It's around this time each year when we start hearing a lot more about burnout and frustration. Where are you on that front?

It's certainly important for your own well-being to try to keep things sane, but you may not realize how important it is for your group that you do so. One of your goals as a leader is to bring in more volunteers and help them move up into leadership positions over time. The trouble is, though, if you're completely stressed out and frustrated in your current job, then: 1) it's usually obvious; and 2) no one is going to want to join you. Here's a great article on leaders and stress and balance.

My advice if you're feeling that stress is to remember two key letters: n-o. It's OK for you to say no to a request. And it's OK for your PTO to say no to an event or effort. The best leaders and the best groups select a realistic number of tasks and then do them really, really well. Stretch too thin and the leader gets burned out, and the activities won't be that good, either -- a real recipe for long-term decline.

It's empowering to say no and then see that the walls don't fall down and the world doesn't stop spinning. We need leaders who enjoy the job and can do a great job. That's how PTOs and PTAs thrive for the long term. How are you and your group doing with that this year?

Finally, has your group learned to say no or made good progress on the sanity front (or both)? Jump into our Facebook conversation on that topic to share how.