Being a school psychologist can be like walking a tightrope over a flaming dumpster. Time and energy management are going to be your best friends in avoiding this feeling. The best way to do this is to follow the flow.
You may remember in the movie “Soul” when they discussed the state of flow.
Flow is the feeling when you are completely immersed in an activity. Like getting engrossed in a game of Baldur’s Gate for ten hours. Or binge watching an entire season of House of the Dragon in one day.
Not that I’ve ever done these things…
As a school psychologist, you might get into this state of flow in ways you wouldn’t expect.
Assessing a student who is doing well may motivate you to keep going. When you’re writing an intense report that you want to finish. When your facilitating a meeting where your colleagues are receptive to your ideas.
You feel alive and you’re making an impact.
How do you cultivate that feeling daily?
1. Schedule your days to get those quick shots of dopamine and do those tasks first.
That sounds counterintuitive from the common advice of eating the frog. In other words, doing the hardest tasks first. The hardest tasks are going to vary from person to person. Most of my hardest tasks involve talking to people. The “peopling” part of my job is exhausting.
Who wants to start their day off talking to an angry parent or disrespectful kid? Who wants to start their day with their worst coworkers who roll their eyes every time you speak?
Add in an layer of nuance if you’re a neurospicy chronically ill person like me. My energy levels vary from day to day, sometimes hour to hour. My day can be derailed with a migraine out of nowhere. Doing the hard tasks first can be excruciating.
I get a feeling of resistance in my chest. Like the plasma shields have gone up and the ship is going into shut down mode. No amount of willpower, motivation, and determination can get me to do that task that day.
And who wants to spend their days fighting themselves?
My dopamine inducing tasks usually involve assessing a kid, report writing, or research. Times when I can hyperfocus on a topic I love or making a connection with a kid.
2. Re-balance your day if things go sideways.
Sometimes you have to do the hard thing first. You don’t have a choice.
Sometimes you have an eval meeting in the morning that goes sideways. Or you have to deal with a upset student. Or your admin comes in demanding that you assess a student with no data.
Things like that can derail all your plans.
For me, on days like that, I balance out my schedule. I may have had some back to back assessments schedule after that eval meeting. If that meeting goes sideways for some reason, I may need a day of my dopamine tasks to recharge.
Every morning, I do a grounding activity and check in with myself. If I’m feeling anxious or annoyed, I don’t schedule assessments until I can get back to baseline. I do some mundane admin tasks and paperwork until lunch. If I’m feeling better, I may pull a student for assessment.
I was humbly reminded not to work with kids when I’m worked up.
3. Take advantage of the benefits of Flow
According to verywellmind.com there are benefits when entering a flow state. Emotional Regulation, Motivation, Engagement, and Creativity are enhanced in a state of flow.
To enter a Flow state, set goals, eliminate distractions, and choose an enjoyable task.
Gamify your job.
As school psychologists, we likely all have different tasks that gets us in the Flow state.
For some, it may be doing counseling 1:1 or in a group. For others, it might be presenting at high stakes meetings. Unfortunately, we can’t spend our entire days chasing dopamine all day. If we only did the tasks we enjoyed, we’d never get anything done.
When I have tasks that I don’t like, I tend to batch those tasks together and save them for later. That may sound like procrastination, but it’s strategic. I’d rather have a day where all I’m doing is writing reports and conducting observations. Trying to schedule every task down to the minute is exhausting.
Context switching will lead to burn out.
I suck at paperwork and I dislike making phone calls. I manage those tasks by setting time aside to get as much paperwork and get through as many phone calls as I can.
The work still gets done, but it’s not a soul sucking task that ruins my day. Especially if I know a parent or someone I need to call is going to be upset.
4. Following the Flow is about managing time and energy in a way that allows for balance.
As a school psychologist, time and energy management are essential.
If there’s not a fair amount of balance during the school day, you are likely going to feel burnt out. The times I felt on the verge of burnout, I was trying to do all of the things. I also started neglecting my health. I’m a work in progress. Incorporating movement, hydration, rest, play, and flow will help with energy management. I try to do a something in each of these categories daily. I’m not perfect, but it does help.
For movement, that can be walking around the track a few times or just getting up to wonder the halls in the school. I made a commitment to myself to go and get kids from their classrooms. It’s a good way to build rapport and put them at ease.
Rest and play during the school day can be as simple as taking a break and doing nothing. I do a little writing and play games on my phone. I check in on uplifting Facebook groups. I stopped the doom scrolling and stopped reading the news. I have a basketball hoop in my office that I use with kids. It’s fun way to get a little movement and play in during the day.
Being a school psychologist is hard and it’s easy to overwork yourself.
It’s like yin and yang—they’re totally interconnected. So, embrace that flow, and don’t sweat the small stuff. Your rhythm might not look like everyone else’s, and that’s okay! As long as you’re kicking goals and feeling good, you’re winning.
People would be surprised by how much white space is on my calendar as a school psych.
My days aren’t traditionally or rigidly structured, but they fall into a nice easy rhythm.
I use the pomodoro technique to break up my day. This technique spends 25-45 minutes on a task, then take a 5-15 minute break, then go through the cycle again.
It’s good way to balance between “Flow State” activities and boring activities. My days have a nice flow to them, even when accounting for the unexpected.
When you are a school psychologist, you deal with a lot of things that can sap your energy. There’s an expectation in education that being busy equals being productive. Admin have been telling their staff that they need to get used to taking work home.
I call B.S.
This job is not worth sacrificing my sanity over.
Even working remotely, I stop my day at a specific time. It’s very rare that I go past 3:00 or 4:00. My days feel spacious because I schedule them to be that way. I only get paid per an assessment, so while it’s tempting to do more, it’s not required.
You shouldn’t have to take work home to get it all done.
Doing more doesn’t make you productive.
What makes a person productive anyway? Does it matter how you get there if the level of work is high quality? Do you get the work done at a high level and on time? Great, then you are productive.
It shouldn’t matter what steps it took to get there as long as you get there.
- Get your shot of dopamine for the day.
- Don’t be afraid to reschedule your day when things go sideways.
- Take advantage of your flow state.
- Managing your time and energy is essential for balance.
It’s about that sweet spot between getting important things done and your capacity.
Take a deep breath, my friend. You’ve got this time management thing in the bag. And remember, I’m here cheering you on every step of the way!