Avoid Podcast Burnout! Time Blocking, Automation, and Transition Rituals with Brittany Blackwell [Ep. 115]
Click play to hear how to avoid podcast burnout:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast
Here’s what to expect from this episode:
If you've ever experienced burnout, you know how hard it is to come back from. But did you know that your passion for your podcast can lead to burnout?
I know managing your time as a podcaster isn't always easy, so today, I've got a fantastic episode for you about avoiding podcast burnout by being proactive rather than reactive.
I am so thrilled to have Brittany Blackwell on the show to share her top tips on how to avoid podcast burnout and create a better work-life balance. We talk about transition rituals, time blocking, and automation to help reduce the stress that leads to burnout. She also shares her favorite tools and how she uses AI to save her a ton of time and brainpower when it comes to her podcast.
Brittany shares so many golden nuggets in this episode, and I know you'll walk away with lots of new ideas to try. Let's go meet Brittany!
MEET Brittany:
Brittany Blackwell, M.Ed., is an award-winning special educator and teacher sustainability strategist from South Carolina. With over thirteen years of experience in elementary and middle school classrooms, Brittany has become an expert in addressing teacher burnout. She is also the host of the popular podcast "The Resilient Teacher Podcast."
Brittany is passionate about empowering teachers and educational leaders to prioritize their mental health. She helps them develop personalized sustainability and burnout recovery plans, reducing stress and creating the fulfilling lives they've always dreamed of. Through her digital approach, which includes automation, digital planning, vision planning, and sustainable strategies, Brittany has reached thousands of educators worldwide.
You may know Brittany as "MsPrincessTeach" on TikTok, where her social media following grew through her fast-paced, lighthearted tutorials and relatable real-life experiences. She offers teachers actionable strategies, personalized coaching, mindset shifting, and digital resources to create their own Individualized Burnout Recovery Plan. By reducing stress and automating mundane tasks, Brittany enables educators to prevent burnout and maximize fulfillment in both their personal and professional lives.
Topics Covered:
Podcast burnout and what that looks like
The power of time blocking to avoid podcast burnout
Transition rituals and work-life balance
Automations, AI, and tools to help reduce stress
Resources mentioned:
Pomodoro method: website + browser extension
favorite podcasting resources:
Connect with Brittany:
Connect with Sara:
Related episodes:
-
Sara Whittaker 0:00
Hello hello welcome back to podcasting for educators. I have got an awesome episode for you today we are joined by Brittany Blackwell. And we are talking about so many good things that I know you're gonna love. Britney shares about podcaster burnout and how you can really avoid this to create a better work life balance through transition rituals, time blocking and automation. We also go a little bit into podcast AI, which she has a lot of experience with. She gives so many golden nuggets. In this episode, I know that you're gonna walk away with lots of new ideas to try. Brittany is an award winning special educator and teacher sustainability strategist from South Carolina. With over 13 years of experience in elementary and middle school classrooms. Brittany has become an expert and addressing teacher burnout. She's also the host of the popular podcast, the resilient Teacher Podcast. And honestly, even if you are not a teacher anymore, or you never were a teacher, you should definitely check out this show because lots of what she talks about can apply to us as business owners. Brittany is passionate about empowering teachers and educational leaders to prioritize their mental health. She helps them develop personalized sustainability and burnout recovery plans, reducing stress and creating the fulfilling lives they've always dreamed of. Through her digital approach, which includes automation, digital planning, vision, planning and sustainable strategies, Brittany has reached 1000s of educators worldwide. Let's go ahead and meet Brittany. Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whittaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager. And I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators. Hey, Brittany, welcome to the podcast. I am so excited that you're here. We were just saying we rescheduled a few times, and it's finally happening. Welcome.
Brittany 2:12
Thank you so much for having me here on your show. So excited,
Sara Whittaker 2:15
of course. So we are going to be talking about a topic that comes up for probably every podcaster. And I know it's going to be helpful for literally every single person who's listening. And that is managing your time avoiding podcast burnout, which so many podcasters go through. So I am thrilled to be talking about this today. So let's jump right into this idea of burnout specifically for podcasters. What does it look like for podcasters? To experience burnout? What do you typically see?
Brittany 2:49
So one of the things that I don't think people realize is that passion for topic is what really leads to burnout. So, burnout is a state of emotional mental physical exhaustion, and it's caused by prolong and excessive stress. And it's not just like one and done, it's a cycle. So stress we know is not inherently bad, because oftentimes stress can be get us motivated to do something. And that's called a US stress, e u s, t r e s s, and it's positive. But when we think about our passion, our passion is a driving force is that form of us stress, it compels us to invest our time our energy into our podcasts. And it also kind of fuels creativity, dedication, pursuit of excellence. But when passion is not balanced with self care, or healthy boundaries, it becomes this double edged sword. Because what happens is we're deeply passionate about our content. That leads us to working longer hours, we're neglecting breaks, we're pouring into our entire selves into the show, our content, our business, whatever. And this intensity of focus gradually leads to burnout. Because we're not setting those boundaries. We're not taking care of ourselves, we are not routinely emptying our stress container. I like to think of stress tolerance is like a container. Every stressor, whether it's good or bad, whether it's deadlines, technical difficulties, managing guests, feedback, whatever, it fills up this container. And if we don't have effective strategies to really implement that to manage our stress container, it becomes overloaded and overfilling. That container leads to feelings of being overwhelmed, anxious and eventually burned out because reaching burnout is way more than just feeling tired from a long day's work. It's that consistent overfilling of that container.
Sara Whittaker 4:49
Hmm, that's such a like I've never heard it phrased that way. I love how you just explained that and I've never heard of people explain how there is a good kind of stress So I think that that's really important to think about as well. And I think how you described how you have such a passion, and that often can lead to burnout. I think we can relate to that as teachers in the classroom as just business owners in general. I think we've all felt that in some sort of way. And so I think what happens when people reach their capacity, and they get that burnout feeling, that's when at least from what I've seen, that's when people kind of just say, Okay, I can't take this anymore, like, I'm done, I have to stop the podcast, or they keep pushing themselves to their limit. And that's just going to lead to so many negative things happening for their physical health and their mental health. Yeah,
Brittany 5:44
absolutely. I mean, I know that there are so many podcasters, who start out like ready to go, they're just so excited, they get in there, but they never slow down. And then when they don't slow down, then they've reached that point where it's like, you miss a couple of episodes, then you miss a month of episodes. And then it's really hard to get back on track, because your brain thinks, oh, this is just going to happen all over again. So the key really is to be proactive.
Sara Whittaker 6:13
Hmm, yeah, exactly. So how can we be proactive so that we don't get to that point.
Brittany 6:20
So hands down, the very first thing that I would recommend anyone, whether it's podcasters, teachers, whoever is to become self aware, to start monitoring and checking in with yourself and be proactive about it. So often, people reach burnout and try to be reactive to it. And that's part that's like, super hard. Because what happens is, we're already to our breaking point and the energy that it requires to be aware, that's a lot. So for like podcasters, they reach that podcast burnout. And it might require taking that break to get back on track where you might not be as visible or you might lose that motivation to keep going. So being proactive, really lets you take those steps, and then avoid that from happening. So being aware of the signs of burnout, increased irritability, decreased motivation, fatigue, changes, even in sleep patterns. If you notice these signs, just take them seriously. And then take those steps to address them. Start making time to really empty that stress container, that's going to look different for every one of us. I don't believe in cookie cutter solutions to managing stress or managing burnout. But above all, just knowing who you are your values, your strengths, your weaknesses, and becoming aware of those to be proactive is really critical for a vote avoiding that burnout. The second thing that I think is to set some boundaries, establish those clear work hours limits, avoid that temptation to work around the clock. Even though we're passionate about what we're talking about, we have to take time out to recharge, we have to empty that stress container. So allocating that time for relaxation, outside hobbies, not just your podcast, not just your business. And spending time with the people that you love, like don't fall into the trap of trying to do it all please. Yeah, really prioritizing those activities that might be exercise might be meditation, if that's your jam, reading, going outside pursuing other interests outside of podcasting, and then incorporating some of those stress reduction techniques inside of your routine, like taking a deep breath every once in a while. I think people really sleep on the fact that you have a free tool in your lungs. Yes, oh my gosh, you can just take a deep breath and be mindful. Even just that regular exercise can really help to regulate your stress response and prevent that chronic stress buildup.
Sara Whittaker 9:01
Yes, I couldn't agree more breath work. And just like literally taking a deep breath is probably one of the best tips that I've ever gotten. I remember somebody that I was working with, this was years ago, and she was kind of like a life coach, but she was talking to one of her clients and I and I was in on the conversation. And she had taught her to take three, like taking a really deep breath for three seconds, hold it for like three to five seconds. And then let it out slowly and do that like four times if you're feeling that I know everybody kind of feels it in different places for me, when I get like super anxious or that feeling of burnout. I feel it in my chest. I don't know now. Me too. Yeah. And literally just taking that minute to do some of those really deep breaths. It literally grounds me and it makes me feel so much better.
Brittany 9:53
Yes, I mean, like there's like actual scientific research. I get super nerdy about stuff like that. But there's science tipic research that shows how it really impacts your parasympathetic nervous system, and really to release that stress from your body. And if you don't do that, that's when all of those negative things come up, I love to talk about how the Body Keeps the Score. And when stress compiles in your body, that's when it becomes negative, that's when it impacts your mental, physical, all that type of health, when in reality, if we can just learn to empty our stress container, that won't be as impactful. You know what I mean?
Sara Whittaker 10:34
Yeah, for sure. And you were talking about really tight, sometimes it is necessary to just give yourself a break from the things like podcasting that might be leading to this burnout. I just recorded an episode a couple weeks ago, because I really took a step back this summer, and went off of social media, because for me, it's social media, that's really hard to keep up with, I always try to stay ahead with my podcast, but this summer, I really kind of stepped back a little bit and just wasn't as far ahead for a couple of months. And that's okay. And it really gave me the space to just have a little bit of whitespace in my schedule. And yeah, it did wonders highly recommend.
Brittany 11:17
Yes, no, I did that this summer, too. I took a break off of social media not I've been on tick tock and Instagram reels for you've been doing all the things. Yeah. And I took I have not posted a tic toc. Since I don't even know the date, June 14. Because I just really needed to use my brain space, my creativity for other areas that I really care about. And it's not just that one place, that's going to make that big difference. And sometimes you do have to take a step back to be a little bit more intentional with what you're doing with your time.
Sara Whittaker 11:53
Yeah, often, that's when you if you give yourself that break, that's when those really creative ideas come back to in the motivation. Like for me, I was at a place where, like, for the first time, I wasn't feeling motivated, and I wasn't feeling inspired. And I've finally decided to listen to my body and what my brain was telling me and take that step back. And you mentioned boundaries, something that I've started doing that has really helped me, not for podcasting, but for specifically Instagram reels is all I'll give myself, like 10 minutes. And if I can't create the reel that I want to create, I say I'm done. I'm just not going to post anything right now. And that's fine.
Brittany 12:29
Yeah, I love that I'm going to incorporate that
Sara Whittaker 12:32
is a game changer. That is I love that. Yeah, it's like so simple. But sometimes you just need to give yourself that permission and give yourself that boundary. Like I'm not going to sit here for an hour to create your one reel. And sometimes it just doesn't come out the way you want it to. Right, exactly. Oh, yeah. Love it. Okay, so you talk a lot about work life balance. And I'd love for you to talk about these three ways that podcasters specifically can create a better work life balance. And I'm really excited for you to talk about these because there's especially one in here that I haven't heard much about.
Brittany 13:07
Yes. Okay. So I love the term balance, but I think it comes I can't I think it comes with this really unrealistic expectation that you can just half the time do you and half the time do work. And it's that's not really, that's not really what balances, right? I mean, we think about it like or I think about it like a tightrope walker, like they have to balance but it's a little bit more intricate than just being perfectly centered all the time, right, you have to give a little to the right a little to the left. And so having a system set up that's going to support you and being able to tiptoe and move a little to the left and a little to the right, is what we need to accomplish. So the first thing that I recommend is time blocking, removing that mental clutter of a never ending to do list and blocking specific times for specific repeatable tasks. So this is like you have a specific block for outlining your episodes, a specific block for recording your episodes, a specific block for your social media for your episodes, and I say block for each of these tasks, because what happens is, if you say I'm going to have a two hour block, and you just pile everything into it, you can easily become overwhelmed, you can lose focus, and that fills that stress container. So time blocking, offers this methodical, more organized approach to your workflow to keep tasks together that are the same. So it reduces what we call mental switching, like switching between really different types of tasks, because that taxes your brain, it gives you these constant mental shifts, it keeps you out of a state of flow. So you want to keep similar tasks again, Other to minimize that cognitive switching, preserve your energy and allow you for some deeper concentration. And for educators who only have a couple hours a day, like maybe they're still in the classroom, you might plan your episodes on Mondays, you record on Tuesdays edit on Wednesdays, that kind of thing. So time blocking is really going to give you the container for your work that you need to complete. Without making that same to do list every single day, and hoping you're gonna get those tasks done. To give you more of a structure for those tasks in a way that's not overwhelming, isn't filling that stress container. The second thing that I tell teachers to do is this, anyone who really struggles with like disconnecting from their work is to set up a transition ritual. So as podcasters, we may have this like designated area that we podcast in, right, we plan in, we create content in and I do recommend having a specific location for that, whether it's on your kitchen table, your desk, your office, wherever, but try to avoid just planning content and all that in random spots, it can be really difficult if it's in your home, because Home is where your brain says his work. But just setting up a transition ritual is a really powerful strategy, because it maintains that healthy boundary between your work and your personal life. Just as like teachers can benefit from these transition rituals. podcasters can do this technique just to switch off from their podcasting role and then truly unwind. So what I recommend is doing like choosing a physical space, preferably like separate from your podcasting setup, somewhere different where you can unwind after those sessions, this space could be like a cozy corner, a comfortable chair, it could be your car, quiet outdoor spot, and then create a ritual that signifies this shift from your podcasting mode or your business mode to your personal time. So this could be just like a series of actions that mentally prepares you to disconnect. So it might be like turning off your podcast equipment, dimming your lights, closing your laptop. For me, I struggled turning off my teacher brain as a teacher. And I would literally sit in my car in my parking lot and talk to my mom before I left to go pick up my kids. And that turned my brain from teacher mode to home Brittany mode, okay, so there's different ways that you can incorporate this there could be like props that you kind of signal that transition, that could be like a cup of tea, a scented candle, a specific item, like maybe you choose to walk around your neighborhood to transition, your walking shoes might just be that prompt, right? So having these prompts in your transition space is going to help shift your focus away from work. And the last part of this is really establishing a time limit for this transition ritual. Because what happens is it becomes another form of procrastination. And if you have these time limits, then that ensures that you're like eventually engaging in those personal activities. But just practicing that transition ritual after each podcasting session, or after you've been working on your business, and over time, your brain is going to associate those actions with the end of work making it easier to disconnect mentally.
Sara Whittaker 18:34
I love this. And I do this sometimes, but I've never set like a consistent ritual. So I'm really excited to try that I, we were talking about how we both have walking pads and I have mine down in my basement specifically so that I can make that shift from Okay, I'm
Brittany 18:51
going to do some things on my computer. And then I'm going to go walk whether it's on my computer or not. And that helps a lot too. So yeah, I'm excited to try that. Now, do you recommend doing these to shift from like, one task to another or just from like, okay, business time is over. Now I'm switching to. So I think about it more from like those people who really struggle just turning off their brain from work, and being able to transition from business or work mode into home mode. Because when you struggle with that your brain is making the connection, that you're still in that mode, and it doesn't notice switch, but when you have a transition ritual, then you're able to do that. Now if you did that with tasks, it would be a lot more difficult. It's not to say you couldn't do that. But typically when you're moving from one task to another, having just those specific times is gonna alert your brain okay, I'm working on this specific task.
Sara Whittaker 19:53
Yeah, because you're right what you said earlier, like you do use different parts of your brain to do different things even within podcasting, like Editing a podcast is a lot different than sitting down and writing show notes for a podcast, right. So switching can be difficult, which is why I love this idea of of the time blocking and kind of doing one task all at once. And you can batch some whether that's like two a day, or like maybe you outline episodes, two at a time, every other Monday or something like that, or I know people who will sit down and do like four outlines at a time. And there's so many different ways that you can work that depending on your schedule and and how long you can sit and do something for
Brittany 20:31
right at when we think about like just even outlining a podcast versus recording a podcast, you said that about your brain. It's working in different parts of your brain. And so when you clump those two things, like you said that two hour time period, and you just put everything in that your brain is having to switch. It's like having multiple tabs open. And I do this. Yeah, I mean, I know this about my computer. But it's like having multiple tabs open, and you're having to switch back and forth trying to figure out how do you go about completing this task? So you're not as efficient? You know what I mean?
Sara Whittaker 21:05
For sure. I mean, especially as a podcast manager, because we work on so many different podcasts in a given week, I've tried so many different ways, like Okay, should I sit down and like fully produced this episode? Or should I just batch everybody's show notes and batch editing. And I always feel more productive when I am focused just on a single task, like, some people will like write show notes as they're editing. And I just I can't do it. Because that's crazy, right? I know, it's like, how are you focusing on one enough to do it? Well, I just I can't do that. So I always feel way more productive when I'm focusing on a single task. Yeah.
Brittany 21:46
The third thing that I recommend is doing, I recommend automation all the way. Now time blocking is like a kind of automation, because you're like automating tasks in like specific blocks. But when I say automation, like I mean, harnessing some technology to do some tasks for you. Yeah, allowing technology to help reduce some of that stress that's being placed in that stress container. Do you use, you still use clickup?
Sara Whittaker 22:12
Oh, yes, click off is my life. Yes. So I love clickup.
Brittany 22:17
But I can't get into the automations of those. And so I actually use air table for automations. Because it has a lot of that has a ton of native automations already inside of it. But what I learned about using automations in my business, now I teach teachers how to do this and automate their classrooms amazing. More than likely, there are way too many tasks that you're trying to do one for what more than one person. And more than likely all those tasks aren't the best use of your skills, right? You're not the best use of your creativity, all of that. So if you're not quite to the point where you want to have a virtual assistant come in, or you know, a podcast manager, you're not ready to invest in that sort of thing. You'll want to learn how to automate. Yeah, there's tons of different resources out there. Like, I think about email software like ConvertKit, Kajabi, flow desk, all of those have some type of automation component built within them. But by far, I think if you're not automating some of your thinking using artificial intelligence. I don't know what you're doing. You're definitely missing out on
Sara Whittaker 23:25
we need to talk about this. Yes, I hear you talk about this all the time. It's a huge
Brittany 23:29
efficiency boost, like huge, huge, huge,
Sara Whittaker 23:32
yes. Okay, first, tell us what are some what are some automations that you can do in air table.
Brittany 23:39
So I have my entire podcast management all in air table, from show notes, to emails to booking guests, it's completely set up that way, when I have a guest sign up to be a part of the like, even from prospect, you have a guest, it keeps it into a database that I can go into and when I change it from prospect to I think it's invite, then it will automatically send them an invitation to schedule a time to come onto the podcast. Then once they schedule, that time, it will alert me it will also send them a confirmation it will send them the questions within that. And then it'll give them reminders all the way up until that now I've started using Calendly. Now just to kind of play around with it, but airtable did it all for me before, even down to sending when the podcast episode goes live and ways for them to like their graphics, all that's all linked in the email and I don't even have to touch it. So
Sara Whittaker 24:43
really, okay, so wait, how do you do that part that's automated. Like if you're sending somebody that graphics from the episode, what does that look like for you, if you don't mind?
Brittany 24:51
So it's a URL. It's like I have in my database, it'll have their information, their headshot, all of that. And then I have a workflow I was set up to go to Canva. So it goes to Canva, it creates my graphics, and then it automatically pops that into Google Drive. And then Google Drive is then attached to my air table.
Sara Whittaker 25:12
Okay, that's like next level, I do not have that on my guests booking flow, I need like a visual of this. That's amazing is really,
Brittany 25:18
really cool. And when I figured out how to do this, that's when I was like, why are teachers not doing this? Yeah. And why are we why are we working so hard? Even going into artificial intelligence, it's not just you can chat with chat GPT, you can set up a whole system to be able to prompt it for you. And then record the things like the if you come up with a specific prompt with like a tone, and all of these things, you can have it automatically populate into your air table base, what this what I use, but you can also use like Google Sheets, and have it go off workflows to create graphics for that. I mean, it's
Sara Whittaker 26:02
crazy, okay, when you say like a creates graphics, like you are not creating the graphics.
Brittany 26:08
It's just a template. So once I have the template, I have a workflow set up to pull it from a CSV, okay, so it turns it into a CSV, the CSV then goes and puts it into Canva. And then auto populates it for
Sara Whittaker 26:23
me. I'm like, if the like emoji mind blown emoji, that is why Oh, that is so cool.
Brittany 26:29
Yeah. I mean, it saves a ton of time and a ton of brainpower. But yeah, what you really want to do in your podcast, is you want to create for your clients for your ideal listener, and you don't want to do all that extra stuff. It's taking on way too much. And there are ways to automate your entire workflow. It's just going down to, it's going to come down to you really recognizing what parts are the repeatable parts of your business, and then looking into what things you already use. So if it's Google Sheets, or if it's air table, whatever it is, and then creating that workflow and looking for ways to automate those experiences, whether it's through air table, like I do it all through air table, or Zapier or make, which used to be Integra mat, I get real nerdy about it.
Sara Whittaker 27:25
I love it. I love it. It's so cool. It just shows like how much is out there and available to you that we just don't even know about yet.
Brittany 27:33
Yeah, there's even like, you've probably heard of it. But there's different AI software like pod squeeze. I mean, oh, yeah. Pretty cool. Yeah, it's, it's basic math still are
Sara Whittaker 27:46
better, though. It's already gotten a lot better since when it first launched.
Brittany 27:50
Yeah, I mean, like, it's got a good starting point for like, tweets, and yeah, show notes and links, and timestamps and bullet points and titles and keywords. I mean, it's really cool to kind of eliminate some of that mental capacity that it takes to just create all of that from scratch,
Sara Whittaker 28:06
for sure. Yeah, like it can, it can really help you like, at the minimum, get started with your show notes and kind of pull out some of those things. Because that's some sometimes the hardest part is staring at a blank screen and needing to write your shownotes. I know that that's probably the task that people struggle with the most. Yeah, absolutely. So cool. Okay, if you don't mind me asking, just like real quick, what are what are some other ways? If you can think of any that you've maybe used like track GBT for your podcast? Like, do you have it help you with episode titles and things like that?
Brittany 28:38
Yes. So I created prompts that are like, I have a whole framework that I use for really good prompts, because you can type in whatever you want to. And it's going to give you a response, but you want it to give it the quickest response. So what I do is I prompt it, obviously, I give it a question. But I give it like parameters, I want to know like, I'll give it information about my podcast to help it come up with the best suitable thing and then I'll even give it a whole transcript. To really get real in depth with it. I've some of the prompts that I use are SEO titles, because I that is not my strong suit. SEO is not my strong suit. I want it to be but it's not. And so I'm I always look for ways to incorporate my keywords. I've used it to create bullet points for my show notes. When I was in a real pickle trying to get things done. I just gave it my transcript and asked it for bullet points for my show notes. I've had it come up with ideas of ways of saying things. So what I know about myself is that I'm an Enneagram eight. So sometimes I can come off a little aggressive and I want to incorporate different parts of myself that aren't maybe so aggressive, maybe are a little Bit more soft nurturing. And so our last chat GPT How do I say this in a soft and nurturing way? I love
Sara Whittaker 30:08
that. That is so cool. And it's so important to know that about yourself. So yeah, if you're listening like this is something to think about maybe the next time that you sit down to outline an episode or produce your episode is okay, what are these little tasks that are like giving me that mental block? And I'm taking a long time with it. I know, it shouldn't be taking me a long time. And how could I use these? How can I use AI to just make that a little bit easier for me?
Brittany 30:34
Yeah, I mean, you can even ask AI, you can give your if you're wanting to time block, you can ask AI. Here's the task that I have to do. What is the most efficient way for me to do it, given my current schedule and give it your current schedule, and it will pop out an answer for you, and you can try it out. That was really neat.
Sara Whittaker 30:51
That's cool. Now, are you on the free or paid version of Chet GBT?
Brittany 30:55
Okay, so I was on free for a very long time. Yeah. But then they introduced plugins. And I really wanted to play with plugins. So I do have the paid account. Yeah, it is way faster. But I haven't noticed a huge difference in the output. Then whatever prompt I give it, okay, now, chat GPT. Four with the plugins part that is really neat, because you can literally just type in a website, like if I really like a particular website, and I'm like, I really liked this. And I don't know what I like about it. I can ask it for the tone. I can ask it like, what are the keywords on this page? I've asked it to do that for for mine, too. But it's just really cool to be able to put in specific links, or even a PDF and not have to, like copy and paste it just plug it right in?
Sara Whittaker 31:47
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, it sounds like you use it a lot and enough to justify what is it $20 A month,
Brittany 31:53
it is $20 a month. But you can also, the other part of it that really kind of struck me and made me want to upgrade to it is the API access, because I use the API access in my automations. So that kind of gives me that ability to not have to go straight to Chad GPT every time if I don't want to. And I have an API key that will connect. It's a way harder, more difficult version of automation. But I really like it. It works for you. I love Yeah, I love it.
Sara Whittaker 32:28
Okay, one question I don't want to forget to ask is when you are time blocking? Do you have like a recommended time period? Or does it just kind of depend on?
Brittany 32:39
I think it depends on the task. Yeah. But the Pomodoro method suggests 25 minutes of real into it, like focused attention. Yeah. But what I find is that neurodivergent people like I was a special educator. So that's where I go with it. Yeah, neurodivergent people, they don't start going into flow much later than 25 minutes. So I would suggest kind of having an idea of how long it takes you to do a task, and then adding 15 minutes to it. Yeah, to give you time to enter flow, and then getting it done.
Sara Whittaker 33:16
Yeah. And I know that you can go to the website and pull up the Pomodoro Pomodoro. Right. Am I saying that right? Yeah, yeah, pull the timer. And I think you can like edit it to make it your own time, your own time block however long you want it to be?
Brittany 33:33
Yeah, toggle is what I use for that. That just kind of helps me have an idea. I started out initially using toggle and tracking how long things took me to do. Yeah, that just gave me a baseline idea of how long it was taking me, but also kept me more focused, instead of grabbing my phone because I am one of those people. Yes, it will grab my phone. So that gave me an idea of how long it took me. And then I just track it using toggle. But there is a Pomodoro extension that you can add to your Chrome browser and that's pretty helpful.
Sara Whittaker 34:07
Yeah, because it'll it'll alert you like okay, you need to like take a break. Yeah, I have to often I'll put my phone like in another room where I can't see it because it's you it's so automatic and I'm so much more productive when I do honestly even just turning it over like even if it is on your desk just so that you don't see that screen light up. You're not or like hide it with your water bottle.
Brittany 34:30
Yeah, I've turned off all of my notifications. So people will send me messages I will have to check it in the morning but I have a specific time setup because I know that about myself that I will get sucked into the world that is my screen. And that's a boundary that I set like I set a boundary of no notifications to not distract me from what I want to get done.
Sara Whittaker 34:51
Yeah, for sure. I know even after going off a socials over the summer, like right when I started posting again I found myself getting And back in that cycle of sitting and scrolling, and I'm like, stop. No. And I just have to physically remove the phone. Yeah. From my, from my viewpoint. Absolutely. Before we wrap things up, I would love for you to tell everybody about your podcast and how it's like how podcasting is going for you as a whole so far.
Brittany 35:19
Yeah. So I actually, my podcast is called the resilient Teacher Podcast. It is a podcast for it's dedicated to giving overwhelmed teachers that support the tools, the mindset to really reduce teacher burnout, and keep teaching sustainable, maybe even reignite that passion for teaching. We talk about like automation and tools for reducing that overwhelm mental health, stress management, I do get a little nerdy and talk about like brain science, but really just giving teachers that inspiration, validation, actionable steps to really avoid or recover from burnout. And I started my podcast in June of 2022, after I took your course. And I was just lit up, I knew I wanted to start a podcast, but I didn't really know how to do it. And I'm pretty tech savvy, but you pretty much hit the nail on the head with every single lesson in each module. And so, from the time that I started my podcast, I have got over 90,000 downloads over just a little bit over a year. So that's pretty good. I made.
Sara Whittaker 36:29
Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah, that's amazing. I know, it's really
Brittany 36:34
exciting. I was able to launch my program that automate your classroom program, and I have more than 50 students in there. Oh, so I've connected with other podcasters we had that podcast speed dating thing, which was awesome. And did quite a few podcast swaps, where we just interviewed each other where I was able to, like, increase my visibility to more teachers, provide them more support, even start like working with some schools, which is what I'm doing now. And they strictly found me from my podcast to help them with their school culture, develop automation systems, so their teachers don't have like 50 Different applications to work in really streamline all that. So all in all, I've met and connected with 1000s of teachers just because of my podcast, and it's probably my favorite part of my business, the most fun the area that I am constantly growing in.
Sara Whittaker 37:23
Oh my gosh, you know, that's music to my ears. I got like goosebumps when you were talking about that. I just think it's so cool. Like, imagine if you hadn't taken that leap. And I know, like, things would be so different now. So congratulations. That's amazing. It's been so fun to see your success. I love watching your Instagram stories. I remember one day you had posted like some messages or reviews that you had gotten from listeners and it like made me want to cry. They were so amazing. Like it was so cool to see what an impact you're having. So yes, it really
Brittany 37:54
it that is one of the coolest parts just being able to connect with that many teachers and have a that long form content. Yeah, to really help them make it through burnout and stuff. I mean, their stories are just amazing to hear from so
Sara Whittaker 38:09
yeah. And I just I mean, you know, burnout people, that word gets thrown around so much. But I just feel like I love that you go into the science of it and really talk about like practical things that really are going to make a difference for people. So I just think that's so awesome. And the speed dating event was so much fun. I'm doing another one this fall. I just have to pick the date. And it's been so cool to see how many connections were made. Yeah, that so
Brittany 38:33
we've we've had fun doing that. And I can't wait to do it again.
Sara Whittaker 38:37
Yes, I know. Me too. I need to that'll give me a little motivation to pick a date this week so we can get that move in. Well tell everybody where they can find you online. Your again, your podcast is the resilient Teacher Podcast. What is like your Instagram handle and anything else that you want to share?
Brittany 38:52
Yeah, so my podcast is the resilient Teacher Podcast I am on Instagram as teaching mind body and soul. And that's my website name to teaching mind body and soul.com and I'm on Tik Tok as Miss Princess teach. I started my Tik Tok four years ago, and I just can't change my name because that's how people know me. I don't even have the same last name anymore. But now it just it has to stick. So there's that and I'm on. I guess I'm on threads too. But I don't really do anything.
Sara Whittaker 39:23
I know. I'm already seeing that. That fizzle out?
Brittany 39:26
Yeah. Yeah.
Sara Whittaker 39:29
Awesome. Perfect. Well, we'll include all of those links in the show notes. Brittany, thank you so so much for being here.
Brittany 39:34
Thank you so much for having me.
Sara Whittaker 39:37
Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. To keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support and launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course the podcasting for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep school. I'll see you here next time
More about Podcasting for Educators:
Podcasting for Educators is the podcast for TpT authors and other online educators. It's a show that will help you get your podcast in front of those who need it most - teachers, counselors, literacy specialists, SLPs, parents, and more! Each week, Sara Whittaker and her guests will share top tips and actionable strategies that you will need in order to launch, manage, and grow your podcast. You’ll learn how to leverage your show to build long-lasting relationships with your audience and promote your TpT resources, courses, and memberships, all while providing valuable and accessible content!
Some links on this page are affiliate links. This helps to support this podcast at no additional cost to you.