227. Filling Buckets: A Simple Team Exercise for Connection and Kindness

[00:00:00] Hi, it's Dr. Chelsea. Welcome to Passion for Dance, where it's my mission to create happier, more successful dancers through positive mental skills. And I always try to provide coaches and teachers with practical tools that you can take back to your dancers right away. And today's episode is a quick one to give you just that, a simple tool to help you bring more connection to your team. So today I'm gonna share one of my favorite team building exercises that specifically builds connection and kindness. I'm talking about bucket filling. It's based on the children's book. Have you filled a bucket Today? And if you teach it to young dancers, you can even take five minutes and read it together.

The idea is that everyone carries an invisible bucket that holds our good thoughts and feelings, and when our bucket is full. We feel happy and confident when it's empty, we can feel drained and frustrated. As a coach, you have the power to influence how full or empty those buckets feel for every dancer on your team.

But the real power is [00:01:00] teaching the dancers how to fill each other's buckets, and that can truly shift your whole team culture. So in order to make this easier for you, I decided to share the worksheet that I use for this exercise. So if you'd like to grab a free copy, you can go to passion for dance podcast.com/bucket, and you can download your copy right there.

When you get the resource, you'll also have a link for a Canva template. I'm gonna test that out this time. It'll allow you to change up the worksheet so you can put your own teams colors and names on it, truly make it your own. So go to passion for dance podcast.com/bucket to grab your copy of the bucket filling team building exercise, and in this quick episode, I'll share exactly how to use it.

Welcome to Passion for Dance. I'm Dr. Chelsea, a former professional dancer, turn sport psychologist, and this podcast is for everyone in the dance industry who want to learn actionable strategies and new mindsets to build happier, more successful dancers. I know what it feels like to push through the pain, take on all the criticism, and do whatever it [00:02:00] takes to make sure the show will go on.

But I also know that we understand more about mental health and resilience than ever before, and it's time to change the industry for the better. This podcast is for all of us to connect, learn, and share our passion for dance with the world.

Okay. Here's how to do this activity with your dancers. Step one, talk about what fills my bucket. Again, everyone carries this invisible bucket that holds our good thoughts and feelings. So you wanna think about what helps fill that up? What makes you feel happier, more confident, more connected? So ask your dancers what fills their bucket?

Is it words of encouragement? Spending quality time, a simple good job, and a high five after practice. This helps each person identify what makes them feel supported and valued. It's important for dancers to understand what truly helps fill their bucket and make them wanna keep showing up and make them want to work their best. What are those small ways that fill their bucket?[00:03:00] 

Step two is to ask dancers who fills your bucket? Ask dancers to think about the people who are their biggest bucket fillers. There may be certain teammates, it might be their family, maybe it's even coaches. Name two or three people who really fill your bucket and it's not gonna be everybody, and that's okay.

That's the idea. Everybody has a few special bucket fillers. It's important to take a moment and recognize and appreciate the positive influences around them. So ask them to be specific about the actions that really fill their buckets. What do these bucket filler people do that help you most? 

And you can even take it a step further once you've thought about who fills your bucket and what they do, to add a little gratitude practice by having your dancers write a note or even text their bucket fillers and say Thank you.

And then step three is to think about how I fill others buckets. So turn it outward. Ask your [00:04:00] dancers to consider how can I fill someone else's bucket? It might be as small as a genuine compliment, a note of encouragement, or showing up with a positive attitude or listening ear. The key is to help dancers see that by filling others' buckets, they also fill their own. We know that about gratitude research.

This is the same idea that while it feels good to receive gratitude or it feels good to receive something in our bucket, we actually feel better when we are the ones giving it. So ask them to pause and consider who in their life might need their buckets filled most right now, and what can they do or say to help fill that bucket?

And that's it. That's the bucket filling activity. Think about what fills my bucket. Who fills my bucket, maybe say some thank yous. And then how can I fill the buckets of other people I care about? I love using this activity early to midseason and truly, anytime I sense a team needs a [00:05:00] little morale boost. Even when you're in the thick of the craziness of your competitive season, it's a great reset for kindness and connection when you're so busy cleaning and training hard every day.

And here's the secret benefit. When your dancers practice bucket filling regularly, they become more emotionally aware. They learn what makes them feel supported, and how to intentionally support others. Part of the magic is the recognition that what supports me isn't necessarily what others need. That awareness is the foundation of that healthy, unified team culture of support.

And again, if you'd like to try this with your team, I made it easy for you. You can download the free bucket filling template and make it your own just head to passion for dance podcast.com/bucket. You can grab the PDF and run with it as it is, or click on the Canva template and customize it to fit your program.

And if you do this with your team, I would love to hear how it goes. Take a picture. Tag me on Instagram and share a photo of your [00:06:00] dancers filling their buckets. Until next week, keep building connection and kindness in your team culture. You'll be amazed how far a full bucket can take you, and that full bucket might even be just what you need to keep sharing your own passion for dance with the world.

Thank you for listening to Passion for Dance. You can find all episode resources at passion for dance podcast.com and be sure to follow me on Instagram for more high performance tips at Doctor Chelsea dot Otti. That's P-I-E-R-O-T-T-I. This podcast is for passionate dancers and dance educators who are ready to change our industry by creating happier, more successful dancers.

I'm Dr. Chelsea and keep sharing your passion for dance with the world.