SomebodyLied.com

Hey guys I know I have been talking about fitness stuff quite a lot, but I now want to share with my readers how I manage my life around a part time job, football, fitness training, socialising, website and studying for university and still able to be a successful student.

This series is here to bring out the best in you. I am going to reveal exactly how I make the most of my time and how I belong in the top 15% of students for my course. I hope to make the top 5% by graduation; lets see if I can do it. With your support I know I can.

Back in school I was just an average student. Teachers saw potential but that potential was never nurtured. That all changed in my last year doing G.C.S.Es when in the mock exams in December I failed miserably. I decided this was my last year of compulsory education and that I was going to give it my best shot. I worked my socks off the last 6 months and came out with a respectable A*, 5 As, 2 Bs and 2 Cs. When I collected my results, a smile of joy came across my face; I was expecting Cs after all. But this day gave me the belief I could make something of my life and really be an academic success. I went on to take my A Levels, doing Maths, Biology and Law. In my first AS year I attained all As which I put down to sheer hard work in high volume. In my second year however my grades weren’t as high as my first year, partly because I was working almost full time some weeks but on average 20 hours a week. I still came out with respectable grades of an A in Maths, A in Law and B in Biology.

Something had to give though. I had to find a way of balancing study and play and still get good grades. During my first year of university, I not only studied, but I learnt how to study. This was a very important year for me. First year was simply pass or fail and 40% was the pass mark, pretty simple hey. Learning to study is just so important. Once you learn your preferred way of learning, studying really does become quite simple. This year I am a mentor to 5 students, only 2 have got back to me so far, but 5 isn’t enough, I want to share my experiences with as many students as possible, so here you go. I will present you with two great tips today and you will have to stay tuned for the rest of the series by either bookmarking my site or putting my website in your RSS feed.

Qualities of a good student

The first thing is can you answer the question “Why am I studying for this degree?” If you cant, you are really going to struggle, as your motivation just isn’t going to be as high as someone who can answer this question.  Having clear goals is just so important. You must know what you want in order to be successful. A long time ago when I used to do karate, there was a very visible sign, which said your goal is to become a black belt. This helped each student by reminding them why they are training so hard. I got to orange belt before becoming bored of it, as it was parents that pushed me into it and not truly my choice.

You must make your goals specific, and even write them down. Put them in a place you can easily see them and read it back to yourself every day. Really believe in your goal. These are called affirmations.

Affirmations are a little like a captain on deck and the men down in the engine room of the ship. The captain is your “conscious mind” and your crewmen are your “subconscious mind”. The captain can see where the boat is headed and relays a message down to the engine room. The men down there cannot see out at sea and follow orders blindly, even if it is stupid and going to hit an iceberg. Like the crew men your subsconsious accepts every command your conscious mind gives it, even if it is stupid. So please be kind to your subconscious mind guys, and really set clear goals, and believe in them.

I find an ideal time period for achieving and re evaluating your goals is about 90 days. My 90 day goal over the summer was to get in beach body shape, learn affiliate marketing, learn Spanish, get a job, start my website and garner new knowledge on how to juggle all these goals in my busy life. I did reach them, and now my new goal is to incorporate all my learning and carry on working hard to really make a success out of myself. Okay guys, that was your first tip. Here is your second.

Be flexible

What? But you just said be clear and know what you want and where you are going. I did indeed. There is however a clear difference between knowing your destination and the path you will take to get there. An aeroplane is usually 90% off target, despite this; it always seems to make its way to its final destination. This happens because it knows exactly where it is going and makes corrections during the journey. The purpose of goal setting for me is that it convinces me a possible path exists.

An example I came across was in a book I read over the summer called The Millionaire Fast Lane, which was a great read I must add. It mentioned a story about how 80% of businesses fail in their first 5 years. 20% succeeded however, but the funny story about that is that their most of their business plans failed. Their business plan, aka the plan with the clear goals failed miserably but they were flexible and adapted to the new demands they came across.

Another book I read by renowned author and business consultant Stephen Covey often uses the term “integrity in the moment of choice.” What this means to me is you shouldn’t follow your plans blindly without having conscious awareness of your goals. The book is called The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People. A student example I can think of is that you are in your first year. You think you are studying effectively, and the midterms come up. You take them and fail. Do you carry on what you were doing? Or do you try something new like following the advice I am laying out for you? No plan should be followed blindly but your goals should be followed strictly. Sometimes you can reach your goals even faster by following study methods I will outline to you soon. So just to clarify be clear on your goals but flexible on your plan to reach the goal.

Having a clear goal is far more crucial than having a clear plan. My goals are very clear, but my plans change. I have a specific learning plan but it cant always go as planned as spanners get thrown in the works sometimes. The key is to be flexible and adapt.

Stay tuned for more great study tips for college/university.

Somebody Lied: Not Me

Michael McIntyre