inSpiration Mini-Series: Breaking the Habit Part #4

Happy new year teacher friends! As I always say, this is our second "new year" celebration- a time for our mid-year check in to adjust goals, start or make new ones, and develop positive habits that will help us overcome challenges along the way! 

This week, let’s dive into the fourth way we can break some of the negative habits we’ve developed and explore new ones that will add to our positive energy, especially with the entrance of the new year...we are all ready for our fresh start! To review what we've been talking about so far in our mini-series, we know that to break bad habits we should try to 1- avoid tempting situations, 2- replace unhealthy behaviors with healthy ones, and 3- prepare mentally. Next, we need to enlist the support of others, which as educators should not be a strange concept. There are many times and situations when I've heard to lean on others. We are always told to network and foster relationships with others, but this can be a challenge in itself at times! Teaching can sometimes feel isolating, but we are not alone in our work, nor should we be. 

We are used to being the leader of our classrooms, the one that our students depend on, the one everyone turns to for answers, so we naturally fall into a place where we think since we have a goal to achieve, and it is our own personal goal, that we have to achieve it on our own. This is simply not true. I heard a great episode of the John Maxwell podcast about who we want at our leadership table. This episode clicked right away for me with this fourth step to changing habits.We want to have more people around us because that increases our odds of turning good ideas into great ones. We also want people around us who's greatest desire is the success of the idea. Perhaps if I would’ve enlisted support from trusted colleagues, my confidence in administering the assessments to my student would’ve been higher, and my ideas of what to do (which were good,) could've been better from the start. By carefully selecting my "pod," my idea could've flourished because I know they believe it, and in me. Now that's how you start developing better habits! Getting better means I need to surround myself with others who can help me in various ways, and this will break the (other bad) habit of me automatically trying to learn alone. 

Think of what habit you are trying to change, or what challenge you’ve been working toward conquering. Who are you go-to people that can help you take a step closer toward your goal(s)? Sometimes the best people are those who are right in front of us but we don’t think to ask. Other times, we need to expand our network a bit. What groups are out there you could belong to and learn from? Whether it’s a professional organization or a group on social media, we have the power to find others who are just as ambitious and supportive as we change our habits and work toward our goal. Knowing we have a support system helps us to stay focused, be held accountable for next steps, and have the opportunity to express how we feel to others as we experience the process. It also offers us the chance to “pay it forward” and be the sounding board someone else needs. This step has much to offer us, and it’s the perfect way to spend the start of the new year getting back on track with facing our challenges- together!

Final Thoughts: Keep thinking who are the people you want at your table to support you as you work on your challenges? Keep in mind that the goal is to change negative habits into positive ones, and we do not have to work through the process alone! Keep asking yourself how can you be part of a meaningful support system to someone in return, and finally, keep believing in yourself and you will achieve your goals!