Nothing is more important than your good health, ample energy, and an alert mind to do this very important job. You must eat right, exercise regularly, and get some sleep. You must. Veteran principals become reconciled to the fact that the work never gets completely done. So don't let yourself get overwhelmed. Go take an aerobics class.
Schedule exercise on your calendar as seriously as you schedule any critical appointment. There is no better antidote to stress and no better way to increase your energy level.
Before you can take care of your school, you have to take care of yourself. No one else will. Everyone wants a piece of your time. The job can be all-consuming. The work never all gets done. You never again have enough time to do your best work. No matter how determined you are to schedule the important but not urgent things, somebody else's emergency will inevitably intrude. There are more issues than can possibly be resolved. And your past relationships with staff change as soon as you step over the threshold into your new job.
As a new principal, you can easily become overwhelmed. In this first year, you can sometimes think that the job is too much for you. But the fact is that every principal has gone through this same period of figuring out how to get organized so that the important things get done, how to stay healthy and positive, and how to be effective and have fun. You have gotten this far, so you can do it, too.
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