It actually really isn’t easy.

It can be really hard and for some people it can be much harder.

It’s all very well telling somebody to, ‘find that motivation’ but what if they don’t know what they are looking for.

Or what happens when we know what motivates us and know how to find the motivation, but we just can’t get ourselves to do it?

As a runner, the last thing I want to do is go outside for a run in a storm, in the dark or after a long day of work. 

I do get myself out though and I never regret it. But what is it that makes me get up and go?

What about when you’re stuck in a job you don’t like or a job that is burning you out? How on earth do you stay motivated then?

I think back to my own teaching experience of being in burnout. I knew I had to find that motivation. I knew I had to do something about the rut I was in. 

So, what did I do? What strategies helped me? 

Well, I started talking about how I was feeling to my colleagues, the team I was leading AND SLT. Having that initial conversation was hard. Like really hard. It was embarrassing – well at least it felt embarrassing. I didn’t want to have to confess that I wasn’t coping. 

But all that came from it, was genuine support. Once I’d gotten over that hurdle, I was able to ask things of my team. This enabled me to have a little more time to do all my other 47369201 tasks, which ultimately, led to an increase in my motivation. 

I also started celebrating the teeny tiny little wins. This was hard at first too because quite frankly, I didn’t see any wins and I didn’t see the point in celebrating them! But I started and I was consistent with it. Over time, I was able to start seeing daily successes that again, led to me feeling more motivated. 

I also became clear with my boundaries not just to myself, but to the people around me. I told them I would leave at 5pm so I could get to the running track session on a Tuesday. This just became what I did on a Tuesday. If it ever got to a point where I hadn’t left by 5pm, I would have colleagues to have my back and give me that nudge to tell me to leave. The more time I had for myself and to do things I loved, the more motivated I became both inside and outside of work. 

I started setting myself goals too. Little goals for specific lessons and also goals for the day or week. The smaller the goals were, the easier it was to achieve them. From this, you start to see that you are actually doing loads of things all the time. We get so bogged down with these huge targets that we often forget the 50 things we’ve already done before it’s even got to morning break time. 

Finding motivation can be a task in itself but then finding that momentum to keep it going can be even harder. 

Sometimes, to keep motivated, you just need to hear thank you or well done or receive encouraging feedback. And most often than not, we don’t hear it enough. 

I mean, how often do your students leave the classroom and actually thank you?!

So, start celebrating yourself!

Celebrate those small wins, tick off your little goals day by day, allow yourself opportunities out of school where you can enjoy other things & make time for yourself. 

26th September 2024