Gavin Oattes - A Head Full of Everything

Interestingly, research shows that when you believe you are better than you really are, it will have a negative effect on whatever the task is at hand and your performance essentially dips.

Unfortunately, there is another common side effect to overconfidence, it's called dickheadedness. We all know one.

So, this is good news for those of us who lack confidence but still care enough to want to do well and give our all in life … and maybe even dare to be great at something?

Let's be honest, the world isn't going to change to accommodate you. If you're waiting for everything to fall into place, for that perfect moment, and only then will you start living your best life – you'll die waiting.

‘Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.’

—Howard Thurman

The modern world is, on the whole, rather amazing. Yes, I know the news is bad, social media gets our back up and parents go on about everything being better back in the day. But I'm not convinced by that argument. I said the modern world was ‘amazing’, not ‘perfect’. Modern life throws up all sorts of obstacles to our wellbeing. We're not built to sit in our bedrooms all day, staring at screens. We're not built to be alone. We're not built to fill our bodies with junk food and energy drinks. We're not built to stay still.

We're built to move, run, jump and even dance. We're built for the outdoors. We're built to learn, to be creative. We're built for communities, togetherness and to be part of a movement. We're built to eat wholesome foodstuffs and drink water. We're built to grow and get better.

What's really cool, is that right now, at your age, you can start to build the world you want for you. Unfortunately, for many years, humans haven't always got this right. We have in so many ways got it very, very wrong.

And the result is a tiredness. An unhealthiness. A mental ill‐health.

But look closely at the world. The opposite is also true. There is an energy about it. A healthiness. A mental wellness. Sometimes we need to search hard to find it, but it's there. And you're allowed to be inspired by it, to learn from it, to absorb it, to contribute to it, to be a part of it, to lead it.

There's always time to chill. There's always time to scroll. There's always time to stop and do nothing, sometimes we need to! But it's too easy to do that all the time.

Sitting in your trackies, basking in the glow of your phone for hours on end won't get you to where you want to be. You've already worked out that the weeks are getting faster, time stops for no one.

Look, I'm pretty sure you're switched on to this stuff. You probably look after yourself more than the media would give you credit for.

But too many of us are tired. Bored. Fed up. Stressed. Angry.

I can assure you though, there is a solution and it's cheap.

No, it's not a Red Bull on the way to school. Or a Monster to get you through your studies. It's way more healthy than that. Your body and brain are not built for those drinks, hence the reason you would die if you drank too many of them. Literally, don't drink them, ever.

When I say the solution is cheap, it is. It doesn't cost any money, but it does cost time and energy. And better still, you're built to do it….

What if the secret was in our heads – more specifically our thinking – and we could maintain some of that youthful, carefree exuberance that we had when we were 4, but now, in your teens and for the rest of your life before society snaps you up and pops you on the treadmill to Grownupsville?

It was a different kind of energy at that age, never forced. You weren't fussed about the news. Life excited you. You had zero issues with Mondays and puddles were not to be avoided.

‘Only children believe they’re capable of everything.’

—Paulo Coelho

Think back to when you were about 7 years old and your teacher gave you a reading book that you had already read the year before with your previous teacher.

How'd that make you feel?

I'll tell you how it made the kids feel the first time I made that mistake as a teacher.

Furious. They were furious with me.

Why?

Because at the age of 7, we want nothing more than to be moved up a reading level. The only thing we want more than that is for all our classmates to see, hear and hopefully acknowledge that we've been moved up!

In fact, the only thing we want more than this is to see the look of pride on our parents’ faces.

This was one of the many things that amazed me during my time as a teacher.

‘HANG ON, YOU'RE A TEACHER, GAV? WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL US THIS?!’

Ok, so I managed to squeeze in a teaching degree along the way. I'm qualified to teach kids aged 3–12.

Every single day as a primary school teacher young kids amazed me. There are so many moments of inspiration. Like when the queues form at the teacher's desk. You've all stood in those queues. There are loads of reasons why kids stand in them but there's 2 big ones.

The first is to ask for help. This really is a biggie.

I like to imagine we're all born with the unique ability to ask for help. It's such a natural thing to ask for when we're very young. But it's like we un ‐learn this skill. By the time we've hit our teens asking for help can feel silly, embarrassing or even weak. There is nothing weak in asking for help, in fact, quite the opposite. Asking for help is what makes us stronger. It connects us with others, allowing us to surround ourselves with people that make us feel good and encourage all sorts of new learning and adventure. Asking for help can create optimism and hope. Be sure to do it more.

Another thing that always amazed me as a primary school teacher was those moments I was sitting doing my work as all the kids were doing theirs, and the queue formed to my right‐hand side. Now we've all stood in that queue, we know what it's like. It usually consists of a row of children with great big smiles on their faces, saying something along the lines of ‘I'm finished, what's next?’ It's like an absolute need at that age, a want and desire to learn, to progress, to prove themselves and to embrace the next challenge. We don't care what others think. We're ready, willing and more than able to take on the world, to be the best we can be, to dream and to think big.

You see, this is what inspires me most about wee kids. They always want to know what's next. They crave information and every single day as a teacher my mind was completely and utterly blown by the energy, passion, excitement and drive that those wee kids had, simply for what's next.

But there's a problem with being that age. And it's this …

We stop being that age.

That's it.

I'll say it again.

We stop being that age.

There's a technical term for it: ‘growing up’.

We leave primary school … and off we go into Teenagerland. You may also call it high school. A magical land filled with hopes and dreams. A future‐focussed paradise filled with ambition and desire. A training ground for growing up, fitting in and dealing with change.