Tired of constantly behind as a teacher, working ungodly hours and still drowning in to-do lists? It doesn't have to be this way. In this enlightening episode, we unpack the five leading mistakes that often push teachers into feeling overwhelmed. Drawing from my personal journey of finding the balance between being an effective teacher and leading a fulfilling personal life, I'll share practical strategies that have revolutionized the way I approach my work.
Tired of constantly behind as a teacher, working ungodly hours and still drowning in to-do lists? It doesn't have to be this way. In this enlightening episode, we unpack the five leading mistakes that often push teachers into feeling overwhelmed. Drawing from my personal journey of finding the balance between being an effective teacher and leading a fulfilling personal life, I'll share practical strategies that have revolutionized the way I approach my work.
So you started the school year and you realized teaching wasn't what you thought it was going to be. You thought you would be able to spend all your time with your students, building relationships, making a difference and helping them learn, but you quickly discovered there's so much more to teaching than that. You feel like you are drowning in lesson planning, prepping, grading, communicating with families, dealing with behaviors. There's so much work to do and such little time to get it done. If this sounds like you, then you're in the right place, because today we're going to be talking about the top five mistakes teachers make if they're feeling behind as a teacher, so let's go ahead and dive in. Hey, teacher Bestie, my name is Helena and I'm the creator of the Present Teacher podcast. I'm a first year teacher coach and in this podcast you are going to learn everything from simple, actual classroom management, social learning and teacher wellness strategies. You know that impact you want to make in the classroom when we're going to make it happen here. The first common mistake a lot of teachers make when it comes to feeling behind as a teacher is they're not setting working hours. This is a very common mistake, I see, when teachers are working themselves to the ground and they're working over the weekend and during the school day and after, even late into the night. So you're coming in early, you're staying in late, you're working on the weekends and you're wondering if it's always going to be this way. You feel guilty that you're missing so much in your life, but you also know that this is how it's supposed to be when you're first teaching. Well, here's the thing it doesn't have to be that way. I know this because I've been there. I was that teacher who stayed late and went early and was constantly working. I was that teacher who ate, slept and breathed my job and I missed so much of my life outside of work. But here's the deal it doesn't have to be that way, and I improve that. That's the case. You see, you can set office hours and be so consistent with your boundaries that you can go after your passions. You can enjoy life outside of teaching. You can do things like painting, drawing, hiking or, dare I say, create an entire business helping other teachers, just like I did. What I'm here to say is if it's possible for me, it's possible for you too. So here's what to do instead Set office hours, coming in early, staying in late. You don't have to do that unless you want to. So, here right now, decide what hours you're going to work, comment it below or DM me what hours you're going to work to help keep you accountable, and don't worry about getting all the things done. I'm going to be sharing about that in an upcoming mistake, so keep listening to find out more.
Speaker 1:The second mistake a lot of teachers make is they're not taking care of themselves. So I'm not going to try to get into too much emotion here, but too often I see new teachers work themselves to the ground. They're not going out on the weekends, they're not taking care of themselves, and their mental and emotional health suffers from it. And how do I know this? Well, I was there too.
Speaker 1:My first year of teaching, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I took medication and it didn't end up working for me, so I relied on therapy and other tools. You see, I felt guilty anytime I stopped working, because I felt like other people were relying on me, and anytime I spent on myself was time wasted. I felt mentally drained and emotionally exhausted, and I ended up doing nothing for myself until I had my done moment. You see, after going on like this for over a year I just realized I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't continue living this way long term. So I started going to therapy and I learned how I could take care of me and, dare I say, like myself and be a great teacher at the same time. And along the way I found, the more time I spent on myself, liking myself, being a friend of myself, the closer I was to becoming that teacher I knew I wanted to be from the get-go. So, in a way, focusing on yourself gets you closer to that teacher, not farther from it. So if you find yourself in this situation, here's what to do instead. First off, it's okay to ask for help. Therapy was one of the best decisions I ever made and if you have an experience anything like mine, if you find a counselor that doesn't align with you from the first time, it's okay. Keep looking, because you will find someone who aligns with you.
Speaker 1:The second thing is to take five minutes throughout your day, five minutes to yourself every day. This could be something like walking, hiking, you know, listening to music, drawing, cross-stitching, reading, whatever it is, but choose something that's for you every day for five minutes. The third thing I recommend doing is to show up for yourself. Have daily check-ins. I like to check in with my kids and I learned to do this with myself. Just check in with yourself and ask how am I doing right now? Take a breath in, how am I really doing right now? What do I need right now? And then, once you fill an answer, come up, do that thing if possible. So if you feel like I need water right now to feel safe, secure and happy, then get yourself some water. I need five minutes of silence. Find some time to find five minutes of silence. Even if you have a ton of work to do, showing up for yourself in these small ways are going to make a massive impact on how your day goes and how your overall health is.
Speaker 1:The third mistake I see a lot of teachers make is they have long to-do lists. You see, the third mistake I see a lot of teachers make, when they feel behind, is that they have these long to-do lists that they're never going to complete. They might have a must-in-may-do side, but no matter if you skip lunch, work on long hours after work or if you get it done over the weekend, it still feels like you can never get your to-do list done. That's because you have too much to do on your to-do list. So, before you close this out, hold on, hear me out. You see, I didn't learn this until I started my business, but there's a way to get everything done without having a long to do list, and that's through batching. You see, batching is doing like-minded tasks together, and a way to do this is to theme your days. If you wanna learn more about this, I wanna invite you to download my free prep like a pro a first year teacher guide that walks you through what batching is and where to get started on that. Also, make sure to like and subscribe, because in an upcoming day I'm gonna be talking more in depth about what batching is and how you can do it.
Speaker 1:But, for example, one of my clients was a chronic stay. Later she was a new teacher in her first five years of teaching. She was an elementary teacher and she was always staying late. She walked. I walked her through how to leave work on time through batching and theme your days, and what happened was remarkable. She was able to get not only everything done on her prep, but all her lessons were done in advance. It got to the point where, by the end of the year of us working together, she was four weeks out, consistently ahead of time. I checked in with her last year and she told me that she couldn't remember the last time she worked late or brought work home. How cool is that. If you want to learn more about what she went through in the process my client went through, I would love to invite you to leaving work on time.
Speaker 1:Leaving work on time is a program I put together that shows teachers how to comfortably maximize their prep and getting everything done in a short amount of time. No more late weekends, no more late week nights. No more staying up late trying to get everything done. Everything's done during the school day so you can enjoy your life inside and out of the classroom. And if you want to learn more, with your permission, I would love to invite you to learn more inside our free Ready Set Prep a three day challenge for new teachers. This is a three day challenge that walks you through what you need to know to leave work on time consistently without working yourself to the ground to focus on the right things instead of doing all the things.
Speaker 1:The next mistake I see a lot of teachers make is that they're signing up for extra things Now. Don't get me wrong, I am that person that loves to keep myself busy. While it's good to help out where you can, I recommend working on building a strong foundation first, then signing up for extra things in the future. And if you've already started volunteering for things, ask yourself right now is this something I want to continue next year? Is it something I can let go of and just do the best with what you can for right now? But I highly recommend focusing on getting your systems in place during your first couple of years of teaching so you're not feeling overwhelmed, and if you are maybe cutting back on the amounts that you are volunteering and helping with outside of teaching.
Speaker 1:The next mistake I see a lot of teachers make is they're focusing on too many things at once, and this relates to the to-do list I mentioned earlier. But teachers focus on too much and then become overwhelmed with what they have to do. And here's what to do instead focus on one system at a time. I talk more about this inside the Thriving Teacher Framework, which we cover in depth inside my community, the Present Teacher Circle but essentially you want to focus on one system at a time and get really good at it, automate it, make it natural in a habit and then move on to the next thing. Now, inside the Thriving Teacher Framework, there are certain systems I recommend focusing on as a new or first year teacher, and that is classroom management, lesson planning data, classroom organization, communication and teacher wellness. Pick one of these systems to focus on and then get really good at it and then move on to the next thing, instead of trying to focus on everything at once. All of these we focus on inside the Present Teacher Circle, which I will link in the description down below if you want to check it out.
Speaker 1:At the end of the day, there are several mistakes teachers make when they start to feel behind, which includes not setting work hours, not taking care of themselves, long to-do lists, signing up for too many extra things for volunteering, and also trying to do too many things and be good at too many things at once.
Speaker 1:If you are at that don't done moment I'm absolutely done and you're ready to dive deeper into leaving work on time consistently, I want to invite you, with your permission, to join us inside the Ready Set Prep, a three-day challenge for new teachers, where I walk you through how to consistently leave work on time by maximizing your prep and, if you feel like throughout the challenge, you like what you see, you learned a lot and you want to continue learning from me, I will then invite you to join us inside the program leaving work on time, where I will show you how to set up these systems that I talked about inside the Thriving Teacher Framework to make sure that you are not working on the weekends or late into the afternoons and you are enjoying your first couple of years of teaching. As always, remember that we are stronger together and I will see you in the next one. Teacher Vesti Bye. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. I hope that you were able to take away some value that will help you thrive inside and out of the classroom. It would mean the world to me if you could take five seconds right now and leave a review on this podcast. And if you found this podcast especially helpful, make sure to take a screenshot of this episode right now and tag me on your socials to let me know you're listening. As always, remember that we are stronger together and we are stronger together. And, as always, remember that we are stronger together, with all the love in the world.
Speaker 1:Melinda, aka the President. Teacher, see you next time. Teacher Vesti, innovation is an offering that says that our teachers consider.