Episode 396: Monday Mindset: What to Do When Everything Starts to Slip

In today's Monday Mindset, March and April can feel like the point where everything starts slipping at once. You’re running on fumes, your students are restless, and the pull of summer makes every small task feel bigger than it should. We’re talking about that exact moment and the counterintuitive fix that actually makes the rest of the year easier: leaning into structure instead of letting it slide.

We unpack why loosening routines, expectations, and boundaries doesn’t bring relief, it creates more chaos. The key mindset shift is simple but powerful: what’s hard now is easy later, and what’s easy now is hard later. When your classroom management stays clear, your late work policy stays firm, and your routines stay steady, students stop negotiating and testing. That consistency isn’t rigidity. It’s a signal that says, “You don’t have to guess. I’ve got this, and I’ve got you.”

Transcript

Why This Season Feels Heavy

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, hello teachers, and welcome back to the podcast. Today's Monday Mindset episode is kind of what to do when everything starts to feel like it's slipping or falling apart, right? I know we're at the end of March. This time of year can feel like a lot. Like a lot, a lot. And I know you're feeling it because your students are feeling it too. My son is certainly feeling it at school. And so today I want to talk about something that might sound like a little counterintuitive at first, but I promise it's gonna change how you approach the rest of this school year. So here's what happens every single year, this time of year, at least for me. Maybe you can relate, but you are exhausted. Like I remember two of my bones exhausted. And your students also start to become a little bit restless, right? So those two things existing together make life significantly more difficult for you. You are extremely tired and your students are close to being extremely done. And everybody starts to feel like the pull of summer this time of year. There's a couple of months left, right? And slowly, almost without noticing, like things in your classroom that you used to just do, that used to just happen, kind of start to slip or kind of start to fall to the wayside, or you're kind of like, oh, deal with that later. And it gets pushed back, pushed back, right? And I think about this from the term uh from the perspective of like it could be late homework that you just kind of let slide, or you loosen up your classroom management because having to enforce it and deal with behavior feels like just one more thing, right? Or you skip the protocol for X, Y, and Z because you just need to get through the day. And like I get it, I really do. But here's what I want you to hear is when you loosen the structure, things get harder, not easier. And I also think about this as a mom. So if you're a parent or you've dealt with, you know, really young children, they really need structure. And if you give them an inch, they take a mile. I went through this program recently on like a parenting program on helping kids who have anxiety, which is my son. And one of the things that she said that stuck out to me is what's hard now is easy later. And what's easy now is hard later. So I think about this from the perspective of structure, of boundaries, of all of that stuff, is the moment that boundaries get fuzzy, your kids are gonna start testing them. They push, they get antsy, they act out, and suddenly what happens is it's now hard instead of easy because, and I am not, there's no accusations at all with this. Like I understand where everybody is, but I'm just trying to give you a reframe and a reset of how you can make it through the end of the year to tell yourself this phrase: what's hard now is easy later. And the antithesis of that is true. What's easy now is hard later. And that's what happens is this time of year, it's like, oh, I'm just so tired. I can't deal. I just need things to be easy. I can't enforce another boundary. Well, when we do that, what happens is we make it harder for ourselves later. So suddenly you have more chaos, right? Not less chaos. So the truth is, even though it doesn't necessarily feel true, is that this is the time of year when you need to lean into structure. You need to lean into it even more, like set your boundaries even further. Because if you think about it this way, when your classroom management is clear and consistent, your students know where the line is. When your late work policy doesn't bend, they stop negotiating. When your routine stays steady, they stop testing, right? That's not rigidity. That's what's hard now is easy later. Not just for you, but for your students as well. Because structure tells them, you don't have to guess. I've got this, I've got you. And when you lead with confidence, they follow your lead. Same thing goes with my son when we were talking about this anxiety program, right? They borrow from our confidence. And when they start to see or feel us kind of slip or fall apart a little bit, or that we're exhausted. And I'm not saying you can't be human by any means at all, but when our energy and our behavior starts to show up that way, they borrow from that energy as well. And so when you have everything still in place, when you follow your structures, you follow your routine, you have that confidence, like I've got this. Your students feel and borrow that confidence from you. Just like my son does when he has anxiety, is he has to understand that I can handle it. Even if I don't think that I can, right? I have to show him that I can so that his anxiety doesn't show up to the extent that it could, right? And so what I want you to think about in terms of just sticking into the routines is this time of year, is keep your structure, keep your policies, keep your routines, lean into them even more, but do the best that you can to like take a step back and detach from like what's happening in your classroom and making it mean anything. Right. I just think about, I'm gonna keep leaning into this. What I learned in that parenting program is that when my son has anxiety and he is, you know, yelling and upset and would be throwing things or acting out or whatever it might be, his level is extra, he's at a 10 out of 10, right? Well, I cannot meet him at a 10 out of 10 because what's gonna happen? It's just gonna explode and get worse. I need to meet him at a zero. I need to be as calm as I can possibly be. And so when he's acting that way, I need to tell myself, and I do, this is what I do, I need to tell myself a different story that this is his anxiety. And if I meet him where he is, I'm gonna make the anxiety worse. However, if I take a step back and I am just present and I stay regulated, I'm gonna help him calm down faster. And the same thing goes for us with our students, right? If we can stay regulated, do whatever you need to do, count to 10, take deep breaths, tell yourself the story that this means nothing about you. Don't say anything that this means anything bad about these kids, right? Whoever it is that's behaving that way, and that was really helpful for me too, is it's like I had to realize that my son's behavior had nothing to do with me. It had nothing to do with me and had everything to do with his anxiety, right? If you have, and this is the perfect way to describe it too, understand it, right? I don't like flying very much. And so when I'm on a plane, if someone is trying to like tell me how safe flying is and like give me all these statistics and try to help me, I'm like, go away, stop talking to me. I'm having a panic attack and cannot function, right? Like my brain is offline. I am in fight or flight mode. I am in survival mode. The same thing goes with our students and they have anxiety. So if you are claustrophobic and you've ever had to go in for an MRI, you know exactly what I'm talking about. That feeling of I'm gonna die. So when behavior is at a high in our classroom, that's not the time to like teach a lesson. That's a time to stick to your boundaries, to your systems, to your policies, to your routines, keep those expectations steady, and then stay calm. Because if you escalate, when they escalate, it's going to create a bigger explosive problem from you. But when you lean into your structure and you stay super calm, guess what? That steadiness is what makes it easier to deal with the chaos of this time of year. Again, what's hard now is easy later. And again, to relate this, sorry, I kept saying I said again and again, like five times. Relate this back to my son. When he is anxious and he's dealing with his anxiety, and I let him go through those emotions, I am teaching him that he can handle it. And that I can handle it. And the other thing that I'm teaching him too when I do that is that the structures still stay in place. Right? So he knows beforehand when this happens, then this is what we do. And so your students need that from you too. And that steadiness, that confidence, that I've got you, that I can handle this, which you can, when you lean into your structures and you stay steady, that's what's gonna get you to summer. Okay. All right, if this one resonated with you today, share it with a teacher friend who might need to hear it. And if you are looking for systems and batch planning routines that actually help you make it through the end of the year with ease and confidence, then I'd love for you to check out our membership, the e bteachers ELA portal. We are opening registration this summer. And if you go to ebteacher.com forward slash portal, you can learn more information. All right, you guys, you are doing better than you think. I promise. Here's to another week of living intentionally.