Resilience

This article is 2/2. Click here for the first article. … For many people complaining has become a habit. The “No Complaining Rule” is not intended to eliminate all complaining, just mindless, chronic complaining. An even greater aim is to turn justified complaints into positive solutions. In last week’s Happy School article, it was suggested to start with a personal “No Complaining Fast”. In phase 2 we look at strategies for changing bad habits. It is important to be aware of the difference between justified complaints and habitual complaining about things we have no control over. Mindless complaining focuses on problems whereas justified complaining focuses on solutions. Some teams find it useful to brainstorm current issues or complaints and then…

This article is 1/2. Click here for the second article. … Negativity affects the morale, performance and productivity of our teams. Complaining and negativity are a kind of cancer in an organisation. It grows hidden beneath the surface, if not caught it eventually spreads. According to author Jon Gordon there are two main reasons why people complain: (1) because they were fearful and helpless and (2) because it has become a habit. An effective strategy for addressing negativity and overcoming this habit is to introduce the no complaining rule. The aim of this strategy is not to eliminate all complaining, just mindless, chronic complaining. An even greater goal is to turn justified complaints into positive solutions. Every complaint represents an…

Emotional resilience – is it just another trendy fad, designed to sell books and amuse university researchers, or is there something tangible to it that we can learn from, adopt and develop ourselves to be more optimistic? I’m in the happy camp here in that I prefer to lean to the latter statement. Emotional resilience comes from the field of Positive Psychology – the study of strengths, virtues and what goes right. Following World War II, psychology took the route of focusing on what goes wrong, on mental illness and pathology. It wasn’t until the start of the new millennium that pioneers like Martin Seligman brought credibility and validated research to the study of happiness. Are you one of those…

Many of our students appear to be wrapped in cotton-wool by their parents to protect them from the world. Unfortunately, a bi-product of this situation is that many students lack the persistence necessary to keep going when circumstances are challenging. They give up at the very first hurdle. Asking students to persist or struggle with classroom tasks can be very beneficial for deeper learning. Significant learning benefits result when students are allowed to do some of this hard work on their own and struggle with ideas they do not quite yet understand. Teaching grit is important. What is grit? According to Angela Duckworth, Associate Professor of Psychology at University of Pennsylvania, “Grit is a disposition to pursue very long-term goals…