Teachers, you are not trying to be perfect. You are trying to avoid being wrong.

 This week, we’re starting with something most teachers don’t even realize they’re doing. 

You’re not trying to be perfect.
You’re trying to avoid being wrong. 

That shows up in small ways throughout the day. Rereading emails, going back to fix things that were already fine, and thinking about conversations after they’re over. 

None of it feels like a big deal. But it adds time to your day in ways you don’t always notice. 

In this episode, we’re breaking down what’s actually driving that behavior and how it’s quietly taking more time and energy than it should. 

This isn’t about lowering your standards. It’s about seeing what’s actually happening so you can stop adding work that was never required in the first place. 

We’re not here to fix.
We’re here to notice. 

If this helped, pass it to another teacher who might need it. 

Until next time… 

give yourself the same care you give everyone else.

 ~Kim 🌿 

Transcript

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Teachers, you've been double checking things that were already fine. You've been going back to things that didn't need fixing. You've been thinking about things longer than you needed to. And it's not big stuff. It's small things. All day. You reread an email, you tweak something one more time, you think about a conversation again later. And by the end of the day, you feel tired. But it's not from working, it's from how much time you're spending thinking through everything. Welcome back to Teaching Without Losing Yourself the podcast. I'm Kim, and this is the After the Bells Beyond the Box series, a moment made just for teachers, even on the moon. And everything we talk about here is built around one idea. You can stay in teaching without losing yourself in the process. Nothing here is about fixing you. We're just increasing awareness so you can make better decisions inside your days. So this month we're working through perfection is not required. But today, we're not even starting there. Because guess what? Most teachers will say, I'm not trying to be perfect. And they're right. You're right. You're not walking into school thinking, I need everything to be perfect today. That's not what's happening. What's actually happening is this. You're trying to avoid being wrong. There's a difference. Or is there? You don't want to say something the wrong way. You don't want to miss something important. You don't want to have a teammate question something that you did. You don't want to feel like you should have done more. So what does your mind do? Oh, the mind. It goes straight to let me check that one more time. Let me check that again. Let me fix this just in case. Let me make sure this is solid. To you, teacher, that feels responsible. And you know how we like to be responsible, right? But it's also where your time starts getting stretched. Let me let me talk to you a little bit about what that looks like. I want you to really be able to visualize what this looks like, okay? You write an email. That email is clear, you know, it says what it needs to say. But before you send it, you reread it, then you change a sentence, then you reread it again. Not because it was wrong, but because you're thinking, I just want to make sure this doesn't come across the wrong way. Well, there goes an extra minute or two. What about if you're talking to a student or one of your teammates? The conversation, it's over, it's done. But later, that conversation comes back into your mind. And now you're thinking, I should have said that differently. Oh, I wonder how that sounded. I hope that didn't come off wrong. You can't change the conversation. Remember, it's done. But your mind is still working on it. Well, there's some more time right there. Oh, let's go to the end of the day. What about when you're finishing something up? It's it's done too, right? But instead of stopping, you adjust to one more thing, then another, then one more. Not because it was wrong, but because, oh, I just want to make sure this is right. Well, that could be another 10-15 minutes. And none of these moments that I just share with you are really big things, and they don't feel big, but they just keep happening and they keep adding time to your day. And that's important. Right now, you're in more situations where your decisions feel like they matter more. You're having more conversations about students, you're thinking about progress more than you ever have. You're answering more questions during the day. So your mind responds with, let me make sure I handle this right. That makes sense. That feels responsible. But it leads to more checking, more fixing, more second guessing. And guys, there is a cost that comes with all that. And most of the time, it's your time. It's the extra minute rereading the email, it's the 10 minutes adjusting something that was already done, complete. It's the time spent thinking about a conversation that's over that you can't change again later. None of that feels like a big deal in that moment. You know, it just feels like you're doing little things. It doesn't take much time to you in that moment, but it keeps adding up throughout your day. And the biggest thing, the biggest thing I hear from teachers is, Kim, there's just not enough time for everything we've got to do. And they're right. But part of what's happening is time is getting is getting taken from them in small pieces all day on things that actually didn't need more time. And they're allowing it. Guys, I'm allowing it. So here's what I want you to try this week. Just one thing, okay? You have to do this intentional. Remember, all these things are done with intentionality or they don't work. I want you to catch one moment when you're about to, you're like right on the edge. You're about to go back and fix something, something that's done, something that's not wrong. You're just right there because that's responsible and you're getting ready to go back and fix it. But I want you to pause. And I want you to ask, is something actually wrong right now with this? Or am I trying to make sure nothing is wrong? Guys, that is really important to do and to do with intentionality. And I say this from all the experience I can muster up because I do it too. I cannot tell you how many emails I reread. I cannot tell you how many conversations I replay at night. Those conversations are over and I'm still replaying it. I'm still asking myself, did I do that right? Did I say that right? Was that the right choice? Is this going to come back and bite me later on? I'm asking those things. I'm going through it as though I can even fix it. And I can't. It's done. I do it, you do it. That's just one of the things we do. But every time we do that, we are putting and taking away precious, precious time. Something we don't have a lot of to do the work that we do. You're going to ask yourself when you catch that one moment, that one time, you're going back, you're ready, you're on the edge, and you're ready to go back and you're ready to fix it. You're going to pause and you're going to ask yourself, okay, is something actually wrong right now? Or am I trying to make sure that nothing is wrong? Because again, guys, a lot of time nothing is wrong. You're just trying to prevent something that hasn't even happened. I'm gonna say it again. Most of the time, nothing is wrong. And guys, if nothing is wrong, you don't need to fix it. You can leave it, and when you do that with intentionality, not all day, every day, but you choose those moments. When you do that, you're gonna start getting time back in your day. It's such a valuable asset, and you'll start getting it back. So, guys, this is where we're starting April, not with doing less, not with lowering your standards, but with seeing what's actually driving your decisions during the day. Because once you see it, you stop fixing things that are already fine, you stop going back to things that were already done. And guys, that gives you that gives you something teachers keep saying they don't have enough of. Say it with me. We don't have enough time. This is not done by working faster, this is not done by working more, but by not adding work, guys, that was never required in the first place. We're making up more work for ourselves, and that's a part of what it looks like to make teaching sustainable, okay? Not changing everything, not doing your job differently. But if teaching is going to be sustainable for you, you have to stop the small things that keep taking more from you than they should. Remember everything that's happening internally, district initiatives, state requirements, federal oversight, those are things we cannot really change. So we're focusing on things that we can. We're finding moments to make the work that we do, that we love, more sustainable for us. And this is one of the ways that you do that. Stop the small things that keep taking more from you than they should. So you can have time for the things you need to do. As always, guys, we are doing this slowly, one layer at a time, together. Until next time, give yourself the same care you give everyone else.