Zen Habits

I am an elementary school teacher. I teach second grade. This is my fourth year teaching and I absolutely love my job.

I love my students. I love my coworkers. I love my principal.

I do have to say, however, that I cannot stress enough how consistently challenging teaching is. It's one of those jobs that I can never just leave at the end of the day. Bits of it trail behind me at the end of each day like toilet paper stuck to my shoe.

The thing is though, the toilet paper roll NEVER ENDS. I finish one thing and ten more pop up.

If there are any teachers reading this out there, I'm sure you know what I mean.

Now, I'm not complaining. I realize that all the rewards of teaching far outweigh the challenges and I accept what comes with the profession I have been called to.

I have found though, that some of the most seemingly mundane tasks of teaching have given me the most trouble. Things like organization, creating visually attractive bulletin boards, managing paper work...All the things that perfectionist organizers can do almost magically.

Most of the teachers I have met are perfectionists. They organize effortlessly. It really does amaze me.

I, on the other hand, feel almost woefully inadequate when it comes to organization. It does not come automatically to me. I really have to work at it. I know, I know...you perfectionist people are laughing at me right now, but your effortless organizing skills really do seem like magic to me!

I believe this to be so for two reasons:

1.) I belong to the Procrastination Nation
2.) I don't have the best time management skills

Each year I've taught, I've improved bit by bit. I know I have a lot more room for improvement though.

I've found a few websites about simplifying life. I'd like to just share one I've been reading recently called Zen Habits:

http://zenhabits.net/start/

Right now I'm reading about some of the productivity tips to help me get done just a little bit more each day and not waste as much time. I'll continue to share with you guys how it's going over the next few months.

Hopefully, I'll stop trailing that toilet paper behind me each day!