Description: As we think about the primacy-recency effect as the school year comes to an end, Dr. Boogren challenges the Squad to challenge themselves. How can we end the year on a high note?
Resources:
1. Listen to Matt Cutt's Ted Talk now!
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Self-Care for Educators. I'm your host, Tina Boogren, and this is episode 31 of our third season. And, this week's invitation, as I'm looking at the calendar, this is going to come out the very last week of April, and so my invitation for you week, for you this week is to think about could you engage in a 30 day challenge for the month of May. This idea comes from Matt Cutts TED Talk, which we will link to, which is phenomenal. And, those of you that have been in workshops with me, you may have seen this, because I share this quite often. It's the very, very, very simple but powerful idea of either adding something to our lives for 30 days or giving something up for 30 days. And, I think this might just be the perfect month to engage in this.
Many, many of you are finishing up the school year. This is your final month of the year. I know that's not true for all of us. Some of you go into June, but we're getting darn close. And, when we think about that primacy, recency effect, which is the reminder that we remember the beginning and the end of things the best ... As we think about the end of the school year, this is the time you're going to remember, and so let's make it a really positive memory. Let's end the year on a high note, which means what can you add to your life or take away that's going to help you? End the school year on a really positive note. What could you do or not do for 30 days that you think would be really, really helpful?
So, let me throw out some ideas to get you started. A number of people when we've talked about this at workshops lately have said things like committing to getting outside every single day, drinking your morning coffee on the porch or the patio or the front stoop. Many people have said going to bed by a certain time to make sure that they're as rejuvenated as possible. Maybe you're committed to drinking the stupid water. Maybe you're committed to giving up the Diet Coke. Now, that might be a bridge too far. I know, but deciding what works for you. Maybe you wanna make sure that you eat a vegetable every single day. Maybe you wanna make sure that you eat lunch every day. Maybe you're gonna commit to taking a break during your day and going for a quick walk around the building. Maybe you're gonna try to make sure that you have all of your meeting. Done in the form of a walk and talk. If you can, maybe for 30 days, you're going to take a after dinner walk with your family or with your dog, or by yourself. Maybe for 30 days you are going to commit to taking three deep breaths before you get out of your car and enter into the building or get out of your car and enter into your home.
Maybe you wanna do a 30 day gratitude challenge. Maybe you're going to continue last week's invitation of our Finding UPEs or Unexpected Positive Experiences, and you wanna record those for 30 days. Maybe we're gonna take a photo a day to record those pieces. Maybe you wanna reach out to a friend or a relative or someone you haven't been in touch with for a while, and you make a commitment--you're gonna connect to someone new each day. Or, you're just gonna send a text or a handwritten note of gratitude for 30 days. Maybe you're going to engage in 30 days of acts of kindness. The list goes on and on and on. Maybe you're gonna have an apple a day for 30 days. That's a 30 day challenge I did a few years ago. It was fascinating. Maybe you commit to stretching every day or moving your body every single day, maybe you're going to ... Oh, this was a great idea from a participant that I had recently of spending 30 days in each day choosing one teeny, tiny, little piece of, of our home to clean up and and ruthlessly get rid of things like clean up a desk drawer or that junk drawer in the kitchen or some teeny, tiny part of our bathroom that we need to kind of clean up and go through.
I love the idea of 30 day challenges, and I think the reason that I love them is because they, they feel ... It taps into kind of the, the competitive side of me, but it doesn't feel too daunting. Try to remember the 1% rule that James Clear provided to us in his. fantastic book Atomic Habits, and let's not bite off more than we can chew. And let's also, especially as we're thinking about May, let's choose something that feels really good. Maybe in the back of your mind you're thinking, you know what, I should probably give up Diet Coke for 30 days, but may maybe isn't the month to do it. As you're wrapping up the school year, maybe you purposely think about what's something that you could look forward to that you could add to your, to the month of May. Maybe it's, it's revisiting some of the invitations that we've talked about before of taking 15 minutes to yourself or doing some journaling or making time to laugh every single day, connecting with others. I think if you have something on the calendar to look forward to or something you know that isn't serving you, that would actually feel good to just give it up.
Maybe you quit gossiping for 30 days, or maybe you give up self-criticism, really thinking about the way you're talking to yourself. Those can be good things to let go of for 30 days. 30 day challenges are super fun. You can do them totally on your own. You can do them with a colleague, you can do them with friends. You could do it with students. Students could come up with something they wanna do for 30 days. It's a great thing. You can track it when you track your progress. It's fun because you eventually get to the place where you don't wanna break the chain, where you get that momentum going, which is great. You know, if you've done something for 13 days, you don't wanna miss the 14th day, so you're much more likely to keep going. There's lots of apps that can help with this. I just think this might be something intentional that we can do as we move into the glorious, glorious month of May. And, I would love for you to jump on over to the Facebook group and share what is it that you, you're planning to do and how are you structuring this? Are you doing it by yourself? Are you doing it with others? Maybe you're doing something with your family, and you're gonna plan a way to celebrate at the end of May. I just think there's lots of potential here, and I'd love to love to hear what it is that you're going to do or not do this month. I'm cheering so hard for you.
As always, Brooke, we thank you for getting this to the people. You are the magic behind the scenes, and we're so grateful for you. Thank you to Marzano Resources and Solution Tree for this job that I get to do. And, as always, the biggest and boldest, thank you to you, my bad-ass Self-Care
Squad. Thanks for listening. Thanks for coming back. Thanks for sharing this podcast with others. Thanks for rating us if you haven't already. This is how we, we find our people and expand our squad and make sure that we're always welcoming and, and drawing folks in. I'm cheering for you, and I hope that as we move into this last week of April, you spent a little time really celebrating all the amazing accomplishments that you've had, and spend a little time setting yourself up to move into the month of May with intention. It's gonna be a good month. You guys, have a great week.
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