StudyPass - Session 5

Most of the actions we take are a waste of time ... they make no difference to what we want to achieve.

There is an important principle called the Pareto Principle .... or more commonly 'the 80/20 rule'. This principle states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

When you apply this to your study it suggests that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your actions.

This means that 80% of the time you spend studying makes little or no difference to your results.

It's a critical 20% of your actions that make the most difference to your performance this year.

The trick is to focus on the 20% of your actions that contribute to the 80% of your results ... That's what I want to share with you today.

 

The 20% that will make the difference this year ...

If you do only one thing this year ... do this ... and do it now.

 

1.    Practise past exam questions.

2.    Practise them until you know them in your sleep.

3.    Write any question you can't answer onto a card.

4.    Ask your teacher how to answer that question.

5.    Write the answer on the back of the card.

6.    Review the cards once a week until you can answer all the questions without looking at the answer.

7.    Then review the cards once a month until the exams.

 

That's it. I can't be any more direct than this. If you follow this strategy you will increase your study effectiveness by 200 - 300%.

But it requires you to take action. Please don't wait any longer to apply these strategies. Get started now.

 

Until our next communication ...

All the best

Geoff Peterson
StudyPass

 

 

© 2009 Growing Minds Ltd

 

Growing Minds, PO Box 633, Christchurch, Canterbury 8140, NEW ZEALAND

Fasting.

Time to fast.
One month of fasting for me.

Rules: Eat as much as I want to between around 6.15pm and 5.00am (times depend on sunset/rise)
I cannot eat from 5am to 6.15pm again.

Nothing at all, no water, no food, no juice, no medicine, NOTHING.

The hardest bit about starving myself isn't the hunger. No. It's the sleep.
Going to bed at 11pm, waking up at 4.30am and going to bed again at 6am, and waking up again at 7.30am
It's hard.

Even though the number of hours of sleep add up. The quality is very low. It's hard to change your sleep patterns. The good thing is, I have a month of fasting ahead of me to get used to the sleeping.

If I look dull when you see me. You know why.
I'm currently waiting for 6.01pm so I can start eating.
I'm sleepy.
And that's why this post is of very very low quality. I can't think straight.
I couldn't even do 8 - 1.5 this morning.

Yeah. It's bad.
But it's also fun.

StudyPass - Session 4

This email is important.

It covers something so simple and yet so critical to your success this year that I encourage you to give yourself some time to let this one sink in.

We will apply what we cover here directly to your study ... it will help make your study sessions highly focused and highly effective.

So get comfortable, turn off your phone, and let's look at ...

 

How clarity leads to results ...

One of the main reasons students find studying a chore and boring is that they rarely experience the feelings of achievement that come from effective study. They don't connect with the personal satisfaction of achieving a short term goal. They can be left thinking ... did I really achieve anything here?

But think about it ... how can you have a sense of achievement if you never defined specifically what it is you intended to achieve!

If you lack a clear objective then your actions will be muddled and you will meander aimlessly because you lack direction. At the end of the study session you are unlikely to feel satisfied by your results.

Simply by writing a clear objective for what you want to achieve in an activity you will take more focused and more appropriate actions. These actions will help you to quickly reach your objective.

Before you start any study session you must define a clear objective of what you intend to achieve. Without this you are leaving your success to chance. You might be lucky and get a good result but it is much less likely.

So let's do it now. Remember these words don't have any power until and unless you take action from them.

I am going to take you through the specific steps of bringing clear intention to your study sessions.

You can apply this process to each and every session of study this year. By doing so, you will create an increasing sense of accomplishment to your study sessions. You will start to get some traction ... and then some momentum. From there, anything's possible.

 

Creating Clear Objectives For Your Study Sessions ...

1.    Schedule a specific 45 minute session of time to study. NOW would be the best time, but if you can't do it now then schedule some time for later today or tomorrow at the latest.

2.    Select a subject to study and a specific chunk of a topic to focus on. If you have a study guide that breaks down your course into smaller revision chunks then use this to identify an achievable chunk of work that can be completed in this session.

3.    Now write a clearly defined objective that gives you a target for the study session. Make sure it is S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and has a Timeline). Refer to the last email if you need help with this. Write your objective in the now, as if it is already achieved, and make sure you include some attitude! For example.

      - It's 2.45pm and I have successfully completed Questions 1 to 5 (Achieved and Merit level Questions) in the Algebra Achievement Standard.
- As a result I have identified the specific questions and the parts of the answer that I had trouble with, highlighted them so I can review them in the future, and made notes to myself to remind me of what I learned. Great work. Time to play!

4.    Make a commitment to yourself and another of what you intend to do. By making your commitment public (eg by sharing it with a supportive family member or friend) then you increase the level of your commitment ... It puts some fire under your seat and increases the heat on you to make it happen. 

5.    Before you start your study session, remove all distractions from your environment. Make sure you are in a place free of TV and radio and other people. Turn your phone off and out it in another room. Ask people not to interrupt you for the next 45 minutes. Get everything you need in front of you ... your study guides, class notes, paper, pen, highlighter, calculator... everything.

6.    Drink a full glass of water (or a low sugar, non-caffeinated drink) and take another glass into your study area. Take a few deep and full breaths. Remember good levels of water and oxygen are essential for your brain to work at its optimum. Most people breath too shallow and don't drink enough water ... the result is lethargy!

7.    Now reread your written objective. Imagine it complete and connect with the feelings of achievement in the now. Have this statement in front of you so whenever you go off course (and you will) you can recommit to your objective.

8.    Now work like you have never worked before. Work at pace. Use all the resources you have to solve your problems but don't let any problem stop your progress. Highlight the problem, turn that problem into a question to be answered and then move on.

9.    Throughout the session, notice your physical state. If you start to get low energy, bored, frustrated then change your state by changing your physiology ...  Do that by improving your posture, drinking some water and breathing deeply.

10. Regularly remind yourself of your objective.

 

If you give yourself fully to the process above then I promise you that you will have a different experience of study.

Start to notice in your day how a clear objective or intention makes you more effective in producing a result.

Play with this strategy of creating clear objectives both in your study and in anything else you find yourself doing. You will be surprised just how much this one strategy can make to your study and your life.

Until our next communication ...

All the best

Geoff Peterson
StudyPass

 

Š 2009 Growing Minds Ltd

Growing Minds, PO Box 633, Christchurch, Canterbury 8140, NEW ZEALAND

StudyPass - Session 3

There are a lot of strategies I want to share with you this year ... specific actions to help you achieve outstanding results this year.



You see, this coaching isn't just about creating results in your study ... it's about creating results in any area of your life.



Consider this coaching as your opportunity to personally test drive these peak performance strategies ... to apply them in your study and to see what you are capable of .... to see what is possible when you align your vision, your intentions, and your actions.





Create your AIM for the year ...



Do you know exactly what you want to achieve in your study this year?



The first step to achieving any result in your life is actually quite easy ... it is simply to get clarity on what the result actually is!



As absurd as this sounds, it is the main reason why most people don't achieve the results they wish for in their life ... They don't have clarity on what they intend to create. By clarity I mean a specific statement of intention that defines the result they want to achieve.



If you haven't written a clear AIM for your studies this year, then you haven't taken the easiest and most important step in this process.



Writing a clear AIM for your studies this year might not seem like a significant step. Please don't make the mistake of skipping this step.



This coaching is designed to build your results one step at a time. It only requires you to take a small step each time. But the accumulated results of those small steps is huge.



How to write your AIM ...



Your AIM your studies this year is your long term goal. Consider these AIMS written by students ...



"I want to do well in Maths this year"

"I want to pass NCEA Level 1 this year"



The first problem with these AIMS is that they are wishes not goals. "I want ..." is just a wish. These statements have little punch to them as they don't imply any commitment.



"I will ... " is better because it has more commitment. However because it is still stated as a future event, it is not as powerful as it could be. When you say "I will ..." there's always room for a little voice of doubt ... because anything could happen to derail your efforts.





1. State your goals in the NOW.



"I have" and "I am" are stated in the present. Stating your goals as if they have already happened is not delusional ... it's simply the fastest way of getting to your goals. Your actions then have to catch up with the place you are committed to being.



So, when you write your goals make sure you state them in the present using words such as "I have ..." and " I am ...". Whenever you read them, read them AS IF they are already achieved.



From this state of mind your actions will be more focused and more directed. It is from this place that you create outstanding results.



2. Make your goals S.M.A.R.T.



An effective goal needs to be Specific: It needs to state the goal clearly.



It needs to be Measurable: "I want to do well in NCEA" is not measurable as it does not clearly define what "do well" actually means. How would you measure that? It would also mean different things to different people.



The goal needs to be Acheivable and Realistic: You should see the goal as within your reach. But be careful not to sell yourself short. Your goals should stretch you ... they should make you feel a little uncomfortable because they imply a commitment that will test you.



Your goal should have a Timeline. Without a deadline the goal doesn't actually exist, as it could be pushed out into the future indefinitely. Make sure each goal has a date against which it can be measured.



An example of a S.M.A.R.T goal stated in the present:





I have gained a minimum of Merit grades
in all my NCEA Level 1 assessments and Excellence in 20% of my
assessments as stated in my 2009 NZQA results received January 2010.



This goal is stated in the present (I have ...). It is Specific (Merit, Excellence), Measurable (minimum ... 20%), It would be Achievable and Realistic for a student, and it has a Timeline (January 2010).





Obviously this goal would vary for different students. For some, this goal may not be realistic ... for others, it might not be enough of a stretch.



The point is however a statement like this is so much more powerful than a loose statement such as "I want to do well in NCEA this year".





Your efforts will make a difference ...



You may have tried this exercise in the past ... it may not have worked for you. If so, I am asking you to give it another try.



The difference is that this year I am willing to coach you throughout the year to help make this goal a reality. But I can't do it for you. You need to take some action.



Follow the instructions above and write your AIM on paper now. Set yourself a target for the year against which you can measure yourself.



When you have, I encourage you to print it and put it on the wall. It is such a simple yet powerful strategy for aligning your actions this year.



I have one last step in this goal setting process to share with you. After that I want to share with you the most cunning study strategy I know. Most of the top student's use this strategy all the time without even realising it. When you know how to use it it will virtually guarantee you improve your study effectiveness by 200 - 300%.



Sound too good to be true? I promise you it's not.



If you haven't done so already, please take a moment to write your AIM for your study this year. Just follow the steps above.

Until our next communication.

All the best

Geoff Peterson
StudyPass


Š 2009 Growing Minds Ltd




Growing Minds, PO Box 633, Christchurch, Canterbury 8140, NEW ZEALAND

StudyPass - Session 2

If you lack the motivation to study then this communication is especially for you.

Firstly realise that motivation isn't something that just 'happens' to you. You create motivation by what you focus on.  Control your focus in a direction that excites you and you will create motivation. The process below helps you to do just that.

There are 5 steps to this process. Today I will cover just the first step ... This is the key step to creating the 'fuel' that drives you forward towards your goals.

So here they are ... The 5 steps to creating lasting motivation that I will take you through over the next couple of weeks.

1.      Create a compelling WHY: Find 'juicy' reasons why studying will actually benefit you, excite you and drive you forward.

 

2.      Write down your AIM for the school year. Define what you want to achieve in your studies this year.

 

3.      Write a series of GOALS that provide you with a plan of action to achieve your aim for the year.  Make sure each goal is S.M.A.R.T ... Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and has a Timeline.

 

4.      Regularly CONNECT with the feeling of success that you are aiming for.

 

5.      Regularly REVIEW your progress. Schedule time to measure your progress towards your goals. Make adjustments where necessary.

 

For some people this process may seem like a bit of empty 'feel-good' motivation.

To those people I would say this ... If you were to personally interview any highly successful person, perhaps a sportsperson or entrepreneur, you would discover that most of them have gone through a process very similar to this.

They know that their success comes from their ability to actually create the motivation they need, rather than to wait for it to happen. This motivation then drives them to take regular action towards their goals.

The first step in this process is critical to creating lasting motivation and it is what I want to take you through today.

I suggest you print this email out and follow the steps below ... as soon as you can.

STEP 1. How to create a compelling WHY ...

Many people get motivated for a short time but often find their enthusiasm drops over time. The reason most people don't achieve their goals is that they have no big 'WHY', no juicy reasons for achieving the goal in the first place.

If you don't have a set of compelling reasons (both emotional and logical) for doing something, then you simply won't do it. Even if you manage to force yourself to take action, it will be difficult to maintain this effort over time.

Follow through these steps to discover your own personal reasons that will help to motivate you.

1.       First get yourself into a good state of mind. I find music is the best for me. Put on your favourite piece of upbeat music something that gets you 'pumped' and inspires you. Get yourself a pen and paper and find a spot where you won't be disturbed for the next 15 minutes.

 

2.       Now, imagine you have succeeded already. Imagine for a moment that you have just completed a hugely successful school year  ... what would that be like? How would you feel if you were looking back on the year knowing that you achieved everything you wanted and more? Imagine all the best possible reasons for achieving success this year. For the next 2 minutes write down what this would mean for you personally. Write fast. Don't edit anything. Write them down as if they have already happened, using words like: I am .... , I feel ... , I know ...., I have ...

 

For example

I feel more confident at school

I feel proud of my achievements

My family would feel proud of me

I won't stress so much

I have more options for my future career

I am on the way to becoming a well paid ________

I have mastered studying ... I get my study done quickly and have more time to do _________

I have more self belief in myself.

I proved I am smarter than I think!

I am starting to believe I can achieve anything I put my mind to

3.       When you have finished, review your list and highlight the 3 or 4 reasons that give you the strongest emotional response ... that is they excite you, they have some 'juice' .

 

4.       Now use these 3 or 4 reasons to write a personal vision statement. Use emotionally charged words that connect you with the feelings you would get.  

 

For example ...

 

I DID IT!

This year I proved I have got what it takes!

I have more confidence ...

more belief in what I can achieve.

I proved to myself that I have the discipline to achieve my goals ...

I have what it takes!

 

A statement like the one above may not work for you. If not, find the one that does ... Find the reasons and the specific words that can help pull you forward this year. I really urge you to give all of yourself to this activity, to find your own personal reasons that will ignite an unstoppable drive in you towards your goals. Those reasons exist for you ... they can take you to where you want to be ... you just need to find them.

5.       Type up your statement and put it somewhere you can review it regularly.

 

If you have participated fully in this exercise then you will have created a sense of motivation, a drive to take action. YOU MUST take action from this space. DO SOMETHING that you know will help move you forward in your study. Do it now.

You are developing mental muscle in these activities ... the accumulation of your efforts over time will create a totally different end point.

In the next email I want to take you through the steps for creating personal goals. This is where we get specific ... making sure you are taking the action needed to get to where you want to go.

Until then, all the best with your studies.

 

Geoff Peterson
StudyPass

PS feel free to send me your feedback on anything I have covered in these emails.

Growing Minds, PO Box 633, Christchurch, Canterbury 8140, NEW ZEALAND

StudyPass - Session 1

In this first session I want to introduce you to a very simple but effective study strategy.

We will revisit this strategy throughout the year, but for now I just want to quickly introduce it to you so you can give it a try.

The 10 minute review session ...

The purpose of this exercise is to get you to experience short, fast review sessions, that require very little time or effort. 

Often, we imagine revision and study as a huge chore that seems too much hard work and as a result we never do it.

When you start to experience short, fast-paced review sessions you will actually start to realise that you can complete shorter, and more focused sessions of study, more regularly.

That doesn't mean your revision sessions should all be 10 minutes. I just want to give you the experience of a highly focused session so you can see how to apply it more often in your study.

Follow these instructions at pace ... Move quickly as you get organised for this session ... run if you have to! This will reinforce the necessity to review at pace. Focus ALL  your attention on the process. Imagine your eyes are like a laser - totally concentrated and focused on what you are about to scan.

1.   Start with a subject that you are relatively comfortable with, that you find quite easy. For this first exercise don't start with a subject that you think is hard or boring (I am sure there's one!). You can apply it to these other subjects later but it's better to start with a subject that you feel OK about.

2.   Put yourself in a room, free of noise distractions like TV, radio and other people, if possible.

3.   Gather your class notes and teacher handouts for the entire term in that subject.

4.   Put your mobile phone on silent and put it in another room.

5.   Make sure you have a watch or clock handy. When you are all organised, start the 10 minutes.

6.   Quickly start to scan read your notes, focusing on headings, diagrams, key words. Read out aloud anything important that grabs your attention. Move your eyes at speed.

7.   Don't worry if you don't understand something ... just continue to scan your eyes over the words and diagrams, reading aloud any keywords that grab your attention. FOCUS ALL YOUR ATTENTION ON THE PAGE.

8.   If you get stuck on a page ... turn the page.

9.   Get through as many pages as possible in the 10 minutes you have.

10. When 10 minutes of this scanning is up, then stop ... even if you are tempted to go on further. Remember the purpose is to experience a short, faced-pace session.

11. Get up, put on some of your favourite music. Congratulations!

 

I strongly suggest you do this exercise right NOW ... remember it's just 10 minutes of revision.

Please be careful not to assume that there's little learning value in the 10 minutes you spent on this exercise - even if you found it hard, or thought you remembered nothing of what you scanned ...

As you start to regularly expose your attention to this material, it builds up layers of memory that you will not be directly aware of, but happen nonetheless. Most importantly, it keeps fresh in your mind the understanding you already have for this material.

The important point here is to complete this exercise within 10 minutes and then to move on to something you like doing. Schedule another session for tomorrow, and then repeat the process with another subject.

Throughout the term you can experiment with more of these short bursts of study, repeating the content you have already scanned.

Just give it a try ... it's painless and if you bring the right frame of mind to it, can become almost enjoyable.

That's it for now ... but please, if you haven't done it already, do the above exercise now.

It's important that you start to personally experience the benefits of these simple strategies that I am sharing with you. It might not seem like much but I promise that as you practise these strategies you will start to experience over time, an increased ability to learn rapidly.

Next week I will share with you the fuel that drives motivation. Master this one technique and you can create outstanding results, not just in your study, but in any area of your life that you wish.

Until our next communication ..

All the best

Geoff Peterson

StudyPass

 

Growing Minds, PO Box 633, Christchurch, Canterbury 8140, NEW ZEALAND

Exam time.

School final exams are coming up in a few weeks.
This is the time when most people start asking if you have started studying or not.
Anyway, I will tell you that I probably will not until 1 week before exams.
But that doesn't mean, I will not be posting about studying. Oh, no.

Thanks to my subscription to the StudyPass website, I get free study tips in the form of e-mails.
So what I'm going to do is copy-paste those onto here.

All of it is the work of StudyPass and none of it is owned by me. I am only posting to spread the knowledge. So, to StudyPass, this is only to help fellow students. I am not trying to rip off your work. Please don't sue me.

Study tips coming up. Look out!

Routines and Spices.

Life is a routine, face it.

We get up for school/work five days in a week.
We go and do what we are told to do and come back home.
Eat. Sleep.
And somewhere in the middle, you go to the toilet a few times.

This happens every week.
What makes life different for every one of us, is how we choose to spice it up. (That links to the title, clever eh?)

When I say spice it up, I mean everything. Studying is spicing it up, believe it or not.
Anything out of the schedule is spicing. So the difference in our lifestyle is all thanks to these spices that we all use.

Its like a recipe. In the end, we all end up with a different dish. My dish is hopefully rich guy.
The choices we make are helpful towards us reaching our goal of (insert goal here). Someday, I hope to be rich and happy. Make that dish rich and HAPPY guy.

Some people choose to compromise their future by having some fun now. I call it, eating the cookie dough.
Without the dough, you cannot have cookies. Therefore, you inevitably will fail in achieving your goal of making a cookie.

The message of this post? DO NOT eat the cookie dough. Let the dish simmer, add the right condiments and you will end up with a fabulous dish that you have always craved for.

I hope I got my point across.

Notice.

What makes a person notice you?
I've always thought about this.
Every time I wanted to make a new friend or walked past someone, this question passes through my head.

Here's my understanding of it.

Humans are primitive creatures. We follow our natural instincts and are bred/evolved/created by God to breed as efficiently as possible and ensure the survival of the human race. This means that we automatically, or should I say instinctively notice a person we find attractive.

So there's one aspect of it. People notice you if you are attractive to them. That's the easy factor done.

But what other factors are involved in noticing someone?

Surely, a person you do not know cannot attract your attention by pulsating messages around their heavenly aura about their personality. What I'm trying to say, is that you cannot magically know a person's personality just by them walking past you. Therefore personality does not make people who do not know you, notice you.

What about people who do know you? Maybe if they're really interested in a person with your personality. But this is rare and if this does happen - you are likely to be in a very close relationship with them. So only a person who is a good friend will notice you on a regular basis but what we are trying to do is get people who do not know you to notice you.

The other reason people might look at you is if they want something from you. E.g: "Can I look at your book?" or "Do you know when so-so is?" .

I personally cannot think of anything else that would get a person to notice you apart from a simple hello. Thus, I come to the conclusion that looks are what makes a person look twice at you and want to get to know you.

It's a sad society we live in. No wonder the top paid stars are always good looking.
Do you have any thoughts?