The Four Stages of Life

The Four Stages of Life

Life is a bitch. Then you die. So while staring at my navel the other day, I decided that that bitch happens in four stages. Here they are.

STAGE ONE: MIMICRY

We are born helpless. We can’t walk, can’t talk, can’t feed ourselves, can’t even do our own damn taxes.

As children, the way we’re wired to learn is by watching and mimicking others. First we learn to do physical skills like walk and talk. Then we develop social skills by watching and mimicking our peers around us. Then, finally, in late childhood, we learn to adapt to our culture by observing the rules and norms around us and trying to behave in such a way that is generally considered acceptable by society.

The goal of Stage One is to teach us how to function within society so that we can be autonomous, self-sufficient adults. The idea is that the adults in the community around us help us to reach this point through supporting our ability to make decisions and take action ourselves.

But some adults and community members around us suck.1 They punish us for our independence. They don’t support our decisions. And therefore we don’t develop autonomy. We get stuck in Stage One, endlessly mimicking those around us, endlessly attempting to please all so that we might not be judged.

In a “normal” healthy individual, Stage One will last until late adolescence and early adulthood. For some people, it may last further into adulthood. A select few wake up one day at age 45 realizing they’ve never actually lived for themselves and wonder where the hell the years went.

This is Stage One. The mimicry. The constant search for approval and validation. The absence of independent thought and personal values.

We must be aware of the standards and expectations of those around us. But we must also become strong enough to act in spite of those standards and expectations when we feel it is necessary. We must develop the ability to act by ourselves and for ourselves.

STAGE TWO: SELF-DISCOVERY

In Stage One, we learn to fit in with the people and culture around us. Stage Two is about learning what makes us different from the people and culture around us. Stage Two requires us to begin making decisions for ourselves, to test ourselves, and to understand ourselves and what makes us unique.

Stage Two involves a lot of trial-and-error and experimentation. We experiment with living in new places, hanging out with new people, imbibing new substances, and playing with new people’s orifices.

Stage Two is a process of self-discovery. We try things. Some of them go well. Some of them don’t. The goal is to stick with the ones that go well and move on.

Stage Two lasts until we begin to run up against our own limitations. 

You’re just going to be bad at some things, no matter how hard you try. And you need to know what they are. I am not genetically inclined to ever excel at anything athletic whatsoever. It sucked for me to learn that, but I did. I’m also about as capable of feeding myself as an infant drooling applesauce all over the floor. That was important to find out as well. We all must learn what we suck at. And the earlier in our life that we learn it, the better.

So we’re just bad at some things. Then there are other things that are great for a while, but begin to have diminishing returns after a few years. Traveling the world is one example. Sexing a ton of people is another. Drinking on a Tuesday night is a third. There are many more. Trust me.

Your limitations are important because you must eventually come to the realization that your time on this planet is limited and you should therefore spend it on things that matter most. That means realizing that just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should do it. That means realizing that just because you like certain people doesn’t mean you should be with them. That means realizing that there are opportunity costs to everything and that you can’t have it all.

There are some people who never allow themselves to feel limitations — either because they refuse to admit their failures, or because they delude themselves into believing that their limitations don’t exist. These people get stuck in Stage Two.

These are the “serial entrepreneurs” who are 38 and living with mom and still haven’t made any money after 15 years of trying. These are the “aspiring actors” who are still waiting tables and haven’t done an audition in two years. These are the people who can’t settle into a long-term relationship because they always have a gnawing feeling that there’s someone better around the corner. These are the people who brush all of their failings aside as “releasing” negativity into the universe or “purging” their baggage from their lives.

At some point we all must admit the inevitable: life is short, not all of our dreams can come true, so we should carefully pick and choose what we have the best shot at and commit to it.

But people stuck in Stage Two spend most of their time convincing themselves of the opposite. That they are limitless. That they can overcome all. That their life is that of non-stop growth and ascendance in the world, while everyone else can clearly see that they are merely running in place.

In healthy individuals, Stage Two begins in mid- to late-adolescence and lasts into a person’s mid-20s to mid-30s. People who stay in Stage Two beyond that are popularly referred to as those with “Peter Pan Syndrome” — the eternal adolescents, always discovering themselves, but finding nothing.

STAGE THREE: COMMITMENT

Once you’ve pushed your own boundaries and either found your limitations (i.e., athletics, the culinary arts) or found the diminishing returns of certain activities (i.e., partying, video games, masturbation) then you are left with what’s both a) actually important to you, and b) what you’re not terrible at. Now it’s time to make your dent in the world.

Stage Three is the great consolidation of one’s life. Out go the friends who are draining you and holding you back. Out go the activities and hobbies that are a mindless waste of time. Out go the old dreams that are clearly not coming true anytime soon.

Then you double down on what you’re best at and what is best to you. You double down on the most important relationships in your life. You double down on a single mission in life, whether that’s to work on the world’s energy crisis or to be a bitching digital artist or to become an expert in brains or have a bunch of snotty, drooling children. Whatever it is, Stage Three is when you get it done.

Stage Three is all about maximizing your own potential in this life. It’s all about building your legacy. What will you leave behind when you’re gone? What will people remember you by? Whether that’s a breakthrough study or an amazing new product or an adoring family, Stage Three is about leaving the world a little bit different than the way you found it.

Stage Three ends when a combination of two things happen: 1) you feel as though there’s not much else you are able to accomplish, and 2) you get old and tired and find that you would rather sip martinis and do crossword puzzles all day.

In “normal” individuals, Stage Three generally lasts from around 30-ish-years-old until one reaches retirement age.

People who get lodged in Stage Three often do so because they don’t know how to let go of their ambition and constant desire for more. This inability to let go of the power and influence they crave counteracts the natural calming effects of time and they will often remain driven and hungry well into their 70s and 80s.

STAGE FOUR: LEGACY

People arrive into Stage Four having spent somewhere around half a century investing themselves in what they believed was meaningful and important. They did great things, worked hard, earned everything they have, maybe started a family or a charity or a political or cultural revolution or two, and now they’re done. They’ve reached the age where their energy and circumstances no longer allow them to pursue their purpose any further.

The goal of Stage Four then becomes not to create a legacy as much as simply making sure that legacy lasts beyond one’s death.

This could be something as simple as supporting and advising their (now grown) children and living vicariously through them. It could mean passing on their projects and work to a protégé or apprentice. It could also mean becoming more politically active to maintain their values in a society that they no longer recognize.

Stage Four is important psychologically because it makes the ever-growing reality of one’s own mortality more bearable. As humans, we have a deep need to feel as though our lives mean something. This meaning we constantly search for is literally our only psychological defense against the incomprehensibility of this life and the inevitability of our own death.6 To lose that meaning, or to watch it slip away, or to slowly feel as though the world has left you behind, is to stare oblivion in the face and let it consume you willingly.

WHAT’S THE POINT?

Developing through each subsequent stage of life grants us greater control over our happiness and well-being.7

In Stage One, a person is wholly dependent on other people’s actions and approval to be happy. This is a horrible strategy because other people are unpredictable and unreliable.

In Stage Two, one becomes reliant on oneself, but they’re still reliant on external success to be happy — making money, accolades, victory, conquests, etc. These are more controllable than other people, but they are still mostly unpredictable in the long-run.

Stage Three relies on a handful of relationships and endeavors that proved themselves resilient and worthwhile through Stage Two. These are more reliable. And finally, Stage Four requires we only hold on to what we’ve already accomplished as long as possible.

At each subsequent stage, happiness becomes based more on internal, controllable values and less on the externalities of the ever-changing outside world.

INTER-STAGE CONFLICT

Later stages don’t replace previous stages. They transcend them. Stage Two people still care about social approval. They just care about something more than social approval. Stage 3 people still care about testing their limits. They just care more about the commitments they’ve made.

Each stage represents a reshuffling of one’s life priorities. It’s for this reason that when one transitions from one stage to another, one will often experience a fallout in one’s friendships and relationships. If you were Stage Two and all of your friends were Stage Two, and suddenly you settle down, commit and get to work on Stage Three, yet your friends are still Stage Two, there will be a fundamental disconnect between your values and theirs that will be difficult to overcome.

Generally speaking, people project their own stage onto everyone else around them. People at Stage One will judge others by their ability to achieve social approval. People at Stage Two will judge others by their ability to push their own boundaries and try new things. People at Stage Three will judge others based on their commitments and what they’re able to achieve. People at Stage Four judge others based on what they stand for and what they’ve chosen to live for.

THE VALUE OF TRAUMA

Self-development is often portrayed as a rosy, flowery progression from dumbass to enlightenment that involves a lot of joy, prancing in fields of daisies, and high-fiving two thousand people at a seminar you paid way too much to be at.

But the truth is that transitions between the life stages are usually triggered by trauma or an extreme negative event in one’s life. A near-death experience. A divorce. A failed friendship or a death of a loved one.

Trauma causes us to step back and re-evaluate our deepest motivations and decisions. It allows us to reflect on whether our strategies to pursue happiness are actually working well or not.

WHAT GETS US STUCK

The same thing gets us stuck at every stage: a sense of personal inadequacy.

People get stuck at Stage One because they always feel as though they are somehow flawed and different from others, so they put all of their effort into conforming into what those around them would like to see. No matter how much they do, they feel as though it is never enough.

Stage Two people get stuck because they feel as though they should always be doing more, doing something better, doing something new and exciting, improving at something. But no matter how much they do, they feel as though it is never enough.

Stage Three people get stuck because they feel as though they have not generated enough meaningful influence in the world, that they make a greater impact in the specific areas that they have committed themselves to. But no matter how much they do, they feel as though it is never enough.8

One could even argue that Stage Four people feel stuck because they feel insecure that their legacy will not last or make any significant impact on the future generations. They cling to it and hold onto it and promote it with every last gasping breath. But they never feel as though it is enough.

The solution at each stage is then backwards. To move beyond Stage One, you must accept that you will never be enough for everybody all the time, and therefore you must make decisions for yourself.

To move beyond Stage Two, you must accept that you will never be capable of accomplishing everything you can dream and desire, and therefore you must zero in on what matters most and commit to it.

To move beyond Stage Three, you must realize that time and energy are limited, and therefore you must refocus your attention to helping others take over the meaningful projects you began.

To move beyond Stage Four, you must realize that change is inevitable, and that the influence of one person, no matter how great, no matter how powerful, no matter how meaningful, will eventually dissipate too.

And life will go on.

Footnotes

1. Often this occurs because the adults/community themselves are still stuck in Stage One.
2. Some people who get stuck in Stage One get stuck because they come to believe that they will never be able to fit in. These people usually succumb to some form of distraction, depression or addiction.
3. I put normal in quotes because, really, what the fuck is normal?
4. Stages can overlap to a certain extent. Transitioning between them is never black/white. It happens gradually. And often with some emotional stress and major lifestyle changes.
5. This applies to the rare individuals who are talented and capable enough to still remain highly influential and relevant into their 70s and 80s as well. Stage Three doesn’t end until the desire for some peace and quiet outweighs one’s ability to affect change in the world. Some people die without ever leaving Stage Three.
6. Research shows that generally people become happier and more satisfied as their lives go on.
7. One way to think about it is that people who are stuck at Stage Two always feel as though they need more breadth of experience, whereas Stage Three people get stuck because they always feel as though they need more depth.

Stop Making Excuses for Your Failures

Wake Up and manage your life for achievement

From today you will have no more doubts or failure in your life, no more “I’ll start tomorrow” No More I’ll wait for Monday or next week and no more excuses, and putting things off.

Today you start your new life, your new way of thinking Today you will start making changes with zest, commitment, effort and action. Today you will start the action plan for achieving your goals. Today you will succeed in beginning to manage your life for personal and business success. You will do this by directing your subconscious mind and inner powers to create the life you now desire and want. You are ready for change and are happy to take responsibility for the new directions you seek.

To achieve happiness and greater success you have first to understand that all achievement requires taking control to manage your life. You take the helm of your ship and direct the ship to where you want it to go. So think of the ship as your life. You’re in charge and control of your life, no-one else, so you can now direct it in the direction you wish to go.

The next thing you must do is to stop blaming other people for any failings in your life – I hear this all the time in my coaching work – people making excuses why they haven’t achieved the success they seek and there’s always a reason why, excuses range from having children to health issues, their spouse, even owning a dog, shall I go on, the list can be endless.

Whatever excuses you have made in the past for not achieving, these now have to stop. All of the negative excuses will cease to be when you adopt a much more progressive and winning attitude towards where you want to take your life and what it is you exactly want to achieve. Once the excitement kicks in and you start to see things changing in your favour and to your advantage then all the past excuses in the world will not stop you with your new found confidence and self belief on your journey to success and achievement. You started the process and now it is running.

Once you have moved into these new levels of thinking and believing, I want you to take a look at where you are in your life right now, what you have created and achieved so far to date. This represents all the decisions you have made in the past that have led you to this point in time. Have the decisions you’ve made been good for you or could you have done things differently? Well we all learn from making right and wrong decisions. But now things are going to be different you have the opportunity to paint a picture of your life the way you want it to be. To make the right decisions that work for you, choices that will set your life in the direction you want it to go.

This is an exciting time for people as we embrace the freedom we have with inter-dependency and free will in our life. We are all individuals and autonomous in our thoughts and behaviour, but this individuality can be threatened when we allow our self confidence and self belief to slip in our relationships with others as our emotional insecurities come to the fore and rising above them can be difficult. Stress develops from emotional insecurities.

Now we have established more about taking charge and managing your life -this is the year you are going to get things done. This is now your year.

This is the year you will succeed, think it, believe it and make it happen.

You may want to make more money or get a better job, but if you don’t think and believe you can – you won’t.

Set yourself up to Achieve

Whatever it is you want to achieve, you can do it when you direct your subconscious mind and your inner power to start working for you. If you want to make more money, meet the right person, lose weight, improve your health, whatever it is you want to achieve, this is your year to make it happen.

Forget about past failings of last year and the year’s before, they don’t matter this is a fresh start for you now. This time you will succeed. To guarantee this success means you have to change your thinking to become more solution oriented and programme your subconscious mind to attract the success and achievement you desire. This means filling yourself with positive thoughts and feelings for success and achievement. It means believing in yourself, believing in your capabilities, developing self belief and confidence that will carry you onto achieve.

A Winning Attitude Workshops and Licensed Training and Coaching Program www.imrsudan.blogspot.com aims to get you on the road to achieving more success by helping you adopt positive winning attitudes to attract success and working with your behaviour and habits to ensure you embrace new levels of understanding to realise that effort and action brings you closer to achieving your goals. It is as simple as that.

So start now get rid of any negative thoughts that have kept you in the place you find yourself in right now and be determined to see every day as an opportunity to attract all the things and people you want to achieve the successes you want. Remembering to keep your expectations realistic and achievable and you will make headway and you will make progress in the direction you seek. Every day you will see things working to your advantage, things starting to happen and you will feel excited that your life is now starting to change for the better.

All the thoughts and beliefs you have are planted in your subconscious mind and your inner powers follow your thoughts and beliefs. So what you think and believe is what you get.

You may want to lose weight but if you don’t think and believe that you can – you won’t.

You may want to make more money or get a better job, but if you don’t think and believe you can – you won’t. So your subconscious mind and inner powers are constantly creating the life you want by following your thoughts and beliefs. So start to give them the right instructions and you will succeed in achieving what you want.

Remember what I said this year is going to be different for you, this year you are going to take responsibility to make things happen, and this year you are going to change your attitudes and behaviour in order to attract the right people and situations to you that bring about the success you want and deserve. Don’t let self doubt, negative thoughts and lack of motivation keep you stuck any longer.

This year you will succeed, this year you will get what you want, this year you will direct your subconscious mind and your inner powers to bring you what you want. It’s all about you; believe in yourself, your capabilities and your significance. This year it’s your turn, wake up and make it all happen for you!

Until next time,

You Are Powerful – Believe It

Do you know that you are more powerful than you think

You have tremendous power as an individual and by applying this power you can achieve what you want to lead the life you want.

What I am going to share with you is how to direct this energy and power to start making all kinds of changes for improvement in all areas of your life.

You see when you apply this power correctly you can make more money, grow your business improve personal relationships, have more fun, free time for travel and more importantly reduce stress levels.

You probably have never heard or spoken about this inner power, but believe me it exists. It’s the core of you and is the driving force behind everything you think, do and achieve in life. So you can now see the importance of understanding how best to direct it to make anything possible in your life.

Well to get started you need to understand that this energy, this power which is as I said the central hub of your being is constantly at work and you are everyday directing and applying this power through your thoughts, beliefs and the words you use.

Adopt a positive attitude

So perhaps now you can appreciate just how by adopting a positive attitude towards people and situation will always work in your favour. This power is your subconscious mind, which is connected to your higher mind/power and is connected to everyone and everything. Your subconscious mind will bring you the people, situations and opportunities that mirror what you say, think and believe. It cannot help to work in your favour, positive energy (thoughts and beliefs) attracts positive energy and negative energy (doubts and fears) attracts negative responses.

I want you to start to direct and apply this power to work for you. You will find that people and situations will start to change and things start working in your favour. When you truly believe that you have control of this power through your thoughts, beliefs, words and actions then you have reached a truly remarkable stage in your personal development. You see you can achieve anything you want in life if you direct this power to work for you positively every day, it’s as simple as that.

Stop thinking negatively

So now is the time to get rid of those worries, fears and doubts about your life, relationship, work and money, this is you thinking negatively and with this attitude things will just get harder and harder for you. You see when you are negative you will make the wrong choices, you will mix and associate with people who don’t really help you. You will attract the wrong relationships and you could also make the wrong financial choices and decisions. I don’t want this to happen for you, your life just becomes harder and you can end up really struggling and stressed.

You see when you use your inner power negatively they create blocks in your subconscious mind, which in turn blocks your success and prevents you from breaking though using your power positively to achieve what you want. In essence you will be creating a negative life for yourself, and not using the creative power and energy you were born with to generate happiness and success for yourself.

So if you are not making the money you would like, or living the life you really want then you are stuck and blocked in thinking negatively about everything in your life. You have to get rid of these blocks and negative statements and remember nothing will change until you do. Start directing your power to create the new life you now want.

The longer you use your power negatively the longer you will have the blocks to success and happiness. So start making a note of when you speak negatively or you become doubtful about situations and fear making choices or changes. Remember when directing your power negatively, the end result that you will attract will be negative and not what you wished for.

Keep control of your power, it’s yours, you were born with it. You were born to be successful, born to be significant and talented. It’s now time for you to take charge and direct your mind, beliefs and expectations to work for you to bring you the life you really want.

I wish you every success.

Manage Time for Your Success

Time is an important factor that has to be managed properly to make progress. Good time-management is an essential element for attaining your goals and being successful.

Try to be conscious of the fact that each minute that passes only occurs once. When it’s over, you lose one more opportunity to achieve your objectives.

After setting clear goals for yourself, the second thing to do is set up a system for managing your time, according to what you want to achieve.

As the saying goes, time wasted is time lost.

Setting goals that are achievable is the first thing to learn. By setting goals that are achievable with effort and action will lead to improved confidence as you see the results taking place. Little steps day by day towards the achievable goal with move you forward slowly but surely. From this standpoint of inner strength and confidence you will soon learn to set your sights higher and higher as more and more of your goals are worked on and achieved.

Every minute of your life should be devoted to some useful occupation. That doesn’t mean your schedule has to be constraining, or overburden you with too many things to do. When this happens you get discouraged, and you could give-up too soon. Stick to the tasks in hand, it’s easy to give up but it’s just as easy to stick at something and continue to work on it until you reap the rewards – then you can punch the air that you have achieved what you set out to do.

You create the life you want

Creative time-management is something all successful people know how to do. The great achievers in life have learned about their weaknesses and strengths of character and they have overcome weak areas of their personality by driving through with determination to reap the success they seek.

Divide your time between work – occupations designed to help you make progress in getting what you want in your professional life – and leisure activities that help you relax, and get rid of some of the stress you accumulate on your quest for success. Stress management is something everyone should know about – when you learn to relax and take time out – you will feel much more refreshed to tackle the next day with enthusiasm.

Devote two thirds of your time to your projects, and one third to leisure. That will balance your use of time perfectly, and enable you to move forward more quickly towards attaining the life of your dreams. Dreams are visions of a better future – which everyone can work towards – slowly with determination to never give up until you reach your dream – it’s about believing in yourself and having the confidence to move out of habits that hold you back and move forward knowing where you want to end up in life.

You can’t do anything about the way time passes, but you can organize it so it suits your purposes. That’s how you can become the master of your own time, your goals and your future. You create the life you want.

How To

Your Life has a Purpose

Yes there is a meaning to your life – there is a purpose and reason for you being here

I believe we have been put here because you are unique and our creator (whoever that is for you) doesn’t put you here unless there is a purpose and reason for you being here. What you are here to do, create or give out forms part of your destiny. We have come from somewhere and we are going somewhere and there’s a reason why you are here.The meaning to your life is yours and what you do as human beings is driven by desire which creates pain or pleasure for you. What’s guiding and pushing you forward is a sense of purpose and something you have to do as individuals to make a difference and leave a personal legacy.

Moving forward

There are no mistakes in life – everything you do has consequences. Consequences are a direct result of the decisions made in the past. Consequences can arrive as wake up calls which jolts us and then pushes you forward into new levels of thinking to make us grow, change, stretch ourselves to achieve more of our potential as individuals, and to plan where we want to go, to move forward.

Being in Control

Sometimes when we are not in control of our lives it makes us feel uncomfortable and unable to steer our life in the direction we want. It is of great importance to recognise that you are significant as an individual born with a purpose a destiny to fulfil and allowing others to make decisions for you and control your life takes away the very essence of your personality and life force energy to succeed in your own right.

Not getting what you want

This is sometimes a blessing and it can be said that the reason why this happens to so many of us is that there is something more you have to do, give or understand before you can achieve the goal or desired outcome you seek. To put it another way your character is being challenged to grow further to align with your purpose and destiny.

Self-awareness is helpful in understanding yourself better, your strengths and weaknesses and can reveal where you are being challenged to grow as a person. When you start achieving your goals it is sure you have developed your character into new levels required for the goal success.

Excitement

When you start to achieve your goals, then you have reached a transition where you have aligned and connecting to the core universal energy deep inside every individual. This energy will give you additional inner strength, support and power for developing self-confidence and self-belief necessary to take control of your life to move forward positively.

You will feel energised and excited and that is when things start to happen for you, excitement breeds opportunities as the release of this positive energy fuels progress to your ambitions. This is when you know you have aligned with your purpose your destiny, life becomes exciting and
joyful, things fall into place for you, all the right people appear to assist you on your journey and any challenges are faced with determination to overcome and win through.

Action Plan

Here are some tips on how to align with your true purpose and destiny:

• Take responsibility for yourself and your life, become stronger emotionally and mentally to take control of where you are right now, and want to go and with determined effort and action to succeed.
• Understand that when you don’t get what you want there’s a reason – you’re not ready for the new level you seek and you are being challenged to stretch yourself further to learn and develop more of your potential.
• Wake up calls can happen when we choose to opt out, become reclusive and stagnate in life. You are here for a purpose a reason which is to grow and develop and if this is you, take responsibility to wake yourself up, make changes with an action plan and to do list for moving forward. Don’t waste any more time.

If you follow these simple tips you will be en route to understanding yourself and your life’s purpose with more clarity and your life will take a turn for the better and you are on the road to having an exciting and worthwhile life.

Until next time

Time Management

Time-management is a vital skill, one that will be necessary in your chosen career as well as in university.  People have different time clocks and what works for one student might not work for you.  The following are some time-management strategies that you may want to incorporate into your time-management routine.  Test them out to see what works and what doesn’t work for you.  It might be a good idea to start by monitoring and reflecting on how you currently use your time.

First, some basic strategies

1. Prioritise!  You probably have a lot of things to do, so assess how important and how urgent the tasks are; then make sure high priority tasks get done first and are not put off on a regular basis.  Avoid time wasters!
2. Be specific!  Make the task as specific as possible - we tend to follow through then, especially if we write it down.  For example, instead of telling yourself “I’ll do some statistics this week,” try “I’ll do 3 descriptive statistics problems Tuesday at 7pm.”
3. Small bite-size pieces!  It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, so try breaking tasks down into smaller sub-tasks.  Once you’ve started it’s easier to keep going.
4. Use all available time!  This is an especially good strategy if you are pressed for time.  You don’t necessarily need a block of time in order to study.  Students often have time between classes, travel time, etc.  There are lots of study tasks that can be accomplished in short periods, such as reviewing main points of a reading or a lecture.
5. Structure the environment!  Find a place, preferably one you can use regularly and with limited distractions. Make sure you have all the essentials so you have no excuses.
6. Establish a routine!  We are creatures of habit.  If you always study at a certain time or day then it will be easier to get into concentration mode.  Also, it is better to study briefly and regularly
7. Use time management and scheduling tools.

Scheduling Tools and Tips

1. Create a master schedule that indicates on a term or year basis when holidays, exams, reports, essays etc. are due.  Post it in a prominent spot!
2. Create a weekly schedule.

• At a regular time, e.g. Sunday evening, plan your week taking into account your master schedule and your study goals for that week

• Mark out commitments such as classes, labs, work, sport, meals, etc.
• Make a list of your study tasks - be specific and prioritise.
• Schedule into available time slots these study tasks.
• Consider the purpose of the study task - if it’s working on an essay, more time will be needed therefore schedule a block of time.  If the purpose is for review, say to scan a text then make use of the odd half hours available.
• Schedule tasks that may require maximum concentration during your “peak” or periods of maximum alertness – this varies from person to person.
• Allot times for relaxation, exercise, etc. and be sure to include a “Cease study” time that allows time to unwind before sleep (and it gives you something to look forward to!).
• Monitor and Evaluate: review what has been accomplished at the end of a day and decide if the schedule needs to be changed the next day.

(See section on Goal Setting for details on how to make goals).

3. Some students work better off a detailed daily To Do List.  Again, at a regular time (for example last thing at night or first thing in the morning) plan your day taking into account your master schedule and the study goals for the week.
4. When you have finished a study task, cross it off your timetable or list.
5. Avoid too much detail - a schedule has to remain flexible or it becomes a dinosaur!  Everyone has different needs; perhaps start with just organising study tasks for certain classes. Or only list your priorities.
6. Schedule in rewards, for example your favourite TV programme after doing a task you were dreading.

The Importance of having a Study Plan

The Importance of having a Study Plan

Most of the students either do not have an organized study plan or do not follow it sincerely. Consequently their performance suffers and a common refrain is ‘oh we do study but do not know why our efforts fail to yield results’.

Study Plan isn’t only a timetable

A timetable merely mentions the time duration assigned to a particular subject whereas a study plan is more comprehensive. It also defines a methodology to deal with the preparation, planning and problems faced in each subject by an individual.

A target should be set, items should be prioritized and an effective timetable should be drawn. Effective refers to a schedule that should be followed religiously with a determination to achieve progress and results. This should be based on an analytical approach:-

• How many free hours are available?
• How much time should be devoted to each subject in view of the individual requirement?
• How to prepare and procure the course material?
• How to create an environment conductive for a fruitful study? For example one can switch off the mobile phone for a designated period.
• These and many such points should be included while drawing up a study plan.

Importance and Benefits of a Study Plan

• Helps eliminate confusion as a clear action plan emerges with a little thinking and planning. It also imparts a sense of direction.
• One feels organized and in command because a proper plan will involve thorough understanding of one’s course or syllabus.
• Set targets are like milestones to be crossed. The achievement of each target provides motivation to achieve another. Very soon one starts enjoying the process because the concepts become clearer and understanding improves.
• Regular studies reduce the level of stress.
• One’s priorities become clear and the requisite level of importance and effort can be directed to the learning of each subject.
• Work does not get accumulated and hence there is no need to study at unearthly hours. This also safeguards one’s physical and mental health.
• Studying at regular hours increases concentration and inculcates a sense of discipline.
• No panic buttons need to be pressed any more.
• One can find time for leisure activities and recreation to refresh one’s mind and still achieve the set targets.

Please Remember:-

• One should set realistic targets as overambitious targets can cause disappointment and demoralize a student.
• Once a plan is place, stick to it. Initial difficulties such as various temptations and lack of concentration etc. should be conquered with determination.
• Join the winners, i.e. those who have successfully made and followed a study plan.
• Avoid the company of those who have a careless attitude.
• Seek advice and help wherever required.
• Last but not the least no study plan can be successful if it is not followed and executed sincerely.
• Initially the effort may look Herculean, but the rewards of having a study plan are rich, varied and really long lasting.
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