Why a step-by-step plan helps
When you are stretched thin, even finding help feels like another project. This guide breaks the process into small moves, written for managers, administrators and owners in and around Morgantown. It assumes a busy calendar and keeps each step short.
Step 1: Take a two-week snapshot of your workload
Before you call anyone, track two working weeks. Note start and end times, meetings, evening email, weekend work and the tasks that drain you most. You are not judging yourself; you are collecting data a coach can use.
If you work in health care administration, you know how big the local system is. WVU Medicine says it employs over 47,000 people across 30 hospitals in four states. If your role touches several of those sites, include your travel time and the after-hours calls in your snapshot.
Step 2: Name what you want to change
Look at your snapshot and pick two or three things you want to be different in three months. Examples: leaving by six on most days, one meeting-free morning a week, delegating a recurring report, or taking a full weekend off each month. Keep them concrete.
Step 3: Decide on format and budget
Will you meet by video, in person, or both? How often can you realistically commit to? Is your employer paying, or are you? Settle these before you contact anyone, so you can compare coaches on the same terms. If your employer is paying, find out what, if anything, the coach is expected to report back, and decide how comfortable you are with that.
Step 4: Shortlist two or three coaches
Use this directory to find independent coaches who work with leaders in the Morgantown area. For each, note their stated focus, their format and how they describe a first session. If you lead a team that works nights or weekends, look for a coach who understands shift-based operations; if you run a small firm near campus, someone familiar with seasonal swings in a university town may be a better match. Write a line or two about why each name made your list.
Step 5: Hold short introductory calls
Ask each coach the same questions: How do you structure the first month? How do you measure whether we are on track? How do you handle confidentiality if my employer is involved? What do you expect from me between sessions?
Coaching here is non-clinical. If a coach starts talking about conditions or symptoms, that is outside their role. If you are worried about your health, see your own doctor.
Step 6: Book the first month and protect the time
Once you choose, put every session on your calendar as a fixed appointment. Guard the slot the way you would a board meeting. Early mornings and lunch hours tend to survive busy weeks better than late afternoons.
Step 7: Plan one rest day outdoors
Pick a date in the next six weeks and plan a day outside. Coopers Rock State Forest is less than 15 miles from Morgantown, according to West Virginia State Parks, which works out to roughly 20 to 25 minutes by car from many neighborhoods. It has more than 50 miles of trails and canyon overlooks, plus cabins and a campground from April to November if you want to stay over.
If you would rather have a shorter outing with no overnight option at all, Valley Falls State Park near Fairmont is a day-use park on the Tygart Valley River, open 7 a.m. to sunset. Allow about 40 minutes each way.
All drive times here are approximate and change with traffic, starting point and weather.
Leave your work phone in the car, or at least turn off notifications. Bring a notebook if you want to think about one of your Step 2 goals. Go with no agenda beyond being outside. Tell your team in advance that you will be unreachable for the day, and name who covers urgent decisions while you are away. The act of handing off, even for one day, is useful practice for the delegation goals you set earlier.
Step 8: Review at the six-week mark
Go back to your two-week snapshot. Track another two weeks the same way and compare them side by side. Look for small shifts: one fewer late night, a meeting you declined, a task someone else now owns. Talk with your coach about what moved, what didn't, and what to adjust. Small changes count.
Step 9: Decide what comes next
At about three months, decide whether to continue, taper off to monthly check-ins, or pause. Some leaders keep a standing rest day each season at one of the parks above as a way to hold on to the habits they built.