WEBVTT
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Hey teachers, we are in August, guys, and it's about a week or so, maybe two weeks into August.
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And if you're paying attention, you may be noticing something happening.
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You've certainly made some decisions, like all through the week or two that you've been in, pre-planning and everything.
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You've made decisions.
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And you've probably also had some boundaries that you know you walked in the door and said, I am keeping these boundaries.
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So you planned on keeping these.
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And some of the decisions were only made kind of on a temporary basis.
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Like I'm gonna, you know, do this just for the first week of school basis, or just until things settle down kind of basis.
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But here is what I'm noticing with a lot of teachers right now: all those like temporary decisions you made, well, you're kind of still doing them.
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They're still kind of happening.
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You're still answering those emails at night, you know, that you did that first week of school.
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You're still answering them.
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And you are still staying extra 30 minutes here, an hour there after school.
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You're still taking on, you know, one more thing here and one more thing there.
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And somewhere along the way, it is now starting to not feel very temporary.
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It stopped feeling that way for you.
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And it's kind of starting to feel, I don't know, like just the way it is.
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That's just how it is right now.
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That's what I'm doing.
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Do you even know when that happened?
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When that decision you made for something that was supposed to be temporary became more permanent?
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When that expectation that you have now used to be an exception?
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Guys, today we are talking about our foundation, okay?
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Welcome back to Teaching Without Losing Yourself, the podcast.
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I am Kim.
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I spent 28 years in education and I realized at some point I could not fix what was wrong from the inside.
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So I made the hardest decision of my career and I left.
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Because if I could not protect teachers from within the system, I could most certainly support them in protecting themselves from outside of it.
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That is why this podcast exists.
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This is After the Bells, Beyond the Box, a moment made just for teachers, even on the mood.
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And everything we talk about here is built around one idea.
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Teachers, you can stay in teaching without losing yourself in the process.
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Nothing here is about fixing you.
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We are just here to see things more clearly so you can make better choices inside your days.
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Hey teachers, last week we talked about construction.
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This is construction month.
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Remember how August is when you are building the year you are going to be living inside all year.
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Now, you are building this year starting now.
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How important August is, how every small decision matters, and how you get to decide if there's going to be room to breathe in that year for you.
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This week, guys, we're going to go deeper into this.
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We're going to talk about our foundation because here's what's happening, okay?
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Not everything you build into August is something that you choose intentionally.
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Okay.
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Some of it, guys, is just kind of happening.
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Some of it becomes normal without you ever deciding that it should be.
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Like one night, you know, you just answer an email.
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Phone bing dings, which you shouldn't have that on your phone, but your phone dings, you just answer it.
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I mean, what's one more night of answering that, right?
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Um, then you answer it again another night.
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And now it's every night.
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You just check your email and you respond.
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Or like one day you stayed, you know, late one hour, and now you're staying one hour every day.
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These are things you decided would be temporary, and now they're kind of starting to feel more permanent.
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Not because you made a plan for them to be permanent because of your boundary system, which you know I'd like for you to have, but just because the temporary became permanent and you didn't even know it.
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And this is where we are building, you know, for our room to breathe.
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This is where that becomes really important because your foundation is not just what you put into it, your foundation is what you intentionally decide, right?
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Does not get a permanent place.
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You're you're gonna decide intentionally, not just what goes in it, but decide intentionally what does not go in it.
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The question this week is what are you intentionally choosing to build?
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And what are you intentionally leaving out?
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Because here's the truth, guys, you may not control everything this year asked of you.
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And just let me be honest, you don't.
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You cannot control the demands, you cannot control the system, but you can decide what you allow to become your normal.
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You can decide what gets to be permanent and what gets to be temporary.
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Teachers, this is what we mean when we say you are building your foundation, you are looking at the difference between the temporary pressures that you experience and the permanent patterns that you are adopting.
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And guys, August is a great month for the whole school year.
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It's when you have this open window to choose.
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The choice is there, it's like limitless.
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Because know this once routines lock in, those patterns that you adopted are so much harder to change.
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Right now, you are still building.
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It's August, building month, construction month.
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That's what you're doing.
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You get to still decide this month.
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So let us talk about our foundations and how those things are like actually built.
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This year is not shaped by one huge decision.
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Okay.
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I mean, if someone asks you to be grade chair, that's a huge decision.
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But your whole year is not shaped by one huge decision.
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It's not like you sit down in August and choose the framework, and then everything follows from that.
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That's really not how that works.
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This year is built by small choices, tiny decisions, small decisions, another commitment, stand another hour, a new routine, one more responsibility, a decision to handle something yourself instead of asking for help.
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Now, if I were to bring any of those things up to you, you know, like just staying one hour, it doesn't really feel like much, right?
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It does not feel like it's gonna shape your whole year to stay one day after school for one hour.
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It doesn't feel that way.
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I mean, it's just one thing.
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But here's what happens you make that choice, then you make it again.
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Then it becomes easier to make it than not to make it.
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And eventually that one small choice that you made for temporary reasons becomes the structure of your daily life.
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Every time you stay one more hour in those first weeks, it makes the next time a tad bit easier.
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Every time you answer emails after dinner with your family, it makes the next time feel more normal.
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Every time you take on one more thing, you're not just handling that one more thing.
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You are building a version of yourself that handles one more thing.
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And all of those small choices together combined, they build your foundation.
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So the real question is not whether any single decision is a really big deal.
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That's not the question.
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The real question is whether you want that decision to now become a part of your everyday life, whether that choice should be part of the foundation of the year that you are building.
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So the shift I like you to consider is this.
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I want you to stop asking, is this one thing a big deal?
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Okay, is this one thing staying after one hour, taking on this one commitment?
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Is this, don't do that.
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Don't ask, is this one thing a big deal?
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Instead, I want you to start asking yourself, if this becomes part of my everyday life, is it something I want in the foundation of my year?
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Is this one thing something I want in the foundation of my year if it becomes a part of my everyday life?
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I want you to understand things about these temporary choices that you're making.
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Teachers do not, you know, intentionally decide to build an exhausting year.
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Nobody sits down in Augs and says, you know what?
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Who needs a good year?
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I am going to burn out.
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That is my plan.
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I can't wait to do it.
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It's gonna be awesome.
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No teacher does that, it doesn't work that way.
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No teacher plans for the May that feels sickening in August.
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Like, I can't wait till May when I don't even get to sleep and rest just skips over me.
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I can't wait.
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No teacher does that, it doesn't work that way.
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What happens is this you make a temporary choice.
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Answering emails after my dinner at my family, just for the first week.
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Staying another 30 minutes just until the setup is done.
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Handling something yourself just because it's easier than explaining it to somebody else, just easier.
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Just doing it yourself, just one more time.
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Guys, these are temporary and they're supposed to end.
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If you do it this week during setup, it's supposed to end that week during setup.
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But what happens is those small decisions get repeated and repeated.
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Rinse and repeat again.
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For example, and I know you've done this, I'm gonna see lots of hands through this microphone because mine is up if you can't see it.
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Okay.
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Have you ever been part of a team in which everyone had a role to do, a job to do, something they're responsible for?
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Then you realize that one person has to be constantly reminded to do their part, you know, reminded to do their part of the lesson plans, reminded to do their day that they say after school, reminded to do that.
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They always forget, even though you remind them, they still forget, or they just simply neglect it.
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So much so that you start doing it yourself because to you it's easier.
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Oh my goodness, it's faster, and it's certainly less friction if I just do it myself.
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And before you are before you know it, guys, you are doing their job.
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They're no longer doing it.
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It became yours.
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It is your job.
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It is your job because you decided to continue doing it.
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It is your job because you're doing it.
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Not because you decided it should be permanent.
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There wasn't a place where you said, now this is going to be my permanent job.
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I want to do his duty or her duty because they don't do it, it's now mine.
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But because one day you did it, and then the next day you did it again, and now it just is what you do.
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The exception, something you're only supposed to do every blue moon or once, or a small decision, has now become the expectation.
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The temporary, something that's supposed to happen and be done, stay 30 minutes after you know, every day the first week, has now become the routine.
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Now we'll stay 30 minutes every day.
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Circumstances require it, become the thing.
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And so it did.
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Teachers, burnout rarely begins with one overwhelming moment.
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There's not just one moment that everyone just burns out.
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It's not like a teacher's walking around happy, happy, joy, joy, and then one thing's happened, and then there's burnout.
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That's not burnout.
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Burnout begins when temporary choices quietly become permanent patterns.
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Teachers do not wake up one day and suddenly decide they are going to exhaust themselves.
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They wake up one day and realize they have been exhausting themselves for months, trying to be, you know, the good teacher and do what good teachers do.
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They have been living inside choices, they may for temporary reasons to support the team, to support the school, to support a friend.
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They have built a year that feels impossible to live in.
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And the hardest part is that none of those individual choices was a conscious commitment.
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No teacher, they didn't at any point say, you know, I want to do this and do this for the entire year.
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It wasn't a conscious commitment to the thing.
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None of them felt like a permanent decision.
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They each felt like a just this week or just for now or just this one time type of a thing.
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But together, each of these small choices, all of them all over the place, come together, and they became the foundation of that teacher's entire school year.
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Teachers, burnout rarely begins with one thing.
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There may be something that happens that really irritates you, lands on top of all the other things, and starts making you feel like it's burnout, but it's not just one thing.
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Burnout begins when temporary choices quietly become permanent patterns.
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Okay.
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So let us get a bit more specific.
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Let us talk about what does and does not get built into your foundation.
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A strong foundation is not only about what you put into it, it is also, and guys, this is really the most important part.
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It is also about what you intentionally, purposefully, on purpose lead out.
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Okay.
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Those of you who are subscribers to the After the Bells teacher box experience, the one with the T, you all have a T for August.
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And that T T-shirt had very specific things listed on it.
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If you've seen it, some of you may have seen it on my page.
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Please go take a look.
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And it says, I am unavailable for, unavailable for, for August, I'm unavailable for.
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And there's this long list of things like guilt, pressure.
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I'm unavailable for perfectionism.
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I'm unavailable for overworking.
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I am unavailable for chaos and everything extra.
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I am not available for those things.
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These things are still going to show up.
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The pressure is still going to come.
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The guilt is still going to come knocking at your door.
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Guys, the chaos is a school.
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The chaos is still going to happen.
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The expectation to do extra is still going to be there.
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The point is not pretending they will not come.
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This unavailable t-shirt, unavailable for pressure, perfectionism, overworking chaos, anything, that t-shirt is not to pretend that just because I wore it on my t-shirt, it ain't going to come.
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Just because my friends see it and my other teacher friends see it and they say it back to me, girl, I'm unavailable too.
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That is not going to come.
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The point is you should not pretend you can eliminate every single challenge that comes your way.
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That is not realistic.
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But the point is deciding whether those things get to become part of your foundation of the year.
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So let's say pressure shows up, and it will.
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Do you allow it to build a routine of overworking for you?
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When pressure shows up at your door, do you then allow that pressure to help you to build a routine for yourself for the year of now overworking?
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Because pressure came, I want to overwork.
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I need to overwork.
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Or do you let it be a temporary pressure without building it into your normal?
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Let's say guilt shows up.
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Guilt always finds a way to show up, believe me.
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Guilt shows up about something you did not do.
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You just didn't do that thing, and now guilt is there, knocking at your door, whispering in your ear.
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Do you let guilt change how you work?
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Or do you recognize it as what it is?
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This is guilt, a moment of guilt.
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Without building perfectionism, because I feel guilty, now I need to do things that help me to have a sense of perfectionist.
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Perfectionism.
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Do I now start building that into my foundation because a moment of guilt showed up and I didn't know what to do with it?
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I was guilty about not helping my teammate.
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But because I was guilty, felt guilty about not helping my teammate, now I'm going to allow this perfectionism, this desire to be perfect in this now and helping my teammates to start building into my foundation.
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Which way did you go?
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Chaos is part of the system.
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The system might as well be the chaos.
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It is the exact same thing.
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Chaos comes to your house, comes to your door, comes to your classroom.
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Do you let it become your normal way of operating?
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Do you let chaos take over?
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Or do you keep it as something that happens sometimes without letting it become the structure of your days?
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Okay.
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This is not about being perfect, guys.
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And this is not about pretending these things won't happen.
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You're gonna have chaos, you're gonna have guilt.
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It's gonna happen.
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Um, but it's about you drawing a line between what happens to you and what becomes part of how you operate.
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Something happens, how do I internalize it?
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How do I make it, make it or not make it part of how I operate on a day-to-day basis?
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Teachers, a shift in thinking, I hope you have here is this.
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You you don't have to eliminate every challenge.
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Don't go into the t-shirt I that we did for August that my subscribers got for August wasn't about eliminating guilt, pressure, overwhelm, chaos.
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It wasn't about eliminating it.
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It's just saying I'm unavailable for it.
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So the shift in thinking, I hope you have here is you don't have to eliminate the challenge.
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You do get to decide what becomes normal for you, though.
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How do you internalize that?
00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:58.720
How do you allow that to become, or if you allow that to become, part of your foundation?
00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:03.680
Here's what you know, teachers do not think about, you know, in August.
00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:09.680
August gives you an opportunity you will not have in quite the same way.
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:23.200
I'm not saying you can't take moments to reflect and and change, but August is special, it gives you an opportunity that you're just not gonna have this in the same way at any other point through the whole school year.
00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:23.759
Okay.
00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:29.920
And it does that because once routines are established, we're looking at something different.
00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:33.920
So in August, those routines are not quite established yet.
00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:38.079
They haven't dug down, they haven't become part of that foundation.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:43.279
It is much easier, guys, to protect an evening now in August.
00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:52.559
It's much easier to protect that family night now in August than it's going to be to reclaim it in November.
00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:54.880
Because you would have done it for so long.
00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:07.039
It is much easier right now, now, August, to establish an expectation than it is to undo one later on.
00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:13.279
I'm establishing something now, so much harder later on to undo what I've established.
00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:22.240
It is much easier also to decide what does not get to be permanent while you are still in the building phase.
00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:25.119
Remember, we are building with room to breathe.
00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:35.680
It's easier right now to decide permanent or not permanent than it is to try to, you know, in our construction phase, remodel everything once it's already in place.
00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:39.119
Building right now the foundation.
00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:43.039
I can move a wall now when I'm when I'm building in the foundation step.
00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:44.799
I can't move it once those walls are up.
00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:45.839
It's gonna be a little bit harder.
00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:47.440
Can be moved, but just harder.
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:51.279
Once a routine, guys, is established, it just starts feeling normal to you.
00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:54.799
It feels like this is just how things are.
00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:01.920
And when something, a routine becomes normal, changing it feels like just asking too much.
00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:06.480
Changing it feels like you are breaking the way things work.
00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.240
Like it's working now.
00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.000
It is now the normal.
00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:12.799
And if I want to change it now, I'm breaking things.
00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:18.799
That goes back to the example where you are doing the job of a teammate and you do it, and you do it, and you do it.
00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:20.000
Now it becomes your job.
00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:29.119
It is gonna be a lot harder, guys, to give that responsibility back to your teammate after you've done it August and September and October.
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:30.960
That's gonna be harder.
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:34.000
It's much easier to do those things now.
00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:38.880
Right now, in August, you are still building.
00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:51.680
The expectations are not locked in yet, and your foundation is still under construction.
00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:54.960
There aren't any walls, there's no framing, there's nothing, it's just foundation.
00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:59.759
It's still under construction, and while it is still under construction, you have.
00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:05.119
More flexibility than you're gonna have later on once those walls start coming up.
00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:11.599
You have more room to be intentional about everything you do and intentional about everything you don't do.
00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:15.519
This does not mean getting everything right.
00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:21.519
Okay, you're building your foundation, doesn't mean you're gonna make it perfect.
00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:28.880
This does not mean finding the perfect balance in August and then everything is solved for the entire year.
00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:32.000
I wish I could tell you that because I can't, I can't.
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:33.759
It doesn't mean that.
00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:35.440
That's not what this is.
00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:47.519
What this does mean is recognizing that while you are still building, you have the opportunity to be intentional about what gets built.
00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:54.559
You can decide now what does not deserve a permanent place in your foundation.
00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:55.279
Excuse me.
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:58.400
What does or does not deserve a permanent place in your foundation?
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:07.119
You can draw those lines now while drawing them still feels possible because it gets harder the longer you wait.
00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:13.519
The longer you live inside of what was a temporary pattern, the more it feels like the only option you have.
00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:19.839
Okay, but you're not in that place yet, you're not in a permanent place yet.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:24.400
You are still building, you still have a window of opportunity.
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:33.680
So don't wait until you have you are exhausted to decide, to decide what should have been part of your foundation, okay?
00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:40.400
Build with intention while you're still building instead of trying to figure it out later when you are exhausted.
00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:44.880
Here's what I want you to know, guys, as you move through week two.
00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:46.720
You have inherited the system.
00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:48.319
We talked about that last week.
00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:53.519
You inherited the demands, you inherited what the year is going to ask of you.
00:23:53.599 --> 00:24:00.480
If you did not hear last week's podcast, I encourage you to go do that because you have inherited all those things.
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:02.640
You you already have it here with you.
00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:13.279
But what you did not have to inherit and do not have to inherit is the pattern of how you'll respond to all those demands that you inherited.
00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.960
You get to decide what becomes part of the foundation.
00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:21.200
And right now in August, while you're still building that decision, still in your hands.
00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:26.000
You may not control everything the year asks of you, you don't control everything the year asks of you.
00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:27.599
That is not the point.
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.599
The system is going to do what the system does.
00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:35.920
The demands are going to come, the pressure is going to show up.
00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:38.640
But you get to decide what becomes normal.
00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:49.279
You get to decide which temporary pressures stay temporary and which ones get baked into everything you do and how you operate on a day-to-day basis for this entire school year.
00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:55.599
You get to decide what gets a permanent place in the foundation of your school year.
00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:11.920
Every small choice, every small choice you are making this week, next week, all of August, about your time, about what you're going to say yes to, about whether this is temporary or permanent, those choices are building the foundation right now.
00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:21.039
So ask yourself, if this becomes part of my everyday life, is it something I want in the foundation of my year?
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:29.359
And when the answer is uh-uh, when the answer is uh no, you don't have to wait until November to change it.
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:31.839
October, September, no, you don't.
00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:45.119
You can decide that right now, while you're still in construction in your building, the month we are building is one in which we intentionally build in room to breathe.
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:45.839
Okay.
00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:54.400
Last week we learned about all the small decisions mattered, and this week we are learning those temporary choices become permanent patterns.
00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:57.279
And that means you get to decide right now.
00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:00.079
Don't have to worry about deciding later.
00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:04.400
You get to decide right now what deserves a place in the foundation and what does not.
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:16.319
Hey guys, next week we are going to talk about how you actually protect that foundation, how you create margin, guys, before the calendar fails.
00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:26.720
How you design like a designer card, how you design the breaking room that you need in your year, and you design it from the beginning.
00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:27.200
Okay?
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:29.920
Because foundation is here.
00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:36.400
But we know that our foundation without any protection doesn't last.
00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:43.119
Foundation, guys, that you are building where you're intentionally deciding what stays and what doesn't stay.
00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:49.839
Well, a foundation without breathing room becomes the same trap you were just trying to escape.
00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:55.200
So hold on to what you decided this week because next week we're going to talk about how we're going to protect that week, okay?
00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:01.440
Until then, guys, give yourself the same care you give everyone else.
00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:08.720
Hey teachers, we are in August, guys, and it's about a week or so, maybe two weeks into August.
00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:11.839
And if you're paying attention, you may be noticing something happening.
00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:17.440
You've certainly made some decisions, like all through the week or two that you've been in, pre-planning and everything.
00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:18.559
You've made decisions.
00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:23.679
And you've probably also had some boundaries that you know you walked in the door and said, I am keeping these boundaries.
00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:25.519
So you planned on keeping these.
00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:29.679
And some of the decisions were only made kind of on a temporary basis.
00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:36.240
Like I'm gonna, you know, do this just for the first week of school basis, or just until things settle down kind of basis.
00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:43.600
But here is what I'm noticing with a lot of teachers right now: all those like temporary decisions you made, well, you're kind of still doing them.
00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:45.439
They're still kind of happening.
00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:49.439
You're still answering those emails at night, you know, that you did that first week of school.
00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:50.719
You're still answering them.
00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:54.880
And you are still staying extra 30 minutes here, an hour there after school.
00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:58.880
You're still taking on, you know, one more thing here and one more thing there.
00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:04.480
And somewhere along the way, it is now starting to not feel very temporary.
00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:06.239
It stopped feeling that way for you.
00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:09.760
And it's kind of starting to feel, I don't know, like just the way it is.
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:11.439
That's just how it is right now.
00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:12.719
That's what I'm doing.
00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:14.959
Do you even know when that happened?
00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:20.159
When that decision you made for something that was supposed to be temporary became more permanent?
00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:26.319
When that expectation that you have now used to be an exception?
00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:29.599
Guys, today we are talking about our foundation, okay?
00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:32.560
Welcome back to Teaching Without Losing Yourself, the podcast.
00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:33.519
I am Kim.
00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:39.599
I spent 28 years in education and I realized at some point I could not fix what was wrong from the inside.
00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:43.519
So I made the hardest decision of my career and I left.
00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:53.040
Because if I could not protect teachers from within the system, I could most certainly support them in protecting themselves from outside of it.
00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.439
That is why this podcast exists.
00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:01.200
This is After the Bells, Beyond the Box, a moment made just for teachers, even on the mood.
00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:05.120
And everything we talk about here is built around one idea.
00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:10.319
Teachers, you can stay in teaching without losing yourself in the process.
00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:12.639
Nothing here is about fixing you.
00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:18.719
We are just here to see things more clearly so you can make better choices inside your days.
00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:22.080
Hey teachers, last week we talked about construction.
00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:23.439
This is construction month.
00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:29.039
Remember how August is when you are building the year you are going to be living inside all year.
00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:31.919
Now, you are building this year starting now.
00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:43.120
How important August is, how every small decision matters, and how you get to decide if there's going to be room to breathe in that year for you.
00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:46.479
This week, guys, we're going to go deeper into this.
00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:50.800
We're going to talk about our foundation because here's what's happening, okay?
00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:57.439
Not everything you build into August is something that you choose intentionally.
00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:58.000
Okay.
00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.400
Some of it, guys, is just kind of happening.
00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:04.400
Some of it becomes normal without you ever deciding that it should be.
00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:06.879
Like one night, you know, you just answer an email.
00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:12.319
Phone bing dings, which you shouldn't have that on your phone, but your phone dings, you just answer it.
00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:15.599
I mean, what's one more night of answering that, right?
00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:18.319
Um, then you answer it again another night.
00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:19.759
And now it's every night.
00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:21.840
You just check your email and you respond.
00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:29.199
Or like one day you stayed, you know, late one hour, and now you're staying one hour every day.
00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:34.159
These are things you decided would be temporary, and now they're kind of starting to feel more permanent.
00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:47.439
Not because you made a plan for them to be permanent because of your boundary system, which you know I'd like for you to have, but just because the temporary became permanent and you didn't even know it.
00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:51.680
And this is where we are building, you know, for our room to breathe.
00:03:51.759 --> 00:04:01.039
This is where that becomes really important because your foundation is not just what you put into it, your foundation is what you intentionally decide, right?
00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:03.199
Does not get a permanent place.
00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:12.159
You're you're gonna decide intentionally, not just what goes in it, but decide intentionally what does not go in it.
00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:18.000
The question this week is what are you intentionally choosing to build?
00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:22.959
And what are you intentionally leaving out?
00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:27.519
Because here's the truth, guys, you may not control everything this year asked of you.
00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:29.279
And just let me be honest, you don't.
00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:38.000
You cannot control the demands, you cannot control the system, but you can decide what you allow to become your normal.
00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:43.759
You can decide what gets to be permanent and what gets to be temporary.
00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:58.160
Teachers, this is what we mean when we say you are building your foundation, you are looking at the difference between the temporary pressures that you experience and the permanent patterns that you are adopting.
00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:02.160
And guys, August is a great month for the whole school year.
00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:05.439
It's when you have this open window to choose.
00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.560
The choice is there, it's like limitless.
00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:16.560
Because know this once routines lock in, those patterns that you adopted are so much harder to change.
00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:19.680
Right now, you are still building.
00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:22.560
It's August, building month, construction month.
00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:23.920
That's what you're doing.
00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:27.120
You get to still decide this month.
00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:32.560
So let us talk about our foundations and how those things are like actually built.
00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:37.439
This year is not shaped by one huge decision.
00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:38.000
Okay.
00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:42.079
I mean, if someone asks you to be grade chair, that's a huge decision.
00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:46.240
But your whole year is not shaped by one huge decision.
00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:52.639
It's not like you sit down in August and choose the framework, and then everything follows from that.
00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:55.040
That's really not how that works.
00:05:55.360 --> 00:06:14.480
This year is built by small choices, tiny decisions, small decisions, another commitment, stand another hour, a new routine, one more responsibility, a decision to handle something yourself instead of asking for help.
00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:22.639
Now, if I were to bring any of those things up to you, you know, like just staying one hour, it doesn't really feel like much, right?
00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:27.680
It does not feel like it's gonna shape your whole year to stay one day after school for one hour.
00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:29.279
It doesn't feel that way.
00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:31.920
I mean, it's just one thing.
00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:38.560
But here's what happens you make that choice, then you make it again.
00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:43.680
Then it becomes easier to make it than not to make it.
00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:51.040
And eventually that one small choice that you made for temporary reasons becomes the structure of your daily life.
00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:58.319
Every time you stay one more hour in those first weeks, it makes the next time a tad bit easier.
00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:06.079
Every time you answer emails after dinner with your family, it makes the next time feel more normal.
00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:14.160
Every time you take on one more thing, you're not just handling that one more thing.
00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:20.319
You are building a version of yourself that handles one more thing.
00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:28.240
And all of those small choices together combined, they build your foundation.
00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:33.040
So the real question is not whether any single decision is a really big deal.
00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:34.720
That's not the question.
00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:47.279
The real question is whether you want that decision to now become a part of your everyday life, whether that choice should be part of the foundation of the year that you are building.
00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:50.399
So the shift I like you to consider is this.
00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:57.120
I want you to stop asking, is this one thing a big deal?
00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:02.639
Okay, is this one thing staying after one hour, taking on this one commitment?
00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:04.000
Is this, don't do that.
00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:07.759
Don't ask, is this one thing a big deal?
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:19.439
Instead, I want you to start asking yourself, if this becomes part of my everyday life, is it something I want in the foundation of my year?
00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:29.120
Is this one thing something I want in the foundation of my year if it becomes a part of my everyday life?
00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:34.960
I want you to understand things about these temporary choices that you're making.
00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:41.039
Teachers do not, you know, intentionally decide to build an exhausting year.
00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:44.480
Nobody sits down in Augs and says, you know what?
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.039
Who needs a good year?
00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:49.600
I am going to burn out.
00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:50.879
That is my plan.
00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:52.080
I can't wait to do it.
00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:53.679
It's gonna be awesome.
00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:57.120
No teacher does that, it doesn't work that way.
00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:02.480
No teacher plans for the May that feels sickening in August.
00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:07.279
Like, I can't wait till May when I don't even get to sleep and rest just skips over me.
00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:08.000
I can't wait.
00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:11.840
No teacher does that, it doesn't work that way.
00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:16.799
What happens is this you make a temporary choice.
00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:21.919
Answering emails after my dinner at my family, just for the first week.
00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:26.000
Staying another 30 minutes just until the setup is done.
00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:32.240
Handling something yourself just because it's easier than explaining it to somebody else, just easier.
00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.200
Just doing it yourself, just one more time.
00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:38.799
Guys, these are temporary and they're supposed to end.
00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:43.919
If you do it this week during setup, it's supposed to end that week during setup.
00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:49.840
But what happens is those small decisions get repeated and repeated.
00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:52.480
Rinse and repeat again.
00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:58.960
For example, and I know you've done this, I'm gonna see lots of hands through this microphone because mine is up if you can't see it.
00:09:59.200 --> 00:09:59.519
Okay.
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:08.639
Have you ever been part of a team in which everyone had a role to do, a job to do, something they're responsible for?
00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:24.480
Then you realize that one person has to be constantly reminded to do their part, you know, reminded to do their part of the lesson plans, reminded to do their day that they say after school, reminded to do that.
00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:30.960
They always forget, even though you remind them, they still forget, or they just simply neglect it.
00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:38.240
So much so that you start doing it yourself because to you it's easier.
00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:46.159
Oh my goodness, it's faster, and it's certainly less friction if I just do it myself.
00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:51.360
And before you are before you know it, guys, you are doing their job.
00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:53.039
They're no longer doing it.
00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:53.919
It became yours.
00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:55.279
It is your job.
00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.399
It is your job because you decided to continue doing it.
00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:01.840
It is your job because you're doing it.
00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:03.919
Not because you decided it should be permanent.
00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.639
There wasn't a place where you said, now this is going to be my permanent job.
00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:10.399
I want to do his duty or her duty because they don't do it, it's now mine.
00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:18.399
But because one day you did it, and then the next day you did it again, and now it just is what you do.
00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:26.799
The exception, something you're only supposed to do every blue moon or once, or a small decision, has now become the expectation.
00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:36.320
The temporary, something that's supposed to happen and be done, stay 30 minutes after you know, every day the first week, has now become the routine.
00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:38.799
Now we'll stay 30 minutes every day.
00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:43.519
Circumstances require it, become the thing.
00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:44.879
And so it did.
00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:49.840
Teachers, burnout rarely begins with one overwhelming moment.
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.480
There's not just one moment that everyone just burns out.
00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:57.679
It's not like a teacher's walking around happy, happy, joy, joy, and then one thing's happened, and then there's burnout.
00:11:57.919 --> 00:11:59.519
That's not burnout.
00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:06.639
Burnout begins when temporary choices quietly become permanent patterns.
00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:13.600
Teachers do not wake up one day and suddenly decide they are going to exhaust themselves.
00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:23.679
They wake up one day and realize they have been exhausting themselves for months, trying to be, you know, the good teacher and do what good teachers do.
00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:33.440
They have been living inside choices, they may for temporary reasons to support the team, to support the school, to support a friend.
00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:39.440
They have built a year that feels impossible to live in.
00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:46.159
And the hardest part is that none of those individual choices was a conscious commitment.
00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:52.960
No teacher, they didn't at any point say, you know, I want to do this and do this for the entire year.
00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:56.159
It wasn't a conscious commitment to the thing.
00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:59.519
None of them felt like a permanent decision.
00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:09.039
They each felt like a just this week or just for now or just this one time type of a thing.
00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:21.279
But together, each of these small choices, all of them all over the place, come together, and they became the foundation of that teacher's entire school year.
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:27.279
Teachers, burnout rarely begins with one thing.
00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:36.399
There may be something that happens that really irritates you, lands on top of all the other things, and starts making you feel like it's burnout, but it's not just one thing.
00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:44.799
Burnout begins when temporary choices quietly become permanent patterns.
00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:46.080
Okay.
00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.120
So let us get a bit more specific.
00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:54.960
Let us talk about what does and does not get built into your foundation.
00:13:55.600 --> 00:14:05.840
A strong foundation is not only about what you put into it, it is also, and guys, this is really the most important part.
00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:12.639
It is also about what you intentionally, purposefully, on purpose lead out.
00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:13.519
Okay.
00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:21.600
Those of you who are subscribers to the After the Bells teacher box experience, the one with the T, you all have a T for August.
00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:26.639
And that T T-shirt had very specific things listed on it.
00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:28.879
If you've seen it, some of you may have seen it on my page.
00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:29.919
Please go take a look.
00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:36.240
And it says, I am unavailable for, unavailable for, for August, I'm unavailable for.
00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:39.919
And there's this long list of things like guilt, pressure.
00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:41.919
I'm unavailable for perfectionism.
00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.000
I'm unavailable for overworking.
00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:47.039
I am unavailable for chaos and everything extra.
00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:49.440
I am not available for those things.
00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:52.799
These things are still going to show up.
00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:56.879
The pressure is still going to come.
00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.799
The guilt is still going to come knocking at your door.
00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:03.919
Guys, the chaos is a school.
00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:07.360
The chaos is still going to happen.
00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:12.000
The expectation to do extra is still going to be there.
00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:15.200
The point is not pretending they will not come.
00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:26.080
This unavailable t-shirt, unavailable for pressure, perfectionism, overworking chaos, anything, that t-shirt is not to pretend that just because I wore it on my t-shirt, it ain't going to come.
00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:31.200
Just because my friends see it and my other teacher friends see it and they say it back to me, girl, I'm unavailable too.
00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:33.039
That is not going to come.
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:40.320
The point is you should not pretend you can eliminate every single challenge that comes your way.
00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.159
That is not realistic.
00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:50.480
But the point is deciding whether those things get to become part of your foundation of the year.
00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.320
So let's say pressure shows up, and it will.
00:15:55.200 --> 00:16:01.039
Do you allow it to build a routine of overworking for you?
00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:12.399
When pressure shows up at your door, do you then allow that pressure to help you to build a routine for yourself for the year of now overworking?
00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:14.720
Because pressure came, I want to overwork.
00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:16.480
I need to overwork.
00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:25.200
Or do you let it be a temporary pressure without building it into your normal?
00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:27.919
Let's say guilt shows up.
00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:30.799
Guilt always finds a way to show up, believe me.
00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:34.320
Guilt shows up about something you did not do.
00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:40.000
You just didn't do that thing, and now guilt is there, knocking at your door, whispering in your ear.
00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:45.279
Do you let guilt change how you work?
00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:49.120
Or do you recognize it as what it is?
00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:52.080
This is guilt, a moment of guilt.
00:16:52.480 --> 00:17:02.480
Without building perfectionism, because I feel guilty, now I need to do things that help me to have a sense of perfectionist.
00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:04.319
Perfectionism.
00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:11.279
Do I now start building that into my foundation because a moment of guilt showed up and I didn't know what to do with it?
00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:13.839
I was guilty about not helping my teammate.
00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:26.240
But because I was guilty, felt guilty about not helping my teammate, now I'm going to allow this perfectionism, this desire to be perfect in this now and helping my teammates to start building into my foundation.
00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:28.240
Which way did you go?
00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:30.799
Chaos is part of the system.
00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:33.200
The system might as well be the chaos.
00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:34.799
It is the exact same thing.
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:39.119
Chaos comes to your house, comes to your door, comes to your classroom.
00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:42.720
Do you let it become your normal way of operating?
00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:44.880
Do you let chaos take over?
00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:54.960
Or do you keep it as something that happens sometimes without letting it become the structure of your days?
00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:56.480
Okay.
00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:59.519
This is not about being perfect, guys.
00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:01.839
And this is not about pretending these things won't happen.
00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:03.839
You're gonna have chaos, you're gonna have guilt.
00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.279
It's gonna happen.
00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:13.440
Um, but it's about you drawing a line between what happens to you and what becomes part of how you operate.
00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:16.160
Something happens, how do I internalize it?
00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:22.000
How do I make it, make it or not make it part of how I operate on a day-to-day basis?
00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:26.240
Teachers, a shift in thinking, I hope you have here is this.
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.440
You you don't have to eliminate every challenge.
00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:38.240
Don't go into the t-shirt I that we did for August that my subscribers got for August wasn't about eliminating guilt, pressure, overwhelm, chaos.
00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:39.759
It wasn't about eliminating it.
00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:41.920
It's just saying I'm unavailable for it.
00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:47.599
So the shift in thinking, I hope you have here is you don't have to eliminate the challenge.
00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.200
You do get to decide what becomes normal for you, though.
00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:53.519
How do you internalize that?
00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:58.720
How do you allow that to become, or if you allow that to become, part of your foundation?
00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:03.680
Here's what you know, teachers do not think about, you know, in August.
00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:09.680
August gives you an opportunity you will not have in quite the same way.
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:23.200
I'm not saying you can't take moments to reflect and and change, but August is special, it gives you an opportunity that you're just not gonna have this in the same way at any other point through the whole school year.
00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:23.759
Okay.
00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:29.920
And it does that because once routines are established, we're looking at something different.
00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:33.920
So in August, those routines are not quite established yet.
00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:38.079
They haven't dug down, they haven't become part of that foundation.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:43.279
It is much easier, guys, to protect an evening now in August.
00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:52.559
It's much easier to protect that family night now in August than it's going to be to reclaim it in November.
00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:54.880
Because you would have done it for so long.
00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:07.039
It is much easier right now, now, August, to establish an expectation than it is to undo one later on.
00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:13.279
I'm establishing something now, so much harder later on to undo what I've established.
00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:22.240
It is much easier also to decide what does not get to be permanent while you are still in the building phase.
00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:25.119
Remember, we are building with room to breathe.
00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:35.680
It's easier right now to decide permanent or not permanent than it is to try to, you know, in our construction phase, remodel everything once it's already in place.
00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:39.119
Building right now the foundation.
00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:43.039
I can move a wall now when I'm when I'm building in the foundation step.
00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:44.799
I can't move it once those walls are up.
00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:45.839
It's gonna be a little bit harder.
00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:47.440
Can be moved, but just harder.
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:51.279
Once a routine, guys, is established, it just starts feeling normal to you.
00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:54.799
It feels like this is just how things are.
00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:01.920
And when something, a routine becomes normal, changing it feels like just asking too much.
00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:06.480
Changing it feels like you are breaking the way things work.
00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.240
Like it's working now.
00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.000
It is now the normal.
00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:12.799
And if I want to change it now, I'm breaking things.
00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:18.799
That goes back to the example where you are doing the job of a teammate and you do it, and you do it, and you do it.
00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:20.000
Now it becomes your job.
00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:29.119
It is gonna be a lot harder, guys, to give that responsibility back to your teammate after you've done it August and September and October.
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:30.960
That's gonna be harder.
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:34.000
It's much easier to do those things now.
00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:38.880
Right now, in August, you are still building.
00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:51.680
The expectations are not locked in yet, and your foundation is still under construction.
00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:54.960
There aren't any walls, there's no framing, there's nothing, it's just foundation.
00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:59.759
It's still under construction, and while it is still under construction, you have.
00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:05.119
More flexibility than you're gonna have later on once those walls start coming up.
00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:11.599
You have more room to be intentional about everything you do and intentional about everything you don't do.
00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:15.519
This does not mean getting everything right.
00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:21.519
Okay, you're building your foundation, doesn't mean you're gonna make it perfect.
00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:28.880
This does not mean finding the perfect balance in August and then everything is solved for the entire year.
00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:32.000
I wish I could tell you that because I can't, I can't.
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:33.759
It doesn't mean that.
00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:35.440
That's not what this is.
00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:47.519
What this does mean is recognizing that while you are still building, you have the opportunity to be intentional about what gets built.
00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:54.559
You can decide now what does not deserve a permanent place in your foundation.
00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:55.279
Excuse me.
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:58.400
What does or does not deserve a permanent place in your foundation?
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:07.119
You can draw those lines now while drawing them still feels possible because it gets harder the longer you wait.
00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:13.519
The longer you live inside of what was a temporary pattern, the more it feels like the only option you have.
00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:19.839
Okay, but you're not in that place yet, you're not in a permanent place yet.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:24.400
You are still building, you still have a window of opportunity.
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:33.680
So don't wait until you have you are exhausted to decide, to decide what should have been part of your foundation, okay?
00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:40.400
Build with intention while you're still building instead of trying to figure it out later when you are exhausted.
00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:44.880
Here's what I want you to know, guys, as you move through week two.
00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:46.720
You have inherited the system.
00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:48.319
We talked about that last week.
00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:53.519
You inherited the demands, you inherited what the year is going to ask of you.
00:23:53.599 --> 00:24:00.480
If you did not hear last week's podcast, I encourage you to go do that because you have inherited all those things.
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:02.640
You you already have it here with you.
00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:13.279
But what you did not have to inherit and do not have to inherit is the pattern of how you'll respond to all those demands that you inherited.
00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.960
You get to decide what becomes part of the foundation.
00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:21.200
And right now in August, while you're still building that decision, still in your hands.
00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:26.000
You may not control everything the year asks of you, you don't control everything the year asks of you.
00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:27.599
That is not the point.
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:31.599
The system is going to do what the system does.
00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:35.920
The demands are going to come, the pressure is going to show up.
00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:38.640
But you get to decide what becomes normal.
00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:49.279
You get to decide which temporary pressures stay temporary and which ones get baked into everything you do and how you operate on a day-to-day basis for this entire school year.
00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:55.599
You get to decide what gets a permanent place in the foundation of your school year.
00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:11.920
Every small choice, every small choice you are making this week, next week, all of August, about your time, about what you're going to say yes to, about whether this is temporary or permanent, those choices are building the foundation right now.
00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:21.039
So ask yourself, if this becomes part of my everyday life, is it something I want in the foundation of my year?
00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:29.359
And when the answer is uh-uh, when the answer is uh no, you don't have to wait until November to change it.
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:31.839
October, September, no, you don't.
00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:45.119
You can decide that right now, while you're still in construction in your building, the month we are building is one in which we intentionally build in room to breathe.
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:45.839
Okay.
00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:54.400
Last week we learned about all the small decisions mattered, and this week we are learning those temporary choices become permanent patterns.
00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:57.279
And that means you get to decide right now.
00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:00.079
Don't have to worry about deciding later.
00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:04.400
You get to decide right now what deserves a place in the foundation and what does not.
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:16.319
Hey guys, next week we are going to talk about how you actually protect that foundation, how you create margin, guys, before the calendar fails.
00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:26.720
How you design like a designer card, how you design the breaking room that you need in your year, and you design it from the beginning.
00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:27.200
Okay?
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:29.920
Because foundation is here.
00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:36.400
But we know that our foundation without any protection doesn't last.
00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:43.119
Foundation, guys, that you are building where you're intentionally deciding what stays and what doesn't stay.
00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:49.839
Well, a foundation without breathing room becomes the same trap you were just trying to escape.
00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:55.200
So hold on to what you decided this week because next week we're going to talk about how we're going to protect that week, okay?
00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:01.440
Until then, guys, give yourself the same care you give everyone else.
