EMPOWERING PEOPLE….. …..TRANSFORMING ORGANISATIONS
October 2010 Newsletter:
Welcome to your October Newsletter. This month it’s all about exam stress.
Feel free to forward this to anyone you feel will benefit.
Enjoy
Damian and the MindStore Australia team
We’ve all been there. It can be a challenging time for students, and for those who live with them. MindStore can help eliminate the anxiety and stress related with exams, and in turn produce fantastic results!
Exams can cause tremendous anxiety, negativity and self-doubt. However if you use the techniques described here, you need never feel challenged by the thought of exams again. You may even start to look forward to them!
These techniques are as relevant to young children’s first exams, to mature students, or professional exams for career development.
Self-talk:
In the run up to and during the exam you need to be positively self talking to yourself.
Statements like “ I know I can do this” and “I can sit this exam to the best of my ability on the day”
All help to reinforce positive messages to yourself so you believe you can do well.
As the great Henry Ford said “If you think you can or think you can’t, you are absolutely right”
So think “I can” and you will.
Keep Away:
“Never go near the examination room until the last possible minute”
In fact don’t even enter the building where the exam is taking place until you absolutely have to. Sit in your car, your parent’s car, or park bench for as long as possible and keep out of the way.
There is a good reason for this. If you remember back to school days remember how you felt before exams: the high level of anxiety and your friends wailing, “I know I’m going to fail this, I’m lousy at exams” making you think “ Oh No, I’m lousy at them too” and you remember the brainy ones saying, “ I know I’m going to fail because I haven’t revised a thing” even though you knew they’d done nothing else for weeks?
If you recall how all that felt you will understand why you should keep your distance until the last minute. Otherwise, your brain will listen to all the negative energy and will process it, especially if you find yourself joining in with a statement like,” I haven’t revised either” your brain won’t know whether you are telling the truth or not it will simply process your thought.
Choosing the best seat:
When you walk into the exam room, if possible sit next to the student s you know will pass, so you can benefit from their positive energy fields. Who knows, some of their answers may even float over in your direction!
Don’t choose to sit next to those who seem sure to fail as there negative energy will affect you as well as the distractions from them fidgeting and leaving the room early.
Once in your seat, take deep long breaths in and focus on the breathing, then exhale deeply, do this 3 times to get plenty oxygen in your blood stream and into your brain. Smile and think positively about how well you will do remember the self talk from earlier.
Read the exam paper:
When the exam starts, you are always told to turn over the exam paper and start reading the questions.
Do you remember how that felt? You would start reading and your brain, which had probably listened to weeks of negative self-talk such as “I know I can’t do it” or “I’m useless at this subject” would start to obey the instructions you have been giving it. After all, your subconscious can do many things, but the one thing it can’t take is a joke. So even if you jokingly said that you don’t stand a chance in a forthcoming exam, your subconscious brain will take note of what you said. It won’t hear the laughter that follows it will simply hear your words.
So let’s say you started reading the exam questions. The first question is easy, you can answer it put a tick against it on the exam paper. The same goes for question 2 and you start to feel better. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all, you read on. And Oh my goodness, you don’t know the answer to question 3 or 4. All the negative self –talk comes flooding back- “I knew I was going to fail, I don’t know how to do this” You carry on reading and can answer questions 5to 8. This means you have the potential to gain a 75% pass, but you will probably focus on the two you can’t answer rather than the six you can.
Think differently:
An alternative way to read the exam questions is this. Read first question and if you can answer it, to jot down your answer immediately in the form of a mindmap. It only takes a few minutes and it gives you a big psychological advantage. Read question 2, you can answer it jot answer down as a mindmap only on your exam paper.
Carry on down the paper if you come to a question you can’t answer use MindStore’s F-word and say “ Fantastic!” you then feel optimistic.
You think of the way the subconscious brain works and feel confident that, while you are answering the other questions, it will be sifting away through your memory looking for the answer. Maybe you draw a blank over the next question too, so you say “fantastic!” again. When you have finished reading the exam paper, you will have mind maps for each of the questions you can answer, and start turning these into written answers.
Only when you have finished all these answers do you turn again to the questions you count answer immediately. You read the first one again, and now the answer falls into your mind. Your subconscious has done the trick. Write the answer down as a mind map. Then read the next one, but you still can’t recall the answer. So go back to the mindmap of the one you now know and turn it into a full written answer. Only once this is done return to the final unanswered question.
This MindStore technique is based on Einstein’s quote “Imagination is more important than knowledge”
In your imagination, imagine you are sitting in one of the seats in your class room or lecture hall. Pretend you teacher or lecturer is standing in front of you smiling at you. In your imagination, ask him or her, the question for which you need an answer. Listen carefully to the reply and don’t let your logic get in the way.
Clearly you are only using this imaginative and intuitive technique if you have no other way of knowing the answer. You will feel like you are making it up; you won’t know for certain that it’s correct and your logic will want to get involved. But trust your imagination and hand in your paper, with confidence.
For more information on MindStore visit: www.mindstoreaustralia.com
To download the full half hour MP3 on “study preparation and exam techniques” please visit our online shop at : http://shop.mindstore.com .
Your feedback and comments: As MindStore continues to grow and develop in Australia, we are always looking for feedback and comments from our current newsletter members on ways to improve. If you have an idea you would like to share, or a comment about how we could make MindStore more accessible to more people then please let us know.
MindStore is available throughout Australia from its base in South East Queensland to deliver customisable in–house corporate training sessions and business improvement courses co-designed with your organisation.
The positive advantages of MindStore’s in-house sessions include the best techniques for managing stress, maintaining a positive mental attitude and influencing all those around you. You’ll learn to apply Whole Brain thinking for improved creativity and problem solving. Modelling your business’s behaviour on the winning approaches of world champions and leading entrepreneurs empowers your organisation to gain competitive advantage through innovation and enhanced performance.
For more information visit www.mindstoreaustralia.com
