CPD

Margaret

Adams argues why all teachers should make sure

they have a ‘don’t do’ list

plan to work on. Creating lists of things you intend to do is a good

way of marshalling jobs. If you organise your list well, you will also prioritise the most important tasks along with the ones that need doing first. The problem is that, however hard you work, there are always more tasks waiting to be added to your list. If you want to be more effective in what you do, and

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achieve more, both in school and outside school, there is another, quite different, list to create. That is your “don’t do” list.

Why do I need another list?

Your “don’t do” list is a different sort of list from the type of list you usually work with. This list does not add to what you have to do – it takes jobs away from you. Your “don’t do” list is your list of things you just

don’t do. Creating a “don’t do” list is a simple, but useful approach to personal organisation. In your working life and in your life outside work you draw up a list of things you don’t do to sit alongside your existing list of tasks you intend to work on. You need this new list, because today there are just

too many calls on you and your time. If you do not pay attention to what you are going to exclude from your schedule, as well as thinking about what you are going try to cram into your life, you run the risk of being pulled in too many different directions and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks you try to complete. Just stop for a moment to think about how much you

have to do in school and how much people in school expect of you. It is a lot. Then, look at your personal life. Think about

people who rely on you to help them emotionally and practically, and what this means in terms of the tasks you try to complete. Next, think about the jobs you need to do to maintain your home, your car, your garden, or maybe all three. You will also experience crises, from needing to find out why the broadband is not working to dealing with the

Negative assumptions

Dot Struthers

shares some thoughts on how to reframe

our limiting beliefs

OUR BELIEFS are inherited from our parents, our teachers, our families and our friends at a very early age. They are our personal truths which stay with us until we decide to challenge them because they no longer serve us. When we are young we tend not to question what

people tell us because we have a strong need to seek approval, to fit in and be accepted. So when you constantly receive a message like

“you’re so lazy”, your subconscious mind does not evaluate this, it simply accepts this statement as true and goes to work to find evidence to prove that you are lazy. This is where we make negative assumptions about ourselves which when repeated over and over again start to become self-fulfilling and eventually become our bedrock beliefs.

Uncover the origins of your beliefs

First make a list of all the positive beliefs that you have about yourself and then reflect on all the positive things that happened to lead you to hold that belief. Now write down all the negative beliefs that

you have about yourself and then ask yourself the following questions: • Where did these beliefs come from or who gave them to me?

• What do I feel about them?

• What is this belief costing me on a daily basis? • What will holding onto this belief mean for me in the long term?

• How will my life be different if I let go of this belief?

Finding the positive opposite

Let’s say that you want to talk to a parent about their child but keep putting it off and tell me that you just cannot do it. If I suspect there may be a negative self-belief running I might ask you “what are you assuming that is stopping you having this conversation”? After some thought, you may say that you think

that you are not smart or clever enough and that you are stupid. So the simple question “what’s stopping you”

has uncovered the negative beliefs which stop our flow and keep us stuck. The next step is to reframe the thought process by inserting a more freeing and positive assumption. For example you might say “if you knew that you

were intelligent and it was okay to make mistakes, how would you present yourself to this parent”? This positive statement is not commanding you

to accept it as true, instead it allows you to speculate and hypothesise so that you can be a bit more playful and generate ideas without agreeing to act upon them. Although, do not be fooled by the simplicity of the process – it has the power to inspire and often leads to personal breakthroughs. Negative thoughts and beliefs cause a person to

freeze and limit further thinking. Challenging the assumptions you make about yourself can be the greatest gift you give yourself.

• Dot Struthers runs workshops and coaching courses for teachers. To sign up for a free monthly CPD newsletter and resources register at www.merechats.co.uk

break-up of a relationship, or worse. After all that, you might even like to squeeze some recreational activities into your life. Drawing up your “don’t do” list, as well as your

“to do” list, will help you to identify the things you do not believe have a place in your life. That is why this particular list is so valuable to you.

OU ALMOST certainly have a list of tasks you plan to do this week. If you are like most teachers, your list will be a long one. You probably also find that your list seems to get longer, and that you never complete all the tasks you

Things to avoid

What goes onto my “don’t do” list?

It is easy to work out what should be on your “don’t do” list. Just think about the frustrations you face every day. What do you do each day that you consider a waste

of your time? What do you do that does not really help you to achieve what your job demands of you, or what you know you want to focus on? What tasks do you find yourself agreeing to do that you know you would prefer not to do? You will not be able to remove every activity

that comes to mind from your schedule, but it is these activities you should review to find the things that you are going to stop doing now, and avoid for the future. In your personal life, for example, you may decide

that you will stop lending your books, CDs and DVDs to anyone, because they do not come back, or they come back damaged, or because you have to remember to spend time and energy chasing people to return what is yours in the first place. Not lending your things to others is a simple

personal policy, and an easy one to remember. You are responsible for making, and keeping, your commitment. It is also your choice whether you tell people who ask to borrow your property why you will not lend an item, or just turn the request aside. You might also decide you will always keep

Thursday evenings free of schoolwork. Fulfilling this commitment will mean that you do not do marking and preparation on Thursdays and you do not stay late in school. This is a commitment you can make to yourself and you are responsible for adhering to it, most of the time. However, if your school organises a parents’

evening on a Thursday, then you will need to be there. When this happens, choose a different day to be Thursday for you for that particular week. In other words, do not lose out on the opportunity to fulfil your commitment to yourself. Just be pragmatic about how you do so. You may decide there are certain tasks in school

you will not volunteer to get involved with. You are not refusing to play your part in school life, when you make this choice. You are deciding to apply your efforts in areas where you think you can add most value to your school. Being clear in your own mind which areas you are

enthusiastic about, and which areas you would prefer to have minimal involvement with, will help you to shape what you do in school and what you avoid – or don’t do.

How will my new list help me?

Quite simply this is the list that will bring focus and clarity to everything you do. You will be more organised if you work in this way. As a result, you will have a better-defined structure to what you do, both at work and away from work, and you will avoid using up your precious personal resource on the wrong things. All of this will help to you to enjoy a more

productive and satisfying life, so start writing your “don’t do” list now.

• Margaret Adams is a former teacher and the author

of How To Take Charge Of Your Teaching Career

(Continuum International Publishing, 2008).

SecEd

Calling all Teachers

The London Teaching Pool has numerous job opportunities Start the new academic year on the right foot

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SecEd • May 20 2010

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