Invicta Vlogs
Pearls of Wisdom
Welcome Back to our final Half Term of the Academic Year 2018 – 2019. We are know the phrase ‘time flies’ and use it frequently. However, I can honestly say that I have never known an academic year to fly by quite so quickly. So, at this point, it is always good to reflect.
As a school, we work with an organisation called PiXL – Partners in Excellence. This supports us in providing advice, structure and training for staff and students. Over the holiday, I read a very good article from the founder of PiXL, Sir John Rowling about advice.
This week’s theme is to be ‘Proactive; take the initiative and forge your own path’. Sir John’s comments below, made me think about the need to reflect and consider our theme of ‘forging our own path’.
When asked about advice for prospective actors, Judi Dench observed, ‘I don't think anybody can be told how to act. I think you can give advice. But you have to find your own way through it.’ That’s about it: we are wise to listen but, in the end, we have to make our own way through it all.
Sir John reflected on the best advice they were ever given by 32 of the world’s most famous people.
Bill Gates was advised early in his career to ‘Keep it simple.’ Of course, life is not simple, problems are not simple and Bill Gates will have had plenty complexity about issues in his business but still he believed there is wisdom in the advice. Tom Peters in his book The Excellence Dividend gave his perspective: ‘if you can’t describe your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position.’
Warren Buffett was an advisor to Bill Gates but received his own ‘best advice’ from his boss years ago: ‘tell someone to go to Hell today if you must, but best wait until tomorrow.’ Graphic language of course, but the advice is clear: don’t make rash decisions, sleep (or be awake all night) on it, don’t fly off the handle, avoid explosions. You might feel better by saying your bit but think carefully first.
JK Rowling famously wrote her books in a café because she was a single mother on welfare, experiencing tough times. And the best advice she was ever given she says was ‘learn to embrace failure.’ She had plenty initially, lots of rejections by potential publishers and all the challenges to self-belief and esteem that goes with that. She persevered, pressed on, worked through, rose resilient from the pressure. It is easy to do with hindsight but in the middle of ‘failure’ it can be very hard. Recognising that some elements of failure might actually be our fault and that maybe we are wrong, are all part of ‘embracing failure.’ Then, of course, we rise beyond it.
There are three bits of ‘best advice’ from famous others. We will each have had our own, maybe even now, offer it to others. But in the end, as Judi Dench said, we have to make our own way through it all, and we do!
So, as we reflect upon the academic year to date, I would certainly advocate Sir John’s need to consider advice from others but to also understand that we need to ‘make our way’ through our personal challenges to ensure that we feel fulfilled by the end of the year! We have 7 school weeks to do this and so I shall look forward to seeing our staff and students ‘make their way’ and ‘take advice’ as they feel fit.
Mrs Derrick
Headteacher
