115. Ditch Overrated Morning Routines – 3 Simple Burnout Busters for Teachers Who Need More Sleep

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If you’ve looked for self-improvement guidance, you’ve likely come across some self-help guru on social media telling you how important it is to have a morning routine. Except the morning routines they are promoting are not realistic for many teachers, especially if they are parents or are already feeling burnout. The good news is that just because you may not be able to have this intricate morning routine doesn’t mean you can’t still start your day in a way that helps reduce your stress and prepare you for the day.

Years ago when I realized I was officially burned out, I tried to implement a multi step morning routine like I had read about in a blog and I quickly realized that there was no way it was feasible for me. And I know that I am not alone in that! So if you’re looking for ways to start your day off right without adding the additional stress of a morning routine, I’ve got you covered! In this episode, I am sharing what I have learned since then when it comes to morning routines including why you should focus on intentions over routines, the importance of anchor habits, and finding joy in your day. 

TOPICS COVERED:

• Why traditional morning routines might not work for teachers dealing with burnout
• The impact of societal expectations and comparison culture on personal well-being
• The importance of emotional intentions over prescriptive routines
• How to cultivate a minimal anchor habit to start your day with purpose
• The transformative power of joyful, simple moments in the morning
• Intentionally guiding your day without the pressure of a rigid schedule
• Encouragement on embracing individuality in self-care practices  

RELATED RESOURCES:

• Join the Waitlist for Automate Your Classroom Course - Learn the step-by-step roadmap TO creating a sustainable teacher task simplification and automation system to beat burnout, squash stress, get back YOUR time, and sustain your career in education
• Request Professional Development from your Administrator
• Interested in getting support for your school - Check out the For Schools Page
• Watch the FREE "Balance before Burnout: Work/Life Balance Audit" Mini-workshop
• The Ultimate Teacher Digital Planner
• FREE Affirmations for Burned Out Teachers Workbook to help change your mindset 

CONNECT WITH BRITTANY:

• Connect with Brittany on Instagram @teachingmindbodyandsoul
• Learn more on TikTok with Brittany @msprincessteach
• Connect with The Resilient Teacher Community - FREE on Facebook

RELATED EPISODES:

• Episode 83. From Inbox Overload to Streamlined Communication: 3 Must Have Tips for Optimizing Email Use in Your Teacher Toolkit [Simplify & Systemize Series]
• Episode 43 Teacher Burnout Busting Systems: 3 Steps to Creating a Personalized Lesson Planning System with Sara Marye [SUSTAINABILITY SERIES]
• Episode 62: Digital Organization: Your Secret Weapon for Stress-Free Teaching with Special Guest Lisa McHargue
• Episode 17: 3 Simple Steps to Managing Your Limited Teacher Planning Time & Reduce Stress with Special Guest Stephanie Palovchik

MORE ABOUT THE RESILIENT TEACHER PODCAST:

The Resilient Teacher Podcast is the show that will give overwhelmed educators the support, tools, and mindset to reduce teacher burnout and keep teaching sustainable. Each week, Brittany Blackwell, M.Ed. & her guests will share inspiration and actionable steps to avoid or recover from the dreaded teacher burnout. You'll be inspired to individualize self-care and learn to prioritize your well-being and mental health, all while making a bigger impact on your classrooms and community.

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And if you are feeling extra amazing, I would be super grateful if you would leave a review on iTunes, too! Those reviews help other educators who are burned out and needing support find the podcast, and I love shouting you out on the Community Reviewer of the Week Segment! Just click here to review, select "Ratings & Reviews" and "Write a Review" and share what you are loving about the podcast!

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TRANSCRIPT:

[0:00] I'm Chris Duchko, co-host of the 9th Grade Experience Podcast,

[0:04] a part of the Education Podcast Network, just like the show you're listening to now. Shows on the network are individually owned and opinions expressed may not reflect others. Find other interesting education podcasts at edupodcastnetwork.com. If you've been looking for self-help or self-improvement to help you get out of the burnout cycle, you've probably come across a self-help guru or whoever that's told you that you need this elaborate morning routine. If you've scrolled through Aesthetic People's TikToks or Reels, you'll see these elaborate get ready with me morning routines. And I don't know about you, but I wish somebody would have told me that you don't need that in order to be successful. You don't need that to feel better or to improve your nervous system. That's why in this episode, I am giving you the lowdown on why morning routines suck and aren't going to get you out of burnout and the three things you need to do instead. So let's not waste any time and let's get into it.

[1:05] Hey, teacher friends, welcome to the Resilient Teacher Podcast, your one-stop shop for beating the teacher burnout cycle once and for all. Whether you're searching for inspiration, sustainable strategies, ways to reignite your passion for teaching, or just how to live your best teacher life without sacrificing in your personal life, you are in the right place. No cookie cutter solutions here, just real raw experiences and tips from other teachers who've been there, done that to remind you, you are not alone. I'm Brittany, your host, a special educator at heart, instructional coach, mom slash bonus mom of five kids and teacher burnout and sustainability strategist with my agency, Teaching Mind, Body and Soul. I am on a mission to inspire educators to prioritize their mental health and individualize burnout prevention and recovery so that they can live a balanced, fulfilling life inside and outside of the classroom. Each week, I'll be sharing tips, strategies, and discussing the hot topics in teacher burnout with other teachers so that you can transform your life from chaos to confidence. On this podcast, we believe in supporting and uplifting one another to heal

[2:08] the system from the inside out. So let me remind you that you too are a resilient teacher.

[2:17] Before we get into this episode, I want to give a huge shout out to Brit205, who left a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and states, this is relatable. This podcast is so relatable. I truly enjoyed listening to podcast number 105. Thanks for giving us permission. I had some difficulty settling down at the end of the school year. These lines were super powerful. The best ideas come from silence. Yes, we need a break from the things we love the most. Thanks for the permission to change up the routine. And thank you, Britt, for leaving this five-star review. It truly means the world to me. And it really helps other teachers who are looking for resources like this to find the podcast, to listen in, to get the support and the validation, the pick-me-up that they need in order to beat the burnout cycle once and for all. So huge shout out to you for leaving this review. I do want to remind you that if you've listened to this podcast for any amount of time, it means the world to me when you do leave these reviews and let me know what's kind of resonating with you. Because Britt's comment that she needed the permission to change up the routine kind of brought this into fruition, as well as I saw a TikTok recently that was talking about how you just need a morning routine.

[3:33] And I can remember back in the day when I first realized, oh crap, I'm officially burned out and I've been doing it for a while now, one of the first things that I came across in self-improvement was this prescriptive blog post about how a morning routine would cure burnout. And so when I saw this TikTok, it just...

[3:51] Brought that back into my mind when I was like, this is crap. And to be honest with you, I was desperate. I wanted to fix my burnout and I wanted to make it go away. And so as a single mother of two under three, I decided, you know what? I'm going to wake up at five o'clock in the morning like they tell me to. I'm going to journal. I'm going to meditate. I'm going to move my body. I'm going to have a slow morning. Needless to say, with a newborn, I did not sleep through the night to start with. I woke up at five o'clock thinking, I just need some more sleep. But I pushed myself out of bed. I snoozed during my meditation.

[4:24] I tried to journal, but the baby had woke up. I had to get the other kid ready to go. Chaos ensued. My morning sucked. And I tried this every day for over a month, every day, feeling less capable, more frustrated. And like, I was just destined to be a burned out loser. So let me know if you have seen something similar to this or you've felt something similar to this. They keep telling you, you just need a morning routine. It's going to make it better. I want to be very clear. This morning routine that everyone can do, I could not, okay? And I felt like a failure because I couldn't. And I get the idea behind it, right? Like if you're one of those people whose alarm goes off, you get up, you rush out the door and you arrive to work trying to focus throughout the day and you struggle because you've rushed and you're trying to catch up and that's stressful, then perhaps, you know, a good morning routine would help to reduce that stress. The fact was that was not reducing my stress. It was actually making me more stressed out. And they say, you know, the most successful people in the world practice the morning routine. They get up, they stretch, they get out of bed, they begin this 30-minute yoga sesh, they drink hot tea, they journal, they meditate before they go to the gym for a quick workout, and then they slowly get ready for their day 59 steps later.

[5:42] I'm a bit of a realist in this situation. Like, either these people have a lot of extra time, they don't have children or a spouse, or they're just not teachers. Because, like, we're teachers. Some of us are parents. Not many of us are going to or want to wake up at 3.30 in the morning to have this elaborate 59-step morning routine, you know, in order to be at school by contract time. Like, if you do this, more power to you. I think it's probably very effective for you. but realistically, like I don't think most people have the capacity or the supports in order to even do an hour and a half slow morning routine.

[6:21] And I don't think it should be one of those things that's prescribed as this cure for burnout. If you've tried an early 5 a.m. Morning routine and you're anything like me, you probably are exhausted by 8 a.m. You might get anxious at night just kind of thinking about how many hours you have until you have to get up and you have to do this routine. You might feel like you need a nap midday. And when you can't do it, you feel like you suck. Well, you don't suck. It's just, that's not for you. And the reason that this doesn't work is because number one.

[6:53] Most people cannot be consistent with this 59 step morning routine. And two, it's not rooted in your values. If there's no real intention behind it, it's not going to work for you. It's going to be just yet another thing on your to-do list. These people you hear are successful because of their morning routine. You're not them. Okay? That's not you, boo.

[7:16] Like each of us needs something that is individual, that fits our values and our personality. Right? So here's what I recommend instead. So if you're anything like me and the idea of a morning routine is crapola to you or you've just never been able to do it, here's what I want you to do instead.

[7:36] I want you to think about the intention behind why you might want to start this morning routine. Like what about this prescriptive idea made you think, I want to try that, okay? And rather than starting your day with this checklist of tasks or rushing to complete this set routine, instead, take a moment. Ask yourself, how do I want to feel today? This is a simple shift and it's going to move you away from the pressure of productivity. and into a space where you're prioritizing your emotional and your mental state. For example, okay, you're heading into a particularly busy day. Maybe your intention then is to feel grounded, to feel calm. Or if you know you're going to be dealing with a challenging situation, maybe you have like a really stressful parent meeting or something. Perhaps your intention is to feel patient or compassionate, right? And the beauty of these little micro intentions is they're adaptable. They're simple. They're personal. It doesn't become yet this extra thing you have to do or a chore. You don't need 30 minutes of journaling to set this, right? You just need a quick pause while you're brushing your teeth or during your commute to just check in with yourself. And this allows you to align with how you want to feel. You're giving yourself this compass for your day. So when things get overwhelming, you can come back to that intention and you can reset your focus.

[9:06] And when I say that these are adaptable, they may not be the same every day. And so it's not this consistent 59 steps. You're just checking in with yourself. The second thing that I recommend is just having a simple anchor habit. I am a huge fan of Atomic Habits by James Clear. If you've never read it, it's fan-freaking-tastic. And it's a little bit of a, I guess, a conflict of what I'm talking about right now. But instead of this long morning ritual, I want you to think of an anchor habit that's just a small action that grounds you and gives you your morning a more sense of calm, okay? This could be something you already do. Maybe it's like you're sipping your coffee in silence or something new that you'd like to add, right? Just like stretching for two minutes. The key here is just simple. You want this habit to feel effortless, to feel automatic, something that doesn't require planning. It doesn't require motivation. It just gives you this moment of peace, right?

[10:08] The beauty of an anchor habit is that it serves as a reliable,

[10:12] low-pressure way to start your day. Even on those mornings when everything feels chaotic, it's a reminder that not everything has to be complex in order to be effective.

[10:22] If I had known that I could just do this small little anchor habit on those days when I was a single mom of two under three, that would have changed the whole game. I would have felt a whole lot better knowing I just needed one simple anchor habit. And the third thing that I want you to do is do one thing that brings you joy. It is so easy to get caught up in doing things just because we should do them. But what about doing something that just simply makes you happy? Like adding a little joy into your routine. It doesn't have to be complicated. Like maybe it's playing a song that you love while you're getting ready or you take two minutes to step outside and you just breathe some fresh air before heading into work. These are really small moments of joy that can have a huge impact on your mood and your stress levels throughout the day. When you sprinkle something in like this that you get to look forward to, you're going to be more likely to feel energized and more balanced throughout the day. And it's less about checking off these boxes, right? And more about just nourishing your well-being in ways that are meaningful for you. Not meaningful to whoever on the interwebs, right? their 59-step routine, but more meaningful to you.

[11:38] With these three steps, you're going to intentionally guide your day, starting from what truly matters to you without the pressure of this elaborate routine. Now, if you want to add more things that bring you joy, awesome. But when it starts to feel like a chore, it's going to be time to reevaluate. It's about finding what fits into your life, into your personality, and still gives you the benefits of that balance, that calm, that intention, that

[12:05] the overall idea of this elaborate morning routine would bring you. Okay. So until next time, remember you are a resilient teacher. We're in this together. You got this.

[12:17] Before you go, head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com slash podcast to check out any links, freebies, and resources discussed in this episode so that you can start recovering from or preventing burnout and reigniting your passion for teaching. If you liked this episode and it helped you or made you think in any way, I know it will be for other educators too. So subscribe and leave a review so more educators can find this community as well. Did you know that you can have an incredible impact on the teachers in your life? That's right. All you have to do is share what you learned today. Take a screenshot of the episode you're listening to and tag me and post it in your stories. What do you say that we start creating a trail for more teachers around us so that we can start to make the change in the system of education, how teachers are seen and respected and for ourselves. I look forward to connecting with you more on Instagram at teachingmindbodysoul or TikTok at missprincessteach. I am always looking for an excuse to chat more about burnout, resilience, and teacher support. I'll see you in the next episode.