It has been a good week and I have been lucky enough to spend time with some outstanding colleagues. Talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful colleagues with a positive attitude who are achieving great things in schools and at Education Leeds...

Apart from the usual round of meetings I had a meeting with Tessa Mason to plan a visit by Susannah Todd, deputy director at the DCSF, to showcase the best of Leeds. We held yet another long service awards at the banqueting suite at the Civic Hall, where we celebrated the dedication and service of a group of fabulous colleagues who have given their working lives to the children and young people of Leeds. With Rosemary Archer I attended a meeting with the Leeds secondary headteachers to talk about 21st century schools, and the key role our schools play in delivering brilliant outcomes for our children and young people. I had meetings with headteachers from the Inner East family of schools, and from the North East schools learning partnership. We talked about the opportunities we face to continue to build brilliant provision consistently for all our children and young people, their families and the communities we serve. I attended an away day with the Education Leeds board at Weetwood Hall, where we talked about how Education Leeds continues to develop to support schools and learners to achieve outstanding outcomes. I met with Suzy Alderton from the young people's enterprise forum to talk about how we could contribute to the Education Day at the Yorkshire international business conference in June, and showcase the best of our work on creativity, enterprise and innovation. I also managed a couple of school visits. I went to East Garforth Primary School where Kirsty Godfrey is doing great things and releasing the magic, and I went to Morley High School to congratulate John Townsley on his brilliant Ofsted report. And finally I went to the David Young Community Academy where Ros McMullen and her colleagues were releasing their own very special magic with a wonderful production of 'Oliver'.

We all want to be outstanding and we all want success in our lives. We want success at home, at work, at school and in our relationships. The most important single factor that guarantees our success in every aspect of our lives is having a positive attitude. Without a positive attitude, nothing else is possible, and if you're constantly thinking about problems you will find them. And it's true that you will attract positive things into your life if all of your thoughts are positive. Simply, if you tell yourself something often enough your subconscious will eventually come to believe it. If you repeat something often enough whether it be positive or negative it will become your reality. It's all a matter of conditioning and the great thing is that you can train your mind to think positive thoughts the same way you can learn anything else. Then, make a habit of avoiding negative people and stopping negative thoughts any time they appear and replacing them with positive thoughts. You simply need to replace, "I can't do it" with "I can do it" and you'll find your attitude and your life will change for the better.
Chris