10 Baby Steps

1. Look at yourself in the mirror everyday and compliment and say something positive and something that you    admire or like about yourself that day!

2. Notice something about someone that you havent before whether you're complimenting them or you notice some different behaviour all of a sudden, then ask what the matter is.

3. Take a minute to stop, realize and say "am what im doing right now important or effective and will it benefit me in the end."

4. Ask questions, you can never go wrong with asking a question or a few.

5. Communicate well, be an active and good listener, pay attention, listen and follow instructions, and you're sure not to fail.

6. Take about 30 minutes out of the day to go to a quiet spot and think, just sit and think about your life.

7. Don't hesitate to ask your teacher for feedback on your assignments and tests .The feedback will help you to improve and will eventually help you to get better grades.

8. Don't ever give up, it is never too late.

9. Take the time to listen and see things from another persons perspective.

10. Set clear long-term and short-term goals. Make sure that you that you're motivated by and committed to the goals you've set for yourself.

Motivation!

Motivation is key! Make that your motto! Yes it may be hard to stay and keep yourself motivated sometimes, but find something that helps you and makes you feel comfortable and motivated and use that as your method. Just like in my previous post about Procrastination, its hard, same as motivation. When doing work, get all distractions out of the way, this may be the hardest part, i know it is for me. It's hard to stay off sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Youtube, etc. and the hardest distraction to stay away from is that cell phone of yours. The best way to stay motivated are: to find the good reasons for doing the task, there may not seem like there are any good reasons at first, but if you seek them out, I am sure you will find some. That will help keep you motivated. Also, whatever it is that needs to be done, make it fun, no matter how boring it may seem, find a way to make it fun so that you could enjoy it to give you the motivation to get your work done. Setting goals for yourself is very important to succeed and accomplish what you want in life and when you do that it is important to motivate yourself to follow through with those goals. Settings goals like accomplishing high school, you need to make sure that you are completing all your work and not being behind in classes. If there is an assignment you do not want to do, motivate yourself to do it, you know that you need to get this work done, so use some of the tips i suggested and hopefully that helps. Remember, Motivation is key!

The Importance of Having a Mentor

There are plenty of reasons why it is important to have a mentor. I am going to share 2 of my top reasons for why it is good and important. The main and top reason i would say is for moral support. Its someone who will stand behind you, believe in your dreams and are there to support you no matter what. A mentor like this is really good, someone to back you up, keep you grounded and to support you, can really do a lot of good for you and be good later in life. A mentor likie this will help yo set goals for the future and keep you motivated and help you reach them. Another reason i would say is for the experience. Most likely a mentor would know a lot and have been through a lot in life. They can help you and guide you into good decisions based on their own experiences.

PROCRASTINATION...AHHH!!

Procrastination. Everyone knows of this or has experienced it at least once in their life. It is the act of putting off or delaying or deferring an action to a later time. I'm sure everyone has done it before, I've done way too many times. Procrastinating is one of the worst habits you could pick up on. I believe that what can help procrastinators stop procrastinating is to keep your self motivated, i believe that keeping yourself motivated could and would make a massive difference in the way you work because instead of putting your work off for a later time, find a reason, a good reason, for why it needs to get done when it needs to get done! It's hard but if you keep at it, you will get there! GOOD LUCK!

                              

Self Advocacy

Self Advocacy is the ability to speak-up for yourself and the things that are important to you. It makes taking initiative and standing up for what you believe in and doing what you feel is right. 

Some strategies for enhancing your success in school that arre related to self-advocacy would be; maki8ng time to scduele your homeowrk; just like in the example i had used in the previous post Time Management.  

Also another strategy would be seeking help whenever you find trouble, for example if you are in class doing work and you stumble upon a question and dont know the answer and you have difficulty, do not be afraid to ask the teacher for hellp, thats what they are there for, but it is your responsibility to make sure you understand, so it is always good to ask questions there is no harm in that!

Another thing is when you are in class or wherever, and your peers are around. If you really want to get work done its important to keep yourself focused or remove yourself from them if you feel like that's needed. Sure you want to be around your friends, and of course you would rather chit chat instead of complete your work, but you could do just that if you finish your work and then have all the time in the world to talk.

TIPS: What Does Self-Advocating Involve?

- Being assertive, but not aggresive.

- Not being afraid to make mistakes, everyone makes them and by doing so we learn from them and grow.

-Definitely know your rights and responsibilities, and if you don't know them, be sure to find out.

Effective Note Taking

It is very important to take notes and have them organized properly; properly dated and such in case you need them for quizzes, tests, or exams. It is important to have these organized notes to study from. There are a few  note taking systems and methods that you could use to take notes if you don't know how or are struggling with. The are the Cornell Method, The Outlining Method, The Mapping Method, The Charting Method and the Sentence Method. You could use any of these methods depending on which you think better suits you. Of course you cant use only one of these note taking methods for every single note you take, it will vary based upon your information and source.

Time Management

Managing time is very important. By managing your time properly you have time to do the things you need to go and then you have the time to do the things you want to do. You could use use this method as a sort of motivation for yourself. You could say "I really don't want to miss my favorite show coming on soon, but i need to finish my work before." This gives you the motivation to get your work done and finish it in time for whatever you want to do later. I've been using this method lately and it has been working for me really well, i wish that i would have learned this earlier!