102. Why Teachers are Terrible at...

102. Why Teachers are Terrible at Celebrating Wins (And How to Fix It)

Why Edify: The Teacher Wellness and Resilience Podcast - Str... by Jeremy Jorgensen
Aug 18, 2026
10:30

Episode notes

Why Teachers Are Terrible at Celebrating Wins (And How to Fix It)

You just had a good day. A lesson landed, a kid finally got it, you left before dark for once — and you told no one, including yourself.

Teachers are wired to hold onto the hard stuff and let the good stuff slide right past. In this episode, I break down why that happens, what Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel meant when he called celebration "an active state," and how Martin Seligman's PERMA model and Teresa Amabile's research on small wins connect directly to the S — Successes — pillar of the STRONG Framework.

You'll walk away with a two-minute practice you can start tonight.

In this episode:

- Why teachers treat noticing their own wins as arrogant or unprofessional

- The difference between being entertained and actually celebrating

- The PERMA model (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment) — and why Accomplishment doesn't work alone

- Teresa Amabile's research on daily small wins vs. annual reviews

- The dopamine mechanism behind noticing what went right

- A simple 5-day experiment to start tonight

Get the written version and the weekly STRONG Framework practice at jeremyajorgensen.com — link below.

https://www.jeremyajorgensen.com/the-chase-that-never-ends/

Chapters:

0:00 Why Teachers Struggle to Celebrate

1:01 The Two-Minute Practice

1:09 Good Moments Vanish Fast

1:58 The Modesty Trap

2:44 Celebration as an Active State

3:32 The PERMA Model

4:38 Research on Small Wins

5:32 The STRONG Framework

6:23 Writing It Down

6:55 The Experiment

8:13 Accepting Compliments

8:33 Wrap Up

Stay STRONG.

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Why Edify is built for teachers who are great at their jobs and exhausted by them. The STRONG Framework — Successes, Thoughts & Takeaways, Recovery & Renewal, Optimize, No to Perfectionism, Gratitude & Growth — is the foundation.

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