#4 Success Ingredients
Guaranteed improvements: The base of Success
The #4 ingredient summary builds a simple framework for defining and measuring a successful approach. The #2 Structure ingredient is broken down further with eight of the 9 pillars for defined clarity and guidance. Structure overrules content: eg: the structure of how to learn dictates if learning is easy or difficult. This is a critical point most educational institutions ignore so many students achieve lower grades. This is because our learning structure is ignored for read-write rote learning and assessment.
Ingredient #3 is the evidence. This is the same as pillar No3 Rules of Evidence.
#1 What do you want?
What are you doing about it?
Nothing happens without there being a want or a necessity. A want is a desire or calling to achieve or get something. It may be to fill a whim or at the other extreme achieve something world-class. Necessities tend to have high motivation as they are required for life to function. This is step one in the motivation process. The outcome is set. Without this no action to make it happen will occur. What do you want, if chosen consciously as a set outcome, gives the starting position to figure out what is required.
An important aspect of the what do you want question is to be specific. This will help a specific and correct outcome happen. Goal setting practices can be useful here to clarify and confirm a choice of action. For example, the SMART goal process helps definition. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timed. This will bring expectations into alignment to make an outcome possible so it matches part two of this question: What are you going to do about it?
So, what are you going to do about it? This is where one figures out what actions are required to achieve the set goal. These are the things that will be actioned. The two foundational resources a human has to achieve anything is 1. time and 2. attention. Depending on the skill sets of the individual they may be able to do this fast. Others may need to develop a skill as part of that process so they can meet the desired outcome. As discussed on the motivation page if the desire is intrinsic there is a greater chance of success and long-term improvement.
That is what this academic life coaching service is about; developing the critical skill sets that apply to all areas of life. Hence State Awareness and the Learning State are top of the life skill list. These two skill sets apply to all of life's activities and make a successful student who improves. They will improve academic performance but learn the requisite skills to deal with bullies, relationship issues and any other human pursuit. This skill set is life-saving in emergency situations. Better grades are just the start, it's the path to a better life with the core life skills to deal with anything from a responsive empowered place.
The what are you going to do about it question addresses what 1. time and 2. volitional attention will be applied. Volitional attention is ingredient #4 in this distillation of how to succeed. Your volitional attention includes what you are doing during all activities, this is not restricted to thinking and learning. If the outcome is defined clearly by the what do you want question then the quantity of time, attention and skills can be estimated. Is this outcome reasonable and do you have the skill set to do it in that timeframe? From here an assessment can be made if the decision to act is worth the effort.
#2 Structure
Structure rules content: Your structures
Structure rules content, process and outcomes. Everything operates within the rules of its structure. Understand the structure of something then you'll know the laws that govern it. A simple example is how do I turn ice into boiling water? The laws of physics make it certain as water is subject to the structure of physics. Understanding your structures of being human and how you learn means the best approach can be taken.
Academic and life success happens when we understand the governing rules of our neurology and psychology. Our primary human structure is that of the unconscious mind (pillar No5 in the 9 pillar framework) as that deals with all our human aspects including learning, memory, emotions, health, trauma and all cognitive functions (etc). Our neurology is the physical-electrical wiring that allows the unconscious mind to physically operate. This is why State Awareness is the first foundational structure for educational pursuits. The second is to maximise your neurology and psychology by entering the Learning State.
The 9 pillar framework addresses the most important structures to give a definitive and evidence-based outcome. If one of the 9 pillars is not addressed then the outcome may fail. A fundamental requirement for a person to be functional and deemed by society as a good-person is pillar No4 Law Zero. Law Zero is self honesty and self responsibility. This is hopefully obvious to you the reader. Our Law Zero is a continuum where we grow our self honesty and self responsibility.
The more self honest we are with our State Awareness, and apply our volitional attention because we are being self-responsible, means we have greater command over our psychology and neurology. This gives us the ability to be fully resourceful to choose a response in any situation. Once you get good at this you can handle extreme life-threatening events with a highly conscious response. This is evidence the new default habits are forming in preference to our typical fight-flight instinctual responses.
Learning the skill sets within this academic life coaching service are the structural keys to a happy and successful life. Once one understands our structure and you have the basic skills then the person can maximize their life if they #1 want it. The #1 want can be achieved with the greatest efficiency and ease if the correct #2 structures are used. Most educational systems are designed to hinder our most important #2 structures. This is why Australia, and most countries are having an educational crisis with large percentages of students struggling. Then the pandemic happened and made this situation much worse.
Read-write rote learning is extremely inefficient for both our psychology and neurology. Students that flourish in traditional learning educational systems are the types whose internal structures are strong in the read-write rote type learning context. As they do well they are typically more motivated, unless they are gifted and it's just low effort for them.
It is up to the parents and students to be self responsible and learn how-to-learn in educational systems that are designed to fail most. This service coaches people to learn, use and test methods that work with your internal structures. These skill sets can be applied in any setting. Secondary and tertiary education is where the habitual (pillar No5) base for approaching life is set. If a person can learn these core life skills they will do well. This sets an empowered life foundation and the student can be proactive and responsive to life.
#3 Evidence
What are the outcomes?
Ingredient #3 is evidence. This is the outcome. When a measurement is set it can be noted as an outcome. This gives feedback as to what went well and what can be improved. There is no failure if you get back up and have another go according to Arnold Schwarzenegger which is the 4th Law of Success presented here on this website.
It is important to set outcomes that are easily measurable to contribute toward the bigger goal. Achieving a 15% average grade jump may take a few years of skill building, preparation and testing. It was in my 3rd year of testing whole brain study skills that my grade average jumped 15% over my second year studies. My second year grades were better than my first year, but not by 15%. I made some promising improvements and I had some failures. The failures were powerful lessons to get my approach right. In my third year it all came together and it resulted in photographic memory. Attaining photographic memory did require extensive effort. I trained myself to operate in the Learning State for extended periods. My memory went photographic regards my whole life not just university subject matter. I was able to reel off personal conversations verbatim months later. How big the positive change can be depends on the person, situation and the levels of #1 want and application (the motivation put into action).
A big change starts with small steps in the right direction. Progress feeds motivation to keep improving. The use of a success journal is promoted with this service as it catches the #3 evidence of action, insights, improvements and stuff-ups. It captures the evidence that can be used later for greater insight.
#4 Volitional Attention
The critical factor: Your attention
How do you experience or action something? You place your conscious attention on it. I call that volitional attention to make it more defined. Volition is our free-will. It is a choice, not a reaction or an unconscious habitual response. This is the basis of educational systems. Students spend time focused on subject matter to learn it. If 25% of the brain and neurology is used for learning then it will take four times as long to learn compared to whole brain learning with the Learning State. The Learning State ensures that the memory and learning are more integrated so it becomes long-term memory.
State Awareness and the Learning State grow our attention span, focus capacity and ability to be defined in detail and meaning. Applying your attention into your mental-emotional state gives you the ability to understand what is blocking the Learning State. Choosing consciously to be aware of what your unconscious mind is experiencing means you can change it. Body tension, emotions and unresolved situations (eg: arguments) from earlier in the day will hang about in the unconscious mind until they are resolved. The structure of the Learning State gives the ability to do this. The Learning State uses conscious volitional attention to align both our neurology and psychology to the maximum performance state for learning and all human activities.
Aligning your conscious attention with your developed unconscious habits is the key. Your unconscious mind deepens and develops your Learning State until it is mastered unconsciously (Laws of Success 10). Then your conscious attention is super easy as your unconscious reaction is to drop into your default habit of the Learning State. What is amazing is that babies to 7 year old children live predominantly in the Learning States of alpha and theta brainwave patterning. As the child grows and develops their ego they resort to mind thinking predominance (Beta brainwaves). What is required is conscious training so we can learn like a 5 year old when we are older. Returning to innocence as the saying goes is a volitional journey back to being a 5 year old in an adult body. The 5 year old representing how our unconscious mind functions. I hope this makes sense, it's remarkable when this is understood. To live by default in the Learning State is what Carl Jung defines as individuation. However better grades and successful happy life does not require this level of attainment. The Learning State can be learned and used for learning and other activities to give better outcomes.
Feedback Loop
The #4 ingredients repeat
The #4 ingredients make a feedback loop. Using your #4 volitional attention means you can set the #1 outcome and then achieve it if you are willing to action it. If you use the #2 structures that give the best outcome then the results #3 will tend to be better. Examining each of the first three ingredients with your attention will help you hone a better way if the #1 outcome is not met.
The structure is set. This applies to study, business, relationships and the basis of our happiness. Thus #1 what do you want? This framework and coaching/tutoring will certainly put you in the right direction to make it possible!
If there is a major behavioural or psychological block to improving it is defined here as a blind spot. This is covered by pillar No8 in the 9 pillar framework. These are the difficult unconscious patterns we naturally can't see. This is by design per the prime directives of our unconscious mind. A blind spot is a deeply rooted unconscious pattern or behaviour with the aim to keep you safe. Unfortunately, our unconscious mind has the mentality of a 5 year old child, so the unconscious response may have negative outcomes even though its core No1 prime directive is to keep you safe. Resolving these harder issues is covered on the learning and motivation issue page.
My recommendation
My recommendation is to undertake the core study skill module. As part of this process, many issues can be resolved in due course in those 8 sessions.
The specifics that I encounter as this takes place will inform me clearly as to what could be done and what support may be needed. Tap the below button and book in. We shall then discuss how to work together and make your student's life brighter.
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