Deputy Principal, Teaching and Learning

Several years ago, I came across the work of Dr Adam Fraser. Dr Fraser is a researcher and thought leader in human performance and discovered a common thread after interviewing hundreds of successful people. Dr Fraser is interested in how people flourish. This work is valuable as we support our students here at The Hamilton and Alexandra College, because young people need to have the tools to negotiate setback and challenge. The Third Space is the Tool that Dr Fraser uses to help us understand what is required to get back on track when you are 10 points down in the final quarter of the basketball game, or you received a lower grade than you had hoped for in a SAC. What do you do when you receive bad news about a family member or friend but still have to show up to perform in your AMEB Grade 8 music exam? How do you maintain motivation when a sudden COVID lockdown prevents you from celebrating an important family event? 2020 has taught us that we cannot control everything, and that to survive and thrive, we need to be able to be flexible and pivot. This is where the Third Space becomes relevant.

In an interview with BusinessChicks.com Fraser outlines The Third Space:

1. Reflect

“As you move away from your day, reflect on your day. Make sense of it. Now, when you ask a busy set of high achievers to reflect on their day, what will they think about? Everything that went wrong, everything that sucked about their day. What we found was that when people reflected on their day, they have a cynical bias. So, what we did instead was to get people to answer these three questions – ‘what went well today? What did I achieve today? How did I get better today?’ What we found was when people at the end of their day look at what they achieved and how they grew, they got an optimistic mindset, and they grew in terms of happiness.”

2. Rest

“Use this stage to calm your mind and recompose so you don’t move onto the next task with racing thoughts. Depending on time, take a few deep breaths, do a crossword puzzle on the bus on the way home from work, or go for a quick walk around the block.”

3. Reset

“Align your mindset with what is about to happen. Ask yourself what your intention is. Do you want to enjoy time with your family? Think about how you’re going to show up when you walk through that door. What’s your intention? How do you have to behave to get that intention?”

When you walk through the door at the start of the day, how do you affect the office? When you get home at the end of the day what kind of energy do you bring? “They say there are two types of people in life, those who light up a room when they walk and those who light up a room when they walk out,” Dr Fraser says.

It is not what you do, but what you do in-between that you do, that really matters. The Third Space is that moment of transition between one role or task to the next role or task. I encourage you to view the following video clip as a family and consider how we can work together to build resilience and purpose as students, parents, and teachers in 2021.

https://youtu.be/dpk_dssZXqs?list=PLNrY61d9awxhG2IwBRKgUfSl1HWpPu7yJ

Mrs Susan Bradbeer

Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning