Part 2.2: Creating a self-care plan: Insights from sustainable behaviour change
If we aren’t well, we can’t turn up to school consistently and work well together. Self-care and wellbeing are therefore a vital part of our everyday work and professional development. Our article Self-care is vital for teachers and leaders sets out this argument in more detail.
The aim of this article is to look at how we can put this into action: How can we include tending to our wellbeing as part of our working week. Research in sustainable behaviour change provides guidance: setting meaningful goals, moving from goals to implementation steps, and checking on our progress over time. It’s simple, but not easy! Like in all areas, making small changes to the way we do things – especially lifelong habits and routines – is hard, despite how simple or small it may look on the surface.
Creating a personal action plan to support this work
Most of us are good at setting goals and they’re usually quite simple, such as: ‘I want to be healthier,’ ‘I want to get fit’ or ‘I want to spend more time with good friends and family.’ Yet we are not so good at creating realistic plans to realise these aspirations. For example, healthy eating means shopping, making time to prepare and cook food, and choosing to eat the prepared lunch rather than join friends in a walk to the convenience shops.
An action plan that can be integrated into your daily and weekly routines is the way to make the lasting changes important to you.
What behaviour change research tells us
Starting small is the most effective way to sustain behaviour change. That means fewer goals at a time and only ‘mini steps’ to start with in daily life. A small steps approach allows us to plan realistic and achievable ways to move toward to goal and fit these things into our busy schedules. For example, getting fit can start with a walk around the block twice a week, rather than trying to run 5ks straight off the bat. Being realistic and practical in terms of what is achievable in current situation helps ensure we actually take these steps – rather than have to postpone them because they are simply too much.
Most plans will encounter setbacks and roadblocks. It’s important to stay positive and adapt, making small tweaks and changes to keep persevering.
Change takes time, so holding some compassion for yourself should go into any plan you make.
Why and how do personal action plans work?
Action plans clarify the precise steps it would take to realise your goal, taking account of your personal situation, resources, and constraints. Writing it down helps you realise the steps you need to take. Sharing it with a trusted friend might also increase your commitment and accountability.
A written action plan supports the difficult work of implementation: the small steps you will take to achieve your goal, and how and when you will take those steps until the new skill or behaviour becomes more habitual.
For behaviour change to be sustainable, you should aim to take steps that are realistic for the time and resources you have. Small experiments are a good idea, to test new things, then reflect and evaluate so you can refine and update your plan.
Let’s consider the steps to creating your personal action plan.
First, let’s remind ourselves of the self-care and wellbeing domains
Physical – to engage and sustain your body and physical health, including:
Food and nutrition
Physical activity and exercise
Sleep and rest
Mental and emotional – to build and maintain your mental focus and protect your mental health, including:
Emotional self-regulation and ability to manage stress and anxiety
Regulation of negative thoughts, worries, and self-talk
Taking control of news and social media feeds
Social – to connect with family, friends, and others, including time for:
Friends and family
Interest groups or clubs outside work
Everyday social connections and interactions
Spiritual – to find meaning and purpose, happiness, and joy. Though this will vary for everyone, it would include time for:
A faith or cultural practice, music, dance, a passion, or a hobby
Being in nature
Workplace and professional self-care – to develop your professional expertise, effectiveness and satisfaction with your work and profession, including:
Professional development in areas of interest and specialisation
Peer and collegial groups around common interests
Professional mentoring or supervision
Time with a trusted colleague to talk over issues and concerns
1 - Decide on goals.
What would most improve your wellbeing? The following criteria can help you to decide:
What goals are most important for you personally? You’ll be motivated to act on them.
What will make a difference to your wellbeing?
What is realistic to achieve so you can see improvements and feel satisfaction?
The checklist of possibilities in the domains listed above can inform your list of goal priorities. You only need one to three to get started.
Here’s an example of three goals, one each from the domains of health, wellbeing, and professional development:
To improve my wellbeing
Look after my physical health
Get better sleep
Feel more engaged at work
2 - Plan steps towards each goal
Here are some examples of small practical steps against each goal.
Look after my health
Make an appointment with my GP
Make an appointment with the dentist
Get my eyes checked
Get better sleep
Go to bed earlier
Turn off the TV an hour before I want to be asleep
Create a routine to wind down and get ready for bed
Feel more engaged at work
Arrive earlier one day a week and make coffee in the tearoom
Find time to talk to likeminded colleagues
Engage in some professional development in my area of expertise
Below is an example of a self-care plan, showing one goal and one small step to achieve it.
The plan template has three columns.
The goal – what do I want to achieve?
The implementation steps – how am I going to do this?
The accountability check – how will I know if it’s working?
Self-care plan
Goal / area to work on
How I am going to achieve this
How I will know if it’s working
Eat more healthy food at work
Take leftovers for lunch 2-3 days a week
Cook enough food to ensure leftovers!
I’m taking my lunch
I’m buying less junk from the vending machine
The steps you list should be achievable: only a small number of things you can realistically incorporate into your everyday life right now. You don’t have to start with a whole new diet that means cooking complex meals! Small steps towards eating healthier food may be to buy some healthy snacks to keep in your work bag, and a water bottle.
It’s the same with exercise; a small step might be a 30-minute walk twice a week or starting some days with 20 minutes of yoga. It’s probably not realistic to aim for a half marathon as a first step to get fit!
Making a plan with realistic and progressive steps is more likely to see you succeed.
Remember, your plan is a working document. There is no right way or set timeline that works for everyone. Goals, priorities, and resources change, so you should revise and refine your plan as you go.
The point is simply to plan for achievable steps, sustain your efforts over time, and have self-compassion for the ups and downs.
Good luck!
Resources
Black Dog Institute Resources https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Importance-of-selfcare-planning.pdf
Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change – resources for goals setting and implementation plans https://psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/melbourne-centre-for-behaviour-change
Beyond Blue resource: Wellbeing Action Tool. https://resources.beyondblue.org.au/api/public/content/4ae667d4d4d94834a2812b01174d1e14?v=060e7fa0
Next in this series: Part 3: Keeping breadth and balance in work-life integration
