Creating Margin: 8 Essential Strategies for School Leaders

School leadership isn’t easy. In our fast-paced educational environment, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. A study from the American Educational Research Association indicates that educators in the U.S. are 40% more likely to experience symptoms of anxiety compared to healthcare workers, 20% more likely than office workers, and 30% more likely than those in other professions such as farming and the military.

Recent studies show that nearly 80% of educators are experiencing stress or burnout, and many are working longer hours than ever before. Every day, we manage competing demands on our time, leading to more chaos and stress rather than clarity.

As school leaders, our days are filled with meetings, unexpected challenges, and a constant pull in multiple directions. Finding margin in our day isn’t just a luxury—it’s a necessity for our well-being and the success of our schools.

Why Margin Matters
Margin isn’t just about having free time—it’s about creating space for thoughtful leadership, innovation, and personal well-being. When you add margin, you’re better equipped to support your staff and students, even on the busiest days.

Over the years, I’ve learned that carving out time for what truly matters makes all the difference. Here are eight strategies that have helped me, and can help you, create more margin in your day:

Clarify Your Priorities
Start by identifying your core values. What truly matters to you? Once you’ve set your priorities, allocate your time and energy accordingly. This clarity helps you say “yes” only to what aligns with your vision.

Conduct a Time Audit
For a few days—or even a few weeks—track your activities. Identify those low-value tasks (like endless social media scrolling or unproductive meetings) and reclaim that time for yourself. This simple audit can reveal surprising opportunities to refocus your day.

Prioritize Your Day with the 1-3-5 Rule
It doesn’t matter what system you use, but you should keep some sort of prioritized list of tasks in order to increases the rate of completion. Sometimes I start with the easy ones first to feel a sense of accomplishment.

However, I love the 1-3-5 rule: one major task, three medium tasks, and five smaller tasks. The goal is to complete all nine tasks in one day. This method keeps your to-do list manageable and ensures you’re making progress on what’s most important.

Implement Time Blocking
Cal Newport, Author of Deep Work, said “A 40-hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure.” If there’s one thing that can be said is that the modern workplace or school day has many distractions.

Whether it is angry parents demanding to see the principal right now, or they will call the Superintendent's office, to students fighting in the hallway, forcing you to stop everything to address the situation. Or the substitute teacher fails to show up for the job she accepted or decides to leave early.

Your day can easily fill with interruptions.

What we do know is this: If you don’t control your schedule, it will inevitably control you.

Time blocking means scheduling specific chunks of your day for focused work. Whether it’s an hour for emails, two hours for a project, or a dedicated time for planning, structured blocks help reduce distractions and boost productivity.

For example, you might block out 9 am to 10 am for checking and responding to emails, 10 am to 12 pm for working on a specific project, and 1 pm to 2 pm to have lunch.

Time blocking enable you to take control of your day. Here are few benefits of time blocking:

• Boosts productivity
• Provides a clear structure
• Increases focus
• Improves your school or organization by categorizing tasks
• Strengthens time management

Instead of keeping an open-ended to-do list of things you will get to as soon as you can, you’ll start each day with a concrete schedule outlined of what you’ll work on and when.

Master the Art of Saying No
If you are like me, you like to help people. You like to add value to people. You might feel your purpose is to help everyone who asks for help or for your time.

It’s tough to turn down requests, especially when we want to help everyone. But learning to say “no” protects your time and preserves the energy needed for your top priorities.

The fact of the matter is that you must recognize your limits and set boundaries.

Politely decline requests or postpone non-essential commitments to protect your time margin and reinforce your focus on your priorities.

Remember: Every “yes” is a decision to postpone or eliminate something else.

Build in Buffer Time
Picture your daily schedule as a garden. Some parts are carefully planted with essential tasks, while others are intentionally left open as free space. These open patches are where creativity, rest, and spontaneous ideas blossom.

If you are like me, you like to schedule all your meetings back to back with no wiggle room. What end up happening is that you are running from one meeting or activity to another.

You need to build in Buffer Time. Building in buffer time means intentionally adding 15 to 30 minutes between tasks, you create a cushion that prevents one delay from derailing your entire day. These buffers are like small breathers that keep you on track even when interruptions arise.

This “margin” or buffer time can be a powerful tool to prevent burnout and maintain balance.

Prioritize Personal Time
Think of your day as a busy intersection. Without proper signals and pauses, everything collides. But by planning short breaks (like a red light), you can pause, assess, and proceed smoothly without rushing or crashing into stress.

Scheduling personal time is a great way to create a margin in your life. It is a great day to recharge your leadership battery and renew your mind and body.

It can be as simple as taking a day off, a quiet walk, a moment of reflection, or spending one day in an environment you love, like the mountains or the beach, backyard or a night or two away. The purpose is to get extended time of relaxation, rest, prayer or meditation.

Scheduling a personal time allows you to:

• Take time to reflect – Reflect on the current school year. Reflect on your life. Reflect on an area of improvement. 
• Take time to read – Read a good book. Read an article.
• Take time to run, walk, and sleep. Often we do not give enough time to our health.
• Take time to just sit and breathe a little.

If you are typically on the run or move at a very fast pace, slow down for a couple of hours or a day.

Take time to slow down your pace.

Regularly Reevaluate Your Schedule
To create more margin in your day, it’s essential to regularly review your calendar. 

Are you sticking to your priorities? Is your time being used wisely? Is your time being utilized effectively? By setting aside time each week to assess and adjust your schedule, you can continuously enhance your work-life balance.

These eight strategies are not just productivity hacks—they’re a way to reclaim control of your day and reduce stress. By adopting even a few of these strategies, you can create a more balanced, fulfilling work life, which in turn benefits your entire school community.

If you found these tips helpful, please share your thoughts or experiences in our School Leader’s Podcast Community on Facebook. And if you haven’t yet, subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform for more insights and inspiration.

Remember: When you create margin in your day, you create space for growth, innovation, and authentic leadership. Here’s to leading with clarity and purpose!