How to pass exams – Part 13 – Capture your ideas, like Bill did!

An original idea. That can’t be too hard. The library must be full of them.”
Stephen Fry

Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft probably asked himself many years ago, ‘Why doesn’t every home have a PC?’

At the time there were only a handful of computers in the world so this idea was crazy as most computers were big enough to fill a room and most had less processing power than your mobile phone.

So how did we get computers in our homes?

Very simply, Bill Gates and others had an idea, but more importantly they wrote it down, researched it and got on with the job.

Bingo!

One of the most important things you can do is to have a way of writing things down when you get a good idea for a piece of homework or something you have to remember. Just the act of writing something down makes all the difference. If we don’t write ideas down, we forget them.

That’s how our brain works.

In the past when I’ve had an idea for a talk, I’ve thought, “I’ll write that down later”.

What do you think happened?

I never did write it down or I randomly remembered it six weeks later, not much help when you have a talk the next day.

Carry a notebook in your pocket or write it on your phone. 

This whole book is the result of ideas that I scribbled down, but then most importantly, actioned.

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

Getting the best out of school is about understanding how your brain works (a bit!).

In order to deposit information in your brain you have to write stuff down.

When revising, don’t just read but do practical writing down exercises like past papers or online revision that requires typing. But also walk around your room writing things on post-it notes so that the information sticks.

For example read this fact now…

“An adult skeleton has 213 bones.”

You can re-read that fact a few times and it may sink in but if you write it on a post-it note on your mirror in your bedroom, I’ll guarantee that it will go into your brain and you’ll remember it for weeks to come.

Why not give it a go now and test it for yourself?

Here’s how I take it a stage further, after writing things down or cutting things out of newspapers, I put them away in files.

I have a file for every subject I speak on, or every piece of research I am looking at. Have a folder for each of your subjects at school, over the year you will start to develop a big file of resources that you can draw on for revision and homework.

Like your own mini-library, no-one has to see it – it’s for you and your brain.

More to come…

This an excerpt from Top UK motivational 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. 

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. 

How to pass exams – Part 10 – It’s like landing on the moon! 

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
Michael Jordan (probably the greatest basketball player of all time)

In July 1969 Apollo 11 landed two men on the surface of the moon, the edited version on YouTube looks very calm, in reality there were alarms going off all over the place (see 3 mins onwards)

They’d travelled 240,000 miles in three days, but missed their landing site by about a mile. I don’t think that’s too bad, if you’ve gone almost a quarter of a million miles and you miss it by a mile!

But it meant they were starting to run out of fuel, so as they were landing alarms were screaming at them, “Don’t land! Don’t land!” The two astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, chosen because they were the best pilots in the world, were in the lander and must have said ‘do you know what, we’re going to push thru and land this thing, we’ve come this far we’re not going to go back now!’ And that’s exactly what they did – they pushed thru and landed on the moon, did the original moon walk, and then flew back home again.

Amazing stuff.

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

In 1962 President John F Kennedy, made this famous speech… “But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control,  communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out.”

But in 1962 they didn’t even know whether the space craft would land safely on the surface of the moon or whether it would fall through it! The surface dust was a big problem, an unknown and maybe unsolvable problem.

Nobody had landed anything that heavy before on the moon, so they didn’t know whether the surface of the moon would hold the weight of the space craft or whether it would just sink and disappear! They had massive obstacles they had to push thru to make that happen.

Every single one of us, whatever our background is, have obstacles to push thru.

To be successful at school, in life, we’ve all got obstacles to push thru. My obstacles are different to your obstacles, but there are still things that we all have to push thru.

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. 

How to pass exams – Part 9 – Don’t panic, I’m just going offline!

One of my favourite comedians is Michael McIntyre, I was at the BBC recording of his series. He was great, skipping around the stage and telling great stories. I was impressed. He’s one of the highest paid comedian in the UK now and one of the funniest. But how did he get there? He focused. Just four years earlier his career as a stand-up comedian was going nowhere and he had serious money problems, i.e. he didn’t have any! He was £40,000 in debt and the shops were cutting up his credit cards at the counter in front of him. But when his son was born that changed everything and he realised he had to re-focus. He sacked his rubbish management and decided to work seven nights a week and really focused on making it happen. It worked. He might still be there in his dingy little flat right now, if he hadn’t taken control, got the experience he needed and focused hard on the right stuff for him.

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

Any work is better done when you are 100% focussed on the job in front of you, school work included.

So going offline while you are working will make your writing or revision better quality than if you are constantly checking Facebook or Snapchat.

Maybe you can make an agreement with your mates to txt each other to say…”I’m going offline for a bit – I’ll be back later”.

Get your work done and then you can have fun later. Job done, and you’ll enjoy yourself more too.

Even listening to music has been proven to distract us when doing work. Dr Nick Perham from the University of Wales Institute did a study in 2010 and discovered that listening to music while trying to revise lessened the ability for us to recall the information! So, if you are serious about doing well – switch off your phone for a bit, but don’t worry he also says listening to your favourite music before doing revision helps you.

So play your music loud before and after – just not during your work.

Life is sometimes just about focusing on the right thing at the right time.

Life is about seasons. School doesn’t need you to focus for 52 weeks a year; but if you give it your focus when it’s really needed, you will aim higher.

And when you aim higher you will achieve more than you thought you ever could.

Tom Daley got A’s and A stars in his GCSE’s and he’s the best diver in the world. Why did he do so well in his exams, when he was training for four hours a day?

Lastly, when were you last validated or complimented? When has someone said to you – ‘you’re quite good at that’? This is how I ended up doing what I’m doing today. When I was a teenager someone said ‘you’re quite good at doing talks Lee’. I went ‘oh, am I?’ I decided to give it a go…and now I speak for a living.

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. 

How to pass exams – Part 8 –  Time to focus on the adventure

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”
Alexander Graham Bell (Inventor of the telephone 1847-1922)

The next key is FOCUS… all successful people develop this, and at school we have to focus too. (Oh just hang on, I need to switch off facebook!).

Right, focus Lee, come on…

The first few episodes of the X-factor are among my favourite shows, the interview starts and they always say the same thing, ‘If I don’t get through to the next round my life will be over’, and just to lay it on thick they usually say, ‘Oh yeah, and my granny is very poorly’! Then their big moment arrives and they walk on stage and have a quick chit-chat with Simon Cowell, the music starts up and they start to sing and everyone in the UK shouts together, “You can’t sing mate!” You can’t sing and not only that, you haven’t got any friends that have told you that you can’t sing! It’s painful to watch. Why is it painful? Because they’ve focused, but on the wrong thing. Focusing on the right thing can have a massive impact at school. Maybe there’s something you’ve got to focus on now which has been your ‘not so great area’ in school? Maybe you need to focus on that for a bit? Maybe it’s a simple thing like getting to lessons on time? I meet young people whose biggest area to focus on is simply bringing in a pen!

So what is it you’ve got to focus on in particular? Because when you focus it helps you to succeed and concentrates your energies. When teenager Tom Daley won the Commonwealth Games Gold Medal in 2010, it was all down to his last dive.

He focused hard on the edge of the 10 metre platform and came away with the medal after a great dive. His Australian competitor didn’t focus as much, lost his nerve and the gold medal, he must have been gutted.

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

Focusing on a piece of work for school will make a big difference. Even just switching off all distractions for an hour or two can mean the difference between passing and failing. I challenge you to do your work with your phone and facebook / MSN etc. switched off, the off button is the same button as the on button btw 🙂
If you do I’ll guarantee you two things:

1. You’ll get on better with your work

2. When you do switch on your phone again you will still have friends!

Trust me on this. It may sound very radical to some but it is worth it and more importantly it does work.

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. 

How to pass exams – Part 7 – It’s hard work being on an adventure

“If you really want something, and really work hard, and take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will find a way.”

Jane Goodall, English Zoologist

For some – the next bit of advice might be a shock…

In our world of instant coffee, pot noodles and movies on demand, we can sometimes forget that not everything happens instantly. Have you ever tasted a Pot Noodle, you’ll soon be hungry again, instant sometimes just doesn’t cut it. There’s nothing better than a great home cooked meal, that’s why students go home!

When I first started researching success in life I came across this seemingly obvious advice and I sort of wish it wasn’t on the list. I wish I could say ‘you’ll just make it one day, it will all happen to you, you don’t have to work hard, just chill – everything will be fine’. It would make this blog go viral, but it just isn’t true.

We have to work hard to succeed in anything. Some people’s planning for their future is to simply buy a lottery ticket, I see people do it all the time. Many lottery winners have been called “Lottery Losers” because they wish they hadn’t won the money after a while as it makes them very unhappy.

Success is mostly in your hands, and Richard St. John agrees. He found out that successful people work hard, but if you’re passionate about something you can work hard and have fun. Result.

Larry Page (one of the founders of Google) said, “You can’t just have inspiration. It’s maybe 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration”, he was quoting the inventor Thomas Edison from 1903.

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

Now, it has to be said I don’t look like a natural runner, (Rugby League player maybe), but one of my ambitions was to take part in the Great North Run in Newcastle. So one year I signed up and went from zero to running 13 miles in just a few months. Most of the training was boring, repetitive and sometimes even miserable but when, on the big day, I was struggling at 11 miles into the run I was so glad I had done all that training. The slog, night after night around Leeds meant that when it came to the crunch I could finish the race. Working hard paid off, when I needed it most.

Doing my research before I speak anywhere is exactly the same, hard work…works! Work hard, but even better, work smart. Take breaks, have a day off, but earn it by having 5 or 6 days on!

Work hard then reward yourself. As we say up north…CRACK ON, then have a cup of tea! My sister once got told off by her builder because she kept giving the lads bacon sandwiches first thing in the morning. “Stop giving them bacon” the boss said, “they don‘t get anything done otherwise!” Work then reward.

I know you’ve probably been told this many times already, but there are no short cuts to being successful at school. A lot of it is just working as hard and as smartly as you can. Work to your best, you know deep down what that is.

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. 

How to pass exams – Part 6 – Discover your passion in the adventure

“Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion”
Martha Graham, choreographer & dancer (1894 – 1991)

In his research Richard St. John found out that successful people are simply passionate about what they do. Amazingly, even the people who were financially successful often said ‘I would do this for love and not for money. ’ Woah! Hang on? I would do this for LOVE and not for money!’ Don’t people just do things for money?

I meet people in school all the time who want to be in a high paid job for that reason only, yet all the research shows that if money is your motivation the novelty wears off very quickly and you will soon hate your job. I meet loads of well-paid but miserable people – strange but true! Successful people are happy when they follow their passions, that’s what keeps them going long term. So, here’s a biggy…what are you passionate about? What is the subject at school/college that you are passionate about? What is it you really love to do? What is it you do where time passes really quickly?

When I was your age I was a hip hop scratch DJ and in a band. I spent nearly all my time DJing, recording and learning new DJ skills. When I was pulling together a mix time would just fly by, like it does now when I am speaking or writing. So for me at that time my hobby turned into my life.

What subject at school does time seem to pass really quickly? What do you get the best grades in? What are you passionate about?

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

Once you recognise what you are passionate about let that passion rub off into other parts of your school life, even if you only really like one lesson a day that can make all the difference. One positive hour can make your day fly by, even if that’s break time with your mates, add up five of them and you’ve had a much better week and before you know it you’ve had a better year! And yes, better results and more fun into the bargain. School can be fun, not always, but sometimes. I think it should be fun, what do you think?

When I was a youth worker I always put in my diary a couple of things a week that I would really enjoy. For me it was basketball practice. Those two practices a week helped the rest of the week go much easier. Even the boring bits went quicker. Those basketball practices were like pegs to “hang my week on”. Use your passions to fire up your school/college life.

Do you think Steve Jobs hates Apple Macs, David Beckham hates football or Kylie hates music? Of course not, they have found their passion, that’s what has helped them achieve.
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.

How to pass exams – Part 5

Now comes the challenge, as you’ve probably worked out this blog is about you achieving (the you shaped) success at your school and college.

But, if you go onto Amazon.co.uk and type in “success” in the book section you get up to 325,306 results!

That means you’d have to read 325,306 different books from 325,306 different people or listen to 325,306 different talks from 325,306 different people, all with their views on what they think success is and how it can be achieved by us so-called “normal people”!

BUT DON’T PANIC – HELP IS AT HAND!

I came across Richard St. John from Canada (you can see his talks on www.ted.com) who has the solution to our 325,306 problem! He took ten years to interview over five hundred successful people face-to-face, he questioned people who were at the top of their game in whatever they do. People from all walks of life – successful people in business, entertainment, politics, research, scientists, artists and astronauts – right through to community leaders and sports legends. From Richard Branson to Russell Crowe, Bill Gates to Oprah Winfrey, JK Rowling to J-Lo, even Ben from Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream!

Once he had gathered all the information together he asked a simple question, what have they all got in common?

Now that’s a powerful question!

(You can read about this work further in his book “8 Traits Successful People Have In Common: 8 To Be Great” by Richard St. John, 2010, ISBN 9780973900972)

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

In the next part of the blog series, using my own stories/experiences and some of his research, we can see how we can put these powerful principles into practice at school and college. If they worked for Matt Groening (The Simpsons’ creator) and James Dyson (the posh bright yellow hoover bloke!), I reckon they’ll help to achieve your you shaped success too.

This blog is focused on education but you’ll find that this advice will help you in the world of work and your personal life too – like I did.

Are you up for it? Let’s go…

But first – pause for thought…

Whether you feel like it or not you are an amazing person.

Need proof?

Look at your fingerprint now, no-one has your fingerprint.

You are amazing.

The retina of your eye is unique to you.

You are amazing.

Your DNA structure is also unique to you.

You are amazing.

There will never be anyone like you!
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. 

How to pass exams

How to pass exams – Part 4

“Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.”
Judy Garland

Do you remember the song “Rock Star” by Nickelback, and the video where their fans are miming along to the words?

Every generation has a song that says ‘If I could just be somewhere else or someone else, or have a credit card without limit’, I’d be alright.

My generation had a song called ‘Money for Nothing’ by Dire Straits; they sang “If I could play my guitar on the MTV”. There’s an even cheesier song by a band called ‘Bros’ (ask your parents or carers if they remember that cheese monster classic!), they sang ‘When Will I, Will I Be Famous?’

Have you ever heard people say that the “grass is always greener somewhere else?” That got me thinking about my favourite quotation from Coach John Wooden.

He said: “Success is peace of mind…in knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

John Wooden is the most successful U.S. college basketball coach of all time – he won seven championships back-to-back and coached many of the greats.  Interesting, he doesn’t mention fame, or money.

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

At the end of your exams/course you’ll probably have a two or three month break, one of the longest holidays that you’ll ever get in your life! You’ve got two options in that break, you can relax, have fun and peace of mind because you know that you did your best. Or, you can be stressed out wishing you’d done more work.

Peace of mind is a great thing because YOU know that YOU did your best.

You see there’s a shape in the world that is YOU shaped. My shape’s slightly larger than your shape, but it’s still my shape! It’s Lee Jackson shaped. I can do amazing things as my shape, I bring unique things to the places I visit and the community I live in. I bring unique things to this book.

And that means you do too! You bring unique skills and gifts to your home, school/college and eventually your workplace. But the problem is that, if like in the Nickelback song, we’re always trying to be someone else…we can’t be our shape effectively.

If we are saying – “If I can just be like that person in my class; if I just had her hair; if I just had his money or if I could just do essays like they can,” then we are trying to be someone else – we are comparing ourselves to others and we will always feel worse doing that. And if we are trying to be someone else then…my question is ‘who is being you?’

You bring something unique to your school/college and if you do your best, your school becomes a greater and better place because of the gifts you bring to it. Everyone wins! But it’s never about being perfect, it’s about trying our best and being unique.

Then even if we don’t become top of the class we can still look back and say “I tried my best”. That cures post exam stress and it’s good for us as it’s how we find out what we are really capable of.

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.

How to pass exams