Towards a White School #51 Part 24: Work Style

Since I started writing on note, the work I have to do and the desire to write on note have been competing, and my brain is in a terrible state...

This time, since I am sometimes asked how I prioritize when work is piling up, or how I manage my time while doing so many different things, I will talk about my way of working for your reference.

First, eliminate stress regarding physical condition

When I was young, if I felt unwell, it would become a source of stress and hinder my work. For example, lack of sleep or headaches. I would use that as an excuse for not making progress on my work.
However, once I started raising children, the center of my life became the children, and I was in a state where I could not afford to worry about my own physical condition. As I mentioned in 'Part 15: Let's Participate with Children,' I was constantly sleep-deprived. ↓

When days continued where I had to go to work no matter how sleep-deprived I was, I reached a state of mind that felt like enlightenment.
That is, this is my normal state. In other words, lack of sleep and headaches are usual things, not special. It becomes a stress because I try to resolve them, so if I accept them as they are, they are not a stress at all. It is the difference between thinking 'I couldn't sleep again today...' or 'I slept for 3 hours, just like always!'

Once I stopped worrying about my physical condition, everything suddenly became easier. The sense of burden disappeared, and I gained peace of mind.
If I can sleep for 4 hours in a row, I'm lucky. This doesn't last forever either, so I sometimes make a day on the weekend to sleep soundly.
If I can take such a day, I'm super lucky.

Even after child-rearing settled down, this habit has continued.
Even during nursing care, I was able to get through it because I had this habit.

You might think, 'Is such an unhealthy life okay?' but actually, my eating habits are proper. I eat three solid meals, and have a little bit of snacks. I try not to hold back on what I want to eat. This is the secret to health.

I want to make sure you don't misunderstand; I am not recommending lack of sleep.
If there is something that you feel is a stressor within yourself, this is a suggestion that you might be able to stop feeling it as stress depending on your way of thinking or mindset.If there is something that you feel is a stressor within yourself, it is possible that you can stop feeling it as stress depending on your way of thinking or mindset, is my suggestion.

Decide on a leaving time

Work has no end unless you set a boundary yourself. While you are thinking blankly, time passes mercilessly. If you only have to take care of yourself, time spent blankly is also meaningful, but when you are raising children or have taken on various roles, that is no longer enough.

When I was raising children and was a teacher (before taking the management selection exam), I wasn't entrusted with much work, so I would leave as soon as it was time to go home.
When I became a head teacher, I couldn't keep up with the work, so I decided to leave at 6 o'clock. By then, I would prepare what I could take home, and in any case, I would leave school at 6 o'clock. If you set an end time, you can calculate backward to see what you should do at what time. I would do the work I brought home after putting the children to sleep at 9 o'clock, or just think about the arrangements for the next day and leave it for the next day. When I really couldn't keep up, I would also set a time and go to work on Saturday.
Since it makes me feel uneasy when work piles up, it is more stressful to start the week as it is.
It is better to choose the method that makes your own feelings the most refreshed. is my suggestion.

In the middle of my second year as vice principal, from the time when inquiries from parents decreased significantly, I decided to go home at a time when I could at least take a bath with my children, even if dinner with them was impossible.
Even when I was in the service section, I decided to go home at 7:30. In fact, the accidents I was in charge of were always filling my desk drawer, and there was no end to it no matter how long I worked. Except when I was on duty waiting for the assembly, I went home at 7:30 every day, so the personnel manager nicknamed me 'The 7:30 Woman,' but I used that to my advantage by saying, 'I'm the 7:30 woman, so excuse me,' which made it easier to leave.
The only good thing about being in the service section was that the start time was late. I could leave the house with my children when they went to school, so that was the only good thing.

Since becoming a principal, I have decided to leave school at 6 o'clock at night unless there is a response required. ☆ On days when there is a small table tennis club, I start table tennis from 5 o'clock.

I recommend working with a set end time.

Centralize schedules and records

As I mentioned in the section on weekly guidance plans, it is best to centralize schedules and records.
Time spent searching is a waste.

Whether I was a vice principal or in the administration, I based everything on my self-made weekly guidance plan. I didn't change the format, using the vertical axis as the timetable when I was a vice principal, and as time when I was in administration. I made a year's worth with loose-leaf paper, 53 sheets. I can take plenty of notes on the right page.
I buy the thinnest file possible, and

I wrote everything in here. I can't show you the filled-in pages, but it's like this ↓

If you make it a habit to write everything down there, you can clear your mind of whatever is bothering you, keeping your brain clear at all times.

Especially when I was in the service section, there were times when I would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night, and things like quotas, grounds, and procedures for discussions would swirl around in my head, making it impossible to fall back asleep. That is why I started keeping a notebook by my pillow, and whenever I felt like things were swirling around, I would write them down. Things that are swirling in your head feel like a lot because they are swirling, but once you write them down, they are often not that much. You can clear your head and get back to sleep.

Since becoming a principal, I have used a planner exclusively. I like this format with the vertical axis representing time, and I use it regularly. ↓

The actual pages contain too many proper nouns, so what I have posted here is a dummy version.
I write down everything, such as this week's To-Do list, today's To-Do list, things I want to tell the vice principal, progress management, content from the head teacher meetings, and things to talk about at liaison meetings. The "Ta" stands for Table Tennis Club day.

And what comes in handy when filling it out is a 5-color pen. This is a color-coding habit I have kept since my days as a teacher.
Green... business trips, purple... school errands, orange... personal errands like vacations (I write down everything, including hair salon visits on days off).
The other colors are black and a mechanical pencil. Instead of a diary, I classify things by adding symbols, such as ♥ for good things and ▼ for things I disliked.
It makes it easy to look back on later.

I recommend taking notes in a way that is easy to understand and enjoyable, such as by color-coding them.

How to clear your work

For work that must be done at school, I write the deadline on this week's To-Do list, write it on today's To-Do list for the day I actually do it, and then execute it. If you write these down when the work comes in, you won't forget to do it and you won't have to panic.

For other work, such as writing a manuscript or summarizing a paper for a conference presentation—work that you create from scratch—I also write down To-Dos, such as thinking about the plot by this week, summarizing the materials by this week, and finishing and submitting it by this week, but I often don't decide exactly when I will do it until the last minute.
It is hard to put into words, but it feels like keeping what needs to be done in the back of my mind and maintaining a state where it occasionally pops up. And it feels like waiting for it to descend one day, or waiting for it to appear in a concrete form.
Since it descends while I am cooking, on the train, or doing other work, I stop what I am doing and take notes immediately.
And when I am actually giving it shape, rather than sitting down at the computer and saying, "Okay, let's do this," I make it so I can do it at any time and intentionally do other things at the same time. I do completely unrelated things, like running the washing machine or preparing a puzzle book. If my family asks me to do something in the middle of it, I include that in my work as well.

This is my insurance policy so that if things don't go as planned when I actually try to do it, even if it had taken shape in my brain, I don't have to blame myself for spending all that time and getting nothing done! I wasted my time... what am I doing!

While I am doing puzzles or hanging out the laundry, it gradually comes together, and when the time is right, I finish it all at once. That time might come during the day or in the middle of the night, but as I wrote at the beginning, I have decided not to worry about lack of sleep, so any time is fine.

Sometimes ideas don't descend easily, but if I set a deadline, I usually manage to get it done before then. I am grateful that I can believe in myself, thinking, "It will surely work out somehow," because I have the pride of having survived numerous crises.

As for work for local governments or national-level research groups, I cannot do it at school, so I often do it at home like this.
In addition to this, I also write down the days I will handle home-related matters (tax returns, various procedures, etc., which come in regardless of my convenience...) in the same planner and handle them at the same level.

Spring cleaning and the like are at the same level. I think the secret to handling things without stress is not to treat anything related to yourself as special. (Although I often complain to my family, saying things like "I don't want to" or "I don't want to do it"...)

I hope that all of you will also develop your own way of working and mindset so that you can work with as little stress as possible.

Addendum

If you are working, everyone has things they dislike. The way to keep that from becoming stress is to process it in your head without letting it sink into your heart.

In other words, treat it as work, let your work-mode self handle it, and don't let it enter your heart.
If it does enter your heart and you feel uneasy, just like when your head was swirling, write it down in a notebook and get it out of your heart.
Give it a try!

Next time, it will be "Addendum to Part 24: Small things, but good to have decided—for the vice principal."=^_^=