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| Cover of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success |
Many people struggle to earn top grades in school, but their struggles have nothing to do with their intelligence or academic ability. Instead, what they lack is an A-student mindset.
If you have trouble cultivating an A-student mindset, you may need to do a little bit of soul searching. You may find it useful to ask yourself why you are going to school and what you hope to achieve by doing so.
But perhaps you fully understand why you are in school. Perhaps, on most days, you do have an A-student mindset. Perhaps what you find yourself struggling with are frequently recurrent moments when your A-student mindset seems to have slipped away.
Cultivating Your A-Student Mindset
If you are someone who struggles to maintain an A-student mindset, then you'll want to spend some time paying attention to the social or environmental cues that cause you to lose this mindset.
When you identify these cues, you can use EFT to alleviate any negative feelings that these cues trigger in you.
Cues that trigger a negative response, that cause you to feel disconnected from your goals, intentions, and positive mindset, can come from any number of places. Your particular cues will be unique to you. They will depend on your life experiences.
So you may have to spend some time paying attention to your moods and emotions throughout the day in order to identify the particular cue that sets you off. Writing about your feelings, in the morning and at night, can help. So can pausing throughout the day, taking a few deep breaths, and paying attention to how you are feeling in the moment.
When you discover a cue (most of us have many of these), you can use EFT to eliminate the connection in your brain between the cue and the negative response you are having.
EFT in a Nutshell
EFT is a form of energy psychology that helps to stop the production of stress hormones in the brain. These hormones are responsible for the vast majority of negative feelings we experience in our lives.
EFT is simple to learn and safe and easy to use.
It involves using the fingers of one hand to gently tap on a series of meridian points on your face and body (these points were first defined by the ancient practice of acupuncture). Once you have identified the problem, you repeat a phrase while tapping on these points.
How to Use EFT
Here's an example of how EFT can help you regain your A-student mindset. Let's say you are enrolled in a class that you are required to complete in order to earn your degree. The class isn't in your major area of study, and you aren't really thrilled about taking it. You begin to notice that on the days this class meets, you wake up in a bad mood.
So one thing you can do is use EFT to stop this cycle of feeling bad every time you realize you have to attend this class.
But suppose, after doing EFT, you still can't bring your A-student mindset to this class. So you investigate a bit deeper. You write about your experience of the course in your journal-exploring your feelings about the professor, the course requirements, the course location, the students enrolled-in order to understand why you are so opposed to taking it.
In the midst of this internal exploration, you come to understand that it's not the class content you dislike. What you are dreading is the final project. You recognize that this assignment sounds a lot like an assignment you had to complete in third grade, one that caused you a lot of anxiety and frustration.
In this instance, you can use EFT to ease your dread of the final project. Doing so is sure to make it easier for you to successfully complete the project and earn a great grade. But it may do nothing to help you avoid this cycle of negativity the next time you are assigned a project like this one.
A more effective way to use EFT in this instance would be to address the feelings of anxiety and frustration that the third grade project created.
When you use EFT in this way, you'll disrupt the project-anxiety-dread-negativity cycle for good, and you'll create the possibility of forming a new neural pathway, one that associates these kinds of projects with the rewards you are seeking.
Maintaining Your A-Student Mindset
I'll leave you today with a tapping exercise that you can use on a daily basis to invigorate your A-student mindset. Try using this whenever you find yourself feeling uncertain of your purpose and intention for going to school.
The EFT set-up phrases:
Even though I don't have an A-student mindset, I deeply and completely accept myself.
Even though I don't really know why I'm going to this class, I accept who I am and how I feel.
Even though I haven't fully articulated my reasons for pursuing this line of study, I honor and accept who I am and how I feel.
Now tap through the points, repeating the following phrases:
Eyebrow: I don't know why I'm taking this class.
Side of Eye: I don't see how this class is going to help me to fulfill my purpose.
Under Eye: I don't even want to learn the material in this class.
Under Nose: I'm not sure I can learn this material.
Chin: I'm not sure I want to know this material.
Collarbone: I don't see how I can benefit from the material in this class.
Under Arm: I don't have any way to relate to the material in this class.
Top of Head: I don't even know what questions to ask when I'm in this class.
Eyebrow: And I don't want any help trying to figure out what this class can do for me.
Side of Eye: Thinking about this class makes me tired. I want to go back to bed.
Under Eye: I feel like such a failure.
Under Nose: I'll never get a good grade in this class.
Chin: No matter how hard I try. It's hopeless.
Collarbone: I might as well just quit now.
Under arm: I'm so miserable.
Top of Head: There's NO WAY I can have an A-student mindset in this class.
Eyebrow: I wonder what it would feel like to have an A-student mindset in this class?
Side of Eye: I wonder if it's possible for me to have an A-student mindset in this class?
Under Eye: I'm sure I would feel better if I could bring an A-student mindset to this class.
Under Nose: I wonder if I would learn more if I had an A-student mindset in this class?
Chin: I wonder if I would understand the benefits of this course for my life if I brought an A-student mindset to this class?
Collarbone: I'm ready to have an A-student mindset in this class.
Under Arm: I choose to be inspired to bring an A-student mindset with me to this class.
Top of Head: I choose to have an A-student mindset, for this class, and for every challenge I choose to undertake.
Notice how you feel in the moments after you complete this tapping. Pay attention for any negative thoughts or feelings that arise, and use EFT to clear those away.
Success Coach and Certified EFT Practitioner Elana Peled, Ed.D. is the author of Academic Success For All: Three Secrets to Academic Success and the creator of The College Success Toolkit, an online resource for students wishing to enhance their academic skills. Get your FREE copy of her book and register for the toolkit by visiting http://AcademicSuccessForAll.com or learn more about working with Elana directly at http://ElanaPeled.com
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