Five Tips for Avoiding Teacher Burnout
This past week, I received this email with the subject: Teacher Burnout.
“I am in my 40th year of teaching private piano lessons and wanted to see if you could provide some insight.
What things do you do to keep your teaching fresh and exciting (for your students and for yourself)?
I want to do this journey well, until God says it's time to make a change (cut back, retire, or who knows what)?!Thank you so much.”
-Melanie
Melanie’s question was profound and demanded a thoughtful answer, so I replied, "Let me get back to you."
I know this for sure: Burnout is real at any stage or age, and far too many suffer from it.
Since her email, I’ve been pondering and looking back through my 37+ years of teaching to determine what has kept me from burnout. I’ve been singed by it a couple of times but nothing severe.
As I began compiling my list of ideas for Melanie, I recalled a book I purchased a few years back called Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by sisters Emily Nagoski, PhD and Amelia Nagoski, DMA (a musician—a choral conductor!)
The next paragraphs provide tips from my personal experience and the sisters' research and advice.
What is burnout?
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle is packed with data, real-life stories, and actionable steps. I’m sharing just a few nuggets that may serve you well.
The first thing to address is the definition of burnout. The authors define it with these three components:
Emotional exhaustion–caring too much for too long.
Depersonalization - the depletion of caring.
Decreased sense of accomplishment - feeling that nothing you do makes a difference.
Do you connect with any of these?
If so, here are some tips…
1️⃣ Say “NO” sometimes
To be honest, I lived for saying YES for years and didn’t carefully attend to the components listed above until our 25-year-old son’s accident that took his right arm and almost his life.
This pivotal event gave me an unexpected encounter with trauma, loss, and grief.
Since then, my brain has installed an angst meter (in the book, they call it a monitor). If I’m feeling overwhelmed or depleted, the alarm goes off, which signals that I must LISTEN and consider my next step.
The meter has helped me routinely say NO to YES, as I describe in my final Key Idea’s podcast Episode #71.
Are you saying YES too often? Is it time to say NO?
2️⃣ Diversify and keep learning new things
The Nagoski sisters claim that just saying “NO” may not avoid burnout.
“We thrive when we have a positive goal to move toward, not just a negative state we’re trying to move away from.”
As musicians, we may not enjoy the insurance benefits and paid vacations like the corporate world, but we do have options. We can teach, set our own schedules and rates, accompany, generate content, line up gigs, and create our own music.
Because I’ve had the privilege of several streams of income, I delegate certain days to teaching lessons and other days to composing, practicing, creating resources, and writing blog posts.😉
I’m always learning new things, meeting deadlines, and overcoming challenges–there’s never a dull moment.
I can always move to another project when I get a tired of another.
Have you explored other streams of income? Are you still learning new things?
3️⃣ Nurture your humanness
For years, I considered myself a classical pianist and never a pianist who could play away from the page.
Yet, creativity kept calling my name, and I had the opportunity to work with expert improvisers and educators like Bradley Sowash, the late Forrest Kinney, and Tim Topham, to name a few.
Little did I know how important it would be to develop and embrace my creativity at the keys until after our son’s accident.
Music became my lifeline. Creating my own music was a steadfast companion through a long, dark tunnel. It gave my emotions a place to land.
Only humans have souls and the ability to create. So, here’s one of my staple soapbox sermons:
The ability to express emotions through creativity at the keys is restorative and therapeutic. More and more research continues to confirm my experience.
I want YOU to find the same powerful healing in music that I did.
My original compositions called Interludes for the Soul (now on Spotify!) are a direct outcome of my healing process.
“The quality of our lives is not measured by the amount of time we spend in a state of perfection. The quality of our lives is measured by our freedom to choose to stay or leave. That freedom comes when we have abundance enough and safety enough to let go of what is broken and reach for something new.”
Are you making time to explore your creativity and nurture your soul at the keys?
4️⃣ Set incremental goals
“Wellness is not a state of being, but a state of action.”
What actions are you taking to ensure that what you once cherished as a profession doesn’t burn you out?
The Nagoski sisters advise that we redefine our “wins” and set incremental goals.
The guidelines for these goals include:
➡️ Soon: your goal should be achievable.
Ex: Improvise for two minutes.
Ex: Determine a theme for your studio and stick with it like my Fall Composition Challenge.
➡️ Certain: your goal should be within your control.
Ex: Improvise on a familiar chord progression
Ex: Determine how long the theme will be and the outcomes that you value.
➡️ Positive: your goal should be something that feels good, not just something that avoids suffering.
Ex: Treat yourself to something special after you improvise–like a brisk walk or a podcast.
Ex: Plan lessons that feel fun to your students AND you. BTW…fun is not an activity, fun is a feeling. Learn more here.
➡️ Concrete: measurable–did you meet it, yes or no?
Ex: Set a timer for two minutes.
Ex: What did the students takeaway at the end of your theme or challenge?
➡️ Specific: Your goal should not be general, like improvise more.
Ex: Improvise for two minutes three times a week.
Ex: All students will create an original fall-themed piece. Check out my Fall Composition Challenge.
➡️ Personal: your goal must be tailored to suit you.
Ex: Set aside a time to improvise that works for you.
Ex: Is it important to you that students compose a piece or improvise a piece? Let others inspire you but don’t let them force you into something you may not feel comfortable doing.
Are your goals too lofty? What incremental goals could you set for yourself or your students?
5️⃣ Practice regular self-compassion
As you determine incremental goals for your studio and yourself, practice self-assessment that promotes self-compassion.
Things to assess:
☑️ Schedule: are you packing in too many students?
What if you raise your rates and teach less?
☑️ Lessons: do you dread turning to the next page in the method book?
Abandon the method book for a bit and explore other ways to develop students’ skills, like Jumpstarts.
☑️ Boundaries: do you squeeze in a make-up lesson during your lunch hour?
Protect your time and declare it untouchable. Ditch make up lessons, too.
☑️ Your motivation: do you dread the next lesson?
Designate themes or seasons to integrate fresh activities like composing, lead sheets or chord charts to keep your agenda interesting.
☑️ Your student’s motivation: do your students arrive unprepared or unenthused?
Practice practicing in the lesson with deliberate play and offer parental support for home practice with the Caregivers Guide for Budding Musicians.
☑️ Exercise: Do you sacrifice your health for your career?
Stand when you teach, walk when you can, and add weight training to your routine. Heather Robertson’s YouTube channel has hundreds of free workouts.
☑️ Connection: Are you isolating yourself, claiming to be too busy?
Join a music teacher group, attend a conference in person, or grab a coffee with a colleague.
Will I see you at the MTNA National Conference in Minneapolis? I’ll be presenting on Saturday at several sessions, and my son Carter, who was in the accident, will be joining me for a joint session: Striking a Chord: Resilience in the Face of Tragedy.
☑️ Safe place to vent: Do you hold it inside and try to handle things on your own?
Find and call a friend who doesn’t pass judgment and gives you the luxury of honest venting.
☑️ Temptation bundling: Do you deny yourself the joy of your favorite things?
After a long day of teaching, treat yourself to chocolate, a glass of wine, Wordle, or Netflix.
☑️ Imposter Syndrome: Do you wonder if what you are doing is legit?
Keep this quote in mind:
"No act falls fruitless; none can tell how vast its power may be.
Nor what results enfolded dwell within it silently."
-Unknown
Have I addressed the components of burnout?
Emotional exhaustion–caring too much for too long.
Perhaps it’s time to care for yourself and tend to your soul?
Depersonalization - the depletion of caring.
Perhaps you need to reignite your passion for teaching with a theme or a creative project?
Decreased sense of accomplishment - feeling that nothing you do makes a difference.
Perhaps you need to take a moment to reflect on what you are giving your students every time they walk in the door—the lifelong gift of music.
Melanie, I’m not sure you were looking for this long of an answer. 🤓
How do you avoid burnout?
