Preventing Teacher Burnout: The 20% Rule

so you know the old cliche do what you love and you'll never work another day in your life yeah that's not real no one loves every aspect of their job and the expectation that you do just isn't helpful I mean whether you're an NFL quarterback or a classroom teacher there's going to be parts of your work that you don't enjoy sick of that doesn't inspire you and too many people are sold this message that you're supposed to be passionate about every aspect of your work and if you're not you need to move on and find something else it just doesn't work that way and I think it sets a lot of people up to be unhappy with their jobs however I do think it's important that we love certain aspects of our work and I mean that we need to love parts of what we do eight hours a day nine hours a day whatever it is researcher Marcus Buckingham he says that we should love doing at least 20 percent of the tasks of our work in order to prevent burning out and none of us want to burn out we want to be content with our career choices you know for instance I Love Leading discussions whether it's with the students or with adults one of my favorite things to do is to introduce an idea and then create a space where people can talk about that idea wrestle with them exchange thoughts about it I love it now on the other hand as an educator I've never really loved parade I really don't love the time that it takes it doesn't feel nearly as creative and inspiring I just don't really love it now both of those things happen within the same job both of them are actually quite necessary and part of the reason I'm able to do aspects of the job that I'm not crazy about is because I'm filled up by the aspects that do inspire me I mean I get to travel around and work with teachers all over the world and words can hardly express how much I love doing this presenting to and connecting with teachers from different walks of life I love it but I don't love the actual Transportation part of it all you know canceled flights and lines at the rental car place and Uber drivers Crossing five Lanes of traffic while I sit in the back seat and pray I don't love all of that but I have to travel to do the work that I actually love if there weren't parts of the work that brought me joy I don't think I'd make it very long doing this you need to love parts of your work and so if you're an educator what parts of your job do you love what tasks do you enjoy the most now make sure that they are a regular part of your schedule and if you're like well I don't have much room in my schedule for the parts of my job that bring me joy make room it will make you better at your work and satisfied with your work too yeah I love this quote from Mike Rowe of dirty jobs he says Don't Follow Your Passion but always bring it with you there's going to be parts of your day that you don't enjoy that maybe you're not passionate about and that's okay because you'll have tasks and moments planned where you do [Music]