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show transcript
Heading into a new school year brings all sorts of emotions: excitement, nervousness, enthusiasm, dread, hopefulness, overwhelm, and everything in between.
From one teacher to another, this episode is a word of encouragement as you buckle up for this school year ahead. Welcome to Beyond the Bedlam Episode 17.
0:32–Show Intro
Hi friends, this is Lauren McKenzie and you’re listening to Beyond the Bedlam, a podcast for teacher moms. If you’re new here, I’m a teacher, wife and mom of two who loves to help others make strategic and simple shifts so they can win at home and at school. If you’re overwhelmed, have no time for yourself, and wish someone could help you get a game plan together, you’re in the right place. So turn up the volume, straighten your teacher mom tiara, and get ready to win!
1:07–Charting Out the Year
Several years ago, I started goal setting and planning each year on New Year’s Day. I love nothing more than going to a coffee shop, hauling my favorite notebooks and pens with me, and charting out what I want to accomplish and how I’m going to do it. But a year or two ago, I realized that I am not as enthusiastic about following through on those goals if it’s the dead of winter as I am during back to school. So, I rearranged my annual planning meeting with myself to the beginning of July–because why not?!? Who says my calendar year has to start on January 1? Why can’t it start during back to school season? The school calendar structures everything else in my life so why not goals too?
So, this year at the beginning of July, I took a trip to the coffee shop with my planning supplies. ordered my favorite iced drink, and did some thinking. I set my goals, mapped out how I was going to achieve them, and got to work. We can do an episode on goal setting and planning those goals on another day. But today I want to share with you the heart behind what I mapped out because I think it applies to other teachers too.
2:27–The Three Words
You know how people sometimes pick a word of the year? Well, this year instead of picking a word, I’ve landed on a phrase, and I’ll share what it is in just a minute. How I landed on this phrase is really important to me, though, and I think it might be important to you as well. You see, there’s lots of expectations that I feel compelled to meet from all sorts of people and structures that are present in my life. I have expectations of myself. My school has expectations that I’m obligated to meet. I have family responsibilities to my husband and to my children and to extended family. I have civic and church commitments that I feel compelled to follow through on. These are things I want to do. But at the end of the day, I just can’t be all things to all people. There is no possible way that I can meet every expectation of every person in all of these places and capacities. So instead of focusing on what I can’t achieve, I will focus on what I CAN do.
And that’s where I landed on my phrase for this school year: Love, Lead, Live. It’s simple, and it captures the deep heart of what I’d like for my life to look like when I reflect back on that 2022 2023 school year.
4:00–“I Can” Live by these Words
So what would that look like? Well, we teachers write “I can” statements for kids all the time. So why not for ourselves? Here are the “I Can” statements that I’ve come up with for myself this year…
Under the category of “I can love”:
I can invest deeply in my husband and children.
I can be a friend to teachers on my campus. (Most teachers, friends, are just trying to get by, and a friendly smile or a helping hand may be just what they need in order to be able to love lead and live well too.)
I can be aware of others that are in my sphere of influence who need a kind word or a friend to walk with them through tough circumstances.
In the category of “I can lead”:
I can do what I know is right and good for kids.
I can serve students and their families with professionalism and grace.
I can serve teachers by sharing ideas and strategies that have worked for me.
I can be diligent in pursuing the things that matter, not necessarily what feels urgent today, but what will matter at the end. of my life.
And under the category of “I can live”:
I can work diligently without working all the time. A quick side note here guys: We are replaceable at work but not in the lives of our friends and family. So choose wisely how you work diligently and spend your time.
I can work with excellence without being perfect.
I can spend time doing things that help me to be my best even if they are not quantifiable.
5:57–An Invite for YOU
So will you join me this school year in loving, leading and living? Will you put aside your perfectionist tendencies and color outside the lines a little bit to love someone well? Will you commit to leading yourself and those in your sphere of influence well, when others are whining and complaining? Will you choose to live and enjoy life even though it feels inconvenient? We have one life to spend wisely. I’m inviting you to love, lead and live alongside of me.
6:36–Let Me Cheer You On!
If you choose to take the challenge, tag me in your stories on social media (Facebook or Instagram) so that I can celebrate with you! I’m wishing the very best for you this school year and always.
6:47–My Dad Always Said…
I’ll leave you with what my dad would always say when he dropped me off in the carpool line each morning as a kid: Go get ’em!
Talk with you soon.
6:58–Wrapping Up
Friends, I was so glad that you’ve joined us today. I can’t wait to visit with you again. And until then, I’m in your corner cheering you on.
If you’ve enjoyed today’s show, remember to subscribe to the podcast before you close your app so you won’t miss future tips and tricks that I share along the way. I’d be honored for you to share with a teacher mom friend who might be encouraged too! Talk with you soon!