President’s Message

Brian T. Woods

Sometimes we have to

force ourselves to pick up our head and look around for the good.

LEADING WITH GRATITUDE

Iwant to begin this article by thanking the staff at TASA and TASB for a wonderful, if virtual, TASA|TASB conference. I was so impressed by the sessions and the engagement I saw from attendees. This is proof positive that nothing can stop our efforts to learn and help each other be better. One of the sessions I really appreciated was author and researcher Shawn Achor. Achor studies the impact of positive psychology. His session really helped me to check my own attitudes.

Like you, perhaps, sometimes I feel like I am slogging through the rest of 2020 and just wishing for it to be over. I have to admit that the pandemic can be discouraging at times. This is the reason we need to lean on each other. Every time I feel like very little is going well, I call a respected colleague and ask them to tell me something that is going great in their district. Of course they can list many things, and this forces me to refocus on similar things that are also going well in my district.

It goes back to that old notion of gratitude. Sometimes we have to force ourselves to pick up our head and look around for the good. I find that when I do, I always feel better and also think more clearly about my next steps. Let’s continue to lean on each other as we navigate the rest of 2020. To that end, I decided to share a short list of things I am personally grateful for, and would encourage you to write your own short (or long) list:

My family and their health.

My job. While taxing, I have never done more important work.

My school district community and its generally supportive and understanding nature.

My colleagues both in Northside ISD and across the state.

My shelter dog, Elroy.

I could build a much longer list, but you get the idea. Just the few seconds it took to create this list helped my outlook for the coming day and week. Feel free to share with each other what you are grateful for. Looking at Achor’s research, it turns out that if you make a list of just three things that you are grateful for that are new in the last 24 hours, your levels of optimism and happiness increase dramatically. The same is true for those who journal two minutes per day about a positive experience.

Achor’s research indicates that our brains, when positive, perform significantly better than when we are negative, neutral or stressed. He says, “Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises and your energy levels rise.” The research indicates that when you are positive, dopamine pours into your system. When that happens, not only do you feel happy, but it turns on the learning centers in the brain. You actually become better able to adapt to your environment. So, why talk about happiness and gratitude during a pandemic? Because it not only improves our mental and physical health, but it helps us adapt to change. Goodness knows, we are all adapting to change.

President’s Message continues on page 10

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