Читать книгу Real Talk About Time Management - Serena Pariser - Страница 17

Strategy #5 Change Your Language Around Your Workload Be Positive and Optimistic

Your Beliefs Become Your Thoughts

Your Thoughts Become Your Words

Your Words Become Your Actions

Your Actions Become Your Habits

Your Habits Become Your Values

Your Values Become Your Destiny

—Gandhi

[Serena] I’ve done a lot of backpacking around the world. One of the biggest culture shocks occurs when I come back into the United States after a few weeks or even months being abroad. I hear the same phrase everywhere. It goes something like this:

Me: “Hey Juan, how are you doing? How has everything been?”

Juan: “Good—really busy but good.”

This is the accepted answer to show someone we are happy and successful. For some reason, we think that if we have a handle on all of our responsibilities, then maybe we aren’t taking on enough or we have time and should be doing more work. Being stressed and busy is the norm. For some reason, the more exhausted we seem, the more it seems like we are accomplishing things. But why? Why is it often difficult to not take on more—to set time aside for ourselves, take a moment to smell the roses, and not be stressed? Why does it have to be like this? Let’s flip the script:

Me: “Hey Juan, how are you doing? How has everything been?”

Juan: “Really good. I feel like I have a handle on everything at work and hopefully will soon have some free time to do more hiking with my family.”

This response would probably shock you more. But let’s change our mindset about our workload. This starts with our language. Let’s listen to ourselves when we hear ourselves speak about our workload. This becomes our reality. It’s okay to speak about your responsibilities with a sense of empowerment instead of a sense of defeat, even if you are speaking about the same workload. The purpose of this is explained in the quote that starts this chapter: Our words become our reality.

When we take control of our workload with our words and tone instead of rolling our eyes, our whole perception changes. You may even find yourself gravitating toward people who have the same mindset. If you truly are overwhelmed and stressed, then take something off your plate or create systems that make the load more efficient. We’ll discuss how to do this in later chapters. Don’t let stressed and busy become your accepted norm. You deserve better.

Positive Thinking

On a deeper note, thinking positively takes it one more step. Kendra Cherry stated it perfectly in her 2018 article, “Understanding the Psychology of Positive Thinking,” when she wrote,

So what exactly is positive thinking? You might be tempted to assume that it implies seeing the world through rose-colored lenses by ignoring or glossing over the negative aspects of life. However, positive thinking actually means approaching life’s challenges with a positive outlook. It does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things; instead, it involves making the most of the potentially bad situations, trying to see the best in other people, and viewing yourself and your abilities in a positive light. (Cherry, 2018)

Why bother doing this? There are some very good reasons. According to the Mayo Clinic, positive thinking is linked to a wide range of health benefits, including the following:

 ◗ Longer life span

 ◗ Less stress

 ◗ Lower rates of depression

 ◗ Increased resistance to the common cold

 ◗ Better stress management and coping skills

 ◗ Lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related death

 ◗ Increased physical well-being

 ◗ Better psychological health (Cherry, 2018)

Even more interesting, research shows that if we think we can do a task, we actually have a much better chance of getting it done. Simply put, teachers who think they can, can. When we change our language around a task or workload, we change our mindset around that task or load. Our words become our reality.

If we want to go even deeper, self-efficacy (the belief that we can do something) has had powerful results for the classroom. In their 2016 study, published in the article “Teacher Self-Efficacy and Its Effects on Classroom Processes, Student Academic Adjustment, and Teacher Well-Being: A Synthesis of 40 Years of Research,” Marjolein Zee and Helma M. Y. Koomen found that teachers with high self-efficacy:

 ◗ Have been demonstrated to perceive the implementation of new instructional methods as more important and congruent with their own practices

 ◗ Experience less self-survival, task, and impact concerns and more pedagogic conceptual change, irrespective of grade

 ◗ Effectively cope with a range of behaviors, regardless of grade

 ◗ Use proactive, student-centered classroom behavior strategies and practices

 ◗ Establish less conflictual relationships with students

 ◗ Become more sensitized to students’ signals, needs, and expectations and thereby are able to provide students with adequate supports in class

It all starts with our words. Our words can change our mindset and belief system. When we start to take steps to control our workload and think positively at the same time, something magical happens. You’ll start attracting teachers that have control of their workload and a sense of calm. Here are a few phrases you can practice saying to create a more positive mindset and gain more control of your workload.

Yes, okay, we get it. Some days you may just want to curl up into the fetal position after the last bell rings and cry. But no matter how much we have to do, we always have a choice about how we speak about our workload. Our words matter. The funny thing about people who don’t think positively is that they call themselves realists. Nobody ever really calls themselves a pessimist. Don’t fall for this. Optimists actually create their own reality. It’s just brighter. Change your language; change how you feel.

Your Turn

1 Think of a teacher or colleague who speaks positively and with a sense of empowerment about their workload. Have their words affected their reality?

2 Now think of a teacher or colleague who usually speaks negatively or with defeat about their workload. How do you think this has affected their teaching or relationships with students?

3 Which type of teacher do you want to be? Why?