How to Study Smart

Why do some students study very hard, spending most of their time doing their revision but they aren’t the best in their study group? And why are there some students who only spend a fraction of the time studying but they often get good or even outstanding results? This was not due to the lack of natural talent in studies but it simply means that they have not found an effective tool which acts as a knack for understanding concepts and learning new ideas. One of the smart study habits is by using mind-map to promote effective and accelerated learning experience. A mind map is a useful web-like structure which emphasizes visual imagery that helps to engage in critical thinking and seeing a bigger picture. Empirically, mind-mapping is proven as an effective method of note-taking as an active learning (Abi-El-Mona and Abd-Ei-Khalick, 2008; Liu, Zhao and Ma et al., 2014). Mind mapping makes learning more vivid, thus promotes creative thinking and encourages brainstorming. Th...

YES YOU CAN


Confidence is believing in yourself to do what has to be done. It is the belief that we can do something. It is the inner feeling that whatever we undertake, we can accomplish. It is more or less the same as your self-esteem.

Do you often have an inner voice of “I can’t do it”, “I am hopeless”, “I have never done it before, and so I know that I cannot do it now too”, “I’ll lose, and I’ll be the last”? Some people are not prepared to try because they are afraid that other people might think less of them. Or some people may think that if they cannot win, there is no point trying. These people have no faith in themselves that they will succeed, because they have no confidence.

Everything can be learnt. You learnt how to walk, you learnt how to run, and you learnt how to eat too. So, you can as well learn to be confident. Confidence is a learning process where you gain experience from that failure and trying again with more energy, more commitment and greater determination than before. Here are some tips to gain self-confidence (Economy, 2014; Popovich, 2015):

1.      Stay away from negativity and bring on the positivity.
Learn to talk to yourself positively. When the negative thoughts come, learn to replace them with positive ones. For example, I can’t = I can, I won’t = I will, I will try my best = I will do my best. This is because when you think you can or can’t, you are probably right.

2.      Change your body language and image.
This is where smiling, eye contact and posture come into picture. Smiling and having eye contact with the person you speak not just spice up your confidence, it also makes the people around you feel comfortable. Bear in mind that first impression is essentially important.

3.      Don’t accept failure and never give up!
Failure is just a meet or a task. It’s not you, it’s the performance. Learn to separate who you are from what you do. The greatest achievement is not never failing but by getting up every time you fall. Keep trying and never give up!

4.      Be prepared.
Learn everything that you need to know. When you are backed up by all these knowledge, your natural confidence will show on your face.

5.      Create a great list
Life is full of challenges and there are times where it is difficult for us to head up and be confident. That’s the moment when you start to make a list of your achievements and strengths to remind yourself that what you have been through build the amazing you now.

I was once a person with low self-confidence and I was always pessimistic about everything happened around me. That’s when I was determined to step out of my comfort zone to make changes. Accept who you are and learn to like and respect yourself. We have to meet new challenges with the expectation that anything is possible. Chin up and smile!


Reference

Popovich, S. (2015) 8 Tips on How to improve Your Self-Confidence [online], 21st August
[Accessed: 5th July 2017]

Economy, P. (2014) 5 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Confidence [online], 14th October 2014
[Accessed: 5th July 2017]


By: Yau Che Yan, BAF1541

                                                                                                                                    

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