Episode 50: From Disillusionment to Momentum: What I Know Now, I Wish I Knew Then: Find the Joy, Break the Silos, Build the Network.

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A single question changed the way we lead: what do we know now that we wish we knew then? From the emotional roller coaster of a school year to the small habits that keep us grounded, we unpack practical moves that help educators stay energized, avoid the disillusionment dip, and create momentum that lasts.

We start by mapping the phases many teachers and leaders feel from high August anticipation to the late-fall slide into survival mode and share a simple, repeatable antidote: find the joy. Not the fluffy kind, but the deliberate practice of spotting small wins, naming impact, and using those bright spots to fuel honest reflection. Then we dig into reflective routines that actually stick: quick look-backs on what worked, what missed, and one change to try tomorrow, so the post-holiday reset becomes a launchpad, not a scramble.

Isolation is the quiet enemy of growth, so we make a case for getting out of silos. Hear how classroom learning walks, cross-discipline visits, and principal-to-principal exchanges unlock ideas you can use the same week. We widen the lens to building a real professional network; local meetups, state associations, national conferences and stacking free PD through podcasts, newsletters, and webinars. Along the way, we talk about why audio books count, how Atomic Habits powers 1 percent daily gains, and where online communities like Teach Better and coaching groups can extend your practice with feedback you can trust.

If you’re ready to trade burnout for better systems, this conversation gives you a blueprint: joy as fuel, reflection as routine, collaboration as default, and networks as your growth engine. Subscribe to stay energized every week, share this with a colleague who needs a boost, and leave a review to tell us what landed. What’s one habit you’ll improve by 1 percent today?

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Episode Transcript

Principal JL (00:58):
You know, every once in a while something makes
you stop, slow down, and trulyreflect.
Not just on where you're going,but how far you've come.
That moment hit me this pastweekend when I had the
opportunity to be a guestspeaker for Adam Lane and his
Leading Lane EducationalConsulting Firm, speaking with

(01:19):
an incredible group of educatorsfrom Nevada.
During that conversation, onequestion landed and struck with
me.
What I know now I wish I knewthen.
It's a simple question, but itcarries so much weight.
Because as leaders, teachers,and learners, we're constantly
evolving.
The lessons we've learnedthrough challenge, change, and

(01:42):
even a few stumbles often becomethe very wisdom we wish we had
when we started our journey.
In today's episode, I want tounpack that question what I know
now that I wish I knew thenabout educational leadership in
a lot of different ways.
Because if we can pass thatinsight forward to someone just

(02:05):
starting out or even to ourfuture selves, then reflection
becomes more than a memory.
It becomes momentum.
Now let's get to the episode.
Welcome back everybody toanother exciting episode of the

(02:26):
Educational Leadership Podcast.
Today I'm really excited totalk to you about some things
that I've learned over this pastweekend.
And this past weekend, I got tobe a guest speaker with a bunch
of great educators out ofNevada.
Adam Lane invited me to be aguest speaker, so I really
appreciate the opportunity.
But during that prepping, as Iwas getting ready to speak, the

(02:50):
question that I needed to wrapmy presentation around was what
I know now that I wish I knewthen.
And so this episode, I'm reallygonna dive in to that question
in that part of the presentationbecause I think it's really
valuable for educational leaderstoday to understand, you know,
there's some things that wouldbe great to know now that you

(03:14):
don't want to learn later.
So one of the things I'm gonnago ahead and start off with is
there's the thing called phasesof educators' attitudes towards
educating.
Some people might see it asphases of teachers' attitudes
towards teaching, but I take ita little bit different spin.
And if I have a graphic for youto kind of follow along, I'm

(03:35):
actually gonna make this graphicthe thumbnail of this episode
so you can actually see it.
Since I'm doing an audioversion of this podcast episode
only.
With this diagram, theanticipation when we start the
school year is really high.
We're coming off of the summerbreak.
We're really like excited aboutthe school year, all the great

(03:57):
things that are gonna happen.
We're just pumped, right?
And then if you're startingschool in August or September,
whenever you are, a lot ofpeople start at different times.
That anticipation is superhigh, and as we get going, we
start going, uh-oh, it startssliding down, like our attitudes
start shifting down a littlebit because we start going, oh,

(04:18):
there's a lot of work to bedone.
We start feeling like we'redown, we're drowning, we're
starting to get in survival modeto where we're trying to go,
hey, we're just trying to keepour head above water, and then
we start hittingdisillusionment, which that
actually starts like the end ofOctober, end of November, and
December, to where we startgoing, man, this isn't going the

(04:40):
way I was hoping.
So, and so we take this bigdip.
And right now I'm feeling thatI feel that with my teachers, I
feel that with my staff is thisthis dip down of disillusionment
that we're currently sittingin.
So, what I want to talk aboutis how do we get ourselves out
of that disillusionment?
Because we can get ourselvesout of it, and it comes with a
positive mindset, and what I'mtalking about here is the thing

(05:03):
that we don't do enough ineducation is we don't find the
joy in what we're doingsometimes.
Sometimes we let all thosenegative things compound
everything and just beat us downand just weigh us down to where
we forget the joy that this jobcan bring to us.
And so I want you guys, I'mgonna challenge you guys to find

(05:24):
the joy in what you're doing.
Every day that you step intothat building or in that
classroom, in that schoolhouse,I want you to find the joy
because all we're doing istrying to survive and putting
out fires and trying to beSuperman, like Darrin Peppard
always talks about.
Don't be Superman now.
If we're trying to be Supermanand putting out all these fires,

(05:46):
you need to find the joy in thejob because that's what's gonna
help us stay out of thisdisillusionment that we're
actually currently going throughright now, and hopefully, with
finding the joy in your workevery day, because there's a lot
of great things that happen inyour school battle, there's a
lot of great things that arehappening in the classrooms,
there's a lot of great thingsthat we forget about that we

(06:09):
need to make sure we go find thejoy.
So, I'm gonna challenge youguys to find the joy in the work
every day you walk in becauseyou find one little thing that's
gonna start rejuvenating you.
It's gonna start making you go,Wow, I really love what I'm
doing.
There's impact that we'rehaving, and it gets your spirits
up and it keeps you fromgetting way down into that

(06:30):
disillusionment that we so oftenget stuck into that we gotta
get ourselves out of.
And so we start finding the joyin what we do every day, then
we're gonna stay out of that rutto where we start feeling
rejuvenated.
And why we start gettingfeeling rejuvenated, we start
reflecting, and that's what thepart we're gonna talk about next
is reflection on what you do.

(06:51):
And so, as leaders, we need toreflect on things to make
ourselves better because guesswhat?
We're gonna make mistakes,we're gonna have problems, we're
not gonna do things right, butwe got to reflect on what went
well, what went not so well, howcan I make changes so I don't
have that happen again.
So that's really important topiece to be able to reflect.
And a lot of times as we movethrough the year, we get past

(07:13):
Christmas break, we startgetting more excited because we

(07:34):
had that break, we start gettingrejuvenated, we start
reflecting about the schoolyear, and then we start having
more high hopes and highanticipation when we finish the
school year, and thatanticipation carries us through
the summer into the next year,and really those are the phases
of educators and their attitudestowards educating year in and
year out.
No matter if you're a buildingprincipal, a superintendent, a

(07:56):
teacher in the classroom, asupport staff, it don't matter.
That's kind of the phases ofeducation.
So, things I want you to do iswhen you start feeling down and
negative, find the joy, find onelittle thing that's positive
about what you're doing that daybecause that's gonna uplift
you, that's gonna give yourejuvenation.
Make sure reflect on whatyou're doing, what went well,

(08:17):
what's not going so well.
So make sure you're doing thosethings because that's gonna
build anticipation for the greatthings that you're being ready
to do.
So that's one thing I wish Iwould have known then that I
know now.
Okay.
Now, the next thing I want totalk about is getting out of
your silos.
Yes, getting out of your silosas educational leaders, as

(08:40):
teachers and staff.
Sometimes we get stuck in oursilos.
A teacher can get stuck intheir classroom and just be so
busy about what they're doing ina classroom that they forget
there's other people out therethat they can collaborate with.
Principals, we could get stuckin our office to where we forget
about getting out, finding thejoy in your in your building,

(09:00):
but also finding otherprinciples to connect with, find
what other people are doing outthere.
So, this is my challenge toyou.
This is something I know nowthat I wish I would have known
then, and this really goes backas a teacher at Ralston High
School when I had to do learningwalks, and people didn't like
doing them when we were there,but I enjoyed it.

(09:21):
Some people complained aboutit, but I found you know what,
this is valuable because I wasable to get out of my math
classroom, go to a science wing,and watch a science teacher do
a flip classroom.
And with that experience andunderstanding how they're doing,
I just loved learning thedifferent things other teachers

(09:42):
are doing in the buildingbecause it helped make me a
better teacher.
Principals, we need to do thesame thing educationally.
We do the same things.
We need to go find otherprincipals, visit with them,
learn about what they're doing,what great things they're doing,
and try to learn from them.
That's one of the things thatthis podcast for me does is I

(10:02):
learn from other leaders throughthis podcast.
My professional development isdoing this podcast, learning
from other great people outthere, and that's really
important.
Piece is get out of yourclassrooms, get out.
Sometimes you need to get outof your building and go network
and go learn from otherprincipals.
But when you do this, make sureyou give those people

(10:24):
gratitude.
Thank them for the opportunityto learn from them and let them
know some of the great thingsthat they're doing and how
you're going to carry that on.
Now, coming up, the last thingthat I want to talk about that I
wish I would have known backthen that I know now is building
a network of educators.
Everybody, this is a veryimportant one because guess

(10:47):
what?
We have great people in ourbuilding that we can learn from.
That is awesome.
And I want to make sure youguys understand learn from the
people around you.
You have great people in yourbuilding, you have great
expertise, lean on thatexpertise and learn from, but
also network outside of that.
Network in your region, networkin your area, network at the

(11:08):
state level, and if you can havethe opportunity to go network
at the national level that couldbe workshops, conferences,
association meetings, you know,those are things that help you
network.
And another thing is go findFree PD out there.
Josh Tovar always talks aboutFree PD is podcasts, right?
You can listen to podcasts.

(11:29):
There's so many different greatpodcasts out there that you
guys can listen to.
Not just my podcast, but otherones out there.
If you guys look at my websitefor my podcast, I actually have
recommendations of otherpeople's podcasts that you can
actually go to and go, you knowwhat, I'm gonna check that
podcast out.
So I'd recommend you guys tocheck out the link to where it

(11:50):
talks about the differentpodcasts that I recommend or
I've been on, or those peoplehave been on my podcast as well.
Another thing to do that I wishI'd know that I know now that I
wish I knew back then isreading books.
Something I don't really readbooks, actually.
I listen to books, I useAudible to listen to a lot of
books, but I don't just readabout leadership and education,

(12:14):
I read other books that areoutside of education because
there's things and ideas that Ipull from that that I can
utilize into my leadership.
One of the my favorite booksthat I have out there that I've
read a few times is AtomicHabits, and that's where I
understand you know, the littlethings that you do from day in
and day out, stack.

(12:34):
You stack these atomic habits.
We call it being 1% betterevery day, and that's something
that you can teach yourstudents, you can teach your
staff, and as a leader, you needto figure out what is you can
do better each day to get betterin the field.
So I really encourage you guysto listen to books or read books
or something out there aboutleadership, about education of

(12:55):
some sort to make you better.
But I also want to talk aboutthe social media side, there are
other communities out therethat you can get involved with.
So, one of the things I getinvolved with as a Teach Better
Network, it's not just forteachers, but administrators are
involved with that.
So, Jeff Gargas is the guy thatruns that, and I appreciate

(13:16):
being a part of that community.
I'm also in a few othercommunities out there, the
Empowered Principal EducationalCommunity that I'm with with
Coach Angela Kelly.
Uh, there's a lot of differentthings.
I involved with the PGPpodcast.
I've been on that once.
I'm actually going to be readyto do another episode with Josh
Tovar coming up.
So being a part of thosecommunities, being a part of

(13:39):
other educational communities onthe social media side is a
great way to learn from otherpeople because you can find
resources, you can find peopleto learn from in those
situations.
So, what I basically want totalk about today was there's a
lot of things that I know nowthat I wish I knew back when I

(13:59):
started being a teacher, when Istarted being a leader.
And so I really hope you guysfind value in this episode and
you find one little thing, onelittle nugget from this episode.
I hope it impacts you so youcan become a better teacher, a
better educator, a better leaderout there for your students,

(14:20):
for your community.
So, hope you guys liked thisepisode.
If you did, I would love it ifyou would subscribe to the
podcast so you don't missanother episode that drops.
Share this podcast episode withsomeone you know that needs to
hear it.
But I love it if you guys giveme a review.
If you give me a review, that'dbe awesome.
I love to hear from you guys.

(14:42):
You can also send me a text uhthrough the my any podcast
platform out there.
There's a little text thing,send me a text.
I'd love to hear feedback fromyou, that'd be awesome as well.
So hopefully, you guys enjoyedthis episode.
Until next time, be curious and1% better.