Are you a teacher who is feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout - or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing something different or a new job or perhaps pursuing an entirely different career - but you don't know what else you're qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search and you just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you are not alone. my name is Vanessa Jackson; and I am a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal with the overwhelmingly stressful nature of your day-to-day job and to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. You might ask yourself, What tools do I need to find a new career? Are my skills valuable outside the classroom? How and where do I even get started? These are all questions you deserve answers to, and I can help you find them. I’m Vanessa Jackson. Come and join me for Teachers in Transition.
***Hi! And Welcome back to another episode of Teachers in Transition. I am your host, Vanessa Jackson – I’m a career transition and job search coach specializing in teachers. I am here to help you reach your goals and figure out how to navigate the journey from stressed overwhelmed and burnt-out teacher to the career of your dreams with margins in your life to spend with your family, your pets, and whatever else you want to. I provide tips and suggestions to help with stress and mental health, hacks to help your day, and job-hunting tips. If you are frustrated with your current teaching position, if you are stressed, overwhelmed, and burned out you are in the right place – Welcome! Today on the podcast we are going to make our Resolutions for the new year. In July. These are Resolutions for the new school year and for those still teaching. Then, I have a recommendation for a book that will give you a blueprint to say “NO” more often and stick to it! Finally, in our job-hunting segment, we are going to revisit a Ta-Da list and so you can take a moment to remember how awesome you really are.
So in our segment on stress and mental health, we're rolling up on the end of July, and summers seem to get shorter and shorter. Teachers go back to school earlier and earlier. So as we are getting ready for this upcoming school year, if you are one of my teachers who is still teaching, we are going to make New Year's resolutions! That's right. We're going to make New Year's resolutions in July - for this upcoming school year. I mean, let's be real here. New Year's resolutions are just something we want to do to improve some segment of our lives – to take advantage of the fresh new calendar full of opportunity. The year is nothing but potential. The children are nothing but perfectly behaved. So make some resolutions with me. I am going to suggest a few here:
Resolution #1: Stop Punishing Yourself with Work Overload
- Recognize that you only have so many hours in a day for work.
- Make sure to balance your time between work and family.
- Set a stop time – and set an alarm on your phone to enforce it.
We only receive so many hours in a day for work. And you owe yourself and your family time too. Be careful about losing family time to give school kids more time. You cannot love the kids more than the state is willing to cover the cost. It's just a mathematical impossibility.
Resolution #2: Set a Bedtime Routine Alarm
- Set an alarm to remind you to wind down what you are doing and start your bedtime routine. I’m going to set a reminder for us to talk about this more in an upcoming episode later, but in a nutshell:
- Wash and moisturize your face, brush your teeth, check your plans for the next day, check the weather, and lay out your clothes. Whatever you choose works best for you.
Resolution #3: Fuel Your Body Well
- Commit to feeding yourself well, especially at the start of the year.
- Meal prep doesn’t have to be time-consuming. You do not have to spend all day Sunday in the kitchen! Include your children in the process if you have them. These days, my Sunday dinner becomes next week’s lunches. I just prepare an amount that covers it.
- A friend of mine told me recently that she had been internally horrified many years ago when I casually commented to my daughter: “Hey, we’re getting ready to run out of Sunday. You need to go make your sandwiches, and put your snacks in baggies for next week, or you won’t have them.” My friend was stunned I didn’t make the lunches for my kid? She was five. My friend also shared that when her kids reached a similar age, she was adopting similar mechanisms. I set my daughter up for success to be able to do this, and she got to help select what she wanted in those lunches. A sandwich is not hard to make. Hey! I used to bake homemade cookies every week.
Fast forward to now: Both my friend and I have independent kids capable of taking care of themselves when they need to. Also, my daughter is a much better cook than me! - I'll put a link in the show notes an article or two with quick and easy meal prep suggestions. If you get the newsletter, those links will there later this week. Not signed up for newsletter? Just head over TeachersInTransition.com and get registered.
Resolution #4: Remember It's Just a Job
- Draw boundaries to protect your personal life and health. – you know you would probably haul yourself out of your own coffin to try and be there for your students because you care THAT much.
- Understand that if something happened to you, the school would replace you as quickly as they could, and they wouldn’t think about it later. In fact, some of us probably carry a little trauma related to that when we lost a teacher friend.
- Whatever level is above you, that is bringing the pressure down on you - they're not going to be around to pick up the pieces of your broken life, your broken home, or your broken health. They treat us like tissues. It's OK to draw boundaries so that we are not used up. Be resolved!
Resolution #5: Set a Timer for the End of Your Workday
- Something that corporate America understands that Education America does not is that they know that the work will never end; there's always more to do.
- Understand that staying late won't allow you to finish everything—it's designed to be too much for one person. It’s evolved to be more than any three people can do in many situations.
- I started hearing in 2001 “we're going to have to do more with less”. Well maybe it’s time for everyone to learn that you get less with less until they can give more. They won’t give more because it's just not there to give anymore. This leads me to:
Resolution #6: Cap Your Spending on Classroom Decorations
- In fact, here’s a wild idea - get your students involved in decorating the classroom to save your costs. If you’re a brand-new teacher to a district, you may be waiting 4-6 weeks for that first paycheck.
- When the students get a chance to decorate the classroom, it can give them a sense of ownership and responsibility over this shared space. When students thought the room was mine, they were more likely to leave it a mess. When they took some ownership, it wasn’t nearly as bad.
- Remember if the state can’t fund it, you can’t cover that entire gap youself.
- And if you’re really honest with yourself, you’d rather feed a hungry kid than buy a rug. And if you buy the rug, odds are you are still going to have to find ways to feed the kids. Also, these days, the odds are high that the rug gets trashed.
Resolution #7: Fill Up Your Car on the Weekend
- I heard this from someone else years ago about filling up your car on a certain day of the week every week. When I first heard this, it was a REVELATION! I didn’t have to wait until empty? What?? Now, I use Sundays because that is what works best for me.
- Something we have all done is tell ourselves that we‘ll leave a little early and grab it on the way in to work.
- This way you avoid morning stress by ensuring your car is always ready to roll because as soon as you tell yourself you'll do it in the morning: the alarm doesn't work the next morning, the refrigerator explodes, and the rest of the appliances have started a revolt of some sort that you have to put down.
- This car routine might also include taking all the coffee cups and water bottles out. It’s OK if you’re too tired to deal with them when you get home during the week, but you’ll eventually have to take them in. Consider putting it in your routine to help.
Resolution #8: Take Time for Yourself
- Blah blah blah – self-care - right? Everyone preaches it and no one tells us HOW
- Dedicate one day a month (or maybe an evening a week) just for you. Block it off in all the calendars – maybe title it tax reconciliation or something else that doesn’t sound fun so people aren’t interested in helping. (I’m cleaning in the basement, y’all! If you come on down here, I’m giving you a chore)
- Whether it’s a pedicure, a walk in nature, or simply relaxing in a rocking chair or swing, give your soul time to catch up with your body and allow your mind time to be bored.
Resolution #9: Incorporate Exercise into Your Daily Routine
- Here’s another one. I can hear you through the wifi already – WHEN?!? When do I work this in!!!!
- As much as I would like to say, “Go out and get 30 minutes of exercise every day”. Honestly, do you really have the time? Find ways to get your heart rate up. And I don't mean your blood pressure at a faculty meeting. If you are a teacher that has to go outside for children during recess - maybe walk amongst them or around them. When you are walking from point A to point B, do so with a faster pace and a longer stride. That is itself an exercise. Find little ways to sneak the exercise into your day.
- I worked in a building once (actually two buildings now that I think about it) that were basically just square donuts. There were a couple of people in the building who would walk around and chat with each other while they did it. Our bodies need to move. Exercise and social time. Win win.
Resolution #10 Be Kind to Yourself.
- Remember the holy triumvirate of good mental and physical health – sleep, food, exercise.
- Prioritize rest and proper nutrition to maintain your health throughout the school year.
- You have heard it said; you have lived it. We know it's true! There is no tired like teacher-tired in that first week of school. This is because your body has come from a state where you have taken care of it for a couple of months, and you get to jump right back to abusing, cutting your sleep short, and probably not eating all that well. It is exactly like an athlete who hasn't done anything in in a long time going back to two-a-day practices.
- Take care of yourself. Fuel your body appropriately. And get your rest.
In order to do this, you are going to need to be able to draw a few boundaries and say “No” from time to time. Remember – “no” is an answer. It is also a complete sentence. This leads me right into our next segment.
In the recommendation segment, this summer I am sharing things I've found enjoyable or helpful. This week, I'm recommending a book that comes in various formats: Audible, read by the author, and both hardcover and paperback and Kindle editions.
The book, written by Sarah Knight, has a title that’s NOT safe for work: "F*CK No." Like all her books, it contains a bit of profanity in the title and throughout, so it might not be suitable for reading at work meetings. I recommend earbuds. Please note that because I am dedicated to keeping this podcast PG, I am editing out some words that might be offensive if you are listening to this out loud somewhere.
"D*CK No" (I don’ mean duck) explores the art of drawing boundaries and saying no. Sarah Knight provides numerous examples, tips, and suggestions on how to say no, soften the blow, and hold your ground. This book is about respecting your own boundaries instead of letting others talk you into things you don't want to do.
Here's a short passage from the book.
I understand you’re telling me it’s okay to say no — but how do I do it?
Like, literally, HOW???
You might be wondering the same thing, looking for ways to bridge that powerful dividebetween the pull of wanting to say no and the pressure of feeling like you have to say yes.
Maybe you’re feeling the burn of taking on too many assignments at work or too many projects for school or too much emotional labor at home. Maybe, like my friend Lauren, you’ve racked up hundreds of dollars in overseas roaming fees because you can’t say no to the Democratic National Committee when they robocall you repeatedly during your vacation.
Maybe you even tried saying no once or twice and it didn’t go very well. There were dirty looks or guilt trips or tears, so in the end you caved, resigning yourself to a life of yes because it’s “easier” in the moment.
Oh, honey. No.
But listen, I get it. And I acknowledge that The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a duck was primarily focused on getting to no in your own mind. Lucky for you, my newest book — F*ck No!— takes it all one giant leap further, into real, live, practical application. That is: saying no to other people’s faces (and voicemail and inboxes and pre-printed RSVP cards, and more).
… if you WANT to say no but can’t find the words to actually, literally, definitively SAY SO: it will be my pleasure to put them in your mouth.
Remember, the book is called "F*CK No" by Sarah Knight, (Sarah with an H and Knight with a K). I'll put a link in the show notes to a quick blog article, where to find this book on Amazon, and a link to her No Ducks Given Guide. I just learned that she has a podcast too, so I will be listening to THAT and I will also link in the show-notes (and upcoming Newsletter).
Enjoy, and remember to respect your own boundaries!
And now it’s time to move to today's job search segment! We're revisiting a concept I like to call the "Ta-Da List." This is a file you keep, preferably on your phone or a Google Doc linked to your personal email—definitely not on your school computer. In this document, you'll maintain a running record of all the amazing things you do. When it's time to write or update your resume, you'll draw from this Ta-Da List.
Remember, if you can include measurable results next to your accomplishments, do it! Highlighting the measurable impact you've made is impressive to potential employers. Don't overlook the fantastic things you do in volunteer work either; they can be just as important.
Now, if you're already working on your resume, it's great to put everything in as a starting point – like a template. However, remember that not every single thing you've ever done will be interesting to a potential employer. For example, if you're applying for a project manager position, the fact that you managed to calm a fourth-grader during a meltdown may not be relevant—even though it's a significant achievement. Many people outside the education field don't realize how challenging such tasks can be.
So, work on your Ta-Da List. Consider organizing it into different sections. I suggest using a spreadsheet where you list the accomplishment in one column and the type of job or skill it applies to in another. I think spreadsheets make it easier to spot trends, but really what works best for you is always the best option. You don't have to do this all at once; just keep it as a running document.
If you're unsure how your skills translate to other jobs, that's exactly what I help with. I work with teachers just like you to help them translate their skills to just how valuable a teacher’s skills really are to a potential employer. Let's work together to transition your teaching experience into the job of your dreams.
If you’re stressed at just the thought of going back to school or if you’re overwhelmed with everything that being a teacher requires now, maybe it’s time to think about something else. I know you are going into the next school year hoping things will be better – but in case they aren’t. I am here to help. I would love to help be your guide and coach you through this journey. If you’re ready to have the discussion, you can reach out for a complimentary discovery call through the website at TeachersinTransition.com. That’s teachersintransition.com.
And join us on Facebook! You can search for the Teachers In Transition podcast club on Facebook and we pop right up. You just have to answer a couple of questions so that we know you are not a bot.
Remember: The best time to start working on your transition plan was about six months ago. The next best time is now!
That’s the podcast for today! If you liked this podcast, tell a friend, and don’t forget to rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Tune in weekly to Teachers in Transition where we discuss Job Search strategies as well as stress management techniques. And I want to hear from you! Please reach out and leave me a message at Teacher in transition coaching at gmail dot com. You can also leave a voicemail or text at 512-640-9099.
I’ll see you here again next week and remember – YOU are amazing!
