Negativity bias, that natural human urge to pay more attention to the things that are wrong, has very functional roots in our evolutionary biology. In a survival context, being alert to threats is an absolute superpower. I’ve written before about my hunch that many of the best leaders in education have a propensity towards anxious attachment styles. Whether or not it is true there is no doubt that working in high stress environments (as all schools are but particularly those in challenging circumstances) is anxiety inducing for its leaders. In my opinion the best of the lot are the ones, with a huge amount of moral purpose, who put themselves in these environments, notice what needs to be done and they take it upon themselves to get on with it.
This is not without consequence though. Scanning for threats all day can easily take its toll. We live in hard times, culturally, environmentally and economically, our leaders are often woefully under resourced and it can be hard to stay positive.
However, we really cannot afford this. Decades of research indicate the importance of envisaging and communicating a positive vision as a leader. What is more, this isn’t something that you can fake for very long. In fact as Hoschchild’s (1983) pioneering work with cabin crew demonstrated, there are significant health implications of presenting as cheery when you are not. Therefore, if we want to lead well, and avoid burnout, we need to find authentic sources of positivity for ourselves.
So, whilst I know it hard times it can feel self-indulgent to make time to fill our own cups with joy and inspiration, I would argue, if we want to lead well it is absolutely essential.
With this in mind, today I got to leave work early and instead of getting straight on with things on my to do list I went to check on my pot. And guess what? It turned out better than I could have ever imagined (it was clearly a pestle and mortar all along not a bowl). This reminded me that maybe, just maybe things are better than we think and provided the inspiration to to write this post.
So I urge you- whilst it’s not a one size fits all model pottery is certainly not for everyone- perhaps you can ask yourself:
What brings me joy?
What was better than I thought it would be today?
And how I fill up my cup so I can genuinely pull that huge smile on the gate or the corridor tomorrow morning?
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