinforce and be consistent.

7 – Use proximity and eye contact. There is no better way to redirect student behavior in a gentle way than by standing nearby, circulating around the classroom, and making eye contact with students who may be starting to get off-track. Try not to just stay in one place in your classroom.

Other gentle ways to redirect: use nonverbal hand signals (to listen, to focus, to turn around, etc.), say the student’s name, or ask an on-task student to remind the class of what we should be doing/focusing on right now.

8 – If your school uses a positive behavior system (and I hope it does), that does not mean that consequences are not implemented.

Some quick consequences: make a seating change, offer the student a chance to take a break by taking a brief walk down the hall (if that’s safe), using a calming area in the classroom, or having a private conversation with the student. If you’re beginning to be concerned about the student, this is a good time to call parents/caregivers and alert them that something is happening. Get their input on what might be going on and what might help support the student.

If those consequences have not been effective, try these: make a permanent seating change, remove some “privilege” (like sitting with friends at lunch), have the student use “free” time to rehearse the procedure or work habit that they are having difficulty completing, use a reflection sheet, consider having the student spend time in a buddy teacher’s classroom (to help break the cycle). You might consider calling home at this point as well.

The most intense consequences would include office referrals, meeting with parents/caregivers, or creating a behavior contract. If the student receives a suspension as a punishment, make sure you offer a clean slate when they return. Everyone deserves another chance.

Just like everyone deserves another chance, classroom environment expectations can be reset at any time. Tomorrow is a new day and another chance to get better.

Do you want more guidance with resetting your classroom? I’m creating a mini-course with more step-by-step tips. Sign up for the waiting list HERE and I will notify you when it’s ready! (Signing up does not obligate you in any way.)

10 Productivity Tips for Teachers

So much to do, so little time.

If you’re a teacher and you are constantly frustrated by this fact of teacher life, keep reading. I have 10 tips to help you be more productive at school. You can get the most important stuff done for school while still leaving time and energy for the other important parts of your life.

1 – When you make your list of daily things to do, keep it to 3-5 items. I know, I know – you always have more to do than that. But – if you think about the top MOST important things to get done, you can probably narrow it down to 3-5 items. You can always add other tasks if you finish that list! But allow yourself to feel productive and on top of your major tasks by just listing 3-5 tasks to do on any one day.

2 – On that list of 3-5 tasks, decide what you will do first and put a number one beside it. Then do the same for the other tasks. That is saving you time by making the decision once. You are deciding when you will do each task so that when you finish each task, you automatically know what you will work on next.

3 – This is my favorite teacher workday strategy. If I have a day (or part of a day) in my classroom, I make a list of what I want to accomplish on the board. (I also number the tasks, like tip #2 above.)

Somehow, when you feel like you have a chunk of time, it’s amazing how little you can actually get done. You might find yourself walking to one area of the room to do something, then being distracted by some other area that needs something else. Before you know it, your time is up and you’ve accomplished nothing (or very little).

Decide how you will use that time, make a list, make it public for yourself by putting it on the board, number the tasks, and get after it.

4 – When I’m working on a task, I often think of something else I need to get done, or something I need to check online, etc. To keep myself focused on the task at hand, without forgetting about that sudden inspiration, I jot that task on a sticky note. When I finish my current task, THEN I’ll check that sticky note and do anything that I might need to do. That keeps me from jumping around online and distracting myself.

5 – Create templates of your routines for doing certain things. Field trips, for instance. (Well, field trips before COVID-19, that is.) Create a list of the things that need to be done before the trip, what needs to be done the day before, the morning of, after the trip, etc.

I also create templates of my weekly things to do. I list each day, then what has to be done on each of those days, along with what I would like to get done on those days (prepping for a subject, collecting books for guided reading groups, etc.). I have printable templates HERE.

6 – Batch your tasks. You hear this advice everywhere, but how does it apply to teaching? List the tasks that could be batched together (making copies, grading papers, creating anchor charts, gathering texts for guided reading groups, responding to emails, etc.). Then schedule a time during the day or the week when you will do each “batch” of tasks.

7 – If grading papers is too overwhelming to do in one big batch (it always is for me), then just plan to grade one set of papers per day OR plan for only grading papers for a certain amount of time.

8 – Email – it’s a necessary evil, isn’t it? You could spend all day in your inbox and still never feel caught up. Try to check email only three times a day: before school, during your prep/planning period, and after school.

Another tip: set a timer for checking email and stop when the timer goes off. That will keep you from spending your entire prep/planning period on email and not getting other tasks done, which are probably more important.

9 – Speaking of timers – a timer is your best friend. Not only is it a great tool for keeping students on track while working on different tasks, but it helps you to stay focused as well. I use a timer while checking email during my planning period, when I’m grading papers, and when I’m working on tasks after school but need to leave by a certain time.

10 – Having a morning routine and evening routine at home is really important for my mental and physical health. So I developed my own morning and evening routines for school as well.

Here is my sample morning routine:
*say good morning to co-workers
*turn on lamps in my classroom
*turn on Smartboard
*put my lunch away
*open my teacher planner and check my to-do list for the day
*set up my slides and websites and whatever I need for my first two subjects of the day
*check email – clear out junk or unneeded emails; star emails to come back to later in the day; respond to any emails that I can respond to very quickly
*sip a cup of coffee or tea and read a quick teacher devotional

Here is my sample afternoon/ending the day routine:
*spend 15 minutes clearing up the classroom (I have my students do a lot of this, but I spend a few minutes clearing up my own stuff or anything else that needs to be tidied up)
*organize papers to be graded
*set up whatever I can prep for the next morning
*change the date and schedule on the board (if I didn’t have my students do it earlier)
*make notes about the day/journal
*make my to-do list for the next day
*clear off my teacher space
*pack up my bag and lunch bag

To review: focus on 3-5 of the most important items on your to-do list, number that list in the order you will do the tasks, write your to-do list on the board, keep a sticky note close by for random thoughts that pop up, create templates for your routines, batch your tasks, grade papers in batches, limit your email checking, use a timer, and develop a morning and afternoon/end of day routine.

Let me know which of these tips works for you!

All You Really Need for Self-Care

Self-care doesn’t have to mean taking long bubble baths, getting massages, or going to a spa for the day. (Although all of those sound great, don’t they?)

It simply means doing some little things that feel good to you and that nurture you, every day. What works for one person might be stressful for another.

With that being said, here are ten things that will improve self-care for everyone.

1 – time alone. This doesn’t have to mean hours and hours. Maybe it means getting up 15 minutes earlier and spending a few minutes enjoying the peace and quiet with your coffee or tea.

Maybe it means taking a few minutes to relax after you put your kids to bed. For some people, going for a run or a walk gives them the exercise AND the time alone that they need. Think about when and where you could spend a few minutes alone with your thoughts. There are lots of ways you could use that time. Keep reading to see some ideas!

2 – prayer or meditation or both. I heard once that prayer is talking to God and that meditation is listening for God’s guidance. Some people like to read the Bible or a devotional before having a dedicated prayer time. Then they spend a few minutes in silence. They might not call it meditation, but it serves the same purpose of being still and quiet. Some people like to keep a journal of their prayer requests. Find what works for you.

3 – writing in a journal. This can take all kinds of different forms. You can use a journal to record things that happened during the day, keep a list of prayer requests, or use a journal as a place to process problems or issues and get some clarity. You don’t even have to write in it every day if you don’t want to.

One good way to use a journal is to write something called morning pages. You can read more about that process here. (This is just a small explanation of the process. If you want to read more, I recommend Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way.)

I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now and I can say that it really helps to get whatever anxious thoughts I have out of my head, onto the paper, and helps me focus on thinking about what I need to do. I do it first thing in the morning. It does help me get my day started on a more peaceful note because I’ve had a chance to clear my mind and get focused.

Some popular journals: a hardcover notebook (in lots of fun colors), a guided journal, a spiral-bound journal, or just a plain old spiral notebook. Whatever makes you happy!

4 – a gratitude practice. I make a gratitude list in my journal while I’m doing morning pages. Some people keep a list on their phones. Others don’t even write it down, but they do take time to think about at least five things for which they are grateful. Focusing on the good that is in your life already (even on the worst of days) helps you to stay positive and to continue to look for more of the good.

5 – photos that make you happy. You could scroll through your camera roll on your phone, use a digital photo frame, upload photos to an Amazon Echo Show (my favorite way), or print photos to post in places where you will see them often. These could be pictures of people or animals that you love, scenes that make you happy, or anything that is inspiring to you.

6 – your own space. Maybe it’s your own area of a room, maybe it’s an entire room, or maybe it’s a favorite comfy chair or couch. Establish a place for yourself where you go to relax or to spend some time alone, possibly reading or writing in your journal. Add objects nearby that make you happy – maybe some framed photos, a candle, a comfy throw or blanket, a stack of books. Time for yourself and a space that’s just for you are really important!

7 – use all the help you can get. Nobody can do everything, so don’t even try. What can you delegate to family members? Helping with dinner, doing all the cooking, folding laundry, taking out the trash, walking the dog? What can you hire someone else to do? Babysit for a few hours a week, clean your house, deliver groceries? Think about how you can delegate or eliminate some tasks, especially the ones you really dread.

8 – music or podcasts or books. Whatever makes you happy to listen to while you are driving or working or doing chores. My husband loves classical music. I sometimes listen to instrumental or classical music when I’m working, but often enjoy listening to a podcast or a book on Audible while I’m cooking or doing chores or running errands. Choose something that relaxes you or makes you happy.

9 – flowers or a plant. I buy inexpensive flowers at Trader Joe’s or my local grocery store once a week or so. If you don’t want to buy something that frequently, consider getting a low-maintenance plant. Just the sight of something green or blooming can lift your spirits!

10 – something to look forward to. This is important and it doesn’t have to be a big event, like a vacation or a holiday. Think of something that makes you feel happy or relaxed. For me, it might be curling up on my sofa with my iPad and Netflix. When I’m having an especially busy or stressful day, I think about something that I might do when I get home that will make me happy. Consider keeping a list of these kinds of things. But always keep something in mind that you look forward to doing or someone you look forward to seeing.

I hope this list got you thinking about some simple ways to take care of yourself! You are worth it.

Simplifying Your Teacher To-Do List

Being a good teacher is hard at any time. Being a good teacher during a pandemic is nearly impossible. The tasks seem to multiply, but the time to do them seems to diminish by the day.

I wish I could wave a magic wand and give you fewer tasks to do and more time to do them.

via GIPHY

Since I can’t do that, I’ll try to give you some actionable tips to deal with your monumental to-do list.

1 – First, make a list of everything you need to do on a daily basis. Write down every single thing – taking attendance, prepping for each class or lesson, checking email. Everything.

When you’re done, first congratulate yourself for all that you are getting done every single day. Then, take another look at that list and see if there is anything on the list that could be simplified, done less frequently, delegated to someone (a teaching assistant? a student teacher? your students?) or deleted altogether.

As you look for items to simplify, think about how you might “batch” some tasks. Batching means doing all of the same kinds of tasks at the same time. Some examples: making all of your copies one day a week instead of making copies daily; writing your detailed reading group lesson plans at one time (even though you may still need to tweak them, based on what you see your students do in the group); doing all the prep work for a subject on one day, all the prep work for another subject on another day, etc.

2 – Next, make a list of everything you need to do on a weekly basis. Again, write down every single thing.

Do the same things with this list that you did with the daily list. Congratulate yourself first! Then see if anything on the list can be simplified, done less frequently, delegated, or deleted.

If these tasks should be done on certain days, list the day beside the task. For example: maybe you send a parent newsletter or email on Friday. If so, you might want to do the actual writing of the newsletter or email on Wednesday or Thursday so that it will be ready to send on Friday.

On this list, put a star or asterisk beside any time that takes less than 15 minutes to complete. You’ll use that code for your daily to-do list in tip #4 below.

3 – Start a running projects list. For this list, write down everything you think you need to do or that you want to do for your classroom. These projects should not be items on your daily/weekly tasks lists. These projects are “extra.” Keep adding to this list as you think of things. If there is something in particular that you really want to do soon, put a star beside it, highlight it, anything that will draw your attention to it.

The purpose of this list is to clear your mind of things you think of that you want to do at some point, but that can tend to overwhelm you when you think of adding them to your already overcrowded to-do list. These items can be added to your to-do list when/if you have the time some week. If you never get to them, that’s okay too – they are not required tasks.

4 – When you’re ready to make your daily to-do list, keep the numbers 1-3-5 in mind.

Write down 1 “big” task for the day (i.e., planning your next writing unit, completing report cards, etc.). You might want to take a look at the list of your weekly tasks for this item. This item might also be something from your running projects list.

Then write down 3 “medium” tasks for the day. These tasks might take more than 15 minutes, but not more than 30 minutes (i.e., creating math slides for the next day’s lesson, planning your reading groups for the next day, etc.).

Finally, write down 5 “small” tasks for the day. The small tasks should take less than 15 minutes (i.e., respond to emails, create agenda for a PLC meeting, etc.). Take a look at your weekly list of starred tasks as you make this list.

Some people like to keep this list separate from their daily to-do items from tip #1 above. Other people like to list it all on one page so they can see all the little things they accomplish in a day. I personally LOVE to check items off a list, so this works for me. Other people prefer to see a shorter, more streamlined list. Do what works best for you!

5 – Recognize that, on some days, those 1-3-5 tasks might not all get done. If this seems to be a pattern for most of your days, change the numbers to 1-2-3 instead. Give yourself grace! Also, recognize that just getting all those daily to-do tasks done is an accomplishment in itself.

6 – When you’ve got that daily list ready to go, indicate beside each task WHEN you’re going to try to get it done. Before school? During a prep period? After school? Doing this helps you to be a bit more realistic about how much you might be able to get done on a particular day.

It’s okay to postpone tasks for another day if you see that this day will not have as much time for completing tasks. By the way – if you want some printable lists, here’s my inexpensive option.

7 – Give yourself grace. Some years, and some times of the year, are just going to be hard. At those times, you have to let some things go and do the best you can.

Simplify whatever you can, batch tasks as best you can, do some tasks less frequently, delegate whatever you can, and delete whatever you can. YOU and your energy management are what is most important.

Do what you can and do not try to be a super-teacher. The fact that you show up every day to do this work means you are already a super-teacher. Be kind to yourself first.

Tiny Habits that Make a Big Difference

Amidst New Year’s resolutions and COVID still lurking around every corner, everything can feel overwhelming right now.

How about implementing just a few tiny habits that will lead to achieving your goals AND help keep you healthy? Here are 14 suggestions. Just pick one or two and see how they work for you!

1 – Get 15 more minutes of sleep. But not by hitting the snooze button! (That kind of sleep isn’t the kind that restores you anyway.) Try going to bed just 15 minutes earlier. If you want to keep working on setting an earlier bedtime, try going to bed 15 more minutes earlier every night until you find your perfect amount of sleep time.

2 – This habit is like #1. Don’t hit that snooze button. This is a hard one and the only way I can stick to this habit is to keep my phone (or an alarm, if you use one) out of reach. Seriously. I have to get out of bed to turn my phone alarm off and by then, I’m already up and moving. My inspiration for doing this came from Mel Robbins’ awesome book The Five-Second Rule. I highly recommend her book if you haven’t read it!

3 – Try meditation. I love using the Headspace app, but you can find guided meditations for free on YouTube. I set an easy goal for myself when I started – just three minutes – then added on time from there. Even on my busiest days, I can still find three minutes. Just sitting in silence and focusing on your breathing helps bring calm to an overwhelming situation.

4 – Speaking of deep breathing – adding more of that to your day will also bring some calm and help you re-focus. Set a reminder on your phone and try to add some deep breathing throughout your day.

5 – Drink more water! If you get tired of drinking plain water, add some lemon or lime to your water or try one of the flavored sparkling waters. My goal is to drink about 8 cups of water daily. If you’re not close to that yet, just try adding a half cup more of water every day until you’re getting around 6 – 8 cups daily.

6 – Tidy up or declutter for 15 minutes every day. Whether that means folding that pile of laundry, sorting through the mail, cleaning out your purse – whatever is getting on your nerves, just spend a few minutes decluttering and see how it helps change your outlook.

7 – Add 30 minutes of movement to your daily routine. This doesn’t have to mean going to the gym. Just walking or stretching counts too. Find some activities that you love (or at least that you don’t hate) and do that for five minutes at a time. Work your way up to 30 minutes.

8 – Keep a gratitude journal. This can be in a cute journal like this one or it can just be a list on your phone or on a sticky note. The format doesn’t matter. Write down five things for which you can be grateful, no matter how small. When you start looking for good things in your life, you’ll find them, even on the darkest days.

9 – Make your bed! Even if everything else in your home or apartment feels messy or cluttered, when you see your bed made and looking pretty, it makes you feel in control of at least one area of your life! For such a small investment of time, this tip really helps.

10 – Write your goals for the day. What do you want to do or work on today? Trying to keep a big picture of what is important to you helps keep you from getting dragged down by unimportant tasks.

11 – Eat at least five servings of fruit or vegetables. This is easier to do than you might think. One serving of vegetables, for instance, is one-half cup. If I eat a salad, I can easily eat at least four servings of vegetables right there.

12 – Create a morning routine. See my post about how to do that here.

13 – Create an evening routine. I have a post about that one too!

14 – Reach out to someone you care about every day. This can be a face-to-face visit, a phone call, an email, a text, a DM, whatever works for you. Just letting someone else know that you are thinking of them and you care about them will make you feel good too.

Let me know which tips you try and how they work for you!

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