It’s mid-March. Term 1 is in full swing. The weather all across the country has been interesting, to say the least – extremes of hot and stormy, fires, floods and almost cyclones – those who know Dorothea Mackellar’s poem will understand the extreme swings of our ‘Sunburnt Country’.
And absolutely everywhere I have visited I have witnessed the amazing commitment of staff in Australian schools to do the very best they can for the young people and communities they serve. And I am so proud of the work that our schools do, every single day.
In the spirit of my word for this year – noticing – I have noticed that many seem to be carrying a high cognitive load. Environmental factors are impacting whole communities.
Cost of living seems to be constantly increasing – I am not sure that we can tighten our belts much further!
Technology is creating overwhelm that has many of us pulling back – I am no where near as active on my socials as I have been in the past.
The world of work has shifted significantly. And even just trying to connect with people, whether that be personally or professionally, has felt a little tricky and perhaps even an unwelcome interruption.
So, my noticing has led to some pondering – I am curious about cognitive load. What are the things that are impacting the amount of mental effort required to process the world around us?
For everyone, that list will be different. When my working memory has hit its limit I slip into a mildly limbic state of overwhelm and that just keeps increasing the more I try to focus. My thinking brain stops working as smoothly as it should, and my emotional state can swing from mildly miffed to completely flipping my lid.
And let’s be clear – we only have one brain! Both personal and professional worlds combine in this one brain and all the hats that we wear on a daily basis get impacted.
There are so many aspects of the world around me that I have no control over… so how do I address this fluctuating cognitive load? I lean into the Language, Conduct and Mindset pieces of the Restorative Practices 2.0 model – it is literally my safe space!
I prime for success – I try to streamline my environment.
I’ve been pretty strategic about how I set up my workspace, my calendar/schedules, my travel routines, the notification settings on my apps. I lean into routines that save me time, but also find workarounds or solutions to the systems that waste my time. I prime myself by resting my brain – hence my creation in the photo accompanying this blog! The less mundane stuff that I have to carry in my brain, the more space there will be for the important thinking!
I lean into affective language and interactions to express how I am feeling
I use these restorative chats to provide others with feedback; sometimes my nearest and dearest need to understand that I need uninterrupted time for me, but they don’t always like to hear that! Leaning into affective interactions helps others to not create untrue narratives in their head about where things are at. As Brene Brown would suggest – I lean into being clear and kind.
I rely on constantly developing stored responses.
I have absolutely no control over so many aspects of the world around me. But, I have ultimate control over my own reactions to that world! Stored responses are the actions or statements that I need to be able to reduce my own cognitive load and not go down the rabbit hole when things don’t quite go to plan. And I completely accept that it is my job to keep developing new stored responses, because sometimes things that have always worked, suddenly no longer do!
And, I try really hard to not fall into the trap of venting… I try to protect the people around me by only saying things that I would be comfortable to say if they were in the room!
And, if I have both my internal and external language right… my cognitive load reduces, my mindsets stay positive and my conduct is appropriate.
I am able to stay on the High Road, working with others and creating wonderful transformative environments along the way!
I’d love to hear about what are you doing to look after your cognitive load?
