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March 22 - June 30, 2020
There’s no magical productivity secret that will make it seem like there are 28 hours in a day.
You will always have more tasks than time, so you have to figure out what’s most important and eliminate some things you feel you “have” to do. You must let go of the good to make time for the great.
It’s not about how much you’re working; it’s what you’re FOCUSING ON IN THOSE hours.
“The root cause of burnout is not that we have too much to do. It’s the feeling that the things we do aren’t meaningful-or don’t reflect who we really are.” — Dr. Ayala Malach Pines
If a teacher’s to-do list was centered on engaging with kids and helping them learn, most of us wouldn’t mind a long, busy, or even hectic day. There would be an immense satisfaction that comes from knowing you made a difference and had meaningful interactions with kids.
Teacher burnout stems largely from the disconnect between the most fulfilling part of the work and how the majority of your time is spent. So much of your energy is focused on paperwork, email, compiling and analyzing data, attending meetings, and other non-instructional tasks that the actual work of teaching children is no longer the primary focus.
The goal is to spend the majority of your time doing things which are fulfilling and impactful.
You must be willing to believe that change is possible for you, and that you are worthy of having a more fulfilling, balanced life.
I was incredibly intentional about that five dollars, but never even thought to count the cost of my time.
You can always make more money. You can never make more time.
Imagine how our lives would be different if we gave our time the same level of thought and consideration as our money.
have you ever created a budget for your time?
“Didn’t I just get paid? Where did the whole paycheck go already?” isn’t much different from “Wasn’t it just 8 pm? How is it midnight already?”
You are no more important and no less important than every other person. Therefore, your goals and priorities deserve consideration. You deserve to have time for things that matter to you and which help you maintain your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health.
Whether or not we admit it publicly, most of us feel like we’re going on a wing and prayer every day. That’s the natural impact of a frantic pace and constantly plugged-in world most people choose to participate in.
teaching was an extension of mothering. It was seen by many as unskilled labor which focused mostly on imparting morality rather than intellectual skills or academics.
It’s clear that the teaching profession in America was never designed to offer a lifetime of strong wages or a sustainable workload.
Local governments slash school budgets year after year while raising the bar for teachers to a nearly impossible level. With each new generation of educators, the demands are pressed to greater extremes.
How much, exactly, can we force teachers to give, and how little can we get away with giving them in return?
Lawmakers know if the school doesn’t provide what kids need to thrive, we as educators will pick up the slack. We will figure out a way to get kids what they need and work countless unpaid hours to do it. We’ll be the only group of professionals routinely making...
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The given is to figure it out. Because women will. Had I asked 20 different teachers about whiteboards, 10 of them would start spewing out names of stores. The other 10 would give me some DIY weekend instructions that involve table saws. Seldom would any of them think to say, “Umm, ask for them …”
Pay for it yourself. Create it yourself. Stay late and put on that function yourself. Meet during your time. Work during your weekend. Be kind to people yelling, ignoring, cursing, and hitting you. Then, make sure they pass the new standards. And be prepared to take bullets for them, too.
Reject the idea that working harder will prove your value
We are groomed from the start to accept that we will always be undervalued and underpaid, and the tacit implication is that we must be okay with that sacrifice if we really care about kids. In fact, the more okay with it you are and the more you are willing to sacrifice, the more people will consider you a dedicated, effective teacher.
We are conditioned to see ourselves as the hero of kids’ stories instead of seeing kids as the heroes of their own stories.
If you think that taking the toughest teaching job and working endless hours is necessary to prove you care, any improvement in your workload will always be impossible.
Being overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated — yet continuing to give 110% every day — is part of our collective identity as educators. And we are all hardwired to reject changes that don’t fit with our identities.
It is a myth that every teacher has to work endless unpaid hours to do a great job for kids. The truth is that working more hours does not equate with more effectiveness. It’s what you do with the hours that makes a difference.
But don’t tell a friend, “Oh, I can’t do anything fun on Sundays because I have to lesson plan.” Instead say, “Sunday is the day I like to get my lesson planning done, so maybe we can hang out another time.” The language you use in your self-talk and conversations has a significant impact on how you feel.
When you are told to do something that is clearly a waste of your time and does not benefit students in any way, resist the urge to complain or fall into a passive “I don’t have a choice” state. Ask yourself, What would happen if I didn’t do it? and consider other options.
Since everyone’s doing things the same way, we don’t think to question THEM, and instead begin to question ourselves: “All my colleagues are fine with this. Am I making a big deal out of nothing? Am I wrong to think we should be doing things a different way?”
My loyalty and affection were reserved for the kids, not for the school system which froze my pay steps, increased my work obligations, and crowded more students into my classroom with every passing year.
Your teaching style is not something you have to figure out once and for all, then stick to forever. Trial and error is required to discover the “special sauce” that you alone can bring to the classroom, and you have to keep experimenting with it over the course of your career.
It’s okay to work nonstop and barely spend any time at all on priorities apart from work during certain seasons, and it’s okay for work to fall completely off your radar during other times of the year. Figure out what works for your family and personality type, and remember that each season is different.
Yoga, exercising, meditating, spending time in nature, taking mindfulness breaks, reading personal development books, listening to inspiring podcasts, etc. are not just fun hobbies for me. I can’t hope to find “leftover” time for these things.
Prioritization and living your legacy is NOT about giving the most time to the most important things. It’s about making sure that the most important things don’t continually get sidelined because of lesser priorities.
Letting go of the plan and being present in the moment is also part of doing fewer things better.
People who are unwilling to ask for help because they believe no one else can do things how they need to be done are said to have superhero syndrome.
Minimum Viable Product.
Both physical balance and work/life balance are active processes — they require continual observation and adjustment.
Self-care doesn’t work that way. What you do on a regular basis is far more important than what you do occasionally. Consistency is far more important than intensity.