The Present Teacher Podcast

How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Other Teachers

• Helena Hains • Season 1 • Episode 112

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Have you ever caught yourself comparing yourself to another teacher? And you noticed that whenever you do it makes you feel bad and second guess your worth as a teacher?

This week I am sure my 3 strategies on how to stop comparing yourself to other teachers. Plus I get honest and real about my own personal journey and the mistakes I made along the way.

These teacher mindset strategies will help you confidently save time as a teacher, minimize teacher overwhelm, prevent you from staying late and start leaving work on time, and prevent teacher burnout.

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//  ABOUT

I’m Helena, a coach for new and first-year teachers sharing knowledge on how to have a thriving career and personal life.

The Present Teacher Podcast is a resource for classroom management, classroom organization, time management, and teacher wellness. Follow along and learn how to thrive in the classroom and in life.

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Helena:

So you find yourself scrolling online or walking down a hallway and you can't help but start to compare yourself to others. You see other teachers with the perfect classroom, really good classroom management skills, super organized desks and supplies, and you're feeling like you're not enough and you wish that there was another way. Well, if this is you, don't worry. I've been exactly where you were at. You see, during my first couple of years of teaching, I struggled with classroom management, and every time I scrolled social media or walked down the hallway I saw teachers who were way better at managing a classroom than I was. So the question then becomes how do you go about not comparing yourself to other teachers? Well, that's what we're going to answer in this week's content. So let's dive right 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, actionable classroom management, social learning and teacher wellness strategies. You know that impact you want to make in the classroom. We're going to make it happen here. So, when it comes to figuring out how to stop comparing yourself to other teachers, there's a couple things to consider, but the first thing I highly recommend that you do is consider maybe not looking at other teachers. Okay, so what on earth do I mean? Because you can't exactly ignore all the teachers in your building. No, but one thing I have found the more I scroll social media and the more I see other teachers who have Pinterest Perfect Classrooms, the more you might start to feel not as positively about yourself. And one thing you can help kind of minimize this amount is minimizing your social media activity Meaning. Instead of scrolling aimlessly on social media and looking at all these Pinterest perfect highlights of you know classrooms, maybe start asking yourself how do I feel when I scroll social media? Does it make me feel great, or do I always feel kind of meh about myself afterwards and feel like I'm not enough and I should be where everyone else is? I have, in fact, found myself doing this in the past, and what I often did was I started limiting my screen time on social media. Now, don't get me wrong. I had my five or six accounts of teachers, or just people in general, that I absolutely found inspiring. They were never, you know, in a way that made me feel bad about myself, but actually when I went into their content. I always felt really good about myself and like it was possible for me. So what I would often do is, when I felt the craving or like I wanted to scroll social media, I would go check in with my five favorite people that I recognize made me feel good about teaching and felt motivating, and then I would close social media and do something else.

Helena:

When you minimize this amount of exposure you are being exposed to, or the amount of time you're being exposed to accounts that make you feel bad about yourself, you're going to find that comparing yourself is going to happen a lot less and you're going to feel way more confident about yourself. Whenever I'm starting to doubt myself whether that's you know as a mom, whether that's you know as a mom, a dog mom, as a teacher, as a wife, as a business owner, anything like that I start to ask myself how much have I been scrolling on social media and does that have any correlation to how I'm feeling right now? Oftentimes it does, and I just recognize that and I kind of scroll back or minimize the amount of times I'm scrolling on social media and doing something else that feels good to me instead. Now you might be wondering okay, that's great, but what about if I'm comparing myself to teachers in my building? I can't exactly ignore them, no, but here's a perspective I chose to adopt that really helps me with this, and that is using those teachers as inspiration. Now, what do I mean by this? Well, it's easy to compare yourself to teachers who are five to ten years or more in their teaching experience when you are just starting out, and it's easy to think of wow, I'm not there yet.

Helena:

I should be there already. But it's the only difference between you and a teacher who is five or an experienced teacher is they've had more time to figure out what works for them. I'm going to say that again, the only difference between you and an experienced teacher is they've had more time to figure out what works for them, meaning, a majority of the time, teachers that you are looking up to started exactly where you were at. They struggled with the exact same things and, in fact, oftentimes the teachers you see that become experts or natural at things is because they really sucked at them to start with. So whenever you see a classroom management expert online or someone who's naturally good at classroom management, remind yourself that they probably struggled with classroom management when they first started teaching and since they dedicated so much time to getting better and learning what worked for them, they are now more natural at it. This makes me think of Gina teaching with heart. From teaching with heart, she comes to mind. I've had her as a guest here on the present teacher community and she shares about how when she started teaching, she really struggled with classroom management and now it's so natural for her and it only became that way because she really struggled with it when she started. Another teacher that comes to mind is Brittany Blackwell. Brittany Blackwell, from Teaching Mind, body and Soul, really struggled with teacher wellness and work-life balance when she was a new special education teacher, and now she is going and sharing with thousands of teachers how to have better work-life balance.

Helena:

So all that to say when you look at someone or a teacher, don't use them as they're farther than me. I should be there Instead. Don't use them as they're farther than me. I should be there Instead. Think to yourself that they are showing me what's possible for me in the future. They are your inspiration. They show you what's possible and if they can get there, you can get there too, because they started where I was and using that as inspiration to move you forward. And finding you know, mentors and teachers you can really look up to is really going to help you when it comes to comparing yourself. And, like I said, if you don't can't find yourself you know, using that person as inspiration. Unsubscribe from them. Minimize the amount of time you're exposing yourself to that teacher, because you should be doing stuff that makes you feel good and eliminating things that make you doubt yourself, doubt yourself or compare yourself to other people. So, so far, the two strategies I recommend that you look at when it comes to not comparing yourself to other teachers is one don't look at their stuff if you know, if you don't want to and it doesn't make you feel good. And the second thing is use them as inspiration If you do want to continue following them and you want to find a way to look at things differently and shift your mindset. The third thing is reminding yourself that you are enough.

Helena:

Now, being raw here, whenever I found myself comparing myself to other teachers, it's often because I felt a lack For me that personally, came up as like I'm not smart enough, I'm not old enough, I'm not experienced enough, I can't figure this out, I'm not enough. I'm not enough, I'm not enough, I'm not enough, not enough, I'm not enough, and when you have that mindset, it's easy when you see someone out there kind of rubbing against that lie that you're telling yourself, it's easy to be reminded of it and it's a good way to compare yourself. So instead, especially as a new teacher, I found it really hard to believe in myself and be confident in who I was as a teacher. But throughout the years, I've learned to trust myself, because one thing I have found is when I listen to all the voices online and all the voices in my school and stop listening to myself, that's when I really struggled as a teacher, whereas when I was stopped, when I stopped searching for answers outside myself and instead I asked myself well, what do I want to do? What feels good to me? What do I love to do in my classroom? How would I navigate this situation in a way that feels good to me?

Helena:

I started to make real progress towards my goals and becoming that teacher I wanted to be, and so if you minimize the amount of voices that are going in your head and you start leaning into who you are and your desires, you're gonna find that it's so much easier. I often talk about how I feel like your desires are safe guidance, meaning whatever you want to do and whatever your heart is telling you. When you lean into that, it's kind of like a nudge from the universe or God showing you how to get to where you want to be and live the life you want to be. So when you lean into that, it is so much easier to be that teacher you want to be and it's saving you so much time. I can't tell you how often in my teaching experience I listen to outsiders opinions, only for it to fail. And when you listen to yourself, you are becoming the teacher you want to be and you are trusting yourself and you know yourself best. And the things that are going to work for you aren't going to work for me and vice versa.

Helena:

And, as I said, the only difference between an experienced teacher is you. They've had more time to figure out what works for them, so don't get caught up on. They're farther than you. They had to go through so many lessons, I'm sure, to get there. You are enough, you are enough and you are exactly where you need to be. You are ahead of where you need to be. You are exactly where you need to be and stop comparing yourself to teachers who are 10 or 20 years ahead. They've had 10 or 20 years of lessons and ways of figuring out what didn't work to get where they are. So just remind yourself like, wow, look, how great they are at that. That means that's possible for me, that I can get that good at it, that is possible to get that good at it, and I'm going to be there too. And just reminding yourself that I'm enough. I love myself. I am the best teacher. I am getting better and better every day.

Helena:

I know sometimes I fail, but failure is not a bad thing. Failure are just lessons into leaning into the teacher I want to be. Failure is showing me what doesn't work and it's the process of elimination on what's not going to work for me in my classroom, and that's okay. Failure is not a bad thing. Failure is not an option. You actually can't, I honestly believe, fail at teaching. You can't. I mean, it's not possible for you to fail at teaching. You can get lessons and you can you know, learn what does and doesn't work for you, but there's no such thing as failing. You can't mess it up. You can't make a single decision that'll make everything fall apart, that you can't then fix. I mean, sure, there are very, very big extremes, but I don't have to worry about those kind of decisions with you because I know who you are and you're not that kind of person. But what I'm getting at is you can't mess it up.

Helena:

When I reflect on all the decisions I've made as a teacher, I'm sure I've made some that were, you know, not the right choice, but it didn't change the outcome of where I am now. I still found a way to make it to where I can live a life I love, where I can love teaching, so much so that I want to teach you how to love, love, love teaching and love life. To the point where I started a community on the side on how to do this. To the point where I had the free time and the freedom to do that while still teaching full time. And all that to say like I didn't mess up one decision and it fell apart. That wasn't the thing. It was a process of elimination and leaning into what worked and leaving what didn't, and leaning into what made me a good teacher and what felt great to me, to the point where I figured out a system that worked for me.

Helena:

So, with all that being said, remind yourself that you are enough. You can't mess it up. There's no way you can mess this up. You can't make a single decision that makes all the dominoes fall over. That's not possible. You are building with huge jingo bricks. There's no way you can mess it up. It's not even possible. It's not even an option. There's no way you can completely mess everything up to the point where it falls completely down. You are enough. Where you are in your journey is exactly where you need to be. The lessons you are learning are the lessons you exactly need to learn Now.

Helena:

I'm not saying that teaching and getting to where you want to be has to be hard. Not at all. You can decide that the lessons that you learn you do with ease and grace and quickly. You can decide hey, I don't want to take 20 years to figure out what works for me. I want to do it now. So instead, when I learn that something doesn't work for me, I'm really going to lean into that and move on, instead of repeating the same mistakes over and over again. I'm going to learn it with ease. It's not going to be a huge mistake. It's going to be a slight calculation miscalculation and I'm gonna learn it with ease. It's not gonna be a huge mistake. It's gonna be a slight calculation miscalculation and I'm gonna fix it.

Helena:

So remind yourself that you are enough. You are enough. You are enough. You are enough. Where you are in your journey is exactly where you need to be. You can't mess it up. There's no way that you can completely mess up your teaching career, and whoever doesn't help you feel that way should not be in your life. Whoever doesn't help you feel supported and motivated and inspired shouldn't be in your life, and anybody who has you comparing yourself to them isn't welcomed in your life. Because you are in the path of growth, massive growth, and being that teacher you want to be. Now. Your heart is in the right place and your time is right now. So decide, decide it gets to be easy. Decide you get to learn the decisions or the lessons quickly. Decide you get to live that life closer and closer. Decide it gets to be effortless. And decide that you are no longer letting people into your life or your world that is going to make you feel bad about yourself. You are only available energetically for the people that inspire you and help you become the teacher you want to be. All right, rant over Sorry. So, anyways, that wraps up the top three tips I have when it comes to comparing yourself to other teachers. So the first thing, don't look at them if they are not making you feel motivated or inspired, whether that's me or somebody else. Honestly, permission, unfollow, not okay. Second thing, use them as inspiration. If you can't just unfollow them, if they're in your life or if you want to keep following them, use them as inspiration. Use their wins as inspiration of what's possible for you. And the third thing, remind yourself that you are enough. As I said, when I first started, I didn't feel like I was enough, and I really had to work on this when I started teaching, because I found myself comparing so much because I didn't feel enough, and so I'd get caught up on everyone else instead of listening to my own expertise. So, with all that being said, you are doing an amazing job. You are doing an amazing job and I believe in you 1000% and you got this. And if you want to dive in deeper to more content like this, I want to invite you to a couple of things. The first one is the ultimate first year teacher guide. In there I answered the top 10 questions I get in regards to being a first year teacher and then, on top of it, if you want to take it a step further, I just got done releasing the Present Teacher Circle. So the Present Teacher Circle is 12 modules. That walks you through everything from lesson planning. 12 modules that walks you through everything from lesson planning, classroom management, organization, family communication everything that you need in a classroom to be on autopilot so you can start leaving on time, so you can start showing up with an energy and you can be that teacher you want to be. And if you want to sneak peek behind my processes that allowed me to help teachers start their own businesses, to help teachers automate their classrooms so they could go on vacations, mid-year work, free, start their own businesses and, you know, leave work on time and so much more, I would love to have you inside or you know how I personally started leaving work on time and all the systems I have in my classroom that helped me get there, then I'd love to show you. So if that's something you're interested in, you can learn more by joining or clicking on the link in the description down below, as always, remember we are stronger together. I'm proud of you and you don't need to compare yourself to them. Forget them. You're doing awesome and I believe in you a hundred percent, and you are a bad blank teacher. Okay, I said it. All right, have a wonderful, wonderful day and I will talk to you soon. Teacher bestie, I love you. Bye, I love you're listening, as always. Remember that we are stronger together, with all the love in the world. Helena, aka the President Teacher. See you next time, teacher Bestie.

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