My Guilty Confession

I need to make a confession. It is about my beautiful 14 year old Persian cat. Her name is Rosie and I have corrupted her. Actually it wasn't just me, it was a family effort that started when my son and daughter-in-law came to stay. We left them in charge of Rosie while we took a week out to enjoy some of the South Island's beauty. While we were away we were sent photos by the cat-sitters of Rosie enjoying a bit of television and we thought it amusing.

The son and daughter-in-law eventually moved into their new home, and my husband and I presumed we would return to our familiar 'couple plus cat' life. It was not to be. We began to notice a significant shift in Rosie's behaviour. Instead of being content to jump up on the couch and sleep while the humans watched Netflix, Rosie was now positioning herself in front of the television and whilst not a large cat she certainly was a better door than a window.

And then it happened. Saturday night I finally snapped and being no longer prepared to watch Netflix through the cat I enticed Rosie away from the big screen and gave her my tablet with a 'cat video' (yes the actually exist on YouTube) playing. She took to it like the proverbial duck to water only this was cat to digital with Rosie whacking the screen with her paw and searching everywhere for the birds that kept flying away.

Sunday morning and instead of jumping up on our bed to lovingly greet us with a smooch and a purr, as she has done so for the last 14 years, Rosie went straight to our tablets, pushing her nose to the screen searching for, I presume, the elusive mice and birds from the cat videos. And her screen addiction continues to grow.

Even as I write this blog she has joined me in the study and instead of snuggling onto the desk to sleep, which has always been her pattern, she has taken a most un-catlike interest in what is on my screen. It is not easy to write with a cat's tail in your face and so I confess dear readers I gave her my laptop so she would watch that and let me get on with writing. Rosie the cat now appears to be totally corrupted by technology.

And I have a horrible feeling that she is not the only one. Fifteen years ago when technology first came on the scene we delighted in its ability to enhance our lives, make things easier (there is no way I am ever going back to a paper map!) and allow us to be connected and entertained all day long. But I think the delight is starting to turn to regret. In this morning's NZ Herald I read an article about Facebook and Instagram's new time management tools. It seems that in an effort to 'stay in the game' the very companies who have built and promoted these highly addictive tools are now 'helping' us to manage the addictions they have deliberately and mindfully created in order to make money.

And speaking of staying in the game, what an interesting thing has happened with this year's Super Rugby final. For the first time ever the game is not sold out. It seems that the fans are far happier sitting at home in their warm family rooms watching the game on large screens, enjoying all the action, along with commentary, replays and live feeds from the TMO. That is unless they too have a digitally addicted moggie competing for access to the screen. But then again who needs to watch the Crusaders when you can watch Mouse Videos for Cats?

I won't should on you if you don't should on me!

Jim Collins famously states: "Good is the enemy of great" and "Few people attain great lives, in large parts as it is just so easy to settle for a good life". In this blog post I would like to explore that it might not be just 'good' that is the enemy here, but that 'should' is equally capable of getting in the way of great. Let me explain...

On Saturday night my husband and I saw "The Darkest Hour' - a brilliant movie and one I wholeheartedly recommend. Being careful not to spoil the film for those who have yet to see it, it is safe to say that it tells the story of the time between Churchill becoming Prime Minister and his famous 'we shall fight them on the beaches' speech. What occurred in this space was the battle in the war cabinet about whether the right thing to do was to enter into peace talks with Hitler, (we should do this to save the lives of our men trapped at Dunkirk) or continuing to fight to save Britain's nationhood, (we could fight Hitler and think of a different way to save the troops). Interestingly Churchill only decided on his course of action when he stopped listening to the loud and demanding voices of his war cabinet and sought the voice of the people whom he served.

As the credits rolled I began to think about the place of 'should' and 'could' in our society today.

Looking back over education's recent past I see times when 'should' has definitely overshadowed the 'could'. When NCEA was first conceived I don't think it was ever the intent of the creators that the assessment tasks would become the prescription for what teachers should teach. My secondary colleagues have told me that the assessment tasks were originally conceived to support the many things that students could learn. But the reality of accountability measures left most schools too afraid to do anything but to use the assessment tasks as the dictate of what they should teach.

I also don't believe that those who introduced National Standards set out to remove the joy and wonder of teaching and learning; however in shifting the expectation of the system to one where teachers should focus heavily on numeracy and literacy for our at-risk learners, instead of what teachers could do to engage these students in meaningful learning experiences they did just that.

I am guessing that bowing down to 'should' doesn't just happens in education. Why is it that humans find following other people's 'shoulds' so much easier than advocating for their own 'coulds'? In my experience it is the fear of what might happen if I don't follow the loud and commanding voices of 'should' that motivates me to ignore my internal voice of possibility and come into line with the 'should' majority. Our society has become a place where 'should' is way easier to do than could. But is that what we really want?

Obviously there are aspects of our lives when we should come into line' - there is a reason for traffic laws, and for keeping food in the fridge; but the 'shoulds' that I am talking about are to do with the things that get in the way of the passions each of us hold. We are given passion for a reason and it is my belief that when you live out your passion you discover your purpose in life; and more often than not your passion and purpose are the very reason that you should not settle for anything less than what you could do.

Coming back to The Darkest Hour, Churchill found his 'could' when he went back to the people he served. How often do we go back to those whom we serve and find out what it is that they want or in many cases need us to be? As teachers how often do we go back to our students, as nurses to our patients, as retailers to our customers, as consultants to our clients? Our 'coulds' are fuelled by truly understanding the needs of those we serve.

Someone once said to me: "I won't should on you if you don't should me"! As we begin our new working year let's not should on each other nor on ourselves; instead let's take the time to explore each other's 'coulds' as well as bravely standing up for our own, and in doing so create a much better world in which we all live. As Collins reminds us it is 'just so easy to settle for a good life'; I'm not sure about you but I want to settle for nothing less than great!

Making 2018 the best year yet

As the 2018 working year begins to gather momentum it is the opportune time to think about what it is we can do to make sure that 2018 is the best year yet. Late last year, as I reflected on how I might make this happen, I read two articles which I found both challenging and insightful.

The first article was How to think like Leonardo da Vinci to unlock your creative potential. It detailed seven da Vincian (I bet you didn't even know that word existed!) principles which are essential elements of a genius. Now while I don't aspire nor claim to be a genius I am always on the lookout for things that might improve who I am and what I achieve. The principle that stood out to me was Arte/Scienza.

"Developing the balance between science and art, logic and imagination. Balancing apparent opposites gives us a more complete view of the world and allows us to think with our whole mind rather than just a portion of it."

The article went on to explain that Nobel laureates are 2.8 times more likely to have an artistic pursuit that the average person. So what are my artistic pursuits?

I use to have 'artistic pursuits' - that was before I became pre-occupied with education, technology, the future, social media and Netflix. Visitors to our home look at the intricate embroideries that adorn our walls and enquire as to where they came from. My husband delights in telling them "Carolyn did them in a former life". 

So here is one of my resolutions for 2018 - that I will make space for my artistic self.

First resolution is also the first challenge - how do you make a resolution stick? This brings me to the second article.

I have been a follower of the Conscious Leadership Group for quite a few years now. I love that their posts are both affirming yet challenging. Their December post Find your What and Maximise Your Impact in 2018  provided me with my second challenging insight:

"To maximise impact, you need to shift your attention from making resolutions to being the resolution" 

So my resolution is not about making space for my artistic self, it is about me being the educational leader who makes room for her artistic self.

What are your resolutions for 2018 and what do they look like when you transition from making resolutions to becoming the resolution? From "This year I am going to go to the gym four times a week" to "I am the leader who invests in her health by going to the gym four times a week"; from "I will listen more and speak less" to "I am the colleague who delights more in listening to others than having their opinion heard."

Now is the time to set up 2018 to be the best year yet. Join me in thinking about what we need to do differently in order to let our genius flow and to become everything that our lives allow us to be.