How Gratitude Can Help Educators to Combat Burnout with Lainie Rowell
Lindsey and Tasha talk with Lainie Rowell, bestselling author, award-winning educator, and gratitude researcher and practitioner, about moving gratitude beyond a surface-level practice and making it part of how we lead, teach, and live. The conversation explores the science behind gratitude, how leaders can create cultures where people feel genuinely seen, and why gratitude is not about ignoring what is hard but refusing to overlook what is good.
Lainie Rowell is a bestselling author, award-winning educator, and TEDx speaker whose work has reached audiences across 41 states and dozens of countries on four continents. Her clients include Apple and Google, and she works with school systems worldwide. She is the author of Evolving with Gratitude, a lead author of Evolving Learner, and the creator of Bold Gratitude: The Journal Designed for You and by You, a flexible resource that helps people develop a gratitude practice that feels personal rather than prescribed.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How Lainie’s relationship with gratitude changed during the early days of the COVID-19 shutdown and the unexpected moment that caused her to look at gratitude differently
- Why gratitude is not about overlooking what is hard, but intentionally refusing to overlook what is good
- The brain’s natural negativity bias and why intentionally noticing what is going well matters
- How school leaders can use specific, authentic praise to strengthen relationships and create healthier learning environments
- The praise-to-correction ratio and why leaders should pay attention to how often people hear what they are doing well compared with what they need to fix
- Lainie’s “notice, think, feel, and do” framework for developing a deeper gratitude practice
- Counterfactual thinking, or “mental subtraction,” and how imagining life without an important person can deepen our appreciation for the relationships we already have
- Why gratitude practices do not have to be elaborate — and why a thoughtful text message can sometimes be more meaningful than waiting to write the perfect thank-you note
- How gratitude can support emotional regulation, stress reduction, well-being, relationships, sleep, and even physical health
- Why gratitude should be invitational rather than mandated, particularly when leaders bring gratitude practices into schools and organizations
- What educators can do when they are burned out and feel like they have nothing left to give
- Temptation bundling — pairing something you want to do with something you want to make a habit — and how leaders can remove barriers that make positive habits harder to sustain
- How school leaders can build reflection and gratitude into existing routines such as staff meetings instead of creating another large initiative
- Why leaders should celebrate what is going well both internally with their teams and publicly with their communities
- How to make a thank-you more meaningful by acknowledging the intention, cost, and value behind someone’s actions
- The difference between simply feeling grateful and developing gratitude as a disposition that shapes how we approach happiness, relationships, and performance
Find Bold Gratitude: The Journal Designed for You and by You and Evolving with Gratitude wherever books are sold online.
About today’s guest
Lainie Rowell is a bestselling author, award-winning educator, and TEDx speaker whose work centers on learning, leadership, well-being, and the science and practice of gratitude. She has presented in 41 states, and her work has reached audiences in dozens of countries across four continents. Her clients have included Apple and Google, and she partners with school systems worldwide.
Lainie is the author of Evolving with Gratitude and served as a lead author of Evolving Learner. Her latest work, Bold Gratitude: The Journal Designed for You and by You, invites people to develop gratitude practices that fit who they are rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach. Through research, reflection, and practical strategies, Lainie helps educators, leaders, and communities move gratitude from something they occasionally feel to something they intentionally practice.
Learn more about today's sponsor, Playworks:
We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.
We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.
If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time.
These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation.
Creators and Guests
Host
Lindsey Cannon
Founder of Reify Educates and an instructional leader with 22 years of experience helping schools build clear, sustainable systems that strengthen teacher capacity and improve student outcomes.
Host
Natasha Nurse
Instructional leader with 21 years in public education specializing in inquiry-driven curriculum design, literacy, deep thinking, ethical AI integration, and professional learning.
