Ep. 57 Guiding Principles for the New School Year

I'm Lacey Jones with Elevate the Individual. Episode 57 Guiding Principles for the New School Year. I am gonna level with you. The procrastination towards this specific episode has been so strong this past week. We are just one week away from school starting, and I've been doing work in several other areas of my business, some of which have been complete dreams come true. And so this week's podcast episode has just been a little more easy to put on the back burner and just do other things instead of it. And I really didn't want to just slap something together for the sake of posting, so I've been putting it off until I could put more time and effort into it. Right. Well, I wanted to offer something of value while also fitting it within my time and my energy constraints or boundaries. So I have been buckling down today, and I'm making it happen. And I just have to say that I am so excited to share the end result. And I do believe that sometimes procrastination can create beautiful results. So here we have it. We're here. And before I dig into this episode, I got to share really quick just a little something. I'm getting ready to launch the Magazine Club. It's like a book club, but better. And I've said that enough times now that I'm wondering if that's the name that I'll stick with. So we shall see.

But I need beta testers.

I'm looking for ten Ish volunteers to do a trial run with, and I'm looking for a group of moms who want to read through a special issue of the Raising Confident Mothers magazine by August 23. It's a digital version, so I'll send you the link, you click on it, and you can flip through it like a magazine and read it. And then once you're done with that, you'll submit three questions that kind of came up as you were reading, and they can be questions about the interviews that you read, the concepts that were taught, or the worksheets that were included. And then what we'll do is we'll meet on the 25th through Zoom as a little group, and we'll go over the questions, the concepts, the interviews, and the worksheets in more depth. And as a beta tester, I want you to submit, obviously those questions. But then I will also choose two or three people to coach on their specific questions or concerns or something really just came up and they want some coaching on. So it's a fun way to learn that. Group setting is a very powerful tool. And when we coach with one person, typically they'll bring something up that applies.

To other people or can fit, like.

Someone can find a way to make it work for them. So it's not just, oh, only one person gets help. No, group setting helps tons of people. And like I said, it's a ton of fun. So if that's something that you want to do. Look in the show notes for the link. I'll post it there and you can.

Sign up to do that.

I do recommend that you find a friend to join you. It's always way more fun to do these kind of things with a friend. It's not mandatory by any means, but if you want to share the link.

With your friend and let's just have fun.

I'm so excited for this. We'll do the beta test and then we'll kick this off the real deal in September. So let's dig into this week's episode, shall we? I really wanted to provide a helpful resource as we kick off this next school year. So I came up with a list of five guiding principles or thoughts to try on that you can grow into as you navigate whatever this year brings. And I also created some free digital downloads for you to save, and then you can use those as the wallpaper on your phone since that's something that's very convenient to look at. You'll be able to work on those new thoughts as you have those reminders in hand. And again, the link to access those will be in the show notes, so lots of fun resources in the show notes, so be sure to check those out. But let's get to those thoughts so that we can make this just an most amazing, awesome school year for you and your family.

So, number one, my mental health is important.

Making my mental health a priority will improve the quality of life for myself as well as that of my family and my community. So if you've been a listener for a while, you know that on this podcast, the goal is to elevate the individual, to help the individual grow and develop and strengthen their mental health so that they can then take that strength to their family. They can teach and lead and guide, and then they can go out into their community with their family in whatever way seems most suited to the family and individual. But you can strengthen your community. But we first start with the individual. That's number one.

Number two, this is something I've been working on myself.

Discomfort is okay. I will allow my child to experience discomfort within safe boundaries that I set. This will strengthen their personal resilience and emotional maturity. I will allow the same for myself.

So this concept of allowing discomfort and being okay with it, it can be.

A little tricky at first, but it's something that I've tried to apply. When I get a little grouchy about something that's going on in my life, or I'm kind of upset with it, or if my kid is throwing a tantrum over something I've asked them to.

Do, I try so hard to bring this one up. I'm like, okay, discomfort is okay.

This child is uncomfortable. Don't try to solve their discomfort too quickly or for them. Okay, test that one out here's.

Number three.

What works for 1 may not work for all. I will adjust my expectations, guidelines, and boundaries for each child based on their personal strengths and weaknesses. As such, what works for me may not work for all, and that is okay.

So again, allowing for differences based on.

What the individual needs, those individual strengths and weaknesses are going to bring up different things. You're going to need different expectations. If you are a parent or mother of multiple children, you understand not all children are created equally. This can also apply for students or children in your care, not just your own children.

So we can adjust the guidelines, expectations.

And boundaries as needed, as you see fit. Don't think that it has to be the same for everyone or nothing. All or nothing. And that's for you. So sometimes when I coach, I find.

That if I were to apply the.

Same new thoughts or advice to every.

Single client and the exact same advice.

To every single client, it's not going to work. Sometimes I might tell two clients contradictory thoughts, but it's because I'm trying to tailor the thought work to the individual of what they need and where they are in their journey. And so I want you to allow yourself to do that for you and your children. Okay? Number four. My children are not my identity. Developing my personal talents, Hobies, and interests outside of their needs allows me to become a greater version of myself. It sets a positive example for my children and creates a larger pool of resources for our family as we make positive connections within our community. So I'm queen of the run on sentence. I love them. I don't apologize for them. There's just so much information you can pack into a sentence, and it's great.

But what I want to encourage is mothers who go after and develop their own talents, Hobies, interests, things outside of their children. The reason being, when a child does.

Something that we may not like or.

We see as a negative thing, if.

The mother doesn't have their own interest outside of that child, it's very easy to see that negative thing as a reflection of the mother.

And that's not what I want.

I don't want you to be identified by the actions and emotions and thoughts of your children. They're beautiful. They're wonderful. They're the greatest human beings on the planet of the Earth. Right? But you have within you personal talents, personal hobbies, and interests that need to be developed.

So I want you to work on.

Your identity, and great. If you understand you as an individual versus you as a mother, great. Maybe that's not the thought you need to work on, but if that's something that feels a little resistant or brings up resistance, maybe poke at it and.

See what's coming up for you there. All right, our last thought. Number five.

There are two sides to every coin I will acknowledge the things that could possibly go wrong while also giving equal airtime to what could possibly go right. So this is the concept of equal airtime. When I have a client that comes to me and they're feeling really anxious about what's going on or what could happen in the future, typically it's because the brain is very naturally going into protection mode and saying, oh, don't do that. It's new. This is what could go wrong. And this over here, we're going to sink over here. Don't do it.

Stay in the cave. Just I got you. Don't change anything.

We're okay right now.

Great.

Brain is trying to protect you. However, I want you to grow. I want you to develop. I want you to use those new interests and Hobies and talents and make this amazing contribution that is so deep within you, right? But you've got to give equal airtime.

To what could possibly go right.

Don't just spend time dwelling on the.

Negative.

Dream, envision, hope, plan for and create the amazingness that's on the other.

Side of that coin.

So there you have it. Five guiding principles that I want to.

Challenge you to incorporate into your life.

And your belief system this school year. As I said, some of them you could possibly already agree with, while some of them are going to generate a little bit of resistance or a lot of resistance, totally fine, totally normal. But I want to challenge you to lean in and discover what's at the core of the resistance and do that work that's necessary to create the life you want. Again, I mentioned I've created some fun graphics for you to either print, hang those on your vision board if you have one, or again, you can save them as the lock screen or the wallpaper on your cell phone and your.

Other devices and go to the Show Notes.

You can download it. If you need any help with this work and leaning into these thoughts, please reach out. I say it every time. Schedule your free discovery call and let's dig in. And if you have any interest in becoming a beta tester for the Magazine Club, click that link in the Show Notes, submit your contact info and I'll get you set up with everything that you need and that special edition of the magazine. So as always, you are doing great work. Keep it up and I'll be back next week with a special guest. Take care, friends.