Assistant Principal - Pastoral Care

The Art of Being, Over Doing

An article titled ‘The Power of Reflection’ examines the career of Ben Crowe, a mindset coach renowned for his work with Ash Barty, Dylan Alcott and the Richmond Tigers. It struck me that his work is relevant for our students as they receive their semester reports and break for the winter holidays.

Crowe’s work supports much of what we have been striving for at McCarthy over the last few years: a focus on character; the person who we are rather than the results or marks on a page. This is why our reports have such an emphasis on learning character qualities rather than statistical analysis of performance.

Crowe particularly urges people he works with to reflect on “the human being, less so on the human doing”. That is, concentrate on who we are as a person rather than what we want to achieve. Dylan Alcott enthusiastically supports this approach, he argues that once he commenced this process his results took off and he won everything even though this was not his focus. Being the best person you can be often results in you feeling fulfilled and content and therefore you perform better in any endeavour that you embrace.

Echoing much of what I have written in this space over the last few years, Crowe warns that as individuals we need to take charge of the narrative or story that shapes our own lives. If not, it will be constructed for us by powerful societal forces that are insidious and pervasive:

1. News media - which is primarily negative and fear inducing;
2. Advertising - making us feel guilt, shame or inadequate;
3. Social media - driving a crippling culture of comparison and perfectionism.

Many of our current social ills and dysfunction can be attributed to the impacts of these influences on our psyches.

One of the key structures that we have created in the College to enhance the positive wellbeing of students is the vertical mentor groups that commence each student’s day. Here students are encouraged to be interested in others, particularly the older students caring for their younger peers. When we make others our focus, their wellbeing our concern, we actually enhance our own. At the funeral of US Senator Bob Dole, his daughter attributed his ability to live a meaningful life and be well respected by both sides of politics (a rare quality in a deeply divided country) due to his simple goal of striving to help at least one person a day.

Being a decent human being doesn’t require much - be courteous and polite to all that you encounter, clean up after yourself and be grateful for what you have in life. These are qualities that we do not explicitly report on but which are deeply implicit in our expectations that students contribute to a productive learning team, valuing the work of their teachers and fellow learners and to ensure that everyone’s day is better because they have encountered you. When we make our goal to be a better person everyday, we will be on the way to mastering the art of being over doing.

An interview with Ben Crowe can be found at:

https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/meet-ash-bartys-mindset-coach-ben-crowe-%E2%80%93/13952192

Mick Larkin - Assistant Principal - Pastoral