Be, or become, proud of You

Did the last post encourage you to put yourself in a more positive place? Know that often we can do little to change much of what surrounds us. Know that it is nobody's fault you are where you are. Know that if you want to change things around you, you can. If you were born into circumstance that makes most days a struggle for even the most basic comforts of life, do not commit to an entire existence in that position. Work to change it, even in the smallest amounts, over time. Keep your mind focused on where you want to get to in life. Put a small note on your bed, desk, mirror; somewhere you will see it often. Only small reminders that change often or they will be too constant and be either ignored or annoying. Refresh often. If you have a success, put that there too.

Putting it all in perspective makes the realisation of plans possible. Last summer it rained; a lot. On Facebook I posted that my boardshorts still had the tag on, my sunscreen bottle was still full. The status was a bit tongue in cheek, not really a complaint. Putting that in perspective made me flinch. The same rain that had kept me from the beach had sadly washed away homes, livelihoods and lives in some of the worst ever flooding in the area. Ouch! That's nature's perspective in action. Brutal. What do you need to put into perspective? How are your grades? Are they showing any signs of improvement? If they are stable, what sort of comments are you getting? Remember teachers and high schools are very cautious in writing comments because they do not want any comeback from the community. How much have you joined in this year? I do not mean compulsory stuff. What you should find is something you can do that would help out.

Make this year the year of consolidating a better future for you.

Begin the changes that will make you hold your head high and be super proud of what you have done and what you have become.

This is a great video called Success Achievement -- Your Guide for Moving Forward Daily

It is a top start the year and your advancement. Grow to who you really are.

Best of wishes for 2012.
Advancement plus for you

Be who you are

'I wish I was smarter, luckier, taller, more athletic, had straight hair, had curly hair, had black hair, had red hair.' Heard any of these? Oh yes. Haven't we all?

To be truly successful, you should accept yourself and your situation for who you are and what it is. It is the best thing to do. No good wishing for something that only a real miracle can change. The body type, brain power, color hair, location we start our lives with are all out of our control. At school, you are stuck with the teachers you get, good or ordinary, inspirational or boring; there they are right in front of you.

A short time ago I was feeling low. Heading downwards quickly. Yes, there's always someone worse off but I think that is one of the lousiest 'cheer up' statements ever invented. Who cares when you feel so low? Retail therapy? Crap. Things are not what buoys your spirit. Things wear out. Things go out of fashion. Things become dreary, waiting to be replaced by other things. No, when you are down, you need to drill into your spirit to find the required boost. What jolted me in this instance, more than anything, was a trip to the beach. The water was clear, warm; the day sunny. It dawned on me that I was so fortunate to be able to play in the surf; jump under waves; glide into the beach; throw the refreshing water into my face. It was an awesome jump start. How lucky to be able to do something so enjoyable. My spirit's energy grew; my thinking became more positive; I felt restored, renovated, more immune from the crap of life. I realised I am who I am. After all these years.

My problem had been that I had let business become an excuse for putting off all, and I mean all, that I enjoy. I had stopped doing the things that built my spirit, made me feel energised. Many of these were small but their omission had compounded to make a huge and negative impact on what I was able to accomplish mainstream. So, absolutely definitely, do not give up your joys in life in order to get more busy. You will have things that make your spirit stronger and you must retain their presence in your world. Learn to recognise them. Write them down and the feeling you encounter that makes them so good. From personal experience, it is vital that you avoid any excuses to put off these interludes, or worse still, forgo them.

What's that? Oh yes, I agree this blog is all about change. So what am I going on about here? Have I gone nuts and now say you cannot change grades, comments, stress? No, now I say if I am nuts, I must always have been and the 'nutty' was just waiting for a trigger to make it emerge. :) What I am saying is that you must be comfortable that you can recognise your current situation for what it is. Right now you are stuck with it. I do not mean comfortable in the sense that it feels good but in the sense that you can define it and tell us what is wrong with it. You can write down clues to you. House, family, school, success, your potential, things you have, things you need but do not have, the frills of life things like fashion label stuff. You know you. You can write you down. Best of all because you can document you now, you will be able to document changes. That will be powerful.

Define everything you can about yourself and what happens around you. Keep it in a special place where you will not lose it. Leave it flexible enough to change because you do. Start on a fresh piece of paper and write down the things you would most like to change about your situation. Not hair color, brainpower and so on. I ask you to do this because in our society education is the key to change. Better education means more opportunity. If you are feeling that you want change, look to Success at School to help you. That is what we are all about here. Do you have a career plan? What grades do you need to get started? Write it down.

Finally, think about your school results and comments. Think about the stress that study, assessment and assignment causes. Are they all good? Many students think not. There are of course other stresses in high school that we will also deal with so if you have these too, add them here. Write down all you can that is good and all the things you would like to change. Again, it cannot be the teachers, school and so on because we are usually stuck with these.

End up with three lists. You and your environment; things you want to change and aspire to; you and your schooling. Keep all this information in a safe spot. We will be going back to it often.

Have a great 2012
Hope this is a turn around year at school, especially if you have struggled

Happy New Year

May 2012 be all that you want for family, friends, joy and prosperity.

I hope in some way this blog contributes to your success and happiness.

Have a great 2012

Last time you got a bad result!

Now and then you get handed back some work on which the grade written is so awful, it takes you by surprise at just how bad it is.  It could have been graded A, B, or F, depending on what you had expected and, maybe, just how important the subject is to your future.  How rotten did it feel to get that bad result?  Almost sick inside?  You wonder if there is some mistake.  You try to think of excuses, blame something, or someone, for what lies on the desk in front of you.  But, really, the result is down to you.  Remember that you earned it.  That grade has been recorded against your name.  Do not be mistaken by the idea that your teacher gave it to you.  No, your teacher merely added the points up that you gained for the work you submitted.  Most high schools have standards drawn up for each assessment item so that students are graded fairly and with equal chance of excellence. 

There is nothing you can do about it.  You can, however, use that low feeling.  What you need to do is hold that bad feeling  as a constant beacon reminding you that you will deliberately work to avoid such results in the future.  That grade has been indelibly recorded against your name.  There for you to disprove.  Disprove again and again.  Make it a target; a target not to be hit again. 

Did you know in your heart that you really could do much better?  Was there really a good reason for your poor result?  If yes, then you may forgive yourself.  Think very hard before you let yourself off.  Otherwise, begin the repair job right away by thinking deeply about the feelings you had personally on seeing that result.  Plan a bit of time to sit and plan a way for this not to happen again or at least to be less likely to happen again.  Take your time; find time alone, quiet, no ipod, use paper to write or sketch your thoughts.  Doodle, let the ideas flow.  Do not force it, just relax and follow your thoughts.  Be sure to keep them on track.  The time you take will be determined by how relaxed you can get during the process.  Make sure the whole picture is only be about you.  This part cannot be influenced by what happens or has happened around you.  It may be that you felt: frustrated, ill, inadequate, that you let yourself down, stupid, had too little time, not good at studying this subject, you took poor notes or absolutely anything else that comes to mind.  It is well worth spending as much time as you can on this reflective process. 

This is not about beating up on yourself but knowing your how your emotions interact with your results.  A very, very valuable exercise.  Do not rush.  Expect the best from it.  What do you want to get out of it?  A single piece of paper.  It most probably will not be the first draft.  If it is, you need to work a bit longer to make sure everything has been drawn out.  In the end, done with time to relax, the paper will guide you to your next step in the planning process:  'How to prepare better for my next assessment'.  It will reveal some of the flaws in your current strategies.  Put this revealing work somewhere prominent in your study area.  Make sure it holds at least one key to those bad feelings you experienced when you saw that awful grade.  It will be another good prompt for future prevention.  Like an insect spray for bad grades.

Starting with this process will take you beyond individual subject boundaries and gear you for strategies that are useful across the whole academic structure.  So that's the end.  Now to you.  Begin the travel to your future success at school that waits for you with this simple exercise.  Go for it.

Have a great day.  Good luck with your studies.

Turn good into excellent

Why should I plan? Why should I finish assigned tasks early? I can do it the night before and still pass. Here, I must ask, is just passing really what it is all about?

Once you have finished a large piece of work, spend some really valuable time on it and review it. Valuable? Yes,valuable, because it will give you more value than just another passing grade will give. If you have basically finished an assigned task, then you have done all the hard work; researched, reviewed sites and articles, sorted the information and written it into something that flows reasonably well, found definitions and put it all down and then transformed all this into your report. If you get this far, you have done all you need to do to get high grades. You may, however, still get a low grade. Even after the hard work, missed fun with the gang, loss of sleep and even stress, your mark may not stand out. Why? How can this be?

Success is measured by how well we do. But who is the judge? Too often the high school 'system' is the judge and that is the cause of much grief. You may be judged 'satisfactory' with a grade of C and 'excellent' with an A grade. How bad is that? What if, in the past, you could only manage a D for a subject? What if you tried really hard, put in lots of extra hours, worked on homework and notes, and finally got a C grade. Surely that is worth much more than a 'satisfactory' type comment? It sure is. To do that is awesome. To repeat that result is outstanding.

We should measure ourselves against measures that give a true picture of our achievements, not by 'perfection is great but less is questionable' but by how we stack up against ourselves and people similar to us with similar opportunity and similar support. So to step above satisfactory on that scale is where we really want to go. If that can be done, the other kudos and awards will follow.

How to do it on the assigned task we are talking about here. Well, firstly, be proud of the work you hand in. Be honest about what you put into it and what grade it should be awarded. If you finish well on time due to good planning you will be able to submit work that really does represent you at your best. After all, it will be how you are judged. Not by potential but by what you put in front of the teacher. What you submit that says 'this is my level of ability'; because that is all anyone has to go by. No use arguing because the thinking is: 'why would anyone submit stuff that does not show their best?' So in your mind you are an A level student being awarded a C-. From the employer's point of view or the College's point of view, you are a C- student who is making excuses for bad marks; less than 'satisfactory'.

Do something about it. Now.

Firstly, the reason to finish early is that your brain is now full of all the information it needs. Your brain knows all the hard work is done and so it can relax to assemble a better representation of that information. This is what it does best. If you just hand in work straight after it is finished, there is no opportunity for polish. So, let your brain go into automatic and work out better sentences, reasoning, structure. It will do this in the background; while you eat, play, dance, sleep. While it is doing that, try to get someone to read through your submission. Not to understand but to see if it seems to flow, to see if explanations read well, to see if it answers the question(s) put to you by the task. The easy bit is to make make good, excellent. You will find yourself readily deleting waffle and adding quality. As you do this, automatic learning about structure is taking place. This is hard to teach but such skills will strengthen your future submissions enormously.

Re-read. Re-type.

Submit something of high quality that truly represents work matching your capabilities. You will know that what sits on the teacher's desk awaiting grading reflects something you are proud of. What they do with it is up to them. You know at this very point you have done what you can. Relax and wait. There is no more you can do.

Good luck with your high school experience. Find successes

Have a great day

Taking notes II

Read  the earlier Post about note taking and reviewing. Why is note taking so important? Why is regular review so important? These two very simple processes are absolute key to Success at School. Your high school years are full of maxi and mini events. What you do every day is almost always influenced in some way by the requirements of the school system. They are often tough to fulfil. They are often unclear. They often lead to stress. Getting properly organised for note taking and reviewing can reduce stress to manageable levels and give you a better chance of improved exam grades. If for nothing else, that must make these skills worthwhile.

Surely taking notes is just copying off the board? Get down what the teacher writes on the board. There's even time for a quick chat. No need to listen too hard, it will mostly be there for later reading, usually much later. If you miss a few bits here and there because of distractions, you will have most of it and should be able to fill the rest in later. Not a good plan. The bits you missed? Filling those in will get harder the longer it is left. Get good notes at the time they are given. You're mad if you don't. Your notes are essential to success at high school. Some students seem clearly proud about how scruffy and full of graffiti and other artwork their notebooks are. Scraps of words from the lesson, mixed with scraps of words from another lesson, another subject even; days all mixed up with work put into any available blank space; ripped and crumpled pages all go against good grades. Best use for these notebooks? Starting up the Sunday barbecue. They are next to useless as tools for learning.

Anyone can copy. Anyone. Ask a student from a very early grade, who can basically write and copy shapes, and they could do a reasonable job of copying. They will be a bit slow because they are not familiar with the style and the symbols. Their writing will be a bit more basic but it will be there. Do they understand it? Almost certainly not. You see, the thing about copying is it requires almost no thought if we are familiar with the numbers and symbols. That's the trouble. Too easy to copy. Too easy to think we have it all. Do not kid yourself. Copying without thought is pretty much a useless exercise. Copying has nothing to do with learning unless it is done with thought and commitment.

OK, 'I get it' I hear you say.

We have talked about the importance of a separate notebook for each subject and using few colors of pen. For a ruler, you can use almost any straight edge. Just writing and highlighting, no extra bits. If you like to doodle take a doodle book with you to class and keep the sketching and arty thoughts there. The cleaner the page is to study, the better.

The photo above is the bare minimum I use. I like a mechanical pencil because I never have to sharpen it and it doesn't leak ink all in my pocket. Use a soft lead (I use 2B) that will make dark lines which are easy to read when you are tired. Leads harder than this are too light and will cause unnecessary eye strain if you have to read a lot. The small notebook is for incidental information for every part of high school and holds a wonder of information about when stuff is due, if I am running out of things or if I need to remember to do something, graffiti and odd bits of artwork even. This has taken many forms over the years but this one can easily fit into my pocket. As you can see I travel light to class. To highlight, I circle. To emphasise, I double underline. The eraser is there for show. I usually just cross something out if I change my mind about it. This set up has the other advantage of being cheap. Of course, there are smaller books you can get. I recommend a fairly large size to fit any sketches or long bits of information on one page, rather than breaking it up. Remember, one notebook for each subject. Judge the size of the notebook by asking or by last year's volume of work in a subject.

Make sure your notes count. Look at them as you go. If the teacher says something to fill in a bit of information, get it down. They cannot possibly write all they say in a lesson on the board. Make sure you know what is on the page. Put a * next to bits you are not sure of as a signal to get extra information here. Ask a question, if you want. If that is not done in your group; google, other students, the teacher, the library could all help. If you had a bit of difficulty following some reasoning, again add * to go back and fill in more until you are happy with it. The * will also be clues for when you study as you will know you had some difficulty first time going over it and so you can make sure you feel comfortable with these weaker areas. Study is not about what you know but what you had trouble with or are a bit fuzzy on.

A bit of hard work in class will pay back generously when you come to review and study.

Good luck with your exams.

Have a great day

Get the prize of prizes

Throughout our high school experience we watch many award ceremonies; best this, highest that, fastest, most, greatest, top, longest, shortest; on it goes. Awards are a constant reminder for some of us that the passage through high school is filled with evidence that we are not of the highest calibre; that there are always others in front of us. There is no doubt that many of us find school hard. We struggle with math, creating the most basic of essays, writing a science report and understanding the complexities of art. Sometimes, many times, it all seems too much. For those of us not very academically or athletically inclined nor talented, there are twelve or more years of struggle, culminating in years of heartache in high school. How do you keep your head held high under such a repressive system? How do you keep smiling under the constant highlighting of those who are better?

Do not be discouraged. You are worthy of praise and prize. The praise can come from doing your best; the prize is that you give yourself every advantage to take opportunity of further training and improved career prospects that would not ordinarily be available to you. Best not to concern yourself with the flight of the gifted, talented or better supported. It just happens that way. Some are born already advantaged, some are not. Make the best of who you are and where you come from. Focus on what you need to do, what is best for you. Others fade, you must not. Be sure that some of us who struggle the most will rise to high posts in this world.

As early as you can, start to research as many College, University and other training institution entry requirements as you can. This will give you a good idea of what is required and, importantly, how to apply for entry and for scholarships. Practise writing a few applications. Get a teacher or family member of friend to read through it. The more you do this, the better will your applications become. Immersing yourself in this knowledge will also empower your schooling. You will know which subjects you should put more effort into. The further into the system you go, the more importance this information and strategy takes.

Post high school training is not the only path to success. Entrepreneurship, on the job training and experience will also bear fruit. Never, ever get too despondent if one of your strategies for success does not go according to plan. Every successful person will tell you there are many trails to follow on the way to the top; some more direct than others, some easier than others, some more clearly signposted that others. No matter. The trail to your success will be there and will have your own name attached to it. Your task is to find it.

Enjoy the journey, knowing that persistence will get you there. The prize at the end is far more rewarding than those gifted at long and often boring high school ceremonies. What can be better than such prizes of recognition and prestige? The awesome gift you give to yourself and future family; freedom from hunger, a safe home, a secure life.

Enjoy high school with the vision of how it is set up not to praise others but to help you step into a wonderful life.

Have a great day