Take Time for You: Self-Care Action Plans for Educators (Using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Positive Psychology)

Must read for educators or really anyone. Has great ideas on how to help secure your maslows and your ladder for making sure your tank doesn't run on empty forever.

As a daughter of two public, city school teachers and a health educator myself, I've witnessed the toll the demands of teaching takes on all kinds of educators. I was curious to see how Dr. Boogren would find solutions for what seemed like an impossible situation. And she delivered! There was so much I loved about this book. First, she addressed the often unconscious win/lose assumption that taking time for ourselves as educators means others lose out on our time. She provides compelling research and points about the possibilities of a win-win when we take care of ourselves. And then she gave us the road map to make it happen. I loved her shifting the metaphor from Maslow's hierarchy of needs to one of a ladder. In shifting this metaphor, she gives concrete steps on how we can start to actual implement the ideas of our needs being met. And she addresses our holistic needs, including our physiological and safety needs, which I felt are often overlooked. I'm tired of people suggesting manicures and massages to the chronic tension involved with education. You can tell Dr. Boogren really sees and understands the pressures of the job for her solutions get to the deepest level of self-care that will sustain us and not take up more time we don't have.And maybe most of all, I appreciated and loved the space she gave us to actually reflect, try the tools and then see what we learned. I know reflection helps us internalize the value of our experiments and ensures we will embody or make these tools the new way we think. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a "done-for-you" plan that has enough structure to get results and yet allows for the fluidity and flexibility of each individuals changing needs.

As a community college professor, I have endured the the challenges of trying to provide the best education for my students, while also juggling the demands of my personal life. We all know that we need to take care of ourselves in order to serve the many roles we play, but often don't know or where to start, or what actions to take on a daily basis to be successful in improving our self-care. Dr. Boogren's book aptly provides educators, and really anyone finding themselves overwhelmed with seemingly contradictory needs, a road map, or in this case, a ladder, to navigate our lives as individuals and educators successfully.The title states one of the strongest points of this book--it truly is an action plan. Dr. Boogren designed this book as a workbook to allow for self-reflection and individualized actionable steps towards relieving the chronic stress we tend to face as educators. I feel one of the great strengths of this book, is transformation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs to a ladder metaphor. Through mindful work, you may achieve the higher levels on the ladder (of Maslow's hierarchy), however, life happens and you may be knocked down a few rungs. Dr. Boogren uses concrete examples and an excellent conversational narrative to guide us through re-addressing needs that are no longer being fulfilled.This book is researched-based, which is another huge advantage. As many of us know, the world tends to tell us to just suck it up because we have summers off or to "just relax". In this book, we learn the facts about what does and doesn't work AND how to implement those things that are impactful.Kuddos to Dr. Boogren for guiding us on this journey!

Wow. I got so much from this book that I am not sure where to start. Dr. Boogren breaks self-care down into prioritized, measurable steps based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I loved this because I think self-care can feel overwhelming and just one more thing that we're not doing "right" if we try to take on too much at once. I cannot feel connected to a part of larger whole, when I am just really hungry and tired and meeting those needs is the most important thing I can do right now for my self-care. I got so much out of the strategies and loved that she gave so many specific examples of things to do. Once again, helping with the overwhelm, which can lead to complete inertia. It was so great to pick and choose which strategies resonated with me and work on implementing them, to start building self-confidence around self-care! Woohoo! Everything was laid out so clearly, so that it was easy to reflect and measure which strategies worked the best for me, and which ones I may want to switch up, or make more effort to apply. It was so rewarding to see the actual progress I had made by comparing my initial Self-Care Survey with the one at the end of the book. One of my biggest takeaways was using the time audit to recognize how many places I was spending time in ways that were absolutely not contributing to my self-care, and in most cases, detrimental to it. Hello? Mindlessly scrolling Facebook much? I cannot wait to share this book with my friends.

This book is a valuable resource, not just for educators (teachers, principals, and district leaders), but really for anyone feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by the many pressures of their work and home lives. Dr. Boogren has provided specific tools for beginning the journey to taking care of ourselves: acknowledging that we need to attend to our own well-being, why this is so, and examining what may be getting the way. If you are one of the many people who say, "I really need to get more sleep," or "I know I should drink more water," or "Yoga might be good for me someday," this book takes you beyond the "should do" to actionable steps in getting there - putting you in charge of your course.Dr. Boogren's writing style is inviting and infused with concrete examples - supported by research - to make this doable. Most importantly, you will feel as if she is right there with you on your journey, cheering you on!