Friday Mindset #95

Hello again and happy Friday!

Remember us? We’re back again, hopping endearingly from foot-to-foot like a year 7 who needs a wee, super-excited that we get to irritate you every week at 3:20pm for another whole year.

We’ve been on the road for a couple of weeks now, working with schools and colleges up and down the country, supporting students or running staff CPD. It’s been an inspiring and exciting start to the academic year. (By the way - Staff CPD is full for the Autumn term - next available dates are January 2024. Students sessions are still available though!)

We’ve got lots to share, and since this is a time of year where we set goals, and perhaps discuss the process of setting goals with our students, we’ve got a bunch of stuff orbiting this idea of vision this week.

It’s got us feeling full of promise and possibility. Let’s dive in.

Something to try...

We were struck by this, from Seth Godin, over the summer. What you’ve got here is an audio-clip of him discussing what he calls ‘non-teen activities’ - the stuff that distinguishes those who are going to end up at the best universities and in the most fulfilling careers. Here’s a little intro taken from an interview:

School is a place where we help students, “become self-directed, generous individuals,” and non-teen activities are… “entrepreneurial pursuits that goal-directed teenagers can pursue, such as starting a non-profit or piloting research in an area of interest. These NTAs demonstrate how you are a self-directed person who cares about a specific issue or cause. Someone who is passionate about making change can start that process at a young age.”

We’re excited about this as a fresh way to explore and endorse the kind of curious, proactive behaviour we want from our students - shared vision for what it is we do and why we do it. Careers advisors, aspiration leaders, culture builders, this is for you.

Godin begins by pointing out the ridiculousness of our system, namely the current university application process advantages those with privilege. He uses the idea of height to illustrate this. (give the slider a jiggle if you can’t get it to play. Worked for us!)

Then he goes on the explore how even those without privilege can access university study in the very best institutions. But, he argues, they have to have some sort of NTA in their armoury. Here he is discussing NTAs further. His examples are clearly outrageous… but persist. There’s transferability in this three-minute clip:

If you want to listen to the whole podcast talk, here it is. Plenty to think about, we reckon.

Something we're reading...

We discovered 80,000 hours over the summer and have been geeking out about this particular non-profit ever since. We’ll spend 80,000 hours of our lives at work… so how can we make that work as meaningful and fulfilling as possible? The site has dozens of fascinating articles about career choices, most of them dealing with the conceptual decision-making process of selecting and pursuing important work. It’s not a careers directory but a guide for how to make informed and interesting choices. Great for students to explore.

Where to begin? We’ve chosen this article for you, readable in fifteen minutes or so. Scroll it now, before you go home, and we guarantee you’ll be thinking… ‘I need to share this.’ Check it out:

Our latest offer...

This is precisely the right time of year to explore our psychometric test, and get a head start on identifying the kind of obstacles students are going to come up against as they begin their studies.

But it can feel complicated. You’ll have questions. How does it work? How many kids can I put through the questionnaire? How much does it cost? Is it easy to run?

Tony’s ready and waiting to answer any of your questions face-to-face, no obligation. This might be the intervention that transforms your ability to support students and improve performance, who knows. Take fifteen minutes out of your day to chat with Tony, and you'll be feeling much more confident about potential implementation. Click on his Calendar link below to arrange a chat:

And that’s it for this week. It’s all happening! All the best to you and yours,

Steve, Martin and Tony