Free Education

168 hours in a week.

- 25 hours of class

- 25 hours of work

- 7 hours of travel time

- 56 hours of sleep.

 

That leaves 55 hours a week of unaccounted for time.

 

If a third of that, 18 hours, is spent studying, sketching, reading, and other educational related activities that would still leave 37 hours a week for other activities.

 

A student who puts in 18 hours a week ends up getting 72 hours of  outside studying done in a one-month class. That is opposed to a student who skates by with only putting in 15-20 hours a month (3 - 4 hours a week).

 

Over a course of 12 months of classes, the dedicated student will actually have gained more than 600 hours of additional education over the unmotivated student…That is the equivalent of taking 6 more 4-hour courses in the same amount of time or having received 50% more education.

 

So if education is expensive, then why not get 50% more of it for the same price. I have never met a successful graduate who regretted spending too much time on studying or an employer who wished a potential employee was less prepared.

 

Education may be expensive, but it is cheap in comparison to ignorance. 

10 Ways to Improve your test-taking ability and your grades

One of the interesting things about Fridays is sitting under the smoking canopy and watching the students come out from their exams all stressed and bleary-eyed. They mumble about the teachers. They complain about the questions that were different from what they had studied. But mostly, the students sit around kicking themselves in the rear for all the questions they knew but somehow forgot when the test was in front of them. I know. I do understand. I was once a poor test-taker too. And, like most students, the harder I studied and the more I wanted to do well, the more frustrated I usually was with my performance.

So having been through this a few times, here are a few little things that I have found to help relieve that performance anxiety and actually improve test-taking skills between 10% and 20%.

1) Read the whole test before trying to answer any of the questions. An athlete needs to stretch and warm-up before competing on the field, you need to do the same with your mind. By reading the entire test, without worrying whether or not you know the answers, you will often see words, phrases, and hints that serve as triggers to other answers. As a teacher, I find it difficult to write a thorough examination that does not include a question that serves as an answer to other questions.

2) Answer the questions you know first and then go back and either figure out or guess at the rest. Part of what causes stress and frustration is a lack of confidence. If an instructor puts the easy questions first, the class will score significantly better than if the teacher places the difficult questions first. When you let doubt enter into your mind, even the easiest questions can become difficult because you start to doubt your own knowledge and preparation. Answer the ones you know first and you will get the easy ones right and will be in a better mental state to tackle the challenging ones.

3) Once the test starts you cannot change what you know and you cannot change what is on the test. Relax, do your best, and don’t worry about the results. When you worry, your body produces more adrenaline. Adrenaline causes your blood vessels to contract, which restricts the flow of blood to parts of your body, including your brain. Blood delivers the Oxygen that your brain needs to properly function. So when you stress about the test you actually deprive your body of the Oxygen it needs to perform well. This is what causes those lovely “mental farts” we all experience from time to time.

One thing that I found that helped me let go of my stress was that whenever I was faced with a test, I would close my eyes, grasp the cross I always wear around my neck and say the following prayer: “God help me remember what I know, and help me guess really well at the rest of this stuff.” Whether it was divine intervention or shifting responsibility for the results to someone else, it caused my average test score to increase by 15%.

4) If you are a smoker, consider chewing a piece of Nicorette. There are studies that show that nicotine dependant people have better memory recall when they are given access to Nicotine. Chances are that when you were studying you allowed yourself to smoke. To pull that information back out effectively you need to try and place your body in a similar condition to what is was like when you were studying. (BTW- stick with the 2mg version because the 4 mg version will probably make you anxious and jumpy.)

5) While on the mental conditioning thing, place a few drops of the essential oils of Rosemary and Peppermint in your room as you study. Rosemary helps with memory and recall while Peppermint helps with mental alertness. As few drops in a diffuser is all it takes. To enhance the effects and trigger your recently acquired knowledge, make a small sachet with Peppermint and Rosemary essential oils. A slight exposure to the aroma will help trigger your memory. The human body and mind react to smells at a level 400 times below the level of being conscious of those smells. It doesn’t take much and no one else will probably notice the slight fragrance.

6) Drink half a beer before you take the test. This is again based upon the relaxation principles above. Half a beer should be enough to help you relax so you can access the information easier while not being enough to significantly impair your ability to function. More beer does not help!

7) Accept the fact that everything you’ve everything you’ve ever read, seen, heard, or thought has been recorded by your brain. In fact information is recorded by your brain at a rate equivalent to about 3 times the recording speed of your camcorder (approx. 80 -90 frames per second). Once you know the information is somewhere in your brain, it is only a matter of recalling it instead of worrying if you can actually remember it. Confidence leads to better performance in almost every area of our lives.

8) Do not change your answers. If your brain knows the answers, quit letting fear and doubt make you second-guess it. I have tracked students for 10 years and 80% of changed answers are changed from right answers to wrong answers. Trust your mind and trust your instincts. That is how the brain communicates to us.

9) Bring your teacher Oatmeal-raisin cookies! Subjective tests, especially where partial credit may be awarded is based upon the teacher’s mood much more than most of us would like to admit. I remember grading papers about 8 years ago and being frustrated at the answers some of my students were giving me. As I placed a big, red X by an answer, I thought that perhaps I had given a similar answer by another student partial credit. I stopped what I was doing, double-checked and discovered that I had in fact done so. I now always grade subjective tests at least twice to make sure my mood does not influence my ability to be consistent and impartial in my grading. So, although cookies will not influence how I grade your paper, they may help keep me in a good mood.

10)Your test score only shows how well you were at taking a particular test. It has nothing to do with how intelligent or capable you are, nor does it affect your value as a human being. I know your teachers, parents, and peers may have used your test-taking abilities as means of judging and condemning you, but if that’s what they want to do, they will always find some way to do so. Your test score only represents how well you did at a particular time in your life on a particular test. Don’t let a bad past experience condemn your efforts now. Grades are merely numbers; your true intelligence and education will be revealed in your ability to apply the knowledge you’ve obtained in creative, useful, and practical ways. Education is about growth not about grades, so take a deep breathe and remember, in the words of John Belushi,  that in the long-run, “It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter!”.

Throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor

 It happened 15 years ago. It was the scariest thing I had ever done in my life, and probably the most important. I made a choice. I took a chance. I quit making excuses, and I have never regretted that decision I made.

In my senior year of high school, I developed a stuttering problem. It was not a physical ailment, it was a mental one. I became absolutely petrified of speaking in front of an audience. Whenever I had to speak, I would trip on my words, go light-headed, drip sweat from my brow, and pray for it to all be over as quickly as possible. To say it was something I did not like is an understatement. To say it was something I felt I might never be able to do and would never attempt was a more realistic assessment and I was absolutely fine with that. I would rather hide in fear than to go through the pain and agony of speaking in public.

That changed when my daughter entered the public school system. I did not like some of the decisions the school board was making in regards to my children’s education and I realized that I could 1) sit at home, complain, and do nothing, 2) speak up and look like a babbling idiot which wasn’t really a pleasant proposition, or 3) I could go through the painful process of learning the skills I needed to become an effective communicator. So for my 33^rd birthday, I attended a local Toastmaster’s meeting.

It was intimidating to watch people comfortably give impromptu talks, deliver beautifully prepared speeches, and then listen graciously while other people offered advise and critiques. I chose to hide in the back of the room and do as little as possible ,which is where I stayed for the next two months. Eventually, I ventured out and tried to take on a few roles and after 4 months of attending, I found the courage to deliver my first speech. It was a dreadful attempt. I was physically ill for two days worrying about it. When I spoke, sweat literally dripped from my face onto my note cards, and I had to add lib the ending because the ink started running on my hand-written speech. After it was over, I decided to quit.

Three weeks later, a friend convinced me to go back and give it another try. Time went by and I forced myself to deliver a second horrendous speech and again I quit. This went on for 9 months but for some strange reason I kept letting myself get talked into coming back. It took me two years to deliver the 10 manual speeches, but by the end of it all, I had developed some great friendships and knew I could control my fear enough to appear somewhat competent if I ever had to speak to an audience.

I stayed with the program for another year and a half and discovered that I was learning a great deal more than how to speak in front of a group. I learned to listen, to positively evaluate others, and to effectively think on my feet. I learned to manage a meeting, and then a  club, and eventually an entire area of clubs. I learned to develop leaders and maybe how to draw out the best in some individuals who were as desperate for a different life as I had originally been. But most importantly I learned that nothing is truly impossible if you are willing to persist and to keep trying.

For me, Toastmasters helped me better listen to and communicate with my daughters, clients, and co-workers. For me, Toastmasters gave me the confidence to speak publicly in order to advance my business and my career. For me, Toastmasters taught me to never give up on a lost cause who still was willing to do the difficult work of trying to grow and to change.

I mention all of this tonight for a few reasons.

1)    I know some people who are frustrated by life and by the challenges of trying to improve their future. It can be done if you just keep coming back and keep making an honest effort. “The pain of the change is soon forgotten once the rewards of the effort have (begun to be) realized.” - Zig Zigler I think

2)    No matter how far you have come or how good you think you are, there are still paths that can lead you farther... if you are willing to seek them out.

3)     Most limits in life exist only because you choose to place them upon yourself. These limits are often masked as excuses, poor timing, and bad luck.

4)    If you need skills to change, it doesn’t matter what you like or enjoy, go develop those skills. You may discover once you have gained competency, you actually enjoy those things you once dreaded (like writing, public speaking, and web design).

5)    Becoming a CTM in Toastmasters was more difficult than earning my college degree or my Eagle in scouting. Maybe because of this, I value it even more than I do those other two accomplishments, and I know for a fact it has done more for my career and my personal relationships than anything else I have ever attempted.

6)    There is a new Toastmaster’s club that meets the 2^nd and 4^th Monday of each month at 1:20 in the afternoon at Keiser University in Lakeland, Fl. It is a club that is open to students, faculty, alumni, and anyone else over 18 who is looking to improve the quality of their life and their potential for a better career. Please feel free to visit and participate.

“In 20 years you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do, than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore! Dream! Discover!”  (Mark Twain) and quit making excuses to remain trapped by your fears and habits in a world of frustrating mediocrity.

Parking on a Friday Night

Last Friday night, a friend and I went to downtown Stuart for dinner. The parking lots were rather full and as I turned into a particular lot, she was amazed that I immediately found a parking place.  I believe her comment was “Oh, do you manifest parking places too?” No, I just knew there was one waiting for me. There always is.

Some people go through life looking for full parking lots and find them. They spend hours driving around looking to find ways to see full lots. They are so focused on finding spots in exactly the right place, they will block traffic for ten minutes waiting for someone to pull out and make room for them. Most of the time they go home complaining about the lack of parking, the selfish people who beat them to a spot, or how much they didn't accomplish because they spent all day driving in circles.

Other people pull into parking lots and immediately find parking places. They know there are places available and so they drive to one, accept it for what it is, and are willing to walk an extra 45 seconds in exchange for not having to drive around frustrated. These people usually get to where they want to go faster, happier, and maybe a tad bit healthier.

I am always amazed how people choose not to find success, not to find love, not to find happiness because they are so busy finding excuses that they never see the opportunities right in front of them.  Just because the opportunities don’t come gift-wrapped with big bows and our name written all over them, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. 

It's time for some FUN!

FUN!!!!

Fun???

Fun. It’s that magical thing that gives meaning to life. It’s that thing that keeps the batteries recharged. It’s that missing ingredient that we seem to forget about when work, life, and school seem to be demanding all of our time. During the times when we feel we have too much to do, fun is the first thing that we willingly sacrifice. We feel guilty to take time out for fun and forget that an hour or two of fun will make us more productive in everything else we do.

I had a work-study who made a technically nice flier today. The information was well presented but the flier was BORING. I asked him about fun, and he couldn’t remember what it was. I have a grad student whom I mentor who was feeling overwhelmed this afternoon by life and years of study. She is making less than A’s this month because her work is flat and predictable. I mentioned that she needs to go have fun and she doesn’t feel she has time for it. A former student today was talking to me about feeling depressed because she works and takes care of her three children and can’t figure out what is wrong with her life. She too couldn’t remember fun and laughing outside of her existence with her children.

 I too had forgotten about our need for fun because I was swamped with grown-up responsibilities, until this past weekend. I spent some time with friends, rode around Stuart, FL for two days on a GoPet, and smiled and laughed like I haven’t in years. I came back to school this week with renewed energy, focus, and enthusiasm and have gotten more done in the past three days than I have in the last three weeks.

Life is short. Work and family can be demanding. Everyone expects more and more from us and so we hide in video games and YouTube and television and Facebook just to escape the pressure. But it doesn’t help does it? Instead, go fly a kite, laugh like a kid, buy a new toy, or something else you used to do when you were young. Fun is still there, you just have to rediscover it. And when you do, you’ll find that you actually have more time and energy than you’ve had in years because you are more creative, productive, and energetic.

Work hard and play hard is more than a mantra. It is the recipe for success in everything you do. Talk to you later, I am off to ride my very own GoPet around town for a few hours.

PS, - If you don’t know what a GoPet is, e-mail me (greg@getagopet.com), or visit http://www.GetaGoPet.com. I got so excited about having fun again that I am becoming a distributor for the company this evening, but that is a new blog and web site that will just have to wait until tomorrow.

Ten Easy Ways to Sabotage Your Career

1. Be conceited, ungrateful, or arrogant. Watch the leaders in any field and to a person, they always find time to say thank you, to share, and to listen.
   
2. Be vengeful, negative,  and deceitful, especially in public places. It’s always easy to find faults, but it takes talent and discipline to find solutions. Employers and clients need solutions not criticism.
   
3. Treat your online activity like the boy’s locker room. Everything you say or do online can and may eventually be seen by the people whose respect you need to earn. Acting and posting as if you are in eighth grade shows an future employer you are not yet mature enough to represent his or her firm.
   
4. Put cute messages or extremely long musical numbers on your answering machine. When a client or employer wants to speak to you they don’t want their time wasted. I know an excellent designer who has lost at least three interviews because you can’t leave her a message until you’ve sat through 90 seconds of a poorly recorded message. “I don’t have time for this. Next!”
   
5.  Dress and act as if you don’t care. If you don’t care enough to iron your shirt, to comb your hair, and to put a little polish on those shoes, then you don’t really care about the company for which you are hoping to work. It’s a matter of respect.
   
6. Go to the interview, presentation, or meeting unprepared. Research the company/client. Be prepared to not just answer questions but to ask intelligent ones as well. Reorganize your portfolio to show your future employer /client the work which is relevant to their business. Being prepared shows you care and are willing to earn the opportunity to work for the firm or individual.
   
7. Treat the receptionist like a peon. He or she doesn’t really count anyway and has no influence in the company. Right?
   
8.  Make people wait and be impatient if you are required to do so.  I remember my firm once lost a $10,000 web site because my sales person was ten minutes late and didn’t even bother to call. “If you don’t respect the value of my time, then you don’t respect my company.”
   
9.  Place your company information on a vehicle and then drive like a jerk. I seldom respond to vehicular advertising except when I make it a point never to work with a particular company because their driver cut me off in traffic.
   
10.  Don’t bother hand-writing a thank you note and following up with a phone call. Taking the time to say thank you isn’t really that important anymore and neither is the person who gave you an opportunity to work with them.
    
11. Send out mass e-mails and thank you notes. Everybody loves being treated like a number, so why not reaffirm this by showing some real insincerity. It's better to personally thank a few individuals at a time, by name, than to try and thank everybody with a generic mass mailing.

Yes, I know I can't count. Giving more than I promise is another one of those nasty habits I'm working on. :)

Stick a Fork In It !

One of the first things that I identified as a requirement when I started trying to develop my Latin American businesses was the need to attempt to communicate in a language that my customers understood.  In 1990, the first of the mass fax programs were now affordable as were the early attempts at translation programs. So I learned the software, spent  three months developing my leads list, and started faxing out monthly sales letters to the top 500 retailers in the Caribbean, South, and Central America. I translated these into Portuguese and Spanish with the help of the computer and started being referred to as the “fax man” when I finally met these future clients at trade shows.

One of the companies I represented was Retroneu , a higher end flatware company.  The top tier of their product line was branded as the “Landmark Collection”, bridal registry flatware that retailed for $150 - $200 per place setting.  I wrote a marvelous sales letter explaining why every top retailer should be carrying the magnificent  Landmark collection in their bridal departments.  I then proofed the letter, ran it through the translation software, and faxed it out.

Unfortunately, the program didn’t recognized the word Landmark and substituted its best guess which was “heap”. The literal translation for heap is mierda  (sp?).  So I sent out a letter to the merchandise managers, owners, and buyers of the major  Latin America retailers explaining why they should be carrying “un magnificante colleccion de mierda,” loosely translated as a marvelous pile of excrement.  I received more than 3 dozen responses within the next 2 days explaining my error.

I didn’t know it at the time, but that mistake did more to endear me to customers/prospects than almost anything I had done to that point. I became human. I was making an effort to communicate, however poorly, in their language. I opened more new accounts in the next few months than at any other time during that particular part of my sales career because I wasn’t another  indifferent salesman trying to make a sale, I was just another human trying to make a connection.

The reason I share this, is that it amazes me how many people don’t do things because they are afraid of making mistakes.  We learn the most from making mistakes, but sometimes during the process, we also make wonderful friendships because we care enough to try.  I’m sure that I’ll make plenty of mistakes as I try to be part of the transition from traditional marketing toward personally connecting with and listening to our individual, human customers. But I guess I’d rather look foolish than to be left alone and out of business.