Managing "October Exhaustion"

Today in our "school reform" personal learning community (PLC), we acknowledged that it's very challenging to juggle student engagement, curriculum planning, life-coaching and family communications. And when would we have time to study and discuss national education policy?

We all work pretty hard (and I'd say pretty effectively), but we may also be susceptible to "October Exhaustion." Although this usually hits me -- hard -- in November, I do my best to pace myself so that I am relatively healthy and sane in June.

Elena Aguilar, a colleague from the Teachers Leaders Network, has posted an interesting (and somewhat controversial) survival guide for October Exhaustion in EdWeeks' Teacher Magazine. Her main points are summarized below:

• Take some time off
• Refresh your surroundings
• Re-ground yourself in the “why”
• Celebrate the successes
• Optimize your time
• Get some helpers
• Learn to say no
• Make good health a priority

What do you think? To what extent is this a fair and professional list?