Plan to Thrive instead of Survive

Teachers struggle to keep up with the day to day work, and sometimes we think that Friday should be the day we prep for the entire next week. Instead, I think that we should move our Friday prep so that it can be the start of a beautiful new and relaxing weekend! Let’s talk about how we can plan to thrive by shifting our mindset by one day.

Plan to Thrive-(day), Don’t Just Survive Transcript

So I think I have solved the problem of the Sunday scaries. I feel like that is a big statement to make, but I’m prepared to make it here.

Maybe not just the Sunday scaries for teachers, because I didn’t realize that, on Instagram last year, the Sunday scaries was a real thing. For a lot of people.

However, if you work from home, it’s probably less scary. And for teachers, we not only have to prep everything that we’re going to teach consistently for an eight hour day, but we also have to prep everything for our personal lives.

Sunday Scaries

We have to try to remain in control of so many things, and get all that sorted out in the wee hours of Sunday, where we also get nervous and anxious. And the upcoming week has so many unknowns attached to it, so we kind of panic.

But why do we have to wait for Sunday? I’m not saying for the panics. I’m saying, why do we save all of those prepping steps? Why do we wait until Sunday?

When you’re at school on Friday, why do you wait until Friday to start thinking about making copies for the next week? Why do we leave this pressure of leading up to a new phase or new season, even just the next week, to the day before?

When you are in your classroom on a Friday, and you have taught the last lesson, and that bell rings…those kids leave and you say, “Have a nice weekend!”, do you immediately rush to the copier? Do you immediately finish all of the grading that you needed to get done that week? Or do you kind of slump in your chair and take a #FeetItFriday picture? I don’t like feet, so I try not to do those.

But we don’t have the energy at that point. We have done so much throughout the week, and then we put all this pressure on Friday to try to prep ourselves for Monday. And then when it doesn’t happen, that pressure from Friday moves to Sunday.

We’ve all been there. I mean, I could not tell you a unique independent story to me that represents this more perfectly than you’ve probably already experienced it.

Here’s the deal. I started this last year and posted it on Instagram, and it became a thing. And it’s worked out so well.

I am currently in week two of school, going into week three. I feel like I’m starting to finally gain that little bit of energy in understanding my schedule back. So we’re gonna go ahead and tackle this simple step because I think it is just the right time to start considering it.

Plan to Thrive-Day

I want you to institute a Thriday or what I’m now calling Thrive Day, because that came to me the other night, and I just thought it was really clever.

So Thrive Day is taking all those tasks that we start kinda panicking about on Friday, or we know we want to do on Friday, but then we don’t have the energy for…and it’s shifting them up a day.

Make your deadline Thursday for making copies for the next week, for getting lab materials prepped, for trying to have your grades completely updated.

Your deadline is now Thursday. So that way you can slide into the weekend, as soon as that last bell rings on Friday, and you feel so prepared.

And is there any reason we can’t just do this? No. I mean, copiers are busy Monday mornings. Copiers are busy Friday. Why don’t you just shift it to Thursday. And if Thursday’s maybe a huge busy day for you, shift it to Wednesday.

But whatever you do, allow yourself that Friday to start easing into your weekend. Give yourself permission to release Friday afternoon and not hold on to the things that are then going to set in some Sunday scaries later on.

Weekends

I do this also for my weekends instead of getting panicked on Sunday. Now that my kids are starting school, they’ve started their own after school activities. There are things to plan. There are lunches to pack, and there are just not enough hours in a weekend.

So on Saturday, I prep everything that I would need on Monday. I’m trying to do two days ahead, but specifically for Monday because on Mondays, I want to already have a week of lunches ready. I want to have my clothes all picked out and ready to go. I want to have the bags packed for all the activities that my kids are in. I want to have a plan, and I want that plan to be as prepped as possible. I do not want to do that on Sunday.

I just can’t wrap my mind around having the energy on Sunday to do it. I want Sunday to be my full-on relax and enjoy the day, day. And so to do that, I need to start working on stuff a little earlier.

It’s also not happening Friday because Friday is my unwind from the week. So Saturday, when I have energy, and when everyone’s kind of running around doing their own thing anyway, I’m gonna prep for Monday. I’m moving my deadline up, just so I can enjoy the freedom before the new season starts.

Plan to thrive: Seasons of Life

I’m going to use the word season instead of just a week, because really, we can implement this Thrive-day idea the day that we are deciding this deadline is going to help us plan to thrive instead of survive. We are going to implement this idea for many different seasons in our life.

Christmas, oh my gosh, this is a great one. Set yourself a deadline ahead of time for having all of your Christmas shopping done.

If you’re a black friday person, and that is your thing, maybe the week after Black Friday, you are setting yourself up to be successfully completed with gift shopping.

For me, my goal is by the end of September, I’m done. And that is going to be so freeing, because then I can actually enjoy the holidays.

But even going down to meal planning. I could panic meal plan for the entire month the day before the month starts…which would be today, because I’m recording this on the 31st.

I could sit here and panic and write everything down and try to make a list and put that stress on the end of the month. Or, I can be in the third week of August and be like, “You know what? I think today, I’ll go ahead and get that meal plan set up.” I’m going to go ahead and build in that earlier deadline, so that I can plan to thrive and not just survive.

Plan to Thrive: Set Deadlines

I know right now it might feel like it’s getting overwhelming, especially at school, especially if you’ve just started back or you’re about to start back. Looking at you, you September start dates. You are trying to just figure out the flow. This is the time to start setting those early deadlines for yourself.

This is the time when you’re building your school block schedule (check out episode three if you don’t know what I’m talking about) to help you get these things done earlier. To help you thrive with the schedule that is not on the back end, where you are doing what I did, running to the copier in between classes to make extra copies. Don’t do that to yourself.

Let’s shift everything just a little bit. Set a personal deadline just a little bit earlier. I think it’s gonna be a huge game changer for you.

And I really want this for you. I want you to feel that relief kind of wash over you. That two weeks early, you have your meal plan done for the entire month. That by Thursday, you have all your copies made and you sit back and you’re like, “Man, I’m gonna go to bed tonight, and sleep in.” And then it’s spiritwear day, the next day you’re wearing jeans on Friday…hopefully not paying for them. I don’t understand districts that do that. And you’re going to ease into your weekend, ready to go.

Everything is lifted off of your shoulders. And I feel like I say that phrase a lot in the podcast, but it’s because I truly mean it.

These are some really small shifts we can make. You’re still going to do the work. We’re still going to work on simplifying those steps down for you. But if we’re gonna make it a little bit easier on ourselves and less stressful, let’s make it a Thrive Day.

I need a shirt that says Thrive-day. This might be happening. I’m very committed to the Thrive-day idea. So if you see that popping up in my Etsy over the next few weeks, you know where it came from, but make it your own.

Whatever day it needs to be for you, decide right now…that’s your challenge. Decide right now that whatever is going to stress you out in the next week, you are going to set a personal deadline for it earlier than it needs to be done.

You are going to set up a plan and a mini block schedule at school that is going to help you get that done. In the resources below, I will attach the block schedule planner that you can use for your school blocks to help you out with school and also at home.

But I think that this is going to be one of those game changers that was so easy, you don’t know how you lived without it.

We Are In This Together

Let’s do this together, okay? I will be over on my Instagram stories walking you through, not only how I set up my school blocks now that I have an understanding of my flow, but how I kind of plan backwards from these days so that I can fill in all the steps and feel confident that I can thrive instead of just survive.

Now that I’m super amped up, and I have a bowl of queso sitting right next to me, I’m gonna go upstairs and I’m gonna get ahead on some of my grading because you know what tomorrow is? Tomorrow is my Thursday. Tomorrow is my Thriday. Tomorrow is Thrive-day. So let’s thrive together.

Like I said, I’m super invested in this. Anyway, I hope to see you over on Instagram.

Let me know if this works for you. Let me know if you have any tips or tricks that you think I need to share with everybody else, and let’s plan to thrive together.