inSpiration Mini-Series: Breaking the Habit Part #3

Greetings everyone! It's the height of the holiday season and I'm feeling both tired and excited. I'm sure you are too! I look forward to our weekly inSpiration posts and my blog time to share my thoughts with you. It helps me to reset and feel connected to my week ahead. 

We've been spending some time working on our challenges, and tackling our "bad habits" (aka) our negative thinking the past few weeks. So far, we looked at how even the most fierce pirates get seasick when the tide throws them off their game, how we should try to avoid tempting situations. Since that's not only possible, and we don't want to back away from challenges, I reframed this for those tempting moments when I fall over into a negative mindset that traps me there, and I want to avoid giving in to that moment. We also looked at starting new positive habits and replacing the negative ones. We should continue to do activities that bring out our self-confidence, and learn ways to tie those into new challenging activities we want to start. I learned that I can pivot my thinking by asking others to share their experiences and advice, as well as make a list of what went well and what I need to work on, instead of focusing only on the negative. 

This week, let’s dive into the third way we can break some of the negative habits we’ve developed and explore new ones that will add to our positive energy. It is suggested that in order to break a bad habit, one must prepare mentally. When I first read this, I found it to be open-ended and vague. I wasn't even sure how to approach this, since there's many avenue's to consider with "prepare mentally." After some digging, it was explained that if you can’t avoid tempting situations (habit breaker #1,) prepare before you enter the situation and think how you want to handle it. 

The timing on this one is fitting given we are weeks away from the near year starting! Many of us are considering what resolutions we want to try for 2024. So let’s reframe this technique of "prepare mentally" teacher friends. Thinking about my challenge of administering assessments to a new student, I worked through the first two steps so  I now am ready to prepare for the next time I try the assessments with a student that I’m still learning about. I'm starting to prepare mentally in advance. I want to focus on both feeling prepared by reading, practicing the tests, or even watch videos on them. This will help me get into the mindset that I know what I’m doing and I know how to administer them. 

The other way I can prepare mentally is to have more positive self-talk (which is hard!) and focus on the fact that I’m serving a student and his/her family. Like Valorie Burton says, when we focus on serving others, it takes the pressure off of performing to perfection, and the worry about failing as a leader. My intentions are good, I want to help, and I will always be fully transparent with what I know, and what I need to learn more about when it comes to the assessments. Having this mental preparation will allow me to build confidence in what I do know, and motivation to learn more about what I don’t. There’s no shame in admitting I need more repetition with the assessments in order for it to become second nature for me. Just like all things we learn, it will come with time. It's exactly what I would tell my students, so why not embrace this mindset myself? Thinking about each time as an opportunity to get one step closer to that mastery is preparing mentally for success. 

Think about your challenge this week friends, and what positive thinking you can infuse into your routine to help you focus on the journey and realize that each time you work on a part of your challenge, practice for it, or try it, you are one step closer to overcoming the obstacles and being better at it- and having more confidence. Give yourself the time you need to reflect and prepare mentally as we edge toward the new year. inSpiration Sunday (and our mini-series) will return after the holiday! Merry Everything and Happy Always! Have an amazing holiday break and Happy New Year!

Final Thoughts: Keep thinking about the strategies to break bad habits and establish new ones. Keep offering yourself the time you need to prepare mentally to work on your challenge. Keep in mind the opportunities you have to improve your craft on whatever new challenge you're focused on, and think about how much you are growing. Finally, keep a positive mindset, we can and will achieve our goals- with support from each other!