What if we stopped asking ourselves “what’s the worst that could happen?” and started asking “what’s the best that could happen?”
At the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools conference last week, I had the privilege of hearing a talk by Michelle Poler who has made a name for herself speaking about her “Hello Fears” project. Michelle had a lot of great things to say, but the thing that stood out most to me was this simple idea - many of us have been trained to ask “what’s the worst thing that could happen?” when approaching something we are afraid of. Michelle challenged us to, instead, ask “what is the best thing that could happen?” By flipping this concept, possibility appears.
It strikes me that we can apply this to our work in schools, especially when considering experimenting with something new, innovative or creative. Depending on your setting, this type of thinking may be less or more encouraged, and depending on your personality, it may be more or less scary to try things that are out of the box. I don't know about you, but when asked “what’s the worst that can happen?”, I contract. When asked about the best, I feel expansive, creative, and confident.
I’d love to know if you try this and what you are able to identify as the best possible outcomes.
