Shifting Our Mindset Towards Positive

Workplace Productivity Improves When Employee Happiness is Prioritized

This post was originally published on December 20, 2016, and updated on July 10, 2020. 

I’m driven to support teachers at a time when they are most in need of it, and wow is this ever that time. I do this by working as an education consultant—because I was and still am a teacher. I’m in the trenches with other educators, because even when I left the classroom to become an administrator, I never wanted to lose the pulse of what it’s like inside the walls of our classrooms.

I know all too well the stresses and challenges this demanding profession afflicts on our teachers, and I feel and hear their despair. Now that we are all working remotely, it’s more difficult than ever for educators to reach their students in a meaningful way and get the materials and training they need to run successful classrooms (both virtual and physical).

As an educational consulting company, we coach on-site with schools and teachers, and host professional development workshops throughout the country. We’ve even taken these well-known and loved trainings and made them virtual to further support teachers in their time of need!

In addition to providing instructional practices, I sprinkle happiness coaching into my training sessions.

You see, I’m also a happiness coach and nationally-recognized speaker. Basically, I work with schools and other businesses to promote better well-being within the workplace and in people’s personal lives. I mean, who doesn’t want to become the happiest person they know? We all want that spark of light within us to shine brightly. We all want a zest for life, to feel excited about the work we do, to believe that our work matters, to get the most out of life, and to contribute to our world in more meaningful ways.

“Our relentless pursuit of the two traditional metrics of success — money and power — has led to an epidemic of burnout and stress-related illnesses, and an erosion in the quality of our relationships, family life, and, ironically, our careers. In being connected to the world 24/7, we’re losing our connection to what truly matters.” – Arianna Huffington

As someone who has felt powerless in my own life at times, as well as in my career as an educator, I’m all too familiar with feeling helpless. Teachers are struggling right now. Educators are working in a time of chaos. They are overworked, overwhelmed, and overstressed. They’ve lost a lot of their joy, and what most frightens me is the toll it’s taking on them and how it’s affecting their personal lives.

But I believe that sometimes it’s out of chaos that solutions cry out. Teachers need to be reminded of their “why” and need tools to help them navigate the rapid changes in this profession. And they need to learn how NOT to let the stresses of the job influence their personal lives. I’m determined to help teachers reclaim their passion for teaching again, but more than anything, I want them to reclaim their lives even outside of the classroom. I want to empower them because they are the ones who influence and teach our children 180 days a year. What teachers do matters immensely, and the fact that they feel compelled to teach… well, it is truly a service of the heart.

Happiness leads to success and contributes to higher productivity levels in the workplace and in our personal lives. I don’t believe this implies being blind to the negatives in our environment; it’s about the belief that we have the power to do something about it. It’s about hope. In other words, as Shawn Achor says, “It’s the lens through which our brain views the world that shapes our reality and not the reverse.”

According to Shawn Achor, “What the science of happiness has found is that if we can change that lens, not only can we increase personal happiness, we can also affect positive change in education and business outcomes”. This is exactly what I feel obligated to do for educators, employees, businesses, and the general population. Sometimes, we all feel a little lost in this crazy world, so it’s important that we reconnect with ourselves again.