How things are connected – I have a blog post (which reminds me I have not published!) in which I reflected on how a set of readings and podcasts I was listening too and engaging with were all connected. I linked from leadership to reflection to growth mindset to time management and it was a lovely moment of serendipity but also realisation about the flow and connectivity in my life. Remembering this in terms of stress and pressure can help with the big picture.
Seeing the positives and the negatives – the pandemic has clearly had a huge impact on my work and personal life in so many ways but there are opportunities and there have been great moments of reflection and pause in the busy-ness and stress. For example reading to the children in the sunshine and building new support networks and relationships with colleagues. It has helped me reflect on a my role in a different way too.
Reinforced the importance of reflection and thinking time – this was a learning from last year but it is still important to reiterate. When everything is so busy taking a bit of time out has been even more important and the pandemic has enabled me to do this in a structured way as I have been meditating. There is less thinking time at the moment and that is a challenge.
Realising the value of the work I do and the values I have – I have really appreciate this over the past few months and how I can make a difference as well as the approach that I have and I take. There have been, and will be huge challenges, but I have been reminded of my values and what motivates me as a leader to support and facilitate change.
Educating myself about race and white privilege, we learn when we are at the edges of our comfort zone – I have made a commitment to educate myself about systematic racism, inequalities and bias. This has been challenging and uncomfortable, as it should be. But the learning has changed my perspective and this is an ongoing process. I have also committed to discussing this with my children and bringing them up differently so they cannot repeat the mistakes that I have made.
Continuing CPD when you are busy – it would have been easy to drop a lot of the CPD activities that I have done over the past few months with the excuse of being too busy and although I am finding some a challenge (eg regular blogging) just plodding on and keeping doing these activities has been really useful. Remaining connected to networks and colleagues has actually being critical for keeping mental balance and creating some new opportunities.
Rethinking the way that I work – I have always worked flexibly but never to this extent and my working pattern has changed massively. This is something that I need to keep thinking about and also I have learnt new ways of working that I have enjoyed, like regular routines and location which I didn’t think I liked.
LSP is awesome! – this was from last year but it still applies and I want to use it more. Just how to run LSP sessions remotely is a challenge but I do not want to give up on this.