Improve Your School Year and Impact by Adding YOU to That New Planner of Yours

Helping Educators Prioritize Personal Well-being in Their Planning to Create More Calm and Impact this School Year

by Katie Raher, PhD

Please raise your hand if you get super excited any time you have a new planner. Yeah, my hand is up too. I get it. I've spent much of my career holding on to hope that finding the perfect planner, or using it in just the right way, will make it a little easier to manage the ridiculous amount of tasks that come with educator territory.

I know I'm not alone here either. Finding the perfect planner is one of the most frequently discussed topics I see in educator forums every back-to-school season. Will it be Erin Condren? A Plum Planner? Something customizable from Teachers Pay Teachers? It seems like so many of us are searching for the perfect planner.

Don't get me wrong. Finding the right planner can absolutely make a difference in keeping you organized and bringing a sense of predictability to your world.

And, what if there is another major part of your planner that could make a critical difference in how well this year goes for you and your students?

I've got great news for you. There is another factor that can make this year better for you and your kiddos. This is where you come in. I mean where YOU literally get written into your planner.

If you're anything like I've been most of my life, you might have just laughed out loud reading that last sentence. Where in the world does this lady think I'm going to fit ME in? Has she seen my schedule?

Why Adding Yourself to Your Planner Matters

I understand. By this point in the school year, you've probably already gotten busy filling in your planner with all the work tasks. Back-to-School Night, lesson plans, paperwork, meetings, professional development, testing, fire drills, assemblies, and much, much more. Not to mention everything in your personal life too, especially if you're a parent.

It's easy to look at your jam-packed calendar and think there's no way you're fitting yourself in, and since you're being of service to others, it's okay to take one for the team.

Here's the deal though. When we neglect ourselves, as I did through most of my career, it becomes harder to handle all the events, plans, and emotional drain of the work. No matter how amazing your planner is.

We are more likely to feel frustrated, exhausted, and overwhelmed, and less likely to be as calm and centered as our students and colleagues need. And there is even a real chance you'll get sick. It is disheartening how many educators I know who deal with some type of chronic illness or major health issue, myself included.

On the flip side, adding you to your planner brings more energy, more wellness, more clarity, and more inner calm to pull from when needed, which is most of the time as an educator.

When we feel better and have more capacity to draw from, we are so much better at responding to our students with compassion, connection, and creative solutions, which builds the kind of positive relationships they need to thrive in our classroom. It's a win-win when we prioritize our own needs.

Why You Actually Need to Write Yourself Down

Hopefully you're seeing my point, but you might still be wondering why you need to add yourself to your planner at all. Why can't you just spontaneously decide to do something for your own well-being every once in a while? Isn't that enough?

I wish it were that simple. If you are already rocking your own self-care, keep on chugging along. But because many of us carry deep, well-worn patterns of putting ourselves near the bottom of the to-do list, if we even make it onto the list at all, we often need something more tangible to start changing how we support ourselves.

I've been working on prioritizing my own well-being for years, essentially after a chronic illness forced me into it, and I've seen some fascinating patterns in myself and in most every other woman I've met on this journey. I'm not saying men don't struggle with this too, I am saying many women certainly do share this struggle.

Although plenty of us finally get around to having good intentions for our own wellness, which is an important start, far too many of us don't actually keep up the practice of honoring our own needs. The intentions get forgotten or pushed aside. Things get tough, or busy, or someone else asks for help, and we quickly, subconsciously move ourselves back to the bottom of the list. We self-sabotage. You're behind on paperwork, your administrator needs you to stay late for an extra meeting, or your own kid has practice you need to bring them to. Whatever it is, we are so quick to say yes to those other things and people, and drop ourselves from the priority list.

Interestingly, though, I've found that when we literally write ourselves down in our planner, when we first and foremost say yes to ourselves, it can transform our ability to truly honor our needs. Once it's in writing, it becomes a commitment. We've officially added ourselves to the to-do list. It can feel so good, and admittedly a little scary, when this hasn't been your norm.

I dream that someday I'll get really good at just spontaneously centering my well-being without needing a plan. Until that happens, I've found that writing myself down in my planner consistently turns my self-care intentions into reality. If you had a specific lesson plan, staff meeting, or IEP meeting written down, you would do your absolute best to make it happen. Having yourself written into your planner works the same way, it makes you work that much harder to make your well-being happen too.

Writing yourself down can even make it easier to set boundaries with confidence. "Hmm, an extra practice, let me check my planner. I have yoga then, so we'll need to figure out if a friend's family can bring you. If we can't find someone, we'll get it next time, since I'm for sure going to yoga." You don't even have to fill in the blank. You can simply name the generic meeting you've got, yes, even the one where all you're planning is five minutes of doing absolutely nothing. "I've got something then, so I can't make that work. Maybe next time."

Now I know something inside you might be cringing, feeling like it's selfish to put yourself in front of someone else's needs. I'm continually reworking this pattern of thinking myself.

But here's the thing. You give of yourself all day, every day. You're an educator, meaning you're in the most giving group on the planet. And if you're a parent, or do any elder care, you go home and give, give, and give some more. You've done your share of giving and caretaking. Taking time for you is much deserved and not selfish.

In fact, it's the least selfish thing you can do. By taking care of yourself, you equip yourself to give more fully, empowering yourself to meet your students' needs in more significant ways, and taking steps to make every day a little better, and this year full of more impact.

How to Add Yourself to Your Planner: 3 Steps

Step 1: Examine Your Planner

Look at the puzzle that is already your school-year schedule, and figure out when you can carve out time for you. Look for a minute or two you can claim every single day (yes, some of what you can do is quick, more on that below), and maybe once a week where you could have a bigger chunk of time to yourself. Start where you're at. If these suggestions are making your breath get shallow, start small and build up. If you're farther along in your well-being journey, dream big.

You might need to get creative, especially if you also have kids of your own at home. You might have to enlist help from colleagues, family, or friends (asking for help can be its own hard thing, worth its own conversation another time). You might have to rearrange something, or wake up two minutes earlier. Either way, you're an educator, which means you're smart, creative, and resilient, so I know you can figure this out.

Step 2: Write YOU Down

Once you've got a plan for when it might work to fit yourself in, write YOU down. From your point of view, that might look like writing "me" or "me time."

In your lesson plan section, you might add a row somewhere. Do you start your day with morning meeting? Maybe draw a line across and squeeze a "me time" row right before it. Maybe it's only a two-minute block. That's fine. It's a first step, and there are small things that can genuinely help, even in two minutes, more on that below.

Write your bigger "me time" item in too. Maybe you block off 90 minutes one evening a week. Maybe it's one hour of quiet time after the school day ends. Maybe it's 30 minutes a few times a week. Wherever you found, or made, room in Step 1, write your "me time" down.

Step 3: Pick Your Power

Try to figure out what type of well-being you want to add to your "me time," and write the specifics down.

So you've added yourself to your planner. Now you're probably thinking, what can I actually do that's quick, easy, and maybe even free, in those moments I blocked off?

Here are four free and easy options that fit the bill: deep breathe, do nothing (yes, literally nothing, just zone out), take a walk, or do child's pose (a yoga mat is nice to have handy, or simply a quick sheet on your classroom rug).

Let's take breathing as an example. Maybe all you put in your planner is to deep breathe for two minutes every morning (if this feels too small for you, dream bigger, but for some of us, even two intentional minutes is real progress). Instead of rushing through last-minute prep and running to open the door to greet students, get to school a few minutes early, and make sure you get to a very important meeting written in your planner, the one with yourself. If your planner says deep breathing at 7:55, do it. Take those few minutes for you.

Yes, it's small. And it's still powerful. Even something like intentional, slow breathing before you open that door to students can create a real shift in how you, and your students, experience the whole day.

Your Turn

If you want more simple, powerful tools and tricks like this deep breathing example, that is exactly the kind of thing that shows up regularly in The Educator's HeartBeat, my free newsletter, so be sure to subscribe if you want ongoing support.

And while I can't wait to help you build out your well-being toolbox over time, take the first, most important step to making this your best year yet: commit to yourself in writing, in your planner. No matter what planner you've chosen this year, finally having YOU written in it will help make this one of the best years you've had.

If you'd like a simple visual reminder to go alongside this practice, grab our Free Self-Compassion Break poster, a quick tool for exactly the kind of self-kindness this post is asking you to build in.

If the deep breathing and other well-being experiences mentioned above are calling to you, our breathwork membership goes further into guided practices you can drop into during the very "me time" this post is asking you to protect.

And if you are ready for your whole school to carve out intentional time in the schoolwide planner for staff well-being, we'd love to get you on our calendar. Email us at [email protected] and let's connect.

FAQ

Why should educators add themselves to their planner?

Educators tend to fill every line of their planner with everyone else's needs, and rarely write themselves in at all. Writing yourself into your planner turns a good intention into a real commitment, the same way any meeting or lesson plan becomes real once it is written down. It is a small, tangible way to actually protect the time you already know you need.

Isn't it selfish to prioritize my own needs over my students?

It is actually the opposite. Educators give all day, every day, and taking time to care for yourself equips you to give more fully. When you have more capacity to draw from, you respond to students with more compassion, connection, and creativity, which is what builds the relationships they need to thrive.

What if I don't have any free time in my schedule?

Start small. Look for even a minute or two a day, plus maybe one longer block once a week. You may need to get creative, ask for help, or rearrange something, but even two intentional minutes written into your planner is real progress, especially if self-care has not historically made your to-do list at all.

What are some quick self-care ideas I can fit into a busy school day?

Four free, easy options: take a few deep breaths, do absolutely nothing for a couple minutes, take a short walk, or move into child's pose on a mat or rug. Even two minutes of intentional deep breathing before students arrive can shift how your whole day unfolds.

How is writing myself into my planner different from just deciding to take care of myself when I can?

Good intentions are an important start, but they are easy to lose when things get busy or someone else asks for help. Writing yourself down turns the intention into a commitment, the same way you would show up for a scheduled meeting. It also makes it easier to set boundaries with confidence when something else tries to take that time.

Where can I get more strategies like this?

The Educator's HeartBeat, our free newsletter, regularly shares simple, doable well-being tools like this one. You can also grab our Free Self-Compassion Break poster, explore our breathwork membership for guided practices you can drop into during your own protected 'me time,' or email us at [email protected] to connect about getting whole staff well-being on your school's calendar.