


Focus On Your Successes (and the importance of 3)
Your mindset is a set of beliefs you have about yourself, others and the world. It plays an important part in how you feel each day, and how well you are able to respond to difficulties, challenges and setbacks.

If you or other staff regularly think about what you haven’t done, mistakes you have made or tell yourself that you aren’t good enough to do something, this is likely to have an impact on your wellbeing.
Yet from talking with many people, this is exactly what so many staff members do. They worry about what they have not been able to complete and all the jobs that remain outstanding, asking themselves how they will get everything done.
The more you feed your mind with positive thoughts, the more you can attract great things into your life.
Roy T Bennett
Research by (and research referenced by) the American Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, suggests significant benefits from positive emotions, which include:
- Greater creativity; for example when solving a problem, they come up with more ideas of what they might do next.
- Greater likelihood of resilience and the ability to bounce back more quickly from adversity.
- Student’s academic performance improves.
- Medical benefits, including Doctors making better decisions when having positive emotions.
- Greater social connectivity.
- Greater levels of trust and better (win / win) outcomes.
- Bringing the best out of people.
In her book, ‘Positivity’, Barbara Fredrickson shared her positivity ratio, building on the work that showed positive emotions bring significant benefits. She asked the question, “How much positivity do we need in our lives to reap these benefits—how much is enough?”
Her research, alongside Marcel Losada, who had also been looking at this important area, delivered an answer. They concluded that a ratio of at least three-to-one. That three positive emotions for every negative one was the tipping point.
This would help to determine whether people were likely to be left behind in life or flourish and a range in between. She puts forward that this is not a random number and it emerged from a wide range of analysis they carried out. This came from work with flourishing business teams and individuals and in comparing it with work done on flourishing marriages.
She also suggested that a ratio of about two-to-one are what most people experience on a daily basis and that people who suffer from depression and other emotional disorders are down at one-to-one or lower.
We all know the impact that things like workload in schools can have on emotions. We also know that workload is high and most staff will not get everything done – so they should quit trying. Instead they should focus on those things that will have the biggest impact (for the lowest effort) and learn how to prioritise effectively. And couple this with focusing and building their positive emotions and ensuring their ratio is at least three to one.
Below is a quick checklist for staff.
- Do not try to get everything done – it is usually not possible. Instead prioritise and make sure the most important tasks are done, the ones that will have the greatest impact.
- Focus on what you have achieved and your successes: at the end of each day, tell yourself at least 3 positive things you have done. Ideally learn to do this during the day too, though having a trigger at the end of the day to do this is a good way to start and to make it a habit.
- Boost self-esteem: if you start feeling that you are no good at something or a task is impossible, focus on your strengths – make a list of them. If you are not sure then talk to your manager or colleague and ask what they see as your strengths. It’s easy to forget about your good parts!
- How important is it: will the things you are thinking and feeling about have an impact in a week, a month, a year? Put things into perspective – what is the worst thing that could happen – it usually isn’t life threatening!
- Think about what you are grateful for: what are the things that bring enjoyment and fulfilment into your life. Can you switch and think about these when you are having negative thoughts?
- Life isn’t fair and the goalposts always move: you know this and while it is ok to fight injustice, you have to learn to accept it and move on. Adopt this as part of your beliefs and see the difference it makes.
- Talk to your manager: if you are still feeling negative a lot or struggling to feel confident in your abilities, talk to your manager for support and a review of your targets and objectives. If you find this difficult then choose a trusted friend or colleague. The more you keep to yourself, the more you are likely to will feel stress.
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It's OK if you are still not sure and would like more information first - just email support@welbee.co.uk and we will share the features and benefits of Welbee and how these help deliver the evidence proven benefits of higher staff retention, lower staff absences, better financial performance and further raise student outcomes. All starting with DfE Staff Wellbeing Charter recognised measurement.