You ask, I answer! This question is from a good friend/colleague of mine whose primary instrument is piano. He asks: “How do you recharge and not get burnt out from teaching?”
My two immediate reactions are: 1. Everyone gets burnout sometimes, and it can be for any reason and 2. the best strategy for eliminating burnout is prevention. This can involve that “recharge” phase, which itself has a couple of meanings. You can have a daily or weekly recharge regimen, as well as an extended/continuous recharge period that is needed after burnout occurs. Everyone is different and so the answer is a bit different for everyone, but here is my opinion.
You should take measures to prevent burnout. Here’s some proactive points to consider:
– Aim to not work for more than 4-6 hours straight without any scheduled breaks.
– Invest emotionally in your students. Spend a few minutes to talk with them and listen about their week, their time at school/work, etc.
– Mix up the kind of material you teach with. I have trouble maintaining interest/focus if every student is more or less on the same part of the same book. It’s so boring! I ask the students for their favorite songs and adapting to teach those instead provides me with a challenge that I enjoy.
– Don’t schedule work 7 days a week. Very easy to do as a musician, work hours per day can be limited so it doesn’t feel like a big deal to schedule yourself a 3-4 hour teaching block every single day. You need at least one day totally to yourself, because you need time to go to that friendly hangout, or the DMV, or a wedding, funeral, bar mitzvah, gig, etc. You need time to enjoy personal hobbies that will allow you to recharge a bit each week, like meditation, reading a book, exercise, karate, watching TV, playing videogames, etc.
– Make your teaching space comfortable for you, have a snack or a coffee on the desk, have a comfortable seat.
– Do not answer phone calls or texts during certain especially late or early times, or on specific off days you have planned in advance. For example: I do not handle any scheduling requests or teaching related inquiries on Saturdays. I tell everyone this, but they will still reach out anyways. I can make exceptions if I feel I have to, but scheduling is working and you deserve one day to yourself. You are not a doctor, there is no reason for you to be “on call”.
– Limit or ban make up lessons, and if possible remove uncommitted students. These can greatly complicate your schedule and become frustrations. Don’t martyr yourself for uncommitted students.
The bad news is, once burnout has taken hold of you, you can’t shake it right away. You need to fall back on these strategies and stick to them, or schedule a vacation/time off to eliminate it. I have seen many colleagues with an endless list of things to do, just chasing away at it because once the list is done they can rest. The truth is this will never bring rest, only an eternal burnout. Your list of things to do will always grow, frankly until you are either dead or at least retired. You will experience a better quality of work and of life if you stick to these burnout preventing strategies! Take care of yourselves and thank you for reading!