Step 1: Name what is wearing you down
Before you contact anyone, spend fifteen minutes writing down the last two weeks of work. Which meetings ran long? Which decisions waited on you? When did you last take a full day off? Leaders around East Tennessee State University, which keeps its main campus in Johnson City and reports more than 14,500 students, often notice that strain peaks at the same times each academic year. Owners and managers in other sectors can usually spot their own crunch seasons too. The list becomes your starting point with a coach.
Step 2: Decide what you want from coaching
Coaching is non-clinical. It focuses on workload, habits, boundaries, delegation and recovery time. Pick one or two goals, such as "leave the office by six on most days" or "hand off weekly reporting to my deputy." Clear goals make it easier to judge whether a coach is helping. If your concerns go beyond work fatigue, speak with your own doctor or another qualified professional alongside any coaching.
Step 3: Pick a format that you will actually keep
Think about your real schedule, not your ideal one. Options include:
- Weekly or biweekly video calls, which avoid crosstown driving.
- A short engagement of a few months built around a single change at work.
- An in-person half-day or day session, sometimes held outdoors or at a retreat setting.
If you live in Jonesborough, Elizabethton or Gray and work in Johnson City, a remote format may keep the commitment from becoming one more drive.
Step 4: Shortlist and interview coaches
Use the directory listings to choose two or three independent coaches. On a first call, ask:
- How do you structure the first month?
- How often will we meet, and for how long?
- What do you expect from me between sessions?
- If my employer pays, what will you share with them, if anything?
- How do we decide when the work is finished?
Take notes during each call. This directory does not review credentials, so check any background a coach describes yourself.
Step 5: Protect the time
Block your sessions on the calendar as you would a board meeting, and tell your assistant or team that the slot is fixed. Early mornings tend to be easier to hold. Keep the hour before and after as buffer, not as a place to squeeze in email.
Step 6: Schedule a short local reset
Plan one block of time outdoors within the first month. Buffalo Mountain Park, at 570 High Ridge Road, is a city-run natural area of about 725 acres on forested, steep ground. Depending on where you start in town, it is roughly fifteen minutes away. The city lists longer hours from March through October than in winter, so check before you go.
Step 7: Plan a longer retreat
For a full day or an overnight, consider Rock Creek Recreation Area in the Cherokee National Forest near Erwin. The Forest Service lists campsites, a creek-fed swimming hole, short nature trails, an easy bike path and a rugged trail into the Unaka Mountain Wilderness. Its directions run from I-26 exit 36 in Erwin along TN 395 east. Expect roughly half an hour by car from Johnson City. Drive times in this guide are approximate and depend on traffic, weather and your starting point.
Leave your laptop in the car or at home. Use the time to walk, rest and think through the goals you set in Step 2.
Step 8: Review after six to eight weeks
Look back at your list from Step 1. Are the late nights fewer? Has any task moved off your desk? Share what you notice with your coach and adjust the plan. If the fit is poor, it is fine to try someone else. Ask yourself whether the sessions leave you clearer or more drained, and whether the suggestions match the reality of your job. A good fit usually feels practical rather than abstract.
Step 9: Build rest into the year
Once you know your crunch seasons, mark recovery days on the calendar ahead of them. A standing monthly hike, a long weekend after a major deadline, or a quarterly coaching check-in can help keep the pattern from coming back. Share the plan with the people who depend on you at work, so that your time away is expected rather than a surprise, and name who covers decisions while you are out.