inSpiration Mini-Series: Breaking the Habit Part #2

We are back teacher friends! I am so excited for out topic this week as part #2 in our inSpiration mini-series. I realized this week that my weak moment has begun a huge learning curve for me, and I'm grateful for it because it's inspired me to create this mini-series to help all of you who may be struggling with the same feelings. Last week we discussed the first step in changing a bad habit; avoiding the tempting situations, and how it’s not always possible to do that with our work. What we can do is avoid diving deeper into the moment the negative mindset begins if we think about how far we’ve come and we are offering a service to help our students. Valorie Burton says that for leaders, thinking of serving is one way to help take the pressure off and avoid focusing on what we didn't do well, but instead on what we did. It's easier to lead when we feel we are serving others. 

Today, let’s think about another step we must take to break this bad habit; replace unhealthy behaviors with healthy ones. Wouldn't our time be better spent if we made a short list of what went well, and what we need to work on, then select one step to take to improve, rather than harp on the idea we didn’t do well?  As teachers we are very self-critical, and it can be hard to not focus on all the things that went wrong, but we need to pivot and remove this unhealthy behavior. A health behavior is to focus on one step to improve, and celebrate one step that went well. 

Perhaps we can reach out to our fellow teacher friends to get their opinion on where we can begin. We can also think about what we would picture the end result looking like first. With that in mind, a first step might emerge faster since we focus on what we want in the end, then we can figure out how to walk in that direction. Maybe we need to reach out to our PLC or PLN group and ask questions, maybe we need to research an article or search for a video on our topic. Sometimes, simply sitting quietly thinking about what we can work on is all we need. When we use this time to reflect, we open our minds to all the possibilities, and see things from a perspective we didn't before. The healthy habits don’t have to be like a great flood teacher friends! A slow drizzle into a steady rain is a much better pace. I feel the most important habit (that is the hardest,) to replace is to give ourselves the grace to make the mistakes, learn from them, and start to prepare for the next time when we face this challenge again. We would allow our students this grace, and encourage them to replace the negative mindset with a growth mindset (unhealthy with healthy thinking,) so let’s give ourselves the same time, and room for growth. THAT’S thinking healthy!

These steps to breaking bad habits can be hard, but don't give up! We are on this learning journey together! 

Final thoughts: Keep in mind that a big change comes from the decision to make that first small step. Keep thinking about each step from the week before to merge in with the current step we are on to help us eliminate bad habits. Keep in mind all of the good habit choices you do have, rather than spin your wheels in the mud of one negative one. Finally, keep in mind that you are doing well, even if it doesn't feel like it. Feeling uncomfortable means you're growing and changing for the better!