How to pass exams – Part 11 – Push thru your obstacles along the way

This is my mate Andy – I’ve known him for 20 years he tells me and the young people he works with, ‘I don’t use the word “can’t”.’ Imagine the obstacles Andy has to push thru every day of his life. Even before he starts his day it takes him over an hour to get to the bathroom, get his legs on and get ready. Sometimes, I just ‘roll out of bed’ without giving it a thought.

There are issues that we can spend time working on and spend time getting over. I think that one of the biggest things that we’ve got to push thru is our own brains and what we say to ourselves and what we say about our work. Maybe you want to go to university, but there’s no-one in your family that has ever been to university before… (maybe you’ve bought this book or are reading this blog secretly so no-one finds out you are reading it!).

Maybe you’re surrounded by people saying negative things about you and your school work and maybe your own brain is joining in saying ‘well no-one else has ever made it that I know – why  should I make it? What makes me different? What makes me special?’ What we say to ourselves (it’s called our self-talk) is an obstacle that we’ve got to push thru. Sometimes, just our own brain can be one of the biggest obstacles to our success.

Now, I’m not going to tell you that you can achieve ‘anything’.

That’s a lie. Because you can’t achieve ‘anything’ (or I’d be the first 5 foot 9 – 44 year old NBA basketball star!).

But…

YOU CAN ACHIEVE A LOT, IF YOU CHOOSE TO. MAYBE A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN YOU REALISE! YOU CAN ACHIEVE AMAZING THINGS!

But to achieve great things you will, just like me, have to push thru many obstacles, in school and in your lives.

Get over, go round, smash through, ignore, climb over – however you decide to push thru it will be worth it.

A life without challenges is a very, very boring life.

[ Based on years of research you can read more about Lee’s work at http://leejackson.org/education/howtoenjoyandsucceedatschoolandcollege – How to pass exams ]  

Action:

Are you ready for a challenge? What do you have to push thru to do well at school this week?

What’s the biggest challenge for you this year? Whose help do you need to push thru? Ask them as soon as you can.

Activity: Back to the future…

Grab a nice card or posh piece of paper. Now, imagine having achieved your big goal. Maybe it’s graduating from University on the course of your choice, or the end of your current exam course, imagine yourself there with your certificate in hand and your family and friends around you; imagine a great day of celebration. Now, write as ‘you in the future’ on that day and write a note to yourself now, helping you to succeed. Write something like this: “I got here because I did this…” “I made it because I did this, this and this…”

Writing a note to yourself is very powerful, as only you really know what you need to do at school or college to succeed. Keep your note safe and private and when you are having a ‘not-so-good day’, have a look at it to spur you on.

More to come…

This an excerpt from Top UK School Speaker Lee Jackson’s book “How To Enjoy And Succeed At School And College” Available in paperback and on Kindle (for only £1.99 during pre-exam time) here now.