New Year's Resolutions: How to deal with Failure

Failure is something that can really be hard, it can affect a person and their outlook.  There are some that may have a hard time dealing with the failure that is in their life.  You need to consider the fact that failure is something that many people have to experience in their lifetime.  Failure is something that can be overcome if you have the right tools.

Do not get discouraged when you find that you fail at something.  It is going to be a learning experience and something that you need to take in stride.  You should think about the one thing that you are good at and remember it when you do end up failing at something.  Look at it as part of life and how you can learn from it all.  Making an effort at working hard to deal with failure is what you need to do.

You need to start thinking about the things that you are good at and that make you happy. Once you think about them and know what you need to do in order to achieve this type of success you will be on your way to making yourself feel better.  Having a good work ethic and positive thoughts will help you deal with any type of failure that you may have in your life.  

You need to build up a resistance to failure in your life. When you are feeling bad and you notice that you are failing you should keep your head up high and know that you are good at other things and that we all have our ups and downs.  It is something that is part of the lie and you should learn how to keep moving past it all.  

When failure is in your future you should use this time to channel out the negative energy and put into your positive future.  When you go through something bad you need to use what you have learned and make it good.  Having the feeling of accomplishment will make you feel better and give you the self-confidence that you are looking for.  The worst thing that you can do is be depressed about any type of failure that goes on in your life.  This will only bring you down and make you more upset about what is going on.  You should always look on the bright side of things.  

Keep the negative thoughts out of your head and do not dwell on them.  You need to rise up to the occasion and keep positive about life.  You are good at certain things and there is a reason why you should do what you have to in order to a great lead in life.  Failure comes with the good points and the bad ones and it is all apart of how you look at it all.  

Never judge who you are and always learn from the mistakes that you make.  There is only something good to come from it all and you can deal with failure as it comes.  Taking each moment into consideration and using all the skills that you have learned over the years to completely get over it and make life as you need. There are endless ways to end your worries about failure and after you figure them all out you will be ready for all the new challenges life brings.  

Fear of Personal Transformation

It has been 30 days since New Years and you may have made some resolutions about this upcoming year. Some of those resolutions may require some changes to be made. Many people feel insecure when they hear the thought of making changes. Change has triggered the emotional mind of many people over the years. The triggers have often hindered many people from transforming their personal characteristics to build self-esteem. Change is merely our ability to modify our ways in order to make constructive changes. We can use a variety of techniques in order to transform our personal characteristics. Change is adjustments that help us to improve our lives. 

We amend patterns, behaviors, habits and thinking by transforming our ways. Ultimately, we can revolutionize our self, which leads one to success. The fear of change then is often an illusionary state of mind. Many people fail to challenge their fears, which encumbers, making it difficult to get through the day. Making positive transformations is rewarding since it builds self-esteem and strength of character. We can use visualizations to make constructive transformations. 

Start with visualizing yourself. Focus on the negative and positive. Are you a negative thinker, or a positive thinker? If you are negative, you need to work harder at building your self-esteem and confidence. It will empower you to make personal transformations that lead you to success. 

Positive change occurs by sticking with your plan while working to achieve your goals. For instance, if your resolution was to lose weight, then you must stick with an exercise routine and diet. Because many people fear change, the new age solutions are promoted to help people with making a personal transformation to better their lives. Change is the development of adjusting to something new. When one transforms his or her behaviors, habits and thinking to productive patterns, it brings them greater rewards. 

When you get stuck in unchanged patterns, it prevents you from achieving success. We must face our fears directly to make productive changes that guide us to building our strength of character and self-esteem.  

People with low self-esteem are often afraid to transform, which is obviously linked to the fear of accepting difference. What this means is that we must accept differences, by retraining the mind so that it accepts change. Thus, we must move to acceptance in order to move ahead in our progression to transform our way of life. 

To transforms, making constructive changes, one must assess yourself. Self-analysis is simply the ability to evaluate yourself. Often when one goes through this analysis, they find problems that they did not know existed. For instance, perhaps when you did some self-analysis you discovered that you were afraid to be alone. This is a common fear amongst many people, yet many do not realize that this fear is embedded in the subliminal and unconscious mind. By self-analyzing, one can discover his or her fears and work to eliminate the problem. 

When you self-analyzes often you can make positive transformations while building self-esteem by expressing your feelings and thoughts. You can accordingly admit to things to yourself while recognizing your qualities and the way that you behaves. Throughout the process, you will become closer to the self, which builds self-esteem. By becoming closer to self, you can start frequently mentioning your personal achievements to build a stronger strength of character. You will find satisfaction within the self, by analyzing yourself often. 

Self-analysis makes it possible to discover the feelings that make you feel uncomfortable. Most times people fail to examine their uncomfortable feelings, which is part of the problem that makes it difficult for people to make a positive transformation. 

Protecting your partners financial well being

Bob Lowry at A Satisfying Retirement, just posted a well thought out and very good blog on how to Protect Your Partner's Financial Well Being, I recommend that everyone read this post. When you die, you leave behind a partner who has to be able to carry on with life, and you can make it easier by not leaving any surprises about finances. 
In his post-Bob says: 

If a health problem or an untimely death leaves the survivor suddenly facing a desperate form of on-the-job-training there is the potential of a financial crisis. Of course, another option is to find a relative, outside person or business to take over this role. This can be quite expensive. Even worse, the person overseeing the matter may be untrained or even unscrupulous. Very quickly a lifetime of careful planning and investments can disappear.

It is much better for the "financial person" in the relationship to teach the "non-financial person" what must be done before disaster strikes. Taking the time to prepare another is an act of love. Frankly, I believe it is also an obligation, a part of what must be done in a committed relationship.

I agree with this assessment, please for you and your partners sake, take the time to read this post.

Talking to Students or talking AT them

Our discussion, over lunch, focused on how do we keep student's attention when we were delivering content. So here is some advice for young teachers. We all were in agreement that we should talk to our students, not at them. There is a phenomenon that all public speakers encounter when they are addressing a crowd that if you thought about it very much, it would get to you.  It is a phenomenon that any teacher who is trying to impart knowledge to a room full of students will experience as well. And if you think about it very much, it will get to you too.  That phenomenon happens when you are talking along and you look out at those blank faces staring up at you and you realize that a few, some or maybe all of those minds behind those faces are paying absolutely no attention to you at all.

Whether or not that drives you crazy depends on whether you consider the act of teaching complete when you speak or when the student grasps and understands what you are saying.   Very often young teachers, when speaking are more concerned about getting the information out and have lost sight of whether the students are getting it or not.  They have not yet learned that it is their job to make sure the students understand or interact with the material.  They are a delivery vehicle and if they enunciate the lecture successfully, they have successfully "taught".

But just saying words into the air whether or not they are heard or understood really isn't teaching, is it?  Put it in the context of a chef.  If you cook a wonderful meal that is delicious, prepare it with the finest of materials and present it with perfect ambiance, is it still a delightful meal if there is nobody at the table to appreciate it and nobody eats the meal?  No, you are only a chef when the patron dines on your food and appreciates every nuance of the flavour and the experience of enjoying what you have done.

That distinction is what drives teachers crazy when they feel students are not listening.  To a teacher who has a passion for the real act of teaching, their job is not done until the students grasp the material and interact with it, question it and finally grasp it and make that knowledge their own.  A lecture not heard, not understood, not "taught" is not teaching at all, its just talking.

Preparing to become a teacher is about more than just knowing how to design a lesson plan and how to organize a classroom and make a bulletin board.  Becoming a teacher means you become one of those amazing people who can take students from uninformed to informed and from unenlightened to truly "taught".  When it is your calling you want to become that kind of teacher who talks to students to ensure they have learned the material, you do not want to be the teacher who stands and delivers material with no knowledge of whether your students know what you are saying at all.

This means that you will have to change your teaching style. It means that you won't be satisfied with just working on a lecture.  In fact, it might spell the end of the lecture as a teaching device for you entirely.  To really find out if those children are listening and interacting with the material, you will have to change your approach to an interactive teaching style.  You will have to start talking to students or with students and not AT them.  But once you do that, the feedback you will get and the quality of your teaching will improve so dramatically, you will never want to go back.