Student success takes planning

It’s two months into the school year and students may be feeling the stress. For some, school is easy and for others, there are often challenges.

To be successful at anything in life, one must have a goal or a plan. For a student, the plan is to finish school, and to do that it means to complete homework, projects and study and pass tests and exams, only to do it all over the next year.

I learned early how to keep ahead of school stress by planning in advance on a calendar (now students have agendas) and getting started early on assignments and test preparation. Today, expectations for students are even greater, making planning even more essential.

Dr. Daniel Amen, psychiatrist, has determined that avoiding the Grasshopper Mentality is a key to success. If you placed a grasshopper in a glass, you would learn a lesson in human behavior. The grasshopper would continue jumping to try to escape the jar. Finally, it stops. If the lid was removed, the grasshopper would continue to stay because it now believes it cannot get out.

The grasshopper is comparative to our thoughts — once we believe we cannot do something, the negative thoughts can become a reality.

For student success, getting rid of negative thoughts and focusing on the positive will support successes into adulthood.

Amen suggests to support a change from negative to positive there are five steps: 

- Motivation is what encourages action. For a student, knowing why is essential. Ask yourself why you want to be a better student and know what motivates you. Finding out why you are doing something will be the motivation behind completing it or not. 

- Attitude towards school work will either increase your motivation or drain your energy. You can love learning if you focus on getting something positive out of it. Think about where you want to be in 10 years — education will help get you there. 

- Self confidence will enhance your success, as will being around others who see your positive attributes and build you up. 

- Get the right tools for the job. As a student you need books, a computer, supplies, a schedule, and a study plan. 

- Perseverance is a skill that will support you through all your life’s adventures. When we are young, we go from class to class, assignment to assignment, test to test just waiting to complete another year. What we don’t figure out until much later is that perseverance keeps us going.

Think positive about where you want to be, determine what you need to get there, plan how you will do it, determine a plan B (just in case there is a curve ball in your life), keep great friends around you and get rid of those who bring you down.

Most importantly, see yourself in a positive light, remembering it makes little difference how you finish, just finish making sure you always strive to do the best you can.

Learn from the mistakes you make and move on. You can do it, plan for it and see yourself already there.

Remember, we all do what we love well. So if you are struggling with what you want to do “when you grow up,” ask yourself a question, what do I love? The answer to that question will drive you into a successful future.

Karen Hourtovenko, RN(EC), is a health and wellness consultant from Sudbury who writes columns about healthy living for Northern Life.