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Tag: success

  • What Do I Consider Success?

    What Do I Consider Success?

    Success has no age limit and it’s never a race. The concept of a predetermined age for success is merely a myth. Age is not a limiting factor in the minds of those who wish to succeed, and do. The speeds to which our minds mature over the years are not the same.

    The most prominent leaders we admire today accomplish goals at their own pace—and so can you. Whether you’re still in high school or coming towards the end of your college career, age should not be a worry when working towards your goals. Moving quickly at an unrealistic pace may foster more mistakes than warranted.

    Success is what we make of it. As students, it can become an overwhelming problem that bogs you down. Take your time and become an expert in your field of interest or expertise. There are no shortcuts to achieving success because the learning process is all dependent on self-motivation. Having the patience to move forward will bring you halfway to success already.

    If tomorrow morning you feel that it’s far too late to reach a personal or career goal you’ve set for yourself, leave the worry in the past and move forward. Success doesn’t just present itself to those that are prepared, but also those that are patient enough to see it through challenges.

    Whether you believe that money, grades or personal relationships are of the utmost priority right now, to most people, the end objective is happiness for the self. Given this as the end objective, we can better understand why it’s best to worry less about the speed to which we accomplish our short term goals.

    The key to defining your own success is to plan realistic goals. This involves the process of not only delivering tasks, but solving everyday problems, planning tasks and goals, scope of goals, analysis of resources, the search for solutions, environments, analysis and synthesis of information.

    If you’ve ever felt the need to follow the crowd, you’ve come down with a case called the “impostor system” like the rest of us. Instead of working hard to achieve goals, students might believe that there is luck in being in the right place, at the right time. Skills are what make for achieving goals and success.

    While there is much controversy over what higher education should be teaching students like you, whether this is work skills or academic knowledge and research, the intentions are still the same. Education is aimed to prepare students in leading self-sufficient and happy lives in the present and future.

  • Succeeding In High School

    Succeeding In High School

    Whenever we are facing a life change, we are worried that there may be new challenges that we may have difficulty with. This is natural and is actually adaptive for your survival as a human being. By thinking about what high school might be like, you are helping yourself to be prepared for what may lie ahead. Try thinking of yourself as an explorer entering the jungle on an expedition. Would it be smart for that explorer to enter the jungle without first having thought through the possible outcomes of their expedition? The answer is no. The explorer must prepare themselves for what lies ahead in order to stay out of danger and ensure their success on their expedition. As you enter high school, you are like the explorer – in need of some preparation for what lies ahead. Be sure to think through some of the challenges you may encounter and try as best you can to prepare for these, such as buying appropriate school supplies and being open to learning new things.

    It’s important to keep in mind that a positive attitude is your best friend wherever you go, especially when you are facing new challenges that may intimidate you and challenge you to change yourself in some ways. Being positive will help you to overcome situations that are unpleasant or uncomfortable and to help you remember what it is that you do have, as opposed to focusing on what you don’t have, what you lack, or what is negative.

    That being said, it is equally important to have your own goals and ambitions that surpass your desire and need to be better than others. Remember that you are your highest competitor, and that you can most satisfactorily achieve your goals by competing with YOUR goals and only YOUR goals. Set goals for yourself using the SMART formula: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed (Wikipedia, 2013) and make your own success. You will have more work in high school than you’ve had before, so it’s important to set your goals and work to achieve them!

    Overall, being prepared, having a positive attitude, believing in yourself and setting goals for yourself is the way to success in high school. Good luck and, above all, have fun!

  • The Top Five Things High School Students With LD Should Do Before Graduation

    The Top Five Things High School Students With LD Should Do Before Graduation

    Are you a soon-to-be high school graduate? If so, congratulations! But if you have a learning disability (LD) or ADHD, there are a few things you need to do before you don your cap and gown. Read on to make sure you’re prepared for success in your post-high school educational journey.

    Learn about the differences between high school and post-secondary services for students with disabilities. (College is a whole new ball game…and you need to know why!)
    You probably already know that post-secondary education (college or a career/technical training program) is going to be very different from high school. But one thing you might not know is that your experience as a student with a disability will change too. Some students (and their parents!) are surprised to learn that there are no IEPs after high school.

    Instead, you’ll need to request help on your own—and some of the services or supports you might have depended on in high school may not be available at college or may be very different. Take time now to learn about the differences you will encounter so you can start strong and ready for success.

    Become an expert on your own LD.
    Do you know your areas of strength and weakness? Could you tell others what areas of learning your disability affects, and explain the impact it has on your performance in school or at work? Have you thought lately about what learning strategies or accommodations work best for you? Now is the time to become an expert on your own learning.

    Once you graduate, getting what you need in school or the workplace is on you: not your parents, special education teachers, or other school staff. The more you know about the way you learn and what supports you might need, the better prepared you will be to self-advocate. Before you leave high school, talk to your parents, teachers, tutors, and guidance counselors to learn more about your LD. (Reputable websites like LD.org can also help you get a grasp on the basics!)

    Gather your files. (Hey, no one said growing up would always be exciting.)
    You’ll need a file with all of the information related to your LD. Your parents may already have a file like this—now, it’s time for you to get involved! Get a big folder or a binder and make sure it contains your:

    • Psychological and educational evaluation records
    • Most recent IEP or 504 plan
    • High school academic records (transcript, standardized test scores including SAT or ACT results)
    • Medical records (if related to your academic progress—for example, if you take medication for ADHD)You’ll need some of these records to obtain accommodations or services in college.

    Also, as you move on from high school, it’s likely that you’ll be working with new professionals (like tutors, doctors, or therapists) who will want to know your LD history. Having all of these documents in one easily accessible place will make this time of transition go more smoothly. If you’re moving away from home for your studies, make sure to bring copies with you.

    You’ll need some of these records to obtain accommodations or services in college. Also, as you move on from high school, it’s likely that you’ll be working with new professionals (like tutors, doctors, or therapists) who will want to know your LD history. Having all of these documents in one easily accessible place will make this time of transition go more smoothly. If you’re moving away from home for your studies, make sure to bring copies with you.

    Get in touch with Disability Services at your college or post-secondary program.
    After high school, you must request any assistance you need for your LD…no one will “find you” and sign you up for services. Colleges and other post-secondary programs have resource centers on-campus for students with disabilities, which may be called “Office of Disability Services,” “Disabled Student Services,” “Special Services,” or another name. If you plan on getting accommodations or services in college, you’ll work with this office to arrange them. Before you arrive on campus, get in touch with the staff at your college’s Disability Services. Find out what specific services are offered. You’ll want to know where to go for help before you need it.

    To qualify for assistance, you’ll need to provide documentation of your disability. Be sure to ask for specifics on what documentation your college or program will require—they will have specific guidelines regarding the type and age of evaluation reports you submit. Work with your parents and high school guidance counselor to make sure your current documentation meets your college’s standards—and if it doesn’t, to obtain any new evaluation you might need.

    Be prepared to self-advocate.
    We can’t say it enough: once you graduate from high school, you take on the responsibility of speaking up and taking actions to get your LD-related needs met. This can sound overwhelming, but the good news is that many high school students already are strong self-advocates! If you’ve been attending your IEP or 504 meetings, talking to your teachers about any accommodations you need, and requesting extra help when you need it, you’re well on the way to developing the kind of self-advocacy skills that will help you in college and beyond.

  • Conquering Your Fears About Success

    Conquering Your Fears About Success

    Life is scary. There is no way around it. Life challenges you to bring what you have to the table. Life challenges you to use all of your resources and to make the best of it! You can face it or avoid it, but life is something you can fight or bow away from. Life offers opportunity and you can take it and run with it or you can turn away from it and let it squash you.

    Time is an essential component of life and it is what determines whether you are ready or not for the challenges that face you. Sometimes you are too young for the challenges you face and that is why you fail. Other times you are old enough for the challenges that face you and you succeed.

    There are various components to any challenge, and your level of expertise in each of the dimensions will help to determine your success or your failure at the task at hand. There is a social dimension, where mastery comes from being adept at fitting in or leading your social environment. There is an emotional component where your mastery would be in the form of being able to manage and use your emotions in constructive ways to help you to adapt and succeed in your environment. There is also a technical aspect to be mastered, that is the skills required to accomplish the task at hand. Whether they are scientific, logic, mathematical, artistic or creative, the skills required to accomplish a task are essential to have in order to achieve success at the goal you are pursuing.

    Life is a series of goals that you are looking to achieve. If you are to be successful, you must either be a master of one dimension or a jack of all trades. Some people are really good at one particular thing, while other people are good at a variety of things that, through balancing each of the dimensions, they see success. A person with a PhD, for example, may be exceptional at science, logic, English or something else, but they may be less adept at other areas of their life. They may, however, be exceptional at one area and equally or at least competent enough in other areas of their life. Some people are only modestly good at a variety of areas of their life.

    What you can bring to the table is essentially all you have and a lot of what you have is genetic and based on what you’ve learned in your upbringing. How you use what you have determines your success. If you are particularly adept at certain things, you can decide how you want to express yourself within those dimensions. Perhaps you want to challenge yourself and pursue something challenging that you aren’t particularly adept at but would like to practice. Perhaps you would  like to capitalize on something that you are extremely good at and know very well, so you can experience self-actualization and feel in sync with the universe and your life’s purpose.

    Conquering fears involves facing what you have to offer and making a decision as to how you want to apply it to the world. When we fight, we are facing our fears or our enemies, and we are putting them in their place. On your path toward your destiny, you are going to need to be able to be aware that some people are wrong, that some people will not be your supporters, that some people will be against you, will ridicule you, will limit you to only what they know. You can remember that you are only as good as the person you are speaking with. I could be speaking with someone who has had a totally different life experience and so they would not reflect to me what I believe. Everyone has different life experiences and different pressures on them, and we are all just trying to survive and succeed.