Teaching with Laughter and Tears Ep. 50

February 7, 2024 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Teaching with Laughter and Tears S. 4 E. 50

Check out this episode to learn how both laughter and crying are good for you and how to find more laughter in your life and classroom.

Show notes:

Episode summary:

Have you laughed at school recently? Have you cried? The acts of both laughing and crying have a significant impact on our physical and psychological health. Both laughter and tears help us to regulate our minds and bodies. Laughing and crying are gifts that our body gives to all of us to help us respond to life’s challenges and celebrations. In this episode we will explore why we laugh and cry, how laughing and crying are good for us, and how you can add more laughter to your life and classroom.

In this episode:

The following is an outline of the things we discussed in the show. To hear all of the stories and examples, please listen to the podcast episode.

Introduction:

Laughing and crying are some of our body’s most authentic responses. When you think about it, both laughing and crying are fascinating ways that our subconscious helps us to regulate our bodies and emotions and respond to the negative and positive events of our lives.

Laughter and tears are a universal language, transcending culture and language boundaries. Laughter and tears are a baby’s first language no matter where in the world they are born.

Though laughter and tears may seem like contradictory responses, they both happen subconsciously to help us navigate our world. Even if we often give little thought to the benefits of laughter and tears, we truly need both.

For those of you who teach littles, you know that both laughing and crying are a daily activity. Children and teens often do both, and regularly have the bonus of laughing so hard that they cry.

However, as we get older, and life takes on a more adult and serious tone, we make conscious efforts to control these emotions, attempting to keep more of a middle ground- decreasing the open flow of tears in front of others and controlling the laughter.

As grown-ups, our bursts of laughter are often reserved for especially fun or funny events. We often save our tears until we are alone. We no longer roll on the floor laughing about a knock-knock joke with pure abandon like we did as a second grader, nor do we burst out into tears when we are disappointed with an answer someone gives us like we did as pre-teens. That is all good, as it helps us to stay within the norms that society sets. However, by stifling these responses we can also stifle why our bodies need these reactions to help us cope with life.

On average, people laugh a half million times in their lifetime. Children laugh about 400 times per day. Adults only laugh approximately 20 times per day. Some studies even suggest that adults laugh on average only 8 times per day! How sad is that?

Why do we adults laugh so little compared to children?

Mainly, it’s because we have less opportunities and society is less forgiving of adults with extreme emotions than we are for kids. So, as adults we try and stifle those giggles in a meeting because we don’t want to appear that we don’t have our emotions under control or we avoid crying in the principal’s office because we don’t want to appear emotionally weak.

Natalie Dattilo, an Instructor of Psychology in Harvard Medical School’s Psychology Department gives reasoning as to why adults don’t laugh enough. As she told the Harvard Gazette, “As adults, we don’t laugh nearly as much as we used to. The idea that we would have fun, play, and make time for those things is often seen as a reward or something you have to earn or something you do when the work is done. But the work is never done.”

Today we’re going to explore the bodily reactions that cause us to laugh and cry, the benefits to our bodies of laughing and crying, and ways that we can add more laughter to our lives.

Why we laugh and cry

Laughing and crying are our body’s way of regulating our emotions and processing the events of our lives. Because we are humans, it is natural to have emotions. Joy and sorrow are two of those crucial emotions. Laughter and crying are our bodies’ natural tendencies to express joy and sadness.

Though they look and sound different on the surface, both laughing and crying provide the same kind of psychological and physical stress release. They both help us to end the stress cycle. For more detailed information about the stress cycle, listen to Episode 7, Prevent, Eliminate and Reduce Stress.

There are several parts of your brain that work together to connect your emotions and the physical reactions to them such as laughing and crying. In order to laugh and cry your brain’s limbic system, brainstem, cerebral cortex and hypothalamus must all work together to get those muscles moving to produce the sound of laughter or the falling of tears. How cool that our body and brain know how important laughter and crying are to our well-being!

Laughing and crying are both byproducts of our body’s defense mechanism. So when we are feeling stressed, uncomfortable, overwhelmed in a negative way, overwhelmed in a positive way, full or joy or whatever big emotion we are feeling, the act of laughing or crying helps our body to release the energy building up in our system. This is our body’s unconscious attempt to regulate all that energy.

Sometimes, you don’t even need to feel the strong emotion to start laughing. Sometimes just hearing another person laughing can cause you to laugh too. People laugh about 30 times more when they are with other people than when they are alone. That is what the phrase “laughter is contagious” matters so much.

It is also true that we tend to mirror others so if you spend a lot of time with people who are sad, you are more likely to feel sad yourself. You’ve heard the expression misery loves company. It’s called mood contagion.

Do you remember the old Saturday Night Live character Debbie Downer played by Rachel Dratch? She was so pessimistic that no one wanted to be around her because she would bring the mood down. Today, the label “Debbie Downer” has come to mean anyone who negatively affects the mood of a space.

Keep that in mind, you probably don’t want to become a Debbie Downer!

The benefits of laughing and crying

The benefits of crying

You’ve probably heard someone say, “It’s nothing a good cry wouldn’t help.” When we cry, we release certain chemicals into our body. Of most importance, when we cry we release endorphins that reduce our pain and make us feel better. This doesn’t work for the tears we shed when we cut onions or get dirt in our eyes, but is it true for tears we cry that are associated with our emotions. There are numerous studies that indicate that letting out sad emotions with tears is better for our mental health than suppressing them.

Have you ever been holding in an emotion and then just had a good, long cry? Did you notice how much lighter you felt afterwards? Getting those emotions out through tears feels so much better than suppressing them for long periods of time.

The benefits of laughing.

You have likely heard someone say, “Laughter is the best medicine”. When we laugh, our body decreases stress hormones like adrenaline, epinephrine, and cortisol. Decreasing stress hormones is good for our heart and boosts our immune system. It can reduce the tension in our bodies and can also help to improve our mood. Laughter can decrease our heart rate and blood pressure and can relax tense muscles. And the best part is that laughter improves our mood and lowers stress and anxiety almost immediately!

Laughing, like crying, also releases endorphins into our brain that make us feel good. These endorphins can reduce pain and give us an overall sense of well-being. Some studies even show that laughter increases cells in our bodies that remove bacteria which can then help prevent cancer and inflammatory diseases. Laughter also fills us dopamine and oxytocin which is considered the “empathy hormone.”

Did you know that when you laugh, you move about 30 facial muscles at the same time? And if you have a hearty, cheerful laugh, you move a third of the muscles in your body. All those muscles moving, and the air flow that increases the motion of your diaphragm, supplies oxygen and blood throughout your body which helps your digestive system and metabolism.

There is a doctor, Patch Adams, a real person played by Robin Williams a movie, who believes that our physical wellness is highly connected to our emotional wellness. He uses humor and comedy as part of his treatment. He believes that laughter can actually help physically heal us.

How to add more laughter to your life

You know yourself best and you understand your sense of humor better than anyone. So you need to cater this to yourself but here are just a few suggestion for adding more laughter to your life.

1. Add opportunities for play, silliness and creativity in your life.

Buy your family that new board game you saw advertised. Family game night is sure to bring about some smiles and laughter. Bring your friends together for a movie and snack night. Pick a movie that cracks you up every time you see it. You might even want to add a silly theme. Go with your friends to that cake decorating class, even if you know your cake will be a disaster. In fact, a “cake fail” may bring about more laughter and smiles than a beautifully decorated cake.

Remember the Pinterest fail Easter cake tht was all over social media a few years ago? The original post was by someone who had made a beautiful cake in the shape of lamb. Then when others tried, they failed miserably and posted their pictures of their lambs that were lopsided and had no neck and just looked ridiculous. It was very funny!

2. Smile more and make efforts to laugh.

Faking a smile can cause your body to smile more; faking a laugh, will actually rewire your brain to let you know that it is okay to laugh. Then you will laugh more. Smiling is a great place to start because smiling is the first step of laughter. Smile more, laugh more, even if it doesn’t come naturally. The more you smile and laugh, the more you rewire your brain. Today is a great day to start that new habit.

Can’t think of anything that will make you smile quickly? Do quick internet search for funny cat videos or look at photos of a fun vacation. You can also watch a laughter yoga video on you tube. Laughter yoga is best done in a group but in the absence of a group of people, a YouTube video will suffice.

3. Incorporate humor into your classroom.

When the kids laugh, laugh with them. We have so much to learn about laughing freely from kids. Incorporate jokes, play silly songs, have kids debate humorous topics. Who would be a pickier house guest, Sponge Bob or Minnie Mouse? Why? Incorporate a joke of the day or have a joke book handy for times when you have a free minute.

You could also show a short, funny video. We Are Teachers has a blog post called 25 School-Appropriate Funny Videos for Kids When You Have 5 Free Minutes. This is an excellent resource because they compiled short funny videos that could be shown in any classroom.

We also have a very popular post on our blog called 8 Simple Ways to Create a Joyful Classroom. There are some fun ideas in there as well.

Maya Angelou once said, “Laugh as much as possible, always laugh. It’s the sweetest thing one can do for oneself and one’s fellow human beings.”

There is an old Joni Mitchell song from the 1970s in which she sings, “Laughing and crying, you know it’s the same release.” Joni was on to something before she had neuroscience to back her up. We now know how good both crying and laughing are for us. Welcome the tears when they come. Increase the laughter in your life. Your body and mind will thank you.

Recap:

Laughter and tears are both good for us. They are our way of regulating our minds and our bodies. The next time you need to cry or give a good belly laugh, remember that you are doing your body good. Laughter really is the best medicine so look for ways to add laughter to your life and your classroom. Your body will thank you!

Quote:

“Laugh as much as possible, always laugh. It’s the sweetest thing one can do for oneself and one’s fellow human beings.”

Maya Angelou

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Linked In: Inspired Together Learning

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.

Tips for Giving and Receiving Advice Ep. 49

January 31, 2024 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Tips for Giving and Receiving Advice

S. 4 E. 49

Listen to this episode to learn what to do when you are the receiver of unsolicited advice and how to best give advice that will be welcomed by others.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

In the last day, week or month, how many times have you been given advice at work or in your personal life? How many times have you given advice to someone else in this same time period? In this episode, we will explore what to do when you are the receiver of unsolicited advice and what you can do make sure the advice you give is useful and welcomed.

In This Episode:

The following show notes are a summary of the content we discussed on the podcast. In order to hear all of the discussion and examples, please listen to the podcast.

Introduction:

Advice. We have all given it and we have all received it. Sometimes, we ask for advice. For example, you may ask your mentor or friend for advice on a new skill you are learning that they have mastered and you want to learn from them so you don’t make the same mistakes.

Often, advice is unsolicited, meaning the receiver of the advice did not ask for it. In all likelihood, the person giving the advice had good intentions but the effect on the receiver is often stress or feelings of shame or being judged.

You can see why advice giving and receiving can easily lead to hard feelings and miscommunication, though that is rarely the intention.

Today we’re going to explore the reasons people give unsolicited advice, how you best respond to advice, and how to most effectively give advice that will be welcomed when you have ideas to share.

Why do people give unsolicited advice?

The majority of the time, unsolicited advice is not meant to be harmful, in fact the person giving that advice probably thinks they are being very helpful. They often walk away from the conversation feeling like they did a good thing. But that is usually not what the receiver feels. It is common for the receiver of the advice to feel irritated, judged or criticized.

Paula: I can think of lots of times that has happened to me. The situations that pop into my mind first are all from the years that my husband and I struggled with infertility. The unsolicited advice came almost daily, “If you would just relax it would happen. You aren’t relaxed enough.” “You need to try this supplement.” “You are going to which doctor? Oh no, you need to go to the doctor my cousin went to. She got pregnant right away. You just need to switch doctors.”

Though none of these people had seen any of the test results, nor did they understand the hundreds of hours and procedures we had already done to try and remedy the infertility, they were quick to offer me quick fixes that were sure to work. These were NOT bad people. Though some did not know me well, most knew and loved us.

We regularly give advice on this podcast. We mean for it to be helpful, but we also have an explicit understanding that you are allowed to accept or implement it, or not. We also try to follow some of the of the best practices for giving advice we’ll talk about in a minute.

So why, if advice can sometimes be hurtful, do people give it?

Here are just a few of the most common reasons people give unsolicited advice.

People just want to help.

They want to make your life easier and the only way they think they can help you is to share information with you through advice, especially if you are talking with them about a problem you are having.

Consider this example. Imagine you are a new teacher. You share with the teacher across the hall that you are struggling with a particular student. You aren’t asking advice you are just sharing what that student is doing in class that is disruptive. However, the veteran teacher starts giving you point after point of unsolicited advice.

By the time you walk away from the conversation, you are doubting your ability to teach as you clearly don’t know as much as she does. The veteran teacher walks away feeling that even though she can’t be in the classroom to help you, she shared some of her best wisdom and feels like she has mentored you in some small way.

They are trying to be friendly and make a connection.

For some reason, giving advice has become a conversation starter in our society.

Imagine the new mother in the grocery store line with the crying baby in her cart. She is already stressed. The woman behind her feels bad for the new mother, wants to be friendly and make a connection but doesn’t know where to start. So, she decides to talk about the crying baby by giving advice. “My daughter used to cry like that all the time too. Do you know what worked for me? I …..”

The new mother walks away feeling judged on her mothering abilities and the woman who gave the advice walks away feeling glad that she could pass along her wisdom to the new mother.

They have a similar experience they want to share with you.

Your experience made a connection in their brain or heart and they want to share but don’t know how to do that in a better way than giving you advice. When this happens, you can often feel like your story or problems were hijacked or one-upped by the advice giver.

Imagine you are sharing a story with your friend about an in-law you find difficult to deal with. The friend responds with, “I had the same issue with my in-law. They did ….. so here is what I did to remedy that…You should try it too.”

You feel like your story was cut off and hijacked by the advice giver. The advice giver often walks away feeling like it was a nice conversation over your shared experiences.

In all of these examples, there was no ill-intent on the part of the advice giver. Their motivations are sincere and they truly believe that they are helping you or making a deeper connection with you.

That is not to say there is never ill-intent on the advice giver’s part. You will have people in your life who give advice for selfish or cruel reasons, like to put you down or to create drama, but those instances are hopefully few and far between.

How to respond to unsolicited advice.

Just because someone gives you unsolicited advice, it does not mean you need to take it. When you are given unsolicited advice, here are a few suggestions on how to best respond:

Remind yourself of their intentions. Do you think they were trying to judge you or make you feel bad? Probably not.
Be mindful to not receive the advice for more than it was. It can be easy to perceive the advice as judgement, a put down or a slap in the face. Label the advice for what it is- someone caring enough to try and help you. Looking at it from that way can feel less stinging.
Decide if the advice really is helpful or not. If we don’t even consider it, we may be missing out on something that could actually help us. If it is helpful, or parts of it are helpful, pick the parts that you want to consider and let the rest go.
Don’t assume you already know everything and don’t be quick to dismiss their advice just because you didn’t ask for it. There may a lot you can learn from the person giving the advice. You may even want to have further conversations with them where you do solicit their advice.
Thank them for caring. Their advice came from a place of caring, once you remind yourself of that, you can also thank them for caring. They will likely be thrilled that you noticed their caring.
Set up boundaries for future advice. You can say something like, “Thank you for caring. Those are helpful ideas. If I need any more ideas, I will be sure to come to you and ask for them.” This switches the dialogue to one that you can control.

How to give advice that will be useful and welcome.

We have discussed why people give advice, and what to do if you are the receiver of unsolicited advice, so now let’s talk about when you have advice to give.

Giving advice, even unsolicited advice, can be helpful to others if given in the right way.

An article in the Harvard Business Review, entitled The Art of Giving and Receiving Advice, pulled together what they considered best practices for seeking and giving advice based on academic research and practical wisdom from people who are actually doing the work, including educators.

The Harvard Business Review’s 5 stages for best advice giving:

1. Finding the right fit.

Make sure the giver and receiver are a good match and have the other’s best interests at heart. The better the understanding of what the people and the situation need, the better the fit. Decide if you are right fit for giving advice or if there is someone who could better help them.

2. Developing a shared understanding.

Ask the person what they want or need. Once you have a shared understanding of what the other person wants and needs, you can decide what role you can or should play in advice giving.

3. Crafting Alternatives.

Approach this with problem solving mindset. Remember that your experience or opinion are just one of many. The Harvard Business Review suggests that you think of yourself as a driving instructor. They say that “while you provide oversight and guidance, your ultimate goal is to empower the seeker to act independently.”

4. Converging on a decision.

It may not be your job to help the person come to a decision. Encourage the person to seek multiple opinions before making a choice. If they are trying to come to a decision, ask them how you can help. If they are trying to solve a problem, and seem to be listening to your advice, pause to see how they gauge how comfortable they are with the advice they are getting. If they seem uncomfortable with the advice, stop giving it.

5. Putting the advice into action.

When you are the person giving advice, you should step back at this stage. If it is your boss, this may not be a choice. Sometimes, a principal will tell you what to do. But in general, the actions that the person takes, or does not take, are theirs not yours. This is important so they can take accountability for their own actions and so they don’t blame you if the advice does not work.

Whether you are the giver or the receiver of advice, the most important this is to remember the perspective of the other person and the impact that you are having on them. Be mindful of what is shared, how it is shared, and the well-meaning intention behind the advice.

We end with a well know quote that summarizes advice giving, “Be sincere when giving advice and humble when receiving advice.”

Recap:

Before we go into the recap, if this topic is of interest to you and you would like to explore it more, check out episode 33 where we discussed intent versus impact.

Advice, often unsolicited, occurs regularly in our work and home environments. The majority of the time, unsolicited advice is not meant to be harmful, in fact the person giving that advice probably thinks they are being very helpful. Knowing how to accept that advice, and making sure you are giving useful advice yourself, can eliminate hard feelings and misunderstandings.

Quote:

“Be sincere when giving advice and humble when receiving advice.”

Ancient Islamic saying

Resources mentioned in this episode:

The Art of Giving and Receiving Advice– Harvard Business Review

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Inspired Together Teachers Podcast Episode 33 Intent vs Impact

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Facebook Teacher Warriors Group: Teacher Warriors Facebook Group

Linked In: Inspired Together Teachers

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.

Time Hacks for Busy Teachers Ep. 48

January 24, 2024 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Time Hacks for Busy Teachers S. 4 E. 4

Listen to this episode to learn more about ways you can make the best use of your time in order to avoid the frustration and overwhelm of not getting things done.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

Do you often feel too busy, overwhelmed with things to do, and over extended? Are you fueled by caffeine, using sugar as a quick boost or living on adrenalin? If so, you might benefit from these time hacks that will allow you to make the best of your time and take control of your to-do list.

In this episode:

The following is a summary of the content in this episode. To hear all of the examples and stories, please listen to the podcast episode.

Introduction:

So many of us are chronically exhausted with all the things we have to do. Do you feel like you never get enough done? Are you constantly putting out little fires everywhere? Are you over committed and overscheduled?

Other signs that you might be out of control with your time is that you put things off to the last minute, creating stress and urgency as you rush to get them done. Likewise, you may speed while driving to avoid running late. You find yourself procrastinating not because you don’t want to do the things you need to do, but because you don’t even know where to start.

Dealing with a constantly overloaded system causes adrenalin to keep running through your body. Adrenalin is great, and it helps keep us safe in times of disaster or when we are in true danger. But when we aren’t in danger, it just overloads our system. We stay in fight or flight mode which causes chronic stress.

If you want to know more about that, listen to episode 16, Real Self Care, where we talk about ways to stop stress hormones from flooding your system.

We’re all been overloaded and stressed by our work load. We’re talking you today not because we have totally mastered time, but because it is regularly something that we think about and plan for.

Today we’re going to share some time hacks that might help you get back in control of your time.

Time hack #1: Eliminate distractions and interruptions.

Every time your brain switches from one activity to another, it takes up to 15 minutes to adjust to the new task and then back to the first task as we refocus. That’s inefficient. When we are busy, it is tempting to try to juggle several different activities at once, but means nothing is getting our best attention.

It’s possible to control the disruptions with a few of these ideas:

Turn your phone on silent when you are working. You don’t always need to answer the phone when it rings! Likewise with computer notifications.
Close your door when you are trying to get serious work done. It prevents the coworker from stopping in to chat during your prep time.
Watch how often you are scrolling on your phone. Scrolling is a serious time disrupter. You think you’re taking a break and then you look up and 30 minutes have passed.
Try using the Pomodoro technique where you focus on one task for 25 minutes before you take a five minute break.
Check email a couple of times a day, rather than checking it constantly. There is always going to be something new in your in box, but you rarely need to see it right away. You can set an auto responder that tells parents what times you will check your email and when they can expect a response from you.
Turn off push notifications on your phone and computer.

It is a great idea to control your time where you can.

Another way to get on top of your to-do lists is to use batching.

Time hack #2: Learn to batch tasks.

Batching tasks means that you put like items together and then handle them all at once.

Many of you already know that food prepping on the weekends makes your week run more smoothly and help you eat better. Apply that same idea to other tasks.

Instead of going to copy something every time you need copies, try to make all of your copies for the week ahead of time.

Put all your errands together and run them at the same time.

The same principal works with home chores too. It may seem easier to throw in a load of laundry every day, but it adds to your mental load every time you do it. You might actually save time or energy if you do it all on the same evening or weekend morning.

Consider how you can save time or mental energy by batching your tasks.

Time hack #3: Set up an environment for success.

You probably spend most of your time in one of three environments, your home, your classroom, or your car.

Consider how these spaces support you. How do you feel when you are in your spaces?

At home, are things fairly organized so you can find what you need easily? Is it over stimulating with too much stuff?

Is your home calm and relaxing or chaotic? What could you do at home that would support you throughout the week? Play soft music? Light a candle? Have dinner ready in the crock pot?

The same ideas work at school. Is it time for cleaning out and organizing the things in your room? Do you need a refresh? Is your classroom full of visual clutter that stresses you out? Try taking a few things off the walls. Over stimulus causes you to fight to attend to things. Some students are very susceptible to too much stimulus and it can act on their nervous system in a detrimental way.

Don’t forget your car. How does that environment support you? Could you pack your bags and put them in the car the night before? Keep your gym bag in the car, filled and ready to go? Keep an extra phone cord in the car for when your phone drains down?

It is difficult to relax and unwind on your drive home from work if you are surrounded by empty coffee cups and the French flies the kids spilled on the floor.

Time hack #4: Know your daily “must-do” tasks.

We often have expectations of getting more done than we can possibly handle. If you have one forty minute prep period and plan to grade assignments from 8 classes, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Narrow down your expectations:

What are your top three priorities for the day? If you only got these three things accomplished, your day would be successful.
Who needs you on your “A” game? This one reminds you that people are your priority.
What can I do for myself today to bring me joy, peace or fulfillment? Don’t forget about yourself in the process.

Time hack #5: Spend a few minutes each day in silence and reflection.

You need room to slow down and breath. Silence also allows you to connect with your inner voice, which usually offers wisdom. It will allow your creative a chance to come through. A few minutes of reflection will often slow you down enough to see the big picture, to help you make good decisions and good choices, all of which can improve your focus and time management.

Your silence can look like many things- a walk in nature, exercise, journaling, meditating, praying, or just spending a few minutes looking out the window.

A few minutes of silence and reflection is a way of plugging into your own energy source, a way of recharging your inner battery. When your battery is charged, things run more smoothly. There are fewer glitches and you will feel that you have more control over your day. And as a bonus, it often helps you to stay closer to your dreams and follow through on the goals that will make them come to life.

All of these ideas come down to making things less chaotic and more simple. Take control of what you can control. Taking control of what you can will allow you to take control of your to-do list.

Recap:

Most of us are challenged by not having as much time as we’d like, but all of us are challenged to work with in the same 24 hours per day. We can’t get more time, but we can make better use of our time and set up systems and processes that will allow us to use our time in the best ways possible.

Quote:

You can’t calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself.

The storm will pass.

Timber Hawkeye

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Inspired together Teachers podcast episode 16, Real Self Care

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Facebook Teacher Warriors Group: Teacher Warriors Facebook Group

Linked In: Inspired Together Teachers

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.

Creating Your Life Vision: Beyond the Vision Board Ep. 47

January 17, 2024 by Inspired Together Teachers Leave a Comment

Creating Your Life Vision: Beyond the Vision Board S.4 E. 47

Listen to this episode to learn how to create your life vision and then bring it to reality.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

Have you ever made a vision board? It’s fun to make a vision board and fun to dream about the things you want to have or to do. But does it work? Today, we’re talking about creating a vision for the life you want to have and how to use visualization to help you stay motivated and remind you to be the person you need to be to get the things you want to have.

In this episode:

The notes below are just a summary of the things we discussed on the podcast. To hear all of the examples and stories we share, be sure to listen to the podcast episode.

It’s the beginning of a new year and that means many of us our thinking about what we want out of the new year. You may have even created a vision board.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept, a vision board is a visual depiction of the things you want to have or do or be in your life. Often it is a physical product, a poster board with pictures pulled out of magazines, or photos and words that describe or show your dreams in a visual way.

Modern day vision boards might also be Pinterest boards, or some other form of electronic collection of pictures.

Making a vision board is all well and good, but does it really help you? Is it worth the time and energy or is it just some big hoax?

Visualizing works, but needs to go beyond the vision board. We’ve got three steps to get you where you want to go.

Step One: Creating a vision for your life.

Do you have a vision for your life? Do you know what you want out of life? Do you know who you want to be?

How are you going to get to wherever you want to be if you don’t know where you’re going? And if you don’t know what you want, how will you know if you’ve gotten it?

If you don’t have a vision for your life, you will drift, reacting to what life gives you, but not choosing it with intention. You are being reactive rather than proactive in your life.

That doesn’t mean you have to have everything all planned out, or that there isn’t room to discover new things along the way. It also doesn’t mean that you won’t change your dreams or rearrange them.

Developing your vision means doing some soul searching. It means really looking within to discover what means the most to you personally. It is a task of clarifying your values.

Your vision is your higher purpose. It is your “why.” When the going gets tough, having a strong vision will keep you motivated. Tt gives you something to work towards and makes your life more meaningful.

The more vividly you can see and feel your vision, the more real it will seem and the harder you will fight for it. If it is compelling to you, you will work to make it come to reality.

You might need to ask yourself questions will help you uncover your vision.

If I could describe my dream day, what would I be doing? Who would I be with? Where would I be?
What kinds of feelings do I want to have in my life?
What do I love to do?
What are the things in my life that are worth fighting for?

Clarify your vision, then make the vision boards. You identify things you want to have or do, what you value and find words that help you feel the way you want to feel.

It’s much more than cutting out pictures of mansions and beach resorts and a million dollars and pasting them on a poster board.

This is designing the life you want to have, or as we often refer to it, living with intention or living an inspired life.

Step 2: Keep your vision in front of you.

This next part is important. You can’t just make a make a vision board and put it up on your wall and at the end of the year you are magically going to get everything you want.

You need to keep your goals in front of you. We are all busy and it is easy for forget our dreams and goals and plans. What is out of sight is often out of mind.

You need to be able to see your vision in detail. It helps to visualize yourself in the scene of wherever you want to be. It needs to feel real and extremely clear. You might recall the emotions, who is around you, and even what you are wearing. You almost need to be able to smell the ocean you want to visit. Seeing your vision regularly keeps your goals in the front of your mind, and the mind works on what you give it.

How do you keep your vision in front of you?

Hang pictures or your vision board on the wall.
Hang pictures, words, or quotes on your bathroom mirror and look at them every time you brush your teeth. You can also draw on your mirrors with dry erase markers.
Turn passwords for computer programs and apps into mini-goal reminders.
Make destiny maps which show a linear sequence, like a timeline of where you want to go.
Turn your visions into affirmations that you say to yourself every day.
Make a habit of daily journaling.

You can call this part manifesting, dreaming, meditating, praying, vision questing or whatever you want, but the point is to keep the focus on what you want. That focus, will help you achieve those things.

You may have heard a famous example of keeping the vision in front of you from actor Jim Carrey. In an interview with Oprah, he shared that when he was a struggling actor, he wrote himself a 10-million-dollar check, “for acting services rendered.” He dated it for ten years in the future. He put that check in his wallet and looked at it every day. Ten years later, he was paid 10 million dollars for the movie Dumb and Dumber.

Step 3 Keep your vision in your head but move with your feet.

You’ve got the vision, and you keep it in front of you. That won’t be enough to get you to where you want to be. What’s next?

You need to take the kinds of actions that will get you to where you want to be.

Jim Carrey did not become a star by looking at a fake check every day. That was just a daily reminder of his dream. He followed with action. He went on casting calls and took small parts in anything he could get. He learned, he practiced, and he kept going after it.

We dreamed of writing a book, and visualized it and talked about it constantly. We talked about what it would look like, and how we would get teachers involved and capture their ideas. Our book didn’t just appear, we had to put in the work to make it happen. Today, our book is a guided journal for teachers, that will help teachers stay mindful and intentional. The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self is available on Amazon here.

You have to do the work.

Sometimes that means that you have to become someone who is different. You have to become a person who runs regularly in order to run a marathon.

Most elite athletes are highly trained in visualizing. But they also have to become an athlete who can achieve at the highest levels. That means practice, and repetition on a daily basis, being conscious of what they eat, changing their mindsets, and many other things. Before they can achieve their Olympic medals, they have to become a person who has the skills that will allow them to win those medals.

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps created mental images videos in his mind. He visualized himself winning the medal in great detail and replayed it every day. Emily Cook, an American free style skier created audio visualizations that she listened to every day. She harnessed the same power of listening to her visions every day. Both of these athletes created detailed visions for what they wanted in life, but they also took the steps needed in order to be able to have the skills they needed to make their vision come true. They designed their vision and then moved their feet.

Visualization Research

There is plenty of scientific research to show that visualization works.

According to Neuroscientist Dr. Amy Palmer, mentally rehearsing and imagining movements shares the same brain mechanism as actually doing the same movements. The brain has the same activity when it visualizes doing an action as it does when it is physically performing the action.

Our brain’s Reticular Activation System, or RAS, is a bundle of neurons that have several functions. One of those functions is as a gate keeper, helping us filter out unnecessary stimuli and letting in important information that we need to survive and thrive. There is so much stimulus in the world that we can’t possibly attend to it, it would completely overwhelm us. Our brain protects us by filtering out the less useful things and focusing on the important things. Visualization helps your RAS know what is important, and to let that information stay in the forefront of your conscious awareness.

Visualization helps you to become the person you need to be in order to get the things you want to have.

Who do you need to become in order to get the things you want to have?

This is where it is easy to quit. The task might seem too large or too impossible.

But you won’t know until you move your feet. Take one small action and then another one. Make it a habit. Then add another habit. When that gets easy, up your game.

This is where your goals come in. People often start with making goals, but you should first create the vision. We talked about this in our last episode, What’s Stopping You From Reaching Your Goals? You need clear specific goals, that are challenging, but not too challenging. You break them down into bite sized pieces and schedule them into your day. You find support and then you keep going.

We leave you with today’s quote from futurist Joel Arthur Barker:

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time.”

Recap:

Visualizing is a great tool to help you achieve your dreams and goals, but making a vision board is not enough. You have to first create a deep, compelling vision of what you really want. Then you need to keep that vision in front of you on a regular basis. And lastly, your need to take action. You need to become the type of person you need to become in order to achieve your dreams. With focus and consistency, you can create and achieve many smaller goals that will lead you to your big dreams.

Quote:

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time.”

Joel Arthur Barker

Resources mentioned in this episode:

The Neuroscience of Visualization

The Inspired Teacher’s Journal: A Weekly Guide to Your Best Self

Note: if you buy the book through our link, we will recieve a small percentage of the price at no additional cost to you.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Inspired together Teachers Podcast Episiode 46, What’s Stopping Your From Reaching Your Goals?

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Facebook Teacher Warriors Group: Teacher Warriors Facebook Group

Linked In: Inspired Together Teachers

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.

What’s Stopping You from Reaching Your Goals? Ep. 46

January 10, 2024 by Inspired Together Teachers 2 Comments

What’s Stopping You from Reaching Your Goals? S. 4 E. 46

Listen to this episode to find our why you aren’t achieving goals and how to rethink goal setting for the new year.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

What’s stopping YOU from achieving your goals? Goals are good for us. Goals give us something to strive for, they give us purpose and when we achieve them, can be a great source of satisfaction and pride. Goals give us direction and help us realize our dreams are within our reach. If goals are so good for us, why do we struggle so much to achieve them? What can we do to ensure we set goals that we can actually achieve? Today, we discuss common mistakes people make when setting goals and tips to make sure you are setting goals that you can achieve.

In this episode:

The following is a summary of this episode. To hear all of the stories and examples, please listen to the podcast.

Introduction:

At the time of this recording, it is just a few days into the new year. Everywhere we turn, people are making New Year’s Resolutions, setting goals for the new year and hoping to make those dreams a reality.

Goals help us turn our dreams into reality and remind us that our dreams are within our reach. However, no matter how great our intentions, many people will struggle to meet the goals they set this week and this year.

According to the University of Scranton, only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s Resolutions. 75% keep their resolutions for 1 week. After that, the percentage of people keeping their resolutions decreases each week. Within one month, only 64% of people are still trying to achieve their New Year’s resolutions. Within 6 months only 46% are still working at their goals and as we mentioned only 8% of people ultimately achieve those New Years goals.

That means 92% of people are left with unmet New Year’s Goals. With more than 40% of people making New Year’s Resolutions, that equates to a lot of disappointed people.

Let’s reiterate: 92% of people do NOT achieve their New Year’s resolutions! Not achieving our goals leads to feelings of failure, which leads to lower self-confidence. The good news is, that we can do better.

What goals have you set that you haven’t met? What goals would you like to set and achieve in the future?

6 Tips for Creating And Achieving Your Goals in 2024

1. Start with your vision for how you want your life to be, then align all of your goals to that vision.

Before we can really talk about setting goals, we need to talk about your vision for your life. What are your values? What is important to you? Who do you want to be in your life and how do you want to show up? What do you want to feel? What do you want to have?

If you don’t start here, you run the risk of creating goals, and maybe even achieving them, only to find out that you aren’t happy or fulfilled. The world is full of very high achieving, miserable people.

Your goals need to align with the life that you want. That makes them important to you and crucial for your fulfillment.

This is where vision boards come in. This is where life assessments come into play.

Think about the image of climbing a ladder to achieve your goals.

Stephen Covey that says, “If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”

Doing this step also means that you will set YOUR goals, not allow your goals to be set by someone else. You are not here to live someone else’s dream.

Research shows we are less likely to meet goals set by someone else. Why? Because it often is not meaningful to us or does not align with our values and what matters most to us.

When something is more meaningful to you, when it will help you live an inspired life, you are more likely to stick to it and achieve it.

Consider a goal that you want to set in the new year. Does it align with your values and vision?

2. Be Clear and Specific. The more clarity around the goal, the better chance you have of hitting it.

Edwin Locke, a psychologist who has been central to the body of research about goal setting has been studying goals for over 40 years. His research has given us great information on why people do not meet their goals.

Make sure your goals are clear and specific.

Goals where you decide to just “do your best” at something are often not successful. Neither are goals that are convoluted to the point that they aren’t clear.

To give yourself the best chance of meeting the goal, be clear about what the goal is and what specifically you hope to achieve.

Here are a few examples:

A goal to “Do my best to lose some weight” is not as clear, specific, or simple as “I will lose one pound per week for the first 12 weeks of the year”.
A goal to “eat healthier” is not as clear, specific, or simple as “I will not eat chips, candy or ice cream for 4 weeks”.
A goal to “start working out” is not as clear, specific, or simple as “I will work out at the gym on my way home from work 3 days per week.”

Consider a goal you are working toward or would like to set.

Is it clear and specific? If not, what extra details or clarifications do you need to add to your goal to make it more specific?

In order for goals to really work, they need to be specific and they have to sufficiently challenge you.

3. Make goals challenging but not too challenging.

Locke’s research also showed that challenging goals improve performance more than easy ones.

Locke found that 90% of the time, specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than goals that were easy or vague “do your best” type of goals.

As Locke and other researchers have discovered, there is a sweet spot for challenge when setting a goal. People who set goals that are too easy, are actually less likely to achieve them. However, if you set the goal so high that it is nearly impossible to meet, you will quickly lose motivation.

You need to find the “Goldilocks” of challenge level for your specific goal.

We have all used this and understand this when working with students. There is also a sweet spot in instruction. When things are too easy and there is no challenge, students lose motivation. When something is too hard, students may just give up. That attitude is, “ I’m never going to be able to do this, so why should I even try?” It’s the same with goals.

Consider a goal you are working toward or would like to set:

If it is too easy, how can you make it more of a challenge?
Is it too challenging and complex, if so how can you simplify or pick one aspect of it to focus on?
Plan for that challenge- what will you do when it gets difficult- “If this happens, then I will bounce back by….”

4. Break the goal down into smaller, achievable and attainable pieces.

Like many things in our lives, goals are not nearly as overwhelming when they are broken into bite sized chunks.

Compare this idea to IEP goals – daily or weekly actions that are taken and tracked, all working toward an annual goal.

Consider a goal you are working toward or would like to set.

Would it be helpful to break it into smaller chunks?
Determine what you want to achieve by a specific date and write down the dates.
Track your success. Seeing a visual is motivating when you are seeing positive progress.

5. You need to believe you can achieve the goal.

Ultimately, the person who needs to believe in your ability to meet your goals the most is you! This is about your mindset and self-efficacy. If you think you won’t be successful, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you hit an obstacle, if you don’t believe in yourself, then you may be tempted to use that obstacle as confirmation of your inability to do the task. However, the opposite is also true. If you believe you CAN do it, then when you see a minor success, you can use it as confirmation of your ability to meet the goal.

Belief in yourself will get you through bumps in the road, and minor setbacks as they occur, so you don’t just throw up your hands and say, “See, this just wasn’t for me.”

This is confirmation bias, you get when you expect to get, just as you see what you expect to see.

“Henry Ford said it well, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, You’re right.

6. Surround yourself with a star system of support.

We’ve talked about the importance of a star system many times. You may think of it as a dream team, but we like Shawn Achor’s vision of this. He says, “ You can be a superstar; you just can’t be one alone. What you need is a star system; a constellation of positive, authentic influencers who support each other, reinforce each other, and make each other better.”

When setting a goal, it is important to have someone who believes that you can reach your goal. Who can you find who will believe you can achieve your goal and remind you of it regularly? Those are the people will help you by serving as your support system. It doesn’t have to be a huge group, but it is important to have support from at least one person.

Part of a successful support system is accountability. The other part is that we all benefit from others’ beliefs that we can achieve. If you are not comfortable sharing your goals and dreams, you don’t have to tell your support system every detail. Tell them as much as you are comfortable with or tell them when you are comfortable enough to do so. Find people who believe in you.

Consider a goal you are working towards or that you would like to set. Who can you find to share in your dream and help you by supporting you on your path?

A Little More Motivation

We leave you with this quote from motivational speaker Les Brown:

“If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.”

Recap:

Setting goals in life is important because goals give us something to strive for, give us purpose, remind us that our dreams are within reach, and when you achieve them, can be a great source of satisfaction and pride. However, it is important to be intentional in our goal setting, aligning them to our values and vision for our life and then setting goals in a way that is achievable. Our goals should be clear and specific, challenging but not too challenging, and broken down into smaller steps. Then, with support, we can go after whatever our heart desires.

Quote:

“If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.”

Les Brown

Resources mentioned in this episode:

To learn more about Edwin Locke and his goal setting theories go to

https://edwinlocke.com/

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

Download our FREE resource: The Inspired Teachers Guide to Taking Back Your Life.

Website: https:www.inspiredtogetherteachers.com

Instagram: Inspired-Together-Teachers

Facebook: Inspired Together Teachers

Facebook Teacher Warriors Group: Teacher Warriors Facebook Group

Linked In: Inspired Together Teachers

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.

Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to lived inspired lives.

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Teaching with Laughter and Tears S. 4 E. 50

Check out this episode to learn how both laughter and crying are good for you and how to find more laughter in your life and classroom.

Show notes:

Episode summary:

In this episode:

Introduction:

Quote:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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Tips for Giving and Receiving Advice

S. 4 E. 49

Listen to this episode to learn what to do when you are the receiver of unsolicited advice and how to best give advice that will be welcomed by others.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

In This Episode:

Introduction:

Why do people give unsolicited advice?

So why, if advice can sometimes be hurtful, do people give it?

How to respond to unsolicited advice.

How to give advice that will be useful and welcome.

Recap:

Quote:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

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Show notes:

Episode Summary:

In this episode:

Introduction:

Time hack #1: Eliminate distractions and interruptions.

It’s possible to control the disruptions with a few of these ideas:

Time hack #2: Learn to batch tasks.

Time hack #3: Set up an environment for success.

Time hack #4: Know your daily “must-do” tasks.

Recap:

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Creating Your Life Vision: Beyond the Vision Board S.4 E. 47

Listen to this episode to learn how to create your life vision and then bring it to reality.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

In this episode:

Step One: Creating a vision for your life.

Step 2: Keep your vision in front of you.

Step 3 Keep your vision in your head but move with your feet.

You have to do the work.

Visualization Research

Visualization helps you to become the person you need to be in order to get the things you want to have.

Recap:

Quote:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

Share this:

What’s Stopping You from Reaching Your Goals? S. 4 E. 46

Listen to this episode to find our why you aren’t achieving goals and how to rethink goal setting for the new year.

Show notes:

Episode Summary:

In this episode:

Introduction:

6 Tips for Creating And Achieving Your Goals in 2024

1. Start with your vision for how you want your life to be, then align all of your goals to that vision.

3. Make goals challenging but not too challenging.

4. Break the goal down into smaller, achievable and attainable pieces.

A Little More Motivation

Recap:

Quote:

Connect with the Inspired Together Teachers Community:

More About Inspired Together Teachers:

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