Tuesday, April 29, 2025
3 Thoughts Secretly Leading Teachers to Burnout
Watch your brain for these quietly destructive thoughts!
Burnout doesn’t always start with big, obvious warning signs.
Often, it begins with subtle thought patterns that seem harmless—but over time, they quietly drain a teacher’s energy and joy.
In this post, we’re uncovering three sneaky thoughts that many educators don’t realize are contributing to their stress, exhaustion, and eventual burnout. Learn how to spot these thoughts early and shift them into something more supportive—before burnout takes hold.
Read on to Learn:
- How our thinking--conscious or otherwise--impacts our emotions.
- Why some thoughts that sound helpful actually have the opposite effect.
- How to shift those sneaky thoughts just enough to produce a better result.
Everything Starts with our Thoughts
Whether we are a teacher, a professional athlete, a construction worker, or a business executive, all aspects of our experience begins in our brains. Your thoughts--whether conscious or unconscious--are constantly creating your reality, the way you feel, and your entire experience.
Learning the metacognitive skill to notice our thinking patterns and what results they are creating for us is imperative to creating an intentional, meaningful life, both in our classroom and in our "real" lives.
Sometimes, our brains offer us thoughts that sound like they would be useful, that sound like they would help us in our jobs as teachers, but when in reality they are causing us [often] unnecessary emotional pain and driving us straight to burnout!
How Do You Know if a Teacher's Thought is Useful or Not?
The way to know if a thought is going to be useful for you or not is always by noticing how the thought makes you feel. Even encouraging-sounding thoughts can sometimes create negative emotions. Paying attention to our feelings is an important part of recognizing when those sneaky thoughts are having a negative impact.
Additionally, the same thought can create different emotions in different people. A thought that is encouraging to me might be discouraging to you! Always ask yourself, "How do I feel when I think ___ [this thought]___?"
3 Thoughts Secretly Leading Teachers to Burnout
As I have worked with my teacher clients, I've noticed a pattern of thoughts that many teachers have that are not serving them. Here are the most common three:
1. “I should be able to handle this.”
Many teachers--especially veteran teachers--will notice this thought popping up in their minds. Perhaps, it is encouraging for some, but for most of my clients this is a very disheartening thought. For many teachers, this thought creates feelings of shame, inadequacy, and frustration.
Over the past several years, Teachers who have enjoyed years of success in the classroom, find themselves struggling as the students have changed. When they tell themselves, "I should be able to handle this!" Usually, they don't suddenly have a stroke of inspiration or motivation leading to dramatic shifts in the classroom.
Often, when we start "shoulding" ourselves we feel shame because the thought implies that we should be better or different than we actually are. This thought is not even true. When you are facing a new challenge, you actually shouldn't know how to handle it yet!
Try Instead: "It's okay for me to need support. Asking for help doesn't make me weak; it makes me wise!"
You are a human teacher. Humans are allowed to struggle. You can struggle and still be a great teacher! Beating yourself up for any reason only creates more negativity and deprive you of the fortitude you need to continue on as a teacher in a healthy way!
2. “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done right.”
So many of us teachers are harboring perfectionist tendencies OR we have a tendency to overperform or take on more than our share of responsibility.
When we think thoughts like, "I have to do it or it won't get done." or "I'm the only one who will do it right." We are putting ourselves in a lose-lose situation.
First, we lose because we are exhausting ourselves by taking on more than we need to. We lose again because that line of thinking usually makes us feel pressured and anxious as we strive to do "everything."
Additionally, our students and colleagues also lose as we deprive them of opportunities to learn and grow by trying new things.
Try Instead: “Done is better than perfect, and collaboration makes us all stronger.”
Everything in our classroom doesn't have to be perfect.
Don't make the mistake of draining yourself of all your energy by thinking you have to be the one to do it all. You don't. Not everything needs to be done.
3. “There’s just not enough time.”
The amount of time we have is finite. This is a fact. We all also have a variety of demands on our time: between our school responsibilities, our families, and more, this sneaky thought feels very true to teachers.
However, notice how this thought makes your feel. It most likely creates anxiety, pressure, maybe even a little panic?
When we choose to think or believe this thought, we then have those unpleasant emotions--the feeling of "busyness"--to manage on top of all the things on our to-do list! This actually makes us less effective!
So even though this thought feels true, it's not a useful thought!
Try Instead: "Today, I will focus on the tasks that matter the most. Everything that truly needs to be done will get done."
Focusing on completing the tasks that are within your control will help you calm your emotions, regulate your nervous system, and move forward in a way that, not only feels better to you, but will be more effective in the long run.
We were not meant to operate in a hyperactivated state, but many of us teachers live in that space. It's not sustainable which is why it will inevitably lead us to burnout.
Learn More in Calm in the Classroom
Learning to shift from unhelpful thoughts to more useful ones is a skill that actually has a lot of prerequisite skills: We must be able to process emotions; we must know how to return our nervous system to a state of calm when activated (and most of us teachers are constantly activated!).
Only then, can we make meaningful adjustments to our mindset. Otherwise, trying is futile and more akin to toxic positivity--not useful!
Learn more about the brand-new Calm in the Classroom course HERE!
Learn THE Most Important
Teacher Skills HERE!
Teacher, it's not YOU.
It's your BRAIN!
You’re staring at a mountain of ungraded papers, "that" parent just emailed again, and your lunch is still sitting untouched.
You wonder, “Why can’t I handle this better? What’s wrong with me?”
The truth?
Nothing.
Your brain is doing exactly what it’s wired to do—protect you by scanning for danger, anticipating problems, and staying on high alert. In other words, it’s trying to help... but it’s efforts often work against you becoming the calm, confident teacher you want to be.
That’s where I come in. I help teachers understand their brain’s survival patterns—and train them to work with those patterns instead of fighting them.
Want to learn how to reset your mental autopilot and feel better?
Let’s talk. Grab a FREE 30-minute coaching session and take the first step toward a calmer, more in-control classroom (and life).
Hi, I'm Brenna Nelson, a long-time educator turned Certified Life Coach.
I help teachers, just like you, learn how to process emotions, regulate their hyperactivated nervous systems, manage their brains, and create a life they love!
Ready to feel better in the classroom? Click for more help!
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Brenna Nelson
Long-time Educator turned Certified Life Coach
Welcome to The Strength of Teachers Blog! Here we share real-life skills and practical applications that you can implement in your teacher life today!
Teachers Did Not Learn this in College!
Come learn what our college professors failed to teach us in college:
How to manage the emotional toll of life in the classroom!
