Teachers, You Can Be Done without Finishing.

There is always something left at the end of a teaching day. Always one more email. Always something you meant to fix. Always something you wanted to have ready for tomorrow. And most teachers have learned to just… stay a little longer. Handle a few more things. Push through.

But here's what nobody is talking about — the work was never going to feel finished. And waiting for that moment is costing you more than you realize.

In this final episode of our April series, we're talking about the difference between the work being done and your day being done. Because those are two very different things. And once you can see that difference, something starts to change about how you move through your day.

This one is for every teacher who has ever stayed longer than they planned and still left feeling behind.

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, at the end of your school day, there is still work to do, right? There are those emails you still have to answer. Tons of things you didn't get to. There's something you really meant to fix. You know, it was messed up. You didn't get to it. It was something you definitely needed to get ready for tomorrow. You're not even sure if you put it in the right copy box. So what do you do? You say, let me just take care of a few more things, and then I will go. You stay a little longer. You take care of just one more thing, then another thing, and then another thing, and more time goes by. And even after all that extra time you spent doing all the things to prepare and get ahead, guess what? It still doesn't feel like you're finished. That's because you're not. You still don't feel done. That's because you're not. There is still something lingering, still something left for you to do. And that feeling of still not being ahead after everything you just gave, all that time you just did, right? That stays with you, doesn't it? That's what we're going to chat about today. Welcome back to Teaching Without Losing Yourself the podcast. I'm Kim. I spent 28 years in education, and guys, I realized at some point that I couldn't fix what was wrong from the inside. So I made the hardest decision of my career and I left. Because if I couldn't protect teachers from within the system, I could support them in protecting themselves from outside of it. And that's why this podcast exists. This is After the Bells, 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 here to see things more clearly so you can make better choices inside your days. This month we've been working through one idea, and that idea is perfection is not required. In each week, we've looked at one specific way that shows up during the actual day, right? On week one, we talked about going back to things because you didn't want them to be wrong. You were rechecking things, we were rereading things, we were second-guessing ourselves, you know, having those conversations that we already had that we can't go back to over and over again at 8 p.m. at night. Then in week two, we talked about finishing something and then adding more to it anyway, which means that thing was done. But we are we wanted to layer in a little bit of this and that to make it even better. Extra steps, more explanation, more work piled on top of something that was already done and ready to rock with. We talked about giving your time to everything that showed up to the party instead of deciding, intentionally deciding, what actually needed your time. And now here we are, guys, week four. And here's the thing: even if you stop going back, right, rechecking things, even if you stop adding more layers, layers of goodness. And even if you start deciding what gets your time during the day, guess what? There is still going to be work left at the end of it. That's just how this job works. So this is the last piece. I hope you guys are ready. Because the problem isn't that the work is still there. We are agreeing, all of us are agreeing right now. Ladies, the work will absolutely be there. We will gain back some time by not going back, not adding more, and making good decisions. But even then, the work is still going to be there. The problem is that you're waiting for it to be finished before you allow yourself to be done. And I want to talk to you about why this is happening. Because, guys, this has nothing to do with being disorganized, right? It's not about managing your time better. We've talked about those pieces, and we're going to get back some of those times with that intentionality. But it really still comes down to the nature of this job. In teaching, there's always more you could do. There's always another email you can answer. I know I get 15 before I walk in the door. There's always something you could get ready for tomorrow or the next day. Copies, you know, another phone call. There's things that you could get ready. There's always something you could go back and fix or improve. Always. And guys, there's always something you just didn't get to today. Always. There is no point in the day where the work is officially finished. I know that's hard to hear, but I think you gotta hear that. I know I do. The work just doesn't stop on its own. So if you're waiting for that moment, you're gonna keep working longer than you planned. And even then, it's still not gonna feel finished. That's why it's hard to stop. Not because you're doing something wrong, but it's because the job, the job we're in, it doesn't give you a natural place to stop. It just doesn't do that. Let me show you what this you know kind of looks like for you guys. So you're getting ready to leave. You look at your desk, it's a hot mess like mine. You look at your screen. There are 25 screens open that you can count. And you look at your list. If you like me, it's like a billion sticky notes all over the place. They are at least color-coded. No, that's a lie. They're just many colors, they're not color-coded, but there are still things there. And you think, I'll just take care of a few more before I go. Pull the pink coat, you know, sticky note, pull the green sticky note, open up a few of those tabs that you left open. So you do. And then a few more after that. 15 minutes go by, and there are still things left. Guys, even after staying longer, it still doesn't feel finished. Because there was never going to be a point where it was. Now, I don't know about you, but that that was even hard to say. And I wrote it. There's never going to be a point where you're finished. But here's what a lot of teachers don't say out loud. It doesn't stop when you leave either. You walk out the door, but your mind is still in that building. On the way home, you're running through everything you didn't get to. That evening, something pops into your head. You're just trying to enjoy your night. And something just pops into your head. You remember something you still need to handle. Oh, I did not make that phone call. Did I put that in the child's folder? Did I give him his points? I don't know. You think about something you wish you'd done differently. The work followed you home. It wasn't even because you brought papers with you. You may have left them right next to the non-color-coded sticky notes. But because you never had a clear moment where you actually said, I'm done for today. And for a lot of teachers, that turns into something bigger than just one long day. You tell yourself, you just need to get ahead. If you can just catch up, it'll feel better. But every single day brings more, more emails, more needs, more things to handle. You're not catching up to a finish line. You're trying to keep up with something that just keeps moving. But that's why it never quite feels like you get there. It's continuing to move. I think we call it what's shoveling snow while it's still snowing. You don't make any progress. None of these feel like a big deal on their own, okay? But they all have the same thing going on underneath them. You're waiting for a finish line that isn't coming. I think just knowing that is a big step. You're waiting, guys, for done. You're waiting for this to be done. You're waiting for that finish line, and it doesn't exist. And you know there's a cost to all of that, right? And we've talked about it. We've talked about it all month. And most of the time, what is it? It's your time. It's the 15 minutes you stayed after the day was done already. It's the mental energy spent on the drive home. It's the evening that never belonged to you, your spouse, your children, your family. And the thing I hear from teachers all the time is, you know it, there's just not enough time. But part of what's happening is that your time is being taken in small pieces all day long, at the end of the day, on the drive home, into your evening, on something that was never going to feel finished anyway. We talked about this week after week after week, all those minutes here and minutes there, and an hour there. And we're spending all these time, all this time rechecking things, going over things, layering in things, not deciding intentionally. And we start trying to decide intentionally. We want to give back some of that time. And we're doing all of that. And guess what? It's never gonna be finished. Okay. This heaviness you feel by the end of the week, part of it is this not ever finishing. It's really not the work, even though it maybe the behaviors, especially right now, but it's really not the work itself. Teachers, you're carrying the weight of never feeling like you got there. It's a goal. You're trying to reach it. And you have this weight of I never really got there. Now, here's the part I really want to say directly. Stopping before everything is done is going to feel wrong. Okay. Let's just put that out there on the table because I'm saying it for me, just as I'm saying it for you. Okay. I left last week with a billion sticky notes. I already told you that part of my personal life. And lots of things undone. This is here, this is stacked here. I've got to do this, I've got to do that, and I've got them stacked up all over my desk, and I'm ready for Monday morning, which is this morning. I'm ready for that, right? Hmm. Stopping before everything was done, it did feel wrong. But I feel like I've gotten it together and I'm ready to do it again, you know, just to stop before it's, you know, all done again. Your mind is gonna tell you, if I stop, this is what your mind is saying, things won't get done. If I walk away, it's not gonna happen. It's not gonna get done. That's why I stacked all my stuff up. I knew about this podcast. I just need to handle a few more. I'll feel better once I finish this. So, guys, that feeling is really real. I'm not gonna try to talk you out of it. I just told you my personal illness. You now know that I have a billion sticky notes all over my desk and they're not color-coded. Okay. This feeling, that feeling of walking away from something that's unfinished is a very real feeling. So I'm not gonna try to talk you out of it. But as always, I want you to notice something. You've stayed longer before, you've pushed through before. This is not new, and the next day, guess what? There's still more waiting for you. Stopping didn't create that. The work was already going to be there, but what stopping does it gives you something to back. So here's what I want you to think about this week as we're starting this week and going into May. You can be done without finishing everything. I know that sounds like it doesn't go together, but you can. Teachers, you can be done without finishing everything. That doesn't mean the work is done. It means your day is done. Those are two very different things. You look at what's still there and you make a decision. This is where I stopped today. I made that decision on Friday. I don't always do that. But I did it intentionally. I looked at where what was there and I made a decision. This is where I stopped today, and that's what I want you to do. Look at where you are, see what's there for you, and make that decision. That's it. That's the whole thing. But it has to be a decision you make on purpose because this job is not going to make it for you. We know that. You've been doing this for years. I'm 28 years in. No part of this job has ever made that decision for me. No part of the job is ever said to me or made it clear to me, you're done. Even if it's not done, you're done. So this week, just try one thing. At the end of your day, pause for a second. Instead of asking yourself, what else can I get done? Ask, where is my stopping point today? Then stop there. Even with things still left, because there will always be things left. Point blank period, guys. The goal was never to finish everything. The goal is to decide with intentionality when your day is done. So this is where we're ending April. We started this month with one idea: perfection is not required. In over four weeks, we looked at four ways that actually show up in real teaching days. Going back to things that were already fine, adding more to things that were already done, giving time to everything instead of deciding what actually needed it, and now waiting for a finish line that was never coming. None of those things make you a bad teacher. None of them mean you're doing this wrong. These are just patterns, patterns in teaching. And once you can see them, it's all about the awareness and seeing them. You can start making different choices inside your day, even small choices intentionally inside your day. Not by working faster, not by lowering your standards, but by stopping the small things that keep taking more from you, then they should. That's what's making teacher or what makes teacher sustainable, excuse me, what makes teaching sustainable looks like for you guys. One layer at a time. If this is a job that you're gonna stay in for years and years to come, you want to keep teaching, and you must, because it's an awesome job. You're gonna have to do things that give you what you need. Stopping the small things that keep taking more from you than they should. One layer at a time. It's one of those things. 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.