Video transcript - Feeling Tired of Teaching? Try This...If you’re feeling really tired of teaching at the moment, the obvious answer is to do less.
And sometimes that’s what’s needed. But maybe there’s another answer.
Look, sometimes you really are overloaded, emotionally drained, under-supported and properly burnt out. In that case, what you need is rest, boundaries, time off and support. I’m definitely not suggesting that serious burnout or mental health struggles can be solved by just taking on a new project. They can’t.
But I do think there’s another kind of tiredness that teachers sometimes experience,and it’s slightly different.
It’s not just being busy. It’s being bored.
It’s that flat feeling that can creep in when everything starts to feel the same. The same kind of lessons, the same problems, the same routines, the same frustrations. You know you’re working hard, but you don’t feel very alive in it. You’re just sort of... trudging.
And when that’s the problem, the answer may not actually be to do less.
It may be to do something new. Because new can be a real antidote to dull.
I have to confess that I’m a bit of a slave to the new. I like novel experiences and challenges and I know not everyone is the same, but I’ve found that what lifts your energy often isn’t less effort. It’s fresh energy. A new idea. A new skill. A new way of looking at something. A reminder that teaching can still surprise you a bit.
When all of that disappears, teaching- and in fact life- can start to feel very heavy.
I’ve been in this industry for over 35 years but I can honestly say that every year has been different. I’m a bit prone to take on too much, so that’s been stressful at times, but it’s never been boring.
What I’ve noticed is that the times where my work feels best are when I’ve been able to be creative, where I’ve had some control over what I’m doing and when I felt like I was making some kind of difference to other people’s lives. Making video like this is a great example of that.
This isn’t a new thought. In his book ‘Drive’, Daniel H. Pink says:
The secret to high performance and satisfaction, at work, at school, and at home, is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.
I think a lot of us are happier when we feel creative, when we feel we’ve got some agency, when we feel we can still make choices and try things out and shape our work in a way that feels like us.
If you’re not creating anything. You’re not exploring anything. You’re just getting through the day, doing what has to be done and collapsing afterwards.
If there’s no excitement in your work, no curiosity, no sense of movement, of course it starts to flatten you. Of course it feels dull. We’re not machines. We do need novelty. We do need interest. We do need that feeling that we’re still growing.
That’s why learning something new can sometimes be exactly what helps.
Not because you need more pressure. Not because you need a longer to-do list. But because the right kind of learning can wake you up a bit.
So yes... if you’re exhausted, take that seriously. Protect your wellbeing. Rest if you need rest. Pull back if you need to pull back.
But it may also be worth asking yourself whether you need LESS or just NEW and if it’s the latter, come and have a look at my site. I’ve got new ideas for lessons, development that’s unpressurised and supportive in The Next Step, or maybe you fancy learning to make video and have an impact on a world wider than just your classroom? I’ve got a course for that, too.
If any of this is resonating, the links are above and I’ll see you on the inside!
