Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone With Brad Mason

Tired of living in your comfort zone? Ready to take a risk and try something new? If so, then today’s guest shares how one delightful book character can help you understand why getting out of your comfort zone might be the missing piece to leading a life you love.

Today, Ali and JoDee are joined by Brad Mason, an award winning children’s author and educator of over 34 years. Together, they’ll discuss what led Brad to write the Charlie Charloosy book series, big “Aha” moments in the book that teachers can apply to their own lives, and what you need to start doing today if you want to move out of your comfort zone!

Connect with Brad:
Charlie Charloosy Instagram

Charlie Charloosy Facebook

Charlie Charloosy Website

Brad’s LinkedIn

Brad’s Instagram

Connect with Ali and JoDee:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachershift
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teachershift
Teacher Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/teacher-shift
Ali’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisimon/
JoDee’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodeescissors/

Website
https://www.teachershiftpodcast.com/

Episode Transcriptions
https://www.teachershiftpodcast.com/blog

Transcript

Ali  0:06  
Teachers are natural innovators, entertainers and problem solvers. They dream of growing old into the profession, teaching their kids kids. But sometimes career goals shift, and that makes opportunities outside of the classroom seem intangible questioning, who am I, if I'm not a teacher? I'm your host, Ali Simon.

JoDee  0:29  
And I'm your co host, JoDee Scissors.

Ali  0:32  
And this is Teacher Shift.

JoDee  0:43  
Are you ready to step outside of your comfort zone? Whether you accept challenges or ease your way into them, we've got some tips for you. Today, our guest shares a wonderful book character that helps us understand the thrill of trying new things and how risk taking isn't just for students, but for teachers too.

Ali  1:00  
Today, our guest is Brad Mason. Brad is an award winning children's author of the Charlie Chaloosy book series. He's the superintendent at Whittier City School District with over 34 years in education. Brad's other roles include husband, father and Granddaddy. Welcome to the show today, Brad.

Brad  1:22  
Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be with you. 

JoDee  1:25  
I like that title, granddaddy, what does that entail? 

Speaker 1  1:28  
That entails six little loves that are four years old and younger. So both my daughter and her husband have three and my son and his wife have three. And they had the first ones four months apart, the second three months apart, and the last two months apart. So it's a competition. And so when we get together it is, it is Romper Room on steroids. But it is absolutely rejuvenating and enlivening. And so I wear granddaddy with absolute pride and passion.

JoDee  2:00  
I can hear it in your voice. That's awesome. Yeah, I know you have a lot of experience in education. So I'm sure you bring a lot to the table in terms of being a granddaddy with with that little like that teacher hat, that superintendent hat. Yesterday, I was at an event for work, and there were some of the little little kids like preschool. And the amount of honest conversations I had in such a short time with these littles was so refreshing because you just really get the most authentic conversations with those little bitty kids.

Brad  2:35  
It is not varnished at all is I'm going to tell you what I'm thinking. And I'm gonna ask you what I want to know. So it's keeps you on your toes. So love it.

JoDee  2:43  
Yes, I love that. Well, you are not a new granddaddy. But you're seasoned at this point. And you've gone through life trying new things yourself. And one of those is being an author. So what, what took you into authorship?

Brad  2:59  
Yeah, I think it must have been living just kind of below the surface, because it didn't take much to kind of spring me into authoring mode. But a good friend of mine owns a publishing company. And he sent me a book that he was working on for somebody else. And he really just wanted, because I'm an educator, and I've got Dr. With my name, he just wanted one sentence endorsement on the back that this book is great for fill in the blank. But the weirdest thing happened when I started to read the book, I realized because I've been reintroduced to bedtime stories with the little dewdrops in my life. And I felt this profound weight on my shoulders that this is about to end up in, and I'm going to be complicit in this, in the chubby knuckle the hands of these little loves who are so impressionable. And I thought, you know, we have an obligation to, to the young little ones out there to give them great things in their hands and not good things. And I thought the book was okay. So he wanted a sentence. And I think my responses was longer than than the actual book. And he gave it to the authors, and they accepted, you know, all the feedback, and they made those improvements and, you know, set it out into the world. And then it spurred a second conversation where he just said, you know, you've got all these ideas, A,  jokingly said, you know, do you want to be an editor? And I said, Absolutely not. And then B, you know, what's preventing you from taking these passions, these insights, this experience and writing your own stories? And I said, Well, it's you know, it's always been something kind of in the back of my head. When I get to retirement. When I get to, I get to. He said, So what prevents you from doing it right now? And I think my answer was the challenge. And and it sounds like your challenging me. So living in Southern California and part of the commuter world. So just in the drive home that night, Charlie Chaloosy was born in my head and got started writing that weekend and had it kind of the sketch of what I wanted the first book, Charlie Chaloosy is Often Quite Choosy, to look like and kind of the story and the progression. And I sent it back to him on Monday and said, Challenge accepted. And that was in July of 2023. And the book came out in January of 24. So that is not the typical trajectory of someone chopping things and so forth. So that's that's kind of the story. The second one is about to be in kind of production mode, Charlie Chaloosy Refuses to Snoozy. Same little guy doesn't like to take a nap. He finds that he realizes that he misses out on the adventures and the dreams and the wonderful adventures that go on only when you take a nap. So by the end of the story, he makes peace with that and back to nap time is being okay.

JoDee  5:41  
These are extremely relatable topics.

Speaker 2  5:44  
I have a lot of connections as a mom here, like remember these days.

Brad  5:51  
Thery'e a universal. 

JoDee  5:53  
Yeah, so Charlie, he kind of discovers this thrill of trying new things. And you obviously, you took that challenge, like head on and I love, love kind of seeing that relatability to your main character. So this character, how does he tackle certain feelings? Or if you have someone in your life, perhaps that you're trying to give advice to to try something new, what do you say to them? Or what can you learn from your book about just trying new things and tackling maybe some of the tough fears or feelings that might come with that?

Brad  6:28  
One of the things that I've loved with the book is that, you know, if you are in education at all, especially in the elementary side. You know, you have these author visits, and people come in and share their book, and tell their story, and then they leave. And the big aha is just the stranger that we met for an hour did this thing and wasn't that neat for them. And now it's time for recess and lunch. And let's get back to our lives. But what I've kind of found is that little kids and big kids alike, I think there's a little Charlie in all of us, that we tend to build these boxes of comfortability, and sameness and normalcy, and just all these things. And the story arc and trajectory for Charlie, as the book starts that, you know, Charlie always seems to pick things he likes the most. For instance, all he ever ate was peanut butter toast. And so and then we go on, and he only like certain clothes and certain foods and certain things. But then he starts observing the world around them that are kind of played by the kids that he's watching play. And so he's not ignoring them. And so as I talk with the reader through this, he's observing life around him. Then in the next, you know, little spans of rhyme, he's, he's thinking about ways that he might be able to engage. And then he finally takes the step of, he used to ride his bike alone, just little Charlie Chaloosy. But then he asked a friend to ride and now he's riding twosy. And so you see him just living this life in isolation. And now he asked a friend, and now he's doing something new. And then that opens up the confidence to try one more new thing. And he's eating new things and, and trying new things. And so kids are not very, I guess, people, and not just kids. But sometimes we are not very self reflective. We can't see weakness, or fear, or apprehension, or anxiety in ourselves. But man, we can pick it out in others. And we can certainly see it in little Charlie in this story. And so kids might have a hard time identifying kind of what's your fear point? What are you anxious about? It's kind of like the math student that, you know, goes, I don't know how to do this and pushes the pencil and paper away. And it's like, they haven't written the problem down. They haven't tried the first step. It's like, I can't really help you until I see where you're bumping up against that challenge. Can you copy the problem down? Yes. Can you do the first step? Yes. It's when you get to the third or fourth step is where you're challenging them. And let's focus on that, let's really diagnose what the issue is. And let's put a treatment plan together. And it could be just the launching point for growing confidence. And something that I put in the back of the book that I had not seen in any other is the last page leaves a blank page for the children to choose something new that they would like to try. So they write about it. And then a blank page for them to illustrate. And I'm going out to schools as that visiting author now and I've done it a little bit this last year because the book only came out in January, but booking dates to take my vacation days to go out and just be with kids TK through fifth or sixth grade all day long and kind of age appropriate assemblies and just encouraging them. Charlie's tagline is write your own story. And this is not about me and the fact that I wrote a book. It's really about you. And you have stories in your head. You have creativity. You have the ability to do this. And so let's do this together. And let me invite you and hand you the the invitation to tell your own stories. And so it's been so much fun. It's just been a gift.

JoDee  9:59  
One of my favorite things that you said was that he tried something new with a friend. And sometimes we need that competence. So Ali and I, we both separately, wanted to start a podcast. And we were both kind of missing skills, or maybe the confidence to do it separately. And somehow, you know, we came together at the park, we were watching our kids. And we came together with this idea. And it felt empowering to try something new alongside someone else. And we see that a lot with many of our guests who, who listen, and think I can't, I can't try this thing alone. But somehow, if I can connect with someone that might have the same type of feeling, then maybe I will build that confidence to kind of take that risk. And I know Ali wants to add on to that. But I do like the fact that we don't always have to do everything alone, like we can always find a pal, or even just, you know, I'm a writer too. And a lot of the risks that I take are within my writing group. And they're not even, you know, part of my core people that I'm with every day, but there are people that I can take risks with, in this particular area, or craft that I'm trying to work on. 

Brad  10:02  
You touch on something that's really part of my story and writing the story, as well as it, I can rhyme I can tell stories. I understand the arc of the story. I understand kids, but I am not an illustrator. And sometimes, as kids or adults, if we don't feel confident or a level of expertise in the whole path, we don't even start the journey. And what I found was after I wrote it, because I hadn't done this before. I wrote my dissertation. But that doesn't really count because I think seven people on the entire planet have read it. So we don't even count that as a book. That's just a thank you note to the university. This is the first book that I have written. I kind of thought I'll send the words away and my buddies got illustrators and so, they'll draw pictures. And you know, I'll just wait by the mailbox, and they're going to mail me a book. And he was like, oh, no, no timeout. There's a whole lot more that you need to do to dive into this. And part of it is scene descriptions or scene sketches. And he asked me for him, and I'm like, Ken you know, I don't know what you're talking about. What do you need for me? And he's like, You need to use words to kind of paint the picture for what you are seeing with these words, because these things can happen on a you know faraway planet, in the grocery store, the local park. The illustrator doesn't want to guess what you're thinking. So what I realized, and what I tell kids in the assemblies that I do is that you don't have to be good at all of it, you just have to be able to kind of the stone soup. Tou just have to bring your own component piece to this process. And mine was writing. And then kind of visualizing this character and how he's going to grow. And so what I realized is that I can paint with words, though I can these these mitts can't draw. And Sophie took that and just did beautiful illustrations, but it's only after I painted the pictures for her with words. And so super fun. And doing things all on your own sometimes isn't nearly as fun, as you know, traveling the path with someone else. 

Ali  11:13  
Yeah, I love how your publisher friend really encouraged you like to not wait till retirement to write this book. And that's one thing that I feel very strongly about, like I don't want to wait my whole life to do something that I if I've been wanting to do it. But then I also think you have to balance that out. A lot of times we get stuck in our comfort zone. Right? And so, you know, what advice would you give to a teacher who wants to get out of their comfort zone in the profession and maybe do something similar to what you did? Maybe try something else out on the side? Or perhaps work on something personally for them? It can feel really overwhelming because you're just, you're in the day to day life and you're scared. 

Brad  13:10  
Yeah, I spoke this January at the State Superintendent Symposium in California and you know, just one of these breakout rooms. And I don't know, there were 30 or 35 superintendents that wanted to kind of hear more about, because I'll be honest, this is not children's literature is not what superintendents are doing. You know, they're trying to write periodical articles for you know, magazines and you know, people that retire they sell solar and, you know, turf in schools and stuff. I'm just like, that is so not me. But one of the things that I shared with them that seemed to resonate with the crowd and what I've seen time and time again, whether it be teachers or just people kind of early, mid late career, whatever is, I'm kind of a visual picture guy, but the story of The Giving Tree. I love the story. It is beautiful. But I would disagree with with Shel in one thing and it was there was a degradation of the tree over time to where it ended up as a stump. And again, the stump still had a, you know, purpose for sitting so the boy could rest when he got old. But I think we run into career challenges when we allow ourselves to be giving, giving, giving, giving, and there's no rebirth, regeneration or something new. And I think to be effective in our in our marriages, in our relationships, as granddaddies, as friends, as professionals, we need to give away the fruit that we're bearing, not our branches. And as we continue to give away pieces of us that don't regenerate and don't come back, we have the ability to give away fruit and that stuff can regenerate. And it's really when people feel as though they're becoming a stump. I've lost my identity. I've lost my passion. I've lost my drive. And I don't know how to reinvent the vim and vigor that I started this career. And, and sometimes it's, therefore I need to change because I've lost myself in this. And so I need to go do something else. Whereas if sometimes our approach is a little different, we need to be feeding ourselves. And I've listened to episodes and it's exercise, or people that are doing other creative things, or diving into, you know, a tech and becoming an expert, and sharing that amongst their, you know, their peers, and so forth. And my challenge to superintendents was just that you've got to find a way to feed your soul. Because you cannot end up at the end of your career, a stump and then go, you know, now, what do I do? And so this has been growth for me, and it's just really a gift that I feel like I've been given this permission to explore this thing that I'd never really contemplated too much. And then give it to kids and just say, you've got stories. You're important. You've got things to say and share. And it's been nothing short of fantastic.

JoDee  16:55  
I wish everything you just said was something that someone had said to me, in my early 20s, as a teacher. That's not really a key message that you hear as a young person going into the profession. You kind of hear about what you have to give, give, give, but not really what you have to do to help yourself to have a career of longevity, of purpose, of feeling like you're, you're fulfilling what your full mission is in life. And so it almost seems like everything you just said would be a really great free professional, free school year speech that I think a lot of teachers could really feel connected with and know that like somebody, somebody sees them. And yeah, so I think you have a good, good little speech, there are perhaps professional development or something that would be great as teachers, you know, kick off the next school year. 

Brad  17:49  
Yeah, and I've had to practice it professionally as well. And nobody gave me this speech. It was it was kind of found to be tried and true in my own career. I was a teacher as I started my career, but then I became a Dean of Discipline, and then a super an assistant principal at three high schools, and a middle school principal, and a director of human resources, and an assistant Superintendent of Business and now as superintendent. So I've continued to just kind of figure out what do I love doing? And then what are ways to continue to grow and do other things? I don't know that I could have been a 35 year World History teacher. I mean, I don't know if that would have fit for me. Maybe the answer didn't because I wasn't. But there are things that we can do. And we're all wired differently. And the things that we want out of our professions and the reason that we gravitate towards them and and, you know, there is absolutely life that it comes up and for financial reasons, for familial reasons, for whatever that we need to make shifts and so forth. And I am 100% pursue the things you need to do for you. But I hate losing teachers because no one came along to put a puff of wind in their sails when they were just kind of, kind of adrift at sea. And I think those are things that we can fix by being intentional and purposeful.

JoDee  19:10  
Yeah. I like that you you know, went through kind of your career trajectory a little bit right there to show how you took growth steps that you didn't necessarily want to be a world history teacher your your whole career. But you found ways to ignite some motivation and inspiration to try new things throughout your career and now you're superintendent. And what I noticed when, we do our little pre survey and we get to know our guests a little bit more before we actually interviewed you, is that you said that when you made your shifts, when you took growth steps that you felt prepared, and that is the first time we have received that response in all of the interviews that we have done. And Ali and I ,we kind of see the the way that people are prepared for their next career thing, because we've interviewed so many people, and we recognize, and we value teachers and their skill so much. So what you know, led you to mark that response and what made you feel prepared each step of the way throughout your career?

Brad  20:17  
I think is getting ready before the opportunity arrives. It's professional curiosity. It's professional development. It's training. It's when you're the Director of Human Resources, working with the Assistant Super of Business, to hone in and improve our, our staffing, you know, and how we, we do position control and money to understand the budget and so forth. It's not just working your silo until it's time to work in a different silo. Then you're just kind of going, it's all foreign, it's all unknown. Be professionally curious, and prep yourself. I've met so many people when they think you know, the job that they really wanted, comes available, but they don't have the masters. They don't have the credential. They don't have the thing, they... people aren't going to wait and invite you to do something you're not prepared to do. So get prepared to do it before the opportunity arises. It's amazing how opportunity follows preparation. And so just just get prepared. It doesn't mean you have to know everything. And Good heavens, every job I've done there. There have been the unknowns and things you've had to learn while dealing and so forth. But there's a lot you can do to prepare. And just think of your professional life as you know, you get your first teaching gig and they give you a sash like you've joined the Boy Scouts or the Girl Scouts, and it's got zero merit badges on it. But you can start accumulating those merit badges over time, and pretty soon you're gonna look like Russell from Up. And you know, you're just missing one or two. But you're ready to go. And if you've ever bought a stock on the bottom, it says, you know, past performance is no indication of future return. It is the complete antithesis for people that if you have been confident and capable and successful in your last thing. They have every reason to believe that you're going to shine in this new thing. It doesn't mean you're going to be as good in year one as you will be in year five. But if you've got character, character travels. If you're truthful, if you're honest, if you're hard working, you're diligent, you're kind, you're trustworthy, you're all these things, those things resonate. I don't care what the job is, except for maybe mafia, you know, all those things translate well to any new opportunity. And just, just be a learner and just gotta be open to learning new stuff, and then take that confidence step.

Ali  22:38  
What I hear throughout this whole conversation that we're having today is that you kind of need to have a better balance. Like, I keep going back to the giving away your fruit instead of the branches. Like I can't get that out of my head. And I think that there needs to be more of a balance. If you know, you want to go in a certain direction. That may mean as a teacher, that you can't maybe keep doing all the things you have been doing. But if you're confident, and if you want to be prepared, that might mean like talking to your administration and saying, you know, I think in the future, I'd like to go into a leadership role. Instead of doing X, can I be on the school safety committee? Or can I do this? And then you know, asking for those opportunities. Because I agree with you like when you, when you have experience, when you have things on your resume that are setting you up for success for your next role, it really changes like how you feel about applying for jobs. It also lets the stakeholders know that you've been taking it seriously. So like if an opportunity comes up in another school, and your principal knows that you've been looking to go into school counseling or something like that, then they're listening out. And I think there's, there's a lot of like fear that we don't want to tell people that we don't want to do what we're doing anymore when we're in the classroom. Like that we're scared to say like...Well, I was a high school Spanish teacher, like, I don't think I want to be a Spanish teacher anymore. I want to do something different. And you know, does that mean like next year, I'm not going to get to teach AP Spanish because they know that I might be moving or, you know, whatever the thing is. But I think we're we're starting to get into a place professionally. And education is also moving there, maybe took a little bit longer where I think our leaders and you are a leader in schools, you want to support your staff, and if you want to help them achieve those goals. And so I think this is where having like a friend, or colleague, or a supervisor help you do that and like not be alone on that journey can really be beneficial.

JoDee  24:18  
So something I think that teachers get in a habit of is most of their relationships are with their peers on their team, or perhaps their department. But we have to expand our thinking and know that the leadership in the building. They're part of our network. And they're really bad. valuable people within a system that can help you get to the place that you want to be. Like, you know, you've been in several leadership positions, what and I'm just thinking what a great mentor you would be for that teacher who says, I can see the trajectory of my career going that route. I really like what you have done with your career path. And I want to know how you did it, and I want to prepare myself. But I also know that there's going to be some learning curves. I have to be open to learning something new. But as you know, Charlie, in your book, there's the thrill of learning those new things. You have a level of preparedness, but you also, you know, you have to be open to being a learner. And so it's almost as if we have to encourage those, those teachers that maybe aren't going to stay in that one position for 30 years, to perhaps look at the leaders in their building, and use them as their network, as their source of building them up and helping give them direction. And not, you don't have to feel lost, there are people that know things and people that can help you.

Brad  26:02  
You touch on something that I think it's essential for people that have aspirational goals beyond what they're currently just doing. The best thing you can do is be great at what you're currently doing. But look up the org chart to figure out who's a few steps further down the path. And I have spent my administrative career Looking the opposite way down the org chart. And just finding those just gems of people that I know are built for more than this. And I remember when I was a middle school principal, 1000 years ago, that I needed to hire a new assistant principal. And somebody came to me from the staff, and you know, he just said, I think I'm, I'm ready for this. You know, he was getting close to the end of his career. And I'm thinking what are we even talking about? And he's like, I think I want to do this assistant principal thing, you know, I've got a couple more years left. And he was basically telling me what kind of wanted to re-bench his retirement income and so forth. And I had to have the hard conversation with them that you've been interviewing for this position for the last four years that we've worked together. And I've seen no indication of leadership, a vision of any of those kinds of things, and that you can't flipped a switch. And so I look for people that by the way, they comport themselves, how they do their work, how they treat other people. They're really interviewing for future leadership positions in the organizations that I've been a part of. And when I have any influence, I just I want to pick a wonderful human being who's got the requisite skills to grow into the job. Because if I've been able to watch you, there's almost no answer you can give me... you know, you think you flubbed an answer on the interview. There's nothing you can say during your interview, that's going to change my opinion, because I know who you are. Likewise, there is no exquisite answer you can give me that's going to invalidate the, the not readiness that I've observed over the previous four years. And so it's really, it's character, character, character. It's just, that's who you are. And I just want to surround myself with the best human beings. And if you want more opportunities, talk to me, and I'm going to be looking for you. And if we had more of that in the profession, I really think that our big club and our farm system baseball analogy would be just, would just be filled with people ready to take these next steps. 

Ali  28:32  
That's great advice. And we just have one last question to round us out today. What risk taking tips would you give to teachers who are looking to maybe move up in within the school system or just to try something, something new, like you did like authorship?

Brad  28:50  
I think, figure out what your passions are. Do some research. You know, and don't don't just blindly, you know, step off into the darkness. I mean, there are lots of things that can be known. But if you're afraid to jump out of the airplane, I think the best way to build some confidence is help fold the parachute. You know, see how it works. Just gain some confidence in the thing that you're going to be putting in your trust or your time, talent and attention into and then just on the counter three, just go. 

Ali  29:21  
I love that. That's really great. I think that really in life that you should test out. You should sample things that you think you want to do. A lot of times we have this idea in our head of what Oh, my dream job would be this but you've never actually really done any of that before. So that's fabulous advice. I loved hearing your story and excited to be able to share with our listeners more about Charlie Charloosy and the book series. And if you want to connect with Brad you can find him on social media at Bradley Mason 66 and at Charlie Charloosy. And we'll also link his website and the socials in our show notes. Thanks again for your time today, Brad.

Brad  30:05  
My pleasure being with you, thanks for your time.

Ali  30:16  
Are you interested in suggesting a topic for Teacher Shift? Being a guest or recommending a guest? Please see the episodes page on our website to make a submission. And if you'd like to write for us, see our blog page. If you liked Teacher Shift, give us a five star rating and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Apple podcasts, Spotify and Amazon music. Today's episode was written and recorded by me, Ali Simon and my co host, JoDee Scissors. Executive produced by Teachers Shift. Produced and edited by Emily Porter. Original Music: Emoji by Tubebackr.