The start of the school year is full of possibilities. Classrooms are sparkling, bulletin boards are freshly decorated, and teachers are bubbling with hope and excitement for what lies ahead. We have ideas in our minds about everything we’ll do to ensure the success of our students and schools, but what about our own success? And what if success this school year is about more than our quantifiable achievements?

In schools, there’s a tendency to think about success in terms of the goals we’ll accomplish and the rewards we’ll reap. That makes sense for school improvement planning and professional goals. But we should all have personal goals as well, and applying that same line of thinking to personal success sets us up to overemphasize doing and underemphasize being. And to paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, you are a human being, not a human doing.

Traditional measures of success include achievements such as getting promoted to a new role. Although there are many benefits to that achievement, it also typically comes with more responsibilities that can lead to greater stress. While an increase in pay is helpful for most educators, considering the trade off in terms of time, energy, and stress level is equally important.

Defining success by external measures alone can lead to neglecting the very real and powerful internal measures that keep you running. It sets you up for an unbalanced lifestyle where you’re more likely to sacrifice your health and well-being. Committing to exercising four times a week or going to bed by 10:00 p.m. are steps in the right direction. The problem is these goals are still centered around what you are doing rather than how you are being.  As you create a more holistic success plan, remember it’s well-being, not well-doing.

When I coach clients, we often talk about goals, milestones, and other achievement-oriented measures of success. These things can be extremely important to our sense of self-worth and life satisfaction, especially for people in education for whom having an impact on others is central to their sense of purpose. But we never stay there. We shift into a more complete picture of successful living that’s measured through internal markers and not solely external validation. This figure shows one of the tools I use to support clients in painting this picture:

By exploring this spectrum, clients are able to adjust their understanding of success to include their own well-being. Sometimes this means letting go of meeting the traditional markers of success. Often it means learning how to tune out external messages and tune into their own souls. Always it leads to valuing themselves for more than what they do for others.

As you’re setting yourself up for a successful school year, try integrating this tool into your plans. Here are some ways you can use it:

1. Start by drawing your own spectrum like the one above. Add your own indicators below each aspect of the spectrum. How would you describe the energy that pulses through you when you feel most alive? How does it feel when you are fulfilled? What emotions come up when you are just getting by? What sensations let you know when you are struggling?
2. As you go through this, pay attention to any time you start should-ing yourself: “I should say surviving brings out these emotions …” “People say thriving feels like _____,so shouldn’t I feel the same?” One person may feel electrified when they are thriving while another person may feel a strong sense of peace. Take the time to get clear on what each of those markers means to you. When the answers are hazy, set the exercise aside and come back to it.
3. Once you have a solid set of indicators for each part of the spectrum, consider the activities that help you feel well. This is where doing can support being — carving out time and taking actions that fuel you. This could be time with your closest friends or a solo hike. And don’t forget to include work-related activities like making positive phone calls to students’ parents. Work satisfaction is an important aspect of well-being and positive feelings around professional identity have been found to support well-being (Ding & Xie, 2021). Embrace those parts of your work, even if they aren’t the things others see or that will earn you recognition.
4. Take some time to consider what is likely to push you into the more unpleasant aspects of your spectrum, especially as it relates to the school year. What expectations for yourself might you have to adjust to make room for challenging times? What nourishing activities can you schedule now that you’ll be grateful for when they appear on your calendar down the road?

It’s time we break free from the narrow belief that our own thriving is separate from students’ thriving. A well thought out school improvement plan and professional goals are important contributors to student success, but they won’t help students thrive if educators aren’t well enough to act on them from a place of strength. Your own sense of thriving not only matters, it could be the key to redefining success and setting others up for true success.