Teachers In Transition – Episode 231: An Interview with Rebecca Branstetter PhD, author of Small Habits, Big Change

In this episode, Vanessa interviews Rebecca Branstetter PhD, creator of the Thriving Students Collective, the Thrive-o-gram, and author of several books, including her new one:  Small Habits, Big Change.

Vanessa and Rebecca talk about using the Thriveogram quiz to determine your archetype and how to use that as a springboard to effectively use the habits in the book, tailored to your personality, to manage and lessen your stress.

Check out the Thriving Students Collective online

Take the Thriveogram quiz!

Buy Small Habits, Big Change at Amazon (not an affiliate link)

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The transcript of this podcast can be found on the podcasts’ homepage at Buzzsprout.

Transcript

Are you a teacher who is feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout - or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing something different or a new job or perhaps pursuing an entirely different career - but you don't know what else you're qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search, and you just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you are not alone. My name is Vanessa Jackson; and I am a career transition and job search coach, and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal with the overwhelmingly stressful nature of your day-to-day job and to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. You might ask yourself, what tools do I need to find a new career?  Are my skills valuable outside the classroom?  How and where do I even get started?  These are all questions you deserve answers to, and I can help you find them.  I’m Vanessa Jackson. Come and join me for Teachers in Transition.  

 ** Welcome back to teachers in transition. The podcast where we explore pathways for educators looking to reimagine their career and their lives, and to handle the stress that goes along while you're teaching today on the podcast, I'm excited to have a guest with us, Rebecca Branstetter, PhD, who is a school psychologist, author and advocate. Who has spent her whole career supporting students, educational staff and families through her work, she has helped countless educators manage the challenges of the classroom and build. Resilience personally and professionally, before writing her latest book, Small Habits, Big Change. Rebecca was already known for her expertise in fostering emotional well-being and sustainable self-care practices. In her new book, she shares powerful yet simple strategies to create meaningful change in our lives. As we head to thrive. Down. In fact, one of my favorite quotes in the book in the introduction Rebecca tells us we're not going to take any detours to toxic positivity town. Stop at the world's largest ball of your biggest why? Or swing by the jeans emporium where you can erase your stress with the Jeans Day pass? I cannot wait to hear these insights and learn how we can be more empowered. In our journey. So, let's dive in. Welcome, Rebecca.

Rebecca 

Thank you so much for having me.

Vanessa 

Absolutely. So I want to give us a little rundown of your book, Small Habits, Big Change.

Rebecca 

Well, before I dive into the book, I will just share with you that I am a school psychologist, so I live and breathe in K-12 spaces and when I started out as a school psychologist, I had 3000 students on my caseload. So that was a lot. And you know, I hopped around to districts thinking the grass is greener on the other side of the San Francisco Bay. And it I had 1200 kids on my caseload, but the flavor was different. I had, you know, kids with a lot more trauma presentation. So. While I had less students, I was responsible for the needs were higher. So, I hopped again to another district that I had an extremely low case load, but the parent population was very, shall we say, involved. So ,you know I wherever I was. There I was. You know, I always say, like your shadow follows you. If you have challenges with managing your stress it's going to follow you because the grass is not greener oftentimes other places, it's just different grass. And we were talking before this about the strategies, the status quo for how we try to support school psychologists, educators and teachers with their stress. Oftentimesm it isn't off-the-job strategy. And this book is really about on-the-job strategies where the stress is actually happening.

Vanessa 

I got to read the book and I really enjoyed it. It was a book that I wished that I could have had the opportunity to read before I left teaching. It is beautifully structured. It is an enjoyable read, it's got the research in it, but it's not dry, it's humorous. And I noticed that it starts with a Thrive-o-gram Quiz. I love a good quiz. Talk to me about how you developed that little framework.

Rebecca 

Yeah. So we are often as educators thinking about student strengths, right? I sit in on IEP meetings or 504 meetings or parent/teacher conference. And then what we do? We always start with…

Vanessa 

Strengths

Rebecca 

Strengths. What are your strengths? I'll ask you this. What are your strengths? If you haven't taken the Thrive-o-gram, but like, what would you label as your strengths? Have you taken you love quizzes and surveys. Hit me with what your strengths are.

Vanessa 

Well, my strengths are big picture. I did take your quiz. So, we'll see if you can guess what I came out with. I do love to plot and plan and strategize. I'm good at seeing the big picture. I'm excellent at pattern recognition. I'm incredibly persistent. My husband might say – Stubborn. And I am good at creating a vision and going after it.
 
 Rebecca

Pillar 2: Architect!
 
 Vanessa 

So yes, absolutely. I popped up as an architect.

Rebecca 

So the origin of the Thrive-o-gram Quiz. Have you heard of the Enneagram, which is a personality test?

Vanessa 

I do.

Rebecca 

Yes, so. As a school psychologist, I was really interested, as you mentioned before, in this research-to-reality gap. In the book we talk about research, but now how do we apply this in real time in the chaotic world of K-12 education. So yes, we can know our strengths, but how do we apply those? The research is really fascinating. That when we have a stressful event coming, let's call it a parent, teacher conference or something like that, is that a good example of a stressful event? 

Vanessa

Oh yes.

Rebecca 

If our brains are primed with our strengths, we're less likely to experience that as stressful. If we are primed with, this is going to suck, I'm going to hate this. This parent is this, that or the other. This is horrible. I can't believe this. Then your brain is primed to have that experience. So let me ask you this, do you like to be right?

Vanessa 

Yes.

Rebecca 

Yeah. Is there any better thing in the English language than like I was right, our brains like to be right. OK, so if we prime ourselves with our strengths, our brains start to think about ways to make that true. And if we prime our brain with negativity, our brains are like. I am going to be right about that. So if you go into this meeting and think this parent is an unappreciative jerko who doesn't realize I've been up all night on Pinterest creating all of this and. It's still not enough. Stuff. When you go into that meeting, you're scanning for that cause your brain. Likes to be right. And so the second they say something, you get there. It is. They're unappreciative. OK. If you prime yourself with strengths, I am creative big picture and persistent. And you go into that meeting armed with your strengths. It protects you. So big picture. This is one parent in all the parents in the land. OK, creative. I'm going to think about one way I can connect with this parent and really understand and empathize where they're coming from. 

And lastly, strategy, I'm going to come up with a plan that's going to work for both me and this parent. And I am persistent, some call it stubborn.  I'm going to really get curious about how I can do that. So, your brain primes yourself for positivity and you're more likely to experience that. Stressful event as less stressful. 

Well, so my strengths, our love of learning is one of mine and also forgiveness. Before I go into an IP meeting, where perhaps you know it's going to be contentious and you know the ones that are going to be contentious -  it's the one where the file weighs more than the child. You're like, OK, this is going to be stressful, but your brain loves to be right. I’m like, you know what? I love to learn, and I have forgiveness. So, I go into it armed with I am going to learn how to present difficult news well. And I'm going to forgive this parent or advocate for coming in hot because I know that they really just care about their kid, and I care about this kid too. So, you can see how just a simple mindset shift can change your experience of a stressful event.

Vanessa 

My question here says you know what was your why on writing this book I think your ‘why’ is actually very clear that you are creating a better world for as a school psychologist (I'm going to say only) you only might get to touch those 1200 kids on your case. but by being able to bring this out, you've been able to reach significantly more people and and and impact those environments as well.  I do want to ask kind of what, led you into this idea for this book? For teachers.

Rebecca 

Well, I'll start with a little story. I love stories. I lead with this story in the book I I was working late night in a school district on a report as school psychologists do, burning myself to the ground. I was six months pregnant, and I was being a good worker. Trying to finish my reports and trying to not leave a mess behind me because I really cared about my job and my students, and so I'm at the District office writing a report. And a gunman comes on campus. And this was not, you know, actually, sadly, an unusual event and. And so we had the lockdown and I was under my desk. And I'm clutching my pregnant belly and. I'm. Like what am I doing like when it was just my stress? I was able to handle it and then it really was a pivotal moment. Like this is not just my stress. This is my baby's stress, and I know all the research on cortisol and all this stuff and like it really became very clear to me that something had to change. So, I'm on the way home. I'm driving. Everyone was safe, thankfully. And I'm crying my eyes out as you do sometimes as an educator, which is great because it actually releases and completes the stress cycle. Crying is actually one of the one = the best things you can do to release your stress. So I get home and I tell my husband -  I don't know. I love my students. And I hate my life. I can't do this anymore. And that week someone from Josie Bass publishers reached out like we love your blog. We'd like you to write a book called The School Psychologist Survival Guide. So, I was like, you know what? I'll bite. How do you survive in this career? And it's very similar to teaching, you know, high stress, but high passion. And we think of burnout as like, you know, the guy who's phoning it in, who doesn't care. That's not what it looks like. For educators, it's overworking. It's running on empty and it's continually pouring your whole identity and life. Into your job. So, I wrote this book and I started looking at the research on how do people sustain in the career? And I interviewed veteran school sites and teachers 30 years in, like, how did you do it? Like, what kept you going? And from there I started working with school psychologist burnout and I created a community called thriving school psychologist in which we banded together and we're like, you know what? We are not just one bubble bath away. From distress like. It's really what is on the job strategies that we can do because self-care is very important. OK, but it's off-the-job after the stress already happened. What’s the upstream? What is upstream that we can do in the day? What are the stressors that we can, you know, break down systematically so that we aren't as stressed, and we don't have to take 100 Volt? The water bill is too big for the amount of bubble. Baths it would take to do. As an educator, am I right?

Vanessa 

Yes, absolutely.

Rebecca 

So this began the evolution of my online course and community. And, several years later, a pandemic hit. You may remember that and.

Vanessa 

I might.

Rebecca 

Yeah. Do you have kids? Did they? Were they in your hair all day is in the pandemic. Or they were.

Vanessa 

I had one in college and my special needs child - my child on the spectrum was in high school, so that was very interesting to stay on top of that while teaching.

Rebecca 

Exactly. So I started working with parents, particularly parents and neurodivergent kids created online course and community for parents to support them during this challenging time. And then we come back to school and who needs the support more than anyone?

Vanessa 

Teachers.

Rebecca 

Teachers, we thought a lot about the kids. SEL. We thought a lot about kids’ re-entry, and we did not provide a ton of support for teachers where I could pay back to business during personnel. So, everything's cool. We all had collective trauma, so I created a course in Community for teachers. None of this was, by the way, in some sort of dream journal that I had. I just followed my energetic breadcrumbs, if you will, for where the need was and what I thought I could support. And so all of that culminated then into what is now the Thriving Students Collective, which is an online professional development platform to provide what I like to call Tier 0 support. If you think of MTS pyramids or things like that. You have level 1 tier one for the kids on this and Tier 2 and Tier 3, but what about Tier 0? What about the teachers who have to do all of these? These things, what about the school psychologist holding it down every day for kids? So that was really where this book came from. I partnered with Angela Watson, who had door a 40-hour teacher work week. Are you familiar with her work?

Vanessa 

I have read that book, yes.

Rebecca 

Excuse me. And she and I are like, how can we support teachers in a way that is fun, engaging, memorable and practical? And so, we created a course called how to reverse educator burnout. It was all on a road trip theme, OK. A road trip from the struggle bus to thrive town. And the book is in that same theme. Research shows that when things are fun or in a metaphor, you retain 44% more content. You're going to be able to remember. These concepts, when you think of them in the context of this sort of fun road trip where we do not stop by the world's largest ball of your bigger. Why? And we look at real strategies, what can you do on-the-job? So that was the origin of this book is like a companion to our online course. I in my dream journal is. This is a book club for every teacher in every school in the planet.

So that we can look at our strength so you can take the Thriveogram, find your strengths profile and look at what what are my burnout traps? What are the common burnout traps that I'm likely to fall into? Do if I have this particular profile and what can I actually do to get out of? Them so this is $Free.99 for you at ThrivingStudents.com/Thriveogram.  You can take this quiz and it will let you know some really practical neuroscience back adjustments you can make in your day.

Vanessa 

I noticed each chapter was structured beautifully. It kind of laid out the problem for the theme of the chapter. And then there was the response, not necessarily an answer because everybody's answer gets very personal, but you get the response to it -habits that lead in the positive direction. Actionable suggestions as per your Thriveogram title there and then there were the discussion questions. I was going to ask if you saw this as a book study group or if you would suggest it? And then also it kind of ends with this little anchoring reflection to help, not necessarily an exit ticket if you will, but just something to have you think about - your souvenir that you're taking from that particular stop on the journey.

Rebecca 

Yes. And like most souvenirs, when you go on a journey, you might pick up a souvenir and it looks amazing in that context, you might go to the beach and buy a gorgeous, beautiful giant wire brim hat and like this looks amazing. I'm a model and then you go back to your school, and this looks ridiculous in Oakland. You have to find the thing that actually works for you in your context. So just like we expect students to take the content and make it their own, that's the whole journey in. This is take-what-works-and-leave-what-doesn't. But do try on the hat. Try it on if you know what? Mindfulness. Ain't nobody got time for that. I encourage you to just give it a whirl, have a growth mindset, try a little Calm app. There's a number of strategies that are too small to fail. And there's a real low risk and low barrier entry to trying them on for size. So that's the point of the book is we don't want to give you, you know, the idea that you need to just carve out more me time. It's not only behaviors. My favorite chapter (don't tell the others) is all about self-compassion breaks and I spell it B R A K E S to just be fun on the road trip theme. It's based on the work by Kristen Neff. Are you familiar with her work?

Vanessa 

I don't know that. I am. I will look that up.

Rebecca 

You're one Ted Talk. Away from your mind being blown my friend Kristen Neff talks about self compassion.

Self compassion isn't on the job strategy. That you can do in your brain it costs Free.99/zero dollars. And what you do for self-compassion is essentially three steps. The first step is mindful self-awareness. Hey, I feel stressed. I have a parent meeting, and I have not had positive reactions before.  I didn't do enough for this kid or whatever it is that's going through your brain, you name it to tame it. Just like we tell kids I feel stressed. I feel worried. I feel anxious. I feel annoyed. Whatever it is - when you label a feeling. Your brain and the amygdala, you know, that's the fire alarm of your brain. Of course, when you just name it out loud in your brain, it actually reduces the firing in the amygdala. It puts a little water on your amygdala. So just saying. Well, I'm really stressed or worried about this thing. That's step one. Step 2: common humanity. Common humanity is the ‘I am not the only teacher who is stressed out about parents and parent meetings’. And it makes you feel like you're not so alone, and makes me feel like you didn't do anything wrong. Nothing bad has happened. This is just the end of it. This is how it is to be a teacher is you're going to have parents who care a lot about their kids, who may blame you. That's part of the Teacher Life. And is it a favorite part? Is that why you signed up? No, but it is a reality and we don't pick fights with reality, my friend. We don't pick a fight with reality. It adds stress to stress. The third piece is: what would you give? What advice would you give to a best friend, a best teacher friend if they were in this scenario? The reason I love this is because it helps you step outside of your own struggle and look at it a little more objectively. It's the difference between being in a rainstorm or being inside looking at a rainstorm. It's a different experience. So for example, as a school psychologist and going into a parent meeting, and I present the findings and I'm stressed out about it and I'm anxious and I say that and I'm like, well, I'm not the only school psych who's had to present difficult news that this child is a qualifier or whatever it is. And let's say the parent yells at me for not doing it, right? You didn't do enough. It wasn't good enough. You're wrong. Who do you think you are? I might, as a natural human, take that to heart and be like, yeah, why didn't I do more? Maybe I was wrong. I guess I didn't go deep enough. Why didn't I give this test? Why did I say it like that? You know, we beat ourselves up. But if a school psych. Bestie came to me. Was like, Oh my God, I went to this meeting and I presented my findings and that parent was so mad at me and they yelled at me and I why? Didn't I do? That I wouldn't be like. Yeah, why didn't you do that? Why didn't you do a better job? Why do you say it like that? I would never do that if I wanted to keep this friend. Yet that's what we do with ourselves in our brains all the time. Right. So self-compassion is a mental exercise. What is a stressor, name, entertainment, common humanity? I'm not alone. Nothing's gone wrong. This. This is how life is right now. And what can I actually do about it? What would I advise a best friend to do? Oftentimes. Here's the link. You would advise your friend. To do self-care. OK, so self compassion is a predictor of self-care behaviors. But it's not just the behavior, because when I was working in a large urban school district, every day after school, I would go and take a walk with my dog around the beach or whatever. Lucky me, right, I'm quote doing self-care. I'm making air quotes. You know, it's a podcast and. I know you can't see me. Doing self-care, but what was I doing in that block? I was beating myself up or not getting all the kids. I needed to get to and then worrying about the kids that I needed to get to. I did quote self-care, but I didn't have self compassion and so self compassion plus self-care is the magical elixir for teachers and educators and indeed you are checking your check box.

Vanessa 

That's really powerful: self-compassion plus self-care. I want to repeat that just so that it it really anchors in there something else that I noticed you had tied the self-care to the Gary Chapman 5 love languages. Which self-care tactics would work best given what you enjoy and how you enjoy receiving that? Because as an Acts of Service girl when I was reading through the list, Things like scheduling appointments, organizing your space or completing personal, to-do lists. Why yes, that is actually the ultimate form of self-care for me, and I've never thought of it that way. I love that. I think everybody should read that.  I do want to to go a little further on some of the specifics in the book you talked about completing stress cycles, talk a little bit more about that because you also had talked earlier about how the micro stresses add up and so they're they the combining effect of all the little slings and arrows of the day leading to big stress at the end of the day.

Rebecca 

Yeah, this is something when I was doing my research that had that like, Oh my goodness, that aha moment. So as a school psychologist, if something big went down in the day, I was like, whoa, I got to activate that self-care. I got to go run. I got to go see my friends. I got to talk to a bestie. I gotta take a big old bubble bath like you are activated to the self-care network when something has gone in wrong in a very big way, OK, but most days aren't like that. You don't have a chair thrown at you every day, or you're not bitten every day, you know as a school psychologist

Vanessa 

One hopes.

Rebecca 

What most likely happens is that you spill coffee on your favorite blouse on the. Way to work. You step in a puddle, you get one little nasty gram from a parent, and the copier doesn't work. And all these little things that you're just like, well, that's. You know, that's life. But all of those things go into your body as stress. And if you don't release that, completing the stress cycle at the end of the day, it accumulates and I'm telling you teachers out there, you know the vibe, the body keeps the score. It's the back aches, the headaches, the difficulty sleeping is that everything's. So at the end of the day, even if you had a pretty good day. Small ways that you can complete the stress cycle will release the tiny micro stressors in the day and help you every day. Activate the self-care network so an example of the cut can top three things. Like I said, a good cry actually does release the stress. Press cycle but it's being with someone. Doing something. Or move in your body. Even better, it's all free. OK, so if you go for a walk with a friend and talk about not work, OK. So sometimes a little healthy distraction is fine. Watch yourself a little. You know, Netflix, it's distractor. That's cool. Read something. It's really hard to be anxious and think about and ruminate. On your day when you are ready. Or watching a movie or something like that, because your brain neurologically can't think, worry thoughts and read at the same time because it's processing the word so a little distractor needlepoint,  whatever it is that you that fills you up, moving your body, even if just quick, brisk walk. That's a classic.  And then also being with someone calling your bestie teacher friend, like at a horrible day. Can we just talk about it for 5 minutes? I'm just gonna vent for 5 minutes, and then we're gonna close that chapter, and we're gonna talk. About what? We're going to do this weekend? That has nothing to do with school. So, completing the stress cycle is not just for when big bad things happen, but literally every single day. Because you have these micro stressors that add up.

Vanessa 

I try to explain in a different sense - the cup of water that you hold out at 8 ounces is not particularly heavy. But if you hold it out long enough, it becomes absolutely impossible to continue to hold. I feel stress works the same way. You've got to find a way to put it down, so to speak. I made a note that we may be spinning off into wild territory here, but the basic four responses: to fight flight, freeze and fawn responses. I found myself wondering if there were exercises to each type that might be useful. Have you noticed that there are particular ways to complete the cycle based on perhaps the Thriveogram personality types.

Rebecca 

Ooh, yes, now we're. We're geeking out. Yes, I would. Say so like. Honestly, I'm a Pillar One Go-Getter. I love nothing more than creating a to-do list. And the first item is like make To Do List so I can cross it off and it's really delicious. So, I'm just riffing like jazz here for a moment, but if I have an awful no good, terrible bad day. Sometimes just making a to-do list for the next day, it just gets it out of my brain and. It's like, is this a tomorrow thing, so you can let go of it now? When I make a new To Do List I take time to celebrate. What I did do. That's my burnout trap is just adding more to the To Do List right. And you never ever done because kids are never done, so you'll never be done. So, if you keep working until you're done, you'll never stop working. So that's the danger for Pillar One Go-Getters. My strategy is when I cross something off, I give myself a little celebration. Our brains, are really good at locking in the negative and forgetting the positive. Just neurologically. That's how brains work, you know, evolutionarily speaking, you had to lock in the negative because if not, you would be eaten by a Sabretooth tiger. In modern times, the stressors that you lock in on are psychological stressors. Did I make that parent mad? Is that kid gonna be OK? Is my principal annoyed with me? And we lock in on those. One of my favorite quotes, it's in the book from Gary Hanson, I believe is his name is: “The brain is like Teflon for positive and Velcro for negative.”

Vanessa 

Oh.

Rebecca 

As I'm writing my To Do List, I could be focusing in on all the things I didn't do negative or I could celebrate also the things I did do put myself, put a little sticker on there for myself. I have a school site bestie who calls it her Ta-Da list at the end of the day she writes down everything she did.  Ta-da! And research shows, when you do that, you celebrate your little baby wins at the end of the day, you have more optimism, positivity and energy for your next day.  I certainly see ways that you could take that Thriveogram profile and find the way to release the stress cycle that makes the most sense for you.

Vanessa 

I can see you thinking about what the next book actually.

Rebecca 

That's right, the companion book is coming out next year.

Vanessa 

I love that. What is one big take away you really want teachers to walk away with after reading your book, what is your hope for them?

Rebecca 

Can I be scandalous for a moment?

Vanessa 

Always.

Rebecca 

A scandalous let's do it. I talk all across the country about teacher burnout, about educator burnout, about parent, caregiver burnout. Districts and organizations all across the country. And I never mentioned self-care. Until 15 minutes before I'm done talking. Do you know why?

Vanessa 

Because they turn off because we've been gaslit so many times that it's our fault for not taking care of ourselves and that's. Why? We're stressed.

Rebecca 

Your burnout is a personal, self-care fail. You're not bubble bathing enough, you're not working out enough. You're thinking about it wrong. Burnout is a complex issue. It's not always a personal issue. It's not a *me* issue, it's a *we* issue. Because in our K-12 system we have a lot of things that are stressful, systemic, and bureaucratic. And to tell teachers that self-care is the only solution does not go well. I will have things thrown at me. Now, of course, as you heard throughout this whole session, I am pro-self-care. But I'm also pro self-compassion, which is I'm doing the best I can with the tools I have in a system that's challenging. And I always get wisdom from teachers. And I asked teachers in every talk what is your end of the day post work, detox ritual. Healthy. I always have to have healthy. What is your healthy post work ritual? I'll leave you with one that a teacher gave me that I think is really poignant. She pulls up to her driveway. She takes her lanyard off. She puts it on her rearview mirror and she says, “the day is behind me. I've done my best. I let go of the rest.” And I love that mantra because every day she's priming her brain for self-care when she gets home for self-compassion that she's doing her best in a really challenging circumstance. And she's completing the stress cycle all in one swift movement in her car. That's not going to solve all of teacher burnout, but the book and my work is really about in an imperfect system. What can we do to thrive, not just survive every day? And that's my hope for teachers listening out there is that, It's not your fault. That you're burning out. It's a tough system to work in. That being said. There are ten neuroscience micro habits waiting for you to make your job more enjoyable. Joyful. Bring it back to why you signed on to be a teacher - to give you hope to give you small, too small to fail, things you can do, and I've had over and over, teachers, school psychologists e-mail me being like. I got this when I was literally crying at my desk from stress.

And I feel rejuvenated. I feel like there's hope. The world is a weird and scary place. And we have. To figure out what is in our hands and what isn't, what control audit can you do? I'd like to end with two poets. Anna and Elsa of Arondale. Excellent. Elsa is the. Let it go Energy. This is not in my hands. I worry about. It is not going to be helpful. It is not my hands. I let it go. I will not sing for you because I like your audience. And then there's Anna, of Arondale from Frozen 2. Spoiler alert, she's in a cave. It's dark, she thinks her sister's dead. Olaf is melted. It is horrible, and she starts to just say, what is the next best thing I can do? She takes one little step and that's what I want teachers out there to do. Just take one. Itty bitty little step. And you will be surprised at how these little steps stack up to change your experience, even if you're not changing your school, your district, your work situation.

Vanessa 

That's beautiful. Thank you. Where can people go and buy your book?

Rebecca 

They can go to thrivingstudents.com/small habits. It's also available on Amazon and in all the places one would expect a book to be available.

Vanessa 

So I will make sure that we have a link to that in our show notes and I'll. Send that out. In the next newsletter so that people can people that didn't listen to the podcast can can find it as well. Thank you so much for your time today and best of luck and I'm already looking forward to future books that you write. These are amazing. Thank you.

Rebecca 

Thank you so. Much for having me, and thanks for all the listeners out there. Just want to thank all of the teachers out there who are holding it down for kids out there doing their best, and I really appreciate you having me on this podcast to to share hopefully some tidbits that will be helpful for your audience.

Vanessa 

I know that it will be very helpful for them. Thank you. 

Remember the best time to start your career transition was six months ago.  The next best time is now. 

That’s the podcast for today! If you liked this podcast, tell a friend, and don’t forget to rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Tune in weekly to Teachers in Transition where we discuss Job Search strategies as well as stress management techniques.  And I want to hear from you!  Please reach out and leave me a message at Teacher in transition coaching at Gmail dot com.  You can also leave a voicemail or text at 512-640-9099. 

I’ll see you here again next week and remember – YOU are amazing!