Episode 64: How to Get Unstuck

We've all likely experienced moments when we feel trapped, stagnant, or unsure of how to move forward in life. It's a frustrating and disheartening feeling, whether it’s related to your personal or career journey. But if you’re feeling stuck in teaching, you’re definitely not alone.

At Educator Forever, we’ve worked with thousands of education professionals who felt trapped in their classroom careers. As an educator, you might find yourself yearning for more in your career, but perhaps you’re uncertain about how to move beyond those feelings of being stuck. In this episode, I explore four key steps for educators to stop feeling stuck in their careers and pursue alternative jobs beyond the classroom.

 
 
 
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Read the transcript for this episode:

Welcome to educator forever, where we empower teachers to innovate education. Join us each week to hear stories of teachers expanding their impacts beyond the classroom and explore ways to reimagine teaching and learning.

It's a new year, and likely you have all sorts of goals for yourself. And we all hope to start the year off of feeling excited and empowered and ready to tackle these goals. But what if you're feeling stuck? That is totally okay. We want to normalize that we all go through periods of action and periods of feeling stuck. And so the best way to deal with a period where you feel stuck is to try and get unstuck. Take a little bit of action because feeling stuck is not permanent. So that's reassuring. And with the right mindset and actions, you can really move to a place of empowerment and fulfillment. It's a little tricky, right? You want to push yourself, but also acknowledge that you might just need to rest. So that's okay.

As I go through these four tips that I'm about to share, think about which ones feel like the best for you to try first. So if you're feeling stuck, maybe you have a goal that you want to tackle, but it just feels really overwhelming. We've all been there. How do we get through it?

My first tip for you is to disrupt perfectionism and reframe failure. Oftentimes, we don't take our steps forward, because we feel like they have to be perfect. And they don't, this desire to be perfect stops us all. So please, try to release the need for perfection as a prerequisite for progress. The fear of failure can truly hinder or paralyze us. And this is one of the most common reasons we feel stuck. So to break free of this, we have to embrace imperfection, and recognize it as part of the learning process. This quote from Psychology Today is really powerful. It says that what makes extreme perfectionism so toxic is that well, those in its grip, desire success, they're most focused on avoiding failure, resulting in a negative orientation, we get so focused on being like, “I don't want to fail, I don't want to fail, I don't want to fail,” and then we end up in this very negative kind of doom loop of being like “I just can't move forward. Everything's hard.” It seems hard and heavy.

We don't want that for you. We want you to feel excited, and empowered. And taking action, even though it's not going to be perfect. It's never going to be perfect. So try to shift your focus from avoiding failure to recognizing that it's normal to encounter challenges and rejection along the way. Failure is not the end, it's a stepping stone towards growth. So many people experience failure and they stop. Don't do that. Really see it as a learning experience. Think about the kids that you've taught. When somebody fails, we don't want them to give up. And I'm like air quoting fails right now. Because really think about it. I used to teach kindergarteners how to read and they spent pretty much all year “failing.” They weren't able to read, but they were trying. And every time that they failed, they got closer. They're like, “Oh, it's not quite that word. But let me try this letter sound.” And they got a little bit closer. If a kid had just given up and been like, Nope, I didn't get it, I'm not doing it, they wouldn't have learned. Part of the learning process is failure. It's trying things that don't work. And we can't sidestep this, we have to go through it. So really try and think about it.

It helps me to think about at least from a teacher perspective of how you would talk to kids about failure, and then talk to yourself that way too. So when you're trying something new, like say you want to get started in curriculum design, this is something new for you. You've been a classroom teacher, you don't really know how to do this. That's great. I applaud that. But there's gonna be a big learning curve when you venture into something new. So acknowledge that the first time you try something — it's not going to be amazing. But you have to go through that process. You have to start somewhere. So similar to the encouragement we've given our students, we must have a growth mindset and really do use challenges as opportunities for progress. Embrace the fact that your journey won't be flawless. We don't want it to be flawless. If it was, what would you even learn? Each mistake is a chance to refine and move closer to achieving your goals.

After disrupting perfectionism and embracing failure, my next tip for you is to release comparison and embrace your unique journey. Your journey is unique. When we start to compare ourselves to everybody else, it can feel really overwhelming. And while it's beneficial to learn from others, avoid the trap of comparison. Focus on your strengths, your unique experience, your skills that you've developed, there is only one you. As you try things beyond the classroom, it helps to get clear on really what you've learned as a teacher, what you've experienced as a teacher, both the good and the bad, honestly, what has been hard for you, all of this makes you you. So as you try and move forward, really root into your experience, what feels good to you, what builds on the experience that you've had as a classroom teacher.

Then my third tip is that sometimes you just feel really stuck. And sometimes you have to kind of lean into that. So whatever you do, prioritize taking care of yourself, when you feel stuck. Sometimes you just need to rest. So give yourself some grace. You don't need to do everything today. You do need to take action, but it can be on your own terms. Sometimes you need to just step away, take a reflective break, maybe you do some exercise, maybe you do some meditation, or some breathing. Maybe you make your favorite meal or talk to a friend, just get away. Put yourself in a new headspace. You could think about positive affirmations, you could say to yourself, talking to somebody that really lifts you up, and just gaining some clarity and a better headspace. Taking care of yourself physically and mentally is essential.

As you move into your next chapter. we don't want you to recreate the same old, unsustainable pace of being a classroom teacher. We want you to build a sustainable flexible life and education. And that starts with really prioritizing taking care of yourself.

My last tip, which I feel like I've already said many times, but I can't say enough is that you need to take imperfect action to gain momentum, you must take action. This is the difference between people who succeed and people who don't is action, and not being afraid of failure. Keeping on persisting after things didn't go the way you expected them to. Those are the only things that stand in your way, and you can get through it. So when you're feeling overwhelmed, try to take a small step forward. This could be writing down what you want to do, writing down your goals, reaching out to a colleague or a mentor and schedule a meeting, researching or learning something new, applying for a new role that you're excited about, and really putting in the thought and effort to make your application shine. You could also ask for a letter of recommendation or a testimonial, or really try to learn some new skills. Maybe you want to try curriculum development. Amazing. You could sign up for our curriculum development Foundations program, you could try it out.

We get so in our heads that it's paralyzing. But just choose one thing to try. It doesn't have to be perfect. But applaud yourself and celebrate yourself for taking that action. We are always cheering you on whether you are feeling like you have great momentum or you're feeling stuck. All of it is normal part of a process and something you can get through on the way to success. So we can't wait to see the action that you take and go forward. Find one thing to do and go ahead and do it. Ready to find rewarding impactful work in the education world? Take our free quiz to discover your next right career step. Will you be a curriculum developer, an education consultant instructional coach, the list of possibilities goes on and on. Take the quiz to find out the best fit for you at educator forever.com/quiz You'll also receive customized resources to kickstart your dream career and life

Lily Jones