Teaching In a New Perspective: Do Hard Things

This past summer, I was asked once again to mentor first-year teachers in the Beaver Dam School District. It would have been easy to say “no,” but I found myself thinking back to my early years in the workplace—both in business and in education—when I often wished there were someone available to answer questions, challenge my thinking, and raise the bar for my own performance. So instead of taking the easy way out, I said “yes,” and was soon assigned four middle-school teachers. BDUSD’s mentoring model has real merit, offering meaningful opportunities for professional growth. More districts should consider adopting similar approaches, as the ripple effects could be significant across the field of education.

Being a mentor requires patience, thoughtful insight, and honest feedback. My role isn’t to grab the steering wheel but to observe their driving and suggest ways to improve. For first-year teachers, that kind of scrutiny—on top of everything else thrown their way—can be daunting. Administrators, students, parents, and colleagues all add layers of pressure. Although these new teachers chose the profession to make a difference, they quickly find themselves navigating challenges that test their logic, their sanity, and sometimes even their health. It’s no surprise that roughly 10% of new teachers leave after their first year, and about 44% exit within the first five.

Once a month we meet online to celebrate wins from the past 30 days, identify obstacles, and develop action steps for the month ahead. Some new teachers thrive, others struggle to stay afloat, and a few risk slipping into mediocrity simply out of exhaustion.

By chance, I recently came across the book "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris—a remarkable read written by millennials who argue that society has lowered expectations for today’s learners. They outline “Five Kinds of Hard,” describing each as a “God-given opportunity powered by God-given principles that work for everybody”:

Things Outside Your Comfort Zone: Stepping into unfamiliar territory even when it feels uncomfortable.

Things Beyond What Is Required: Going above and beyond what is expected in school, work, or relationships.

Things Too Big to Accomplish Alone: Tackling ambitious projects that require collaboration and leadership.

Things That Don’t Pay Off Immediately: Investing in long-term goals like education, skill development, and personal growth.

Things That Challenge the Crowd: Standing up for your beliefs, even when it’s unpopular.

Each of these “hard things” applies directly to first-year teaching, but perhaps the most important is the first: stepping outside your comfort zone. That initial move into the unknown is unsettling, yet essential if we hope to attempt any of the others. If we expect our students to stretch themselves and rise to new challenges, shouldn’t we be willing to do the same? Why remain seated on the sidelines when we want our students—and our fellow adults—to excel in life?

Fear is the fence that keeps us confined. We sit…and sit…and sit, letting opportunities pass us by. If we wait for fear or the possibility of failure to disappear, we’ll never leave our comfort zones. If we want our students to grow and learn throughout their lives, we must help them confront fear—not by eliminating it, but by understanding that something far worse exists: remaining so comfortable that we never try at all.