Jann’s Jottings - April 2026

Newsletters

Mar 31

“The most practical pages for perusal on the web”

Jotting (defn): short details of significant events, behaviours and conversations about wellbeing, growth and education/career.

Wellbeing Jot: The Language of Self Awareness

Ludwig Wittenstein wrote: “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” This struck me as so often both myself and my clients have difficulty really articulating how we are feeling beyond mad, bad, glad or sad. Yet language is our threshold to meaning making, connecting with others, growing and self-awareness.

When we can name our emotions, it gives us power and insight to move through them, clarity on what they mean and on our next actions. More importantly it helps us to learn more about ourselves. Clearly articulating and being mindful through paying attention in the moment, non-judgementally, enables us to stretch towards self-understanding. What we cannot articulate we cannot address.

Next time you feel something strongly, pause, think wider than mad, bad, glad or sad and name what is really going on for you as you stretch for more self-awareness and more appropriate actions and watch your relationships be more enriched.

Coaching can help with that.

Growth Jot: Checkpoints

I grew up with the saying “If a job is worth doing it is worth doing well.” This has served me greatly in terms of my work ethic and I am so grateful to my parents for instilling this in us.

When it comes to emotions, relationships and challenging work the saying: “Everything worth having is on the other side of hard” also resonates deeply. So how do we check and persist when things are hard? Try using these checkpoints by asking:

Am I learning? (about myself, others, process etc.)
Am I growing? (in skills, leadership, self-awareness etc.)
Will persistence make a difference?

Do an honest inventory of what you are finding hard and practice naming the emotions accurately when things get difficult, then decide to persist, seek help or bow out gracefully. I’d love to hear how you go!

Career Jot: Two Things

As a leader we need to get two things right in leading our team and school:

Building great relationships
Making effective decisions

We can fall into busyness, doing jobs that can be delegated, checking up on others in a micro-managing kind of way or being in meetings/decisions that really don’t need us as others are more than capable. The leader’s work is one of building relationships to empower others, holding complexity, making the decisions only you can make and providing strategic clarity.

What is your identity as a leader? Is it tied to working harder than everyone else or being the help desk, or stepping in to save, or flying off the handle, or consistently sacrificing in your role so others see how hard you work? If so, your team will not flourish. The accumulation of neglected or kneejerk decisions, unclear or changeable direction and lack of confidence and trust in your people will result in disunity, frustration and absence.

A challenge: sit quietly and wait for the right decision; have that conversation everyone knows you need to have, create the vision and hold it steadfast for others and build relationships that empower, not limit, your team members.

Coaching can help with that.