{"id":20608,"date":"2019-04-17T12:05:29","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T17:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/?p=20608"},"modified":"2023-11-15T13:04:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T19:04:26","slug":"4-ways-teachers-can-be-out-the-door-by-400","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/blog\/4-ways-teachers-can-be-out-the-door-by-400\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways Teachers Can Be Out the Door By 4:00"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why Leaving School ON TIME is Vital for Your Sanity<\/h2>\n

Leave school by 4:00? I\u2019m sure you read the title of this blog post and immediately thought, \u201cKim is crazy!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(Well, yes \u2026 I am. But that\u2019s a story for another day and another blog post!) <\/span><\/p>\n

Bear with me \u2026\u00a0because I\u2019m trying to save your sanity here, Teacher Friend!<\/span><\/p>\n

I work with educators in many capacities. And the one thing I hear from them consistently is that that they are worn out. They\u2019re barely surviving. They\u2019ve lost their joy, and they feel like they can hardly breathe through all the stress.<\/span><\/p>\n

Worse, they feel SHAME about it. They tell me how they went into the education profession because they believed they could make a difference in students\u2019 lives. And now\u2014even though they\u2019re working themselves to the bone\u2014they feel like they\u2019re failing those students, failing to keep up with the never-ending tasks and ridiculous expectations.<\/span><\/p>\n

I get it. I really do because I\u2019ve been there. But I\u2019m also a <\/span>happiness coach<\/span><\/a>, and that means I have a unique perspective on this. And it means I\u2019m going to share some hard truths with you.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re probably never going to change the system. Or the expectations. Or the number of kids you teach every day, or the behaviors you have to deal with, or the overbearing parents.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are never going to get it ALL done. You will never place that final checkmark on your to-do list \u2026\u00a0because that list never stops growing.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I know that this lack of control is scary. But there is something you DO have control over:<\/span><\/p>\n

YOU!<\/span><\/p>\n

Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life<\/h3>\n

If you want to get out of the school door by 4:00, it\u2019s gonna take a little commitment. You have to be willing to change \u2026 but I promise the payoff is so worth it!<\/span><\/p>\n

These four steps can help get you started:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Take responsibility!<\/b> You\u2014and only YOU\u2014can make the changes that will impact your life in a positive way. You have to decide if your family, your personal interests, your mental well-being are worth it. There will always be the random day that you have to work overtime. But you need to promise yourself that these will be the exceptions, not the rule!<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Replace instead of pile on.<\/b> New initiatives, new teaching practices, new engagement methods, new curriculum, new standards \u2026\u00a0the list goes on and on. And that\u2019s the problem. There\u2019s always something new to add to your plate, but how often do you REMOVE anything? Most teachers have that Type A personality\u2014we want to do it all and do it all well. That\u2019s a recipe for madness! Instead, every time you add a new item to your to-do list (or your wish list), take one thing off. I <\/span>know<\/span><\/i> there are things on there that are outdated, irrelevant, or unimportant!<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Embrace the undone.<\/b> With a to-do list that\u2019s always growing, you\u2019re never going to have a clean slate. There\u2019s always going to be a last-minute request, an unexpected change \u2026\u00a0and that means something else on your list will suffer. What to do? Make like Elsa, and LET IT GO! Will it be uncomfortable? Probably. But that\u2019s when real growth starts to happen!<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Get the hell outta there!<\/b> The clock hits 4:00. LEAVE! That\u2019s it. Not \u201cjust one more thing.\u201d Not \u201cI really should get this done.\u201d Not \u201cWhat will the other teachers think?\u201d Just LEAVE.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Making It Work In Real Life<\/h3>\n

    I know what you\u2019re thinking. \u201cJust leave\u201d is easier said than done. But it CAN be done. (I did it myself when I was a classroom teacher.)<\/span><\/p>\n

    I recently interviewed a former principal, Adam, who almost always left school at 4:00. He was in charge of 550 kids and numerous employees. So if this guy could do it, anybody can!<\/span><\/p>\n

    Adam and I found that there were a lot of little ways to ensure you\u2019re managing your time appropriately. For starters, if you\u2019re accustomed to regularly staying at school until 6:00, try backing up your quitting time to 5:45 for a week or two. Then back it up to 5:30 for a while. Then 5:15. Before long, you\u2019ll be heading out the door at 4:00 consistently!<\/span><\/p>\n

    You\u2019ll probably even find yourself becoming more efficient during the day. Knowing that you\u2019ll be leaving school at a specific (non-negotiable!) time will keep you focused and productive. You\u2019ll start doing a subconscious audit of your time and become more selective about your \u201chave to\u201d list.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Think about your weekends. I\u2019ll bet your Saturdays, like most people\u2019s, are jam-packed. Your kid\u2019s soccer game, grocery shopping, random errands, a birthday party, family time, maybe some exercise. <\/span><\/p>\n

    That\u2019s a lot to get done. But you get it done, don\u2019t you? Because there\u2019s a sense of urgency, and you focus on the stuff that NEEDS to be done. If you had endless time, you\u2019d probably get sidetracked by tasks that really make very little impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Bottom line: You have to put your time where there\u2019s a high rate of return. Do the highest leverage things\u2014and let the rest go.<\/span><\/p>\n

    P.S. Administrators, you need to hear this too. If you want your teachers\u2019 brains set to positive (<\/span>and therefore, more productive, efficient, and creative<\/span><\/a>), then you need to start modeling and encouraging this behavior!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Why Leaving School ON TIME is Vital for Your Sanity Leave school by 4:00? I\u2019m sure you read the title of this blog post and immediately thought, \u201cKim is crazy!\u201d (Well, yes \u2026 I am. But that\u2019s a story for another day and another blog post!) Bear with me \u2026\u00a0because I\u2019m trying to save your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classroom-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strobeleducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}