Don't sweat the small stuff

In the first morning chapel of Michaelmas term, Senior Deputy Head, Mr Richards, shared some important thoughts from his recent reading of 'Don't sweat the small stuff' by Richard Carlson.

He focused on three topics. Firstly, how to 'recover quickly'. He spoke about how there will be times in our lives that we overreact, offend someone, over look the obvious, slip up, say something you shouldn't have (put your foot in your mouth), and so forth. Recognising the importance in how we respond to these incidences is what makes the difference when we are faced with our mistakes.

He then shared the importance of the three R's "responsive, receptive and reasonable", a strong message for us all. Being responsive to the issue in hand by factoring in all the variables, instead of being limited to your usual way of doing things, being receptive to ideas and suggestions and being reasonable by not having clouded vision, to put yourself in the shoes of others. Richard Carlson goes into greater detail in his book, but the three R's are beneficial to remember when in an environment where you are collaborating and working alongside others.

Finally, something that we pride ourselves on at Queen Anne's, the idea of making someone else feel good and how the most effective methods of reducing stress and improving ones life are actually the simplest.