10 Percent Braver by Georgie Tennant
Being 10% Braver is a book written for women in leadership in education. Following, as I do, many other educators like myself on Twitter, for inspiration and ideas, I noticed recently that the book title has also become a hashtag. People tweet about things they are pleased they have achieved, adding #Being10PercentBraver.
I am not in any sort of leadership in education (just a common-or-garden classroom teacher) and neither have I read the book, but, in pondering a topic for this month’s blog post, the idea inspired me.
I love the idea of 10%. It doesn’t sound like a lot does it? But it got me thinking. If I had 10% more time in each day, I would have an extra 2.4 hours – believe me, I am already dreaming of the multitude of ways I could spend those! If there were 10% more months in a year, that would be an extra 1.2 months or 36.5 days. I’m not sure I would have considered this a good idea when my children were tiny, but now they are speeding towards being grown up and independent, those extra days seem like a good idea.
As a part time teacher, I am supposed to have 10% of my time in school as free time to do my planning, preparation and assessment. For me that only amounts to 1 hour, which doesn’t sound like much, but boy do I notice when that time is stolen from me for such horrors as covering a science or languages lesson (what do you mean you can’t help me with this Spanish work, Miss?).
10% weight gain would be the difference between 12 stone and 13 stone 2 – believe me when I say I know how much difference this makes to the snugness of one’s trousers.
How interesting that 10% feels so little, theoretically, but so much more when applied to real-life scenarios. It got me pondering: what could we do to be just 10% braver in our writing, and what surprising consequences might it have?
Perhaps you could:
• Click “publish” on that hidden blog post or poem;
• Get that submission together and send it to a few publishers;
• Book into an ACW day, even if you don’t know anyone yet;
• Send off tentative emails to explore the opportunities you’ve been pondering;
• Introduce yourself and your writing on the ACW Facebook Group.
I was 10% braver, yesterday, when I said yes to an invitation to be the guest speaker at an online writing group run by Rosalie Weller. When I received the invitation, I wasn’t sure if I had the courage to say yes – what if I ran out of time to plan what to say…what if I simply wasn’t interesting and bored them all to sleep? In the end, I was so glad I said yes. I had a lovely morning, meeting fantastic people who inspired me in my writing journey far more than I inspired them. Michelle Diskin Bates' talk on her book "Stand Against Injustice," to me, was an example of being 110% braver, not just 10% - do grab a copy and read it, if you haven't come across it yet!
All of the talk of bravery made me think of one of my favourite Bible verses: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord, your God, goes before you and is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1 v 9). If we’re not feeling even 10% braver today, we know where we can go for a fresh injection of courage that will carry us through.
I am not in any sort of leadership in education (just a common-or-garden classroom teacher) and neither have I read the book, but, in pondering a topic for this month’s blog post, the idea inspired me.
I love the idea of 10%. It doesn’t sound like a lot does it? But it got me thinking. If I had 10% more time in each day, I would have an extra 2.4 hours – believe me, I am already dreaming of the multitude of ways I could spend those! If there were 10% more months in a year, that would be an extra 1.2 months or 36.5 days. I’m not sure I would have considered this a good idea when my children were tiny, but now they are speeding towards being grown up and independent, those extra days seem like a good idea.
As a part time teacher, I am supposed to have 10% of my time in school as free time to do my planning, preparation and assessment. For me that only amounts to 1 hour, which doesn’t sound like much, but boy do I notice when that time is stolen from me for such horrors as covering a science or languages lesson (what do you mean you can’t help me with this Spanish work, Miss?).
10% weight gain would be the difference between 12 stone and 13 stone 2 – believe me when I say I know how much difference this makes to the snugness of one’s trousers.
How interesting that 10% feels so little, theoretically, but so much more when applied to real-life scenarios. It got me pondering: what could we do to be just 10% braver in our writing, and what surprising consequences might it have?
• Click “publish” on that hidden blog post or poem;
• Get that submission together and send it to a few publishers;
• Book into an ACW day, even if you don’t know anyone yet;
• Send off tentative emails to explore the opportunities you’ve been pondering;
• Introduce yourself and your writing on the ACW Facebook Group.
I was 10% braver, yesterday, when I said yes to an invitation to be the guest speaker at an online writing group run by Rosalie Weller. When I received the invitation, I wasn’t sure if I had the courage to say yes – what if I ran out of time to plan what to say…what if I simply wasn’t interesting and bored them all to sleep? In the end, I was so glad I said yes. I had a lovely morning, meeting fantastic people who inspired me in my writing journey far more than I inspired them. Michelle Diskin Bates' talk on her book "Stand Against Injustice," to me, was an example of being 110% braver, not just 10% - do grab a copy and read it, if you haven't come across it yet!
Georgie
Tennant is a secondary school English teacher in a Norfolk Comprehensive.
She is married, with two sons, aged 13 and 10 who keep her exceptionally busy. She writes for the ACW ‘Christian Writer’ magazine
occasionally, and is a contributor to the ACW-Published ‘New Life: Reflections
for Lent,’ and ‘Merry Christmas, Everyone,’ and, more recently, has contributed
to a phonics series, published by BookLife. She writes the ‘Thought for the
Week’ for the local newspaper from time to time and also muses about life and
loss on her blog: www.somepoemsbygeorgie.blogspot.co.uk
Superb, Georgie!! What a way to start the day. I am going to take this on board and be more courageous
ReplyDeleteI love this post and your practical suggestions for how to apply the 10% idea, Georgie. Very applicable to writing!
ReplyDeleteThank you Georgie. If 10% braver means being just 10% more confident in my writing, I'll take that.
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant post! I love the sound of this 10% Braver thing on twitter. Will try to find it. so true that 10% in real life makes a huge difference and with something like bravery, the ramifications will most likely have an even more wide-reaching effect. Thanks for this inspiration xx
ReplyDeleteLove this, Georgie. Encouraging in the true sense of the word, where you feel your heart expand, your spirits lift and emboldened.
ReplyDeleteLove this! Great challenge that I am going to think about- and DO something.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this - definitely being a lot more than 10% braver in the last 24 hours as I am buying an electric car to be shared between myself and my son - he doesn't know yet, as it's a birthday present for him!
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