Good decisions

Zig Ziglar 

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1. If I'm really tired, I don't make significant decisions (except in emergencies).

2. If someone is pressing me to decide something "right now," unless an immediate decision is critical, I say, "If I have to decide now, the answer is no. After I have had a chance to catch my breath and review the facts, there's the possibility it could be yes." Then I put the ball back in his or her court and ask, "Do you want my decision now, or should we wait?"

3. I like to determine the maximum benefit of a decision, assuming that everything goes my way. Then I ask, "Suppose nothing goes my way? Suppose this doesn't develop and materialize as I expect it to? What is my maximum exposure? What would I lose?"

4. For significant business-related decisions, I run them past my advisors. These people are successful in their businesses and professions and have a considerable amount of knowledge, experience, and wisdom, all of which are musts in the decision-making process. I get their advice and follow their recommendations, with good results in most cases. If the decision is too minor to involve my advisors but I still want input, I get my family together to look at the pros and cons.

5. I like to pray about my decisions. I ask God to help me see the truth of my motives and to lead me in the way I should go. If I'm about to make an unwise decision, I simply don't have peace about that decision, and I consequently act on that feeling of unease. I ask myself, "How will this decision affect all the areas of my life—personal, family, career, financial, physical, mental and spiritual?" Obviously, not all decisions affect all areas, but if the decision involves a financial reward but also carries considerable family sacrifice, for example, I think carefully as to whether what I give up is compensated for by what I gain.

One final note: Prioritize your decisions. Some are more urgent than others!

Stay young

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height.
Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever.
Never let the brain idle. " An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on.
The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it.
If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.
Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away.

Quotes

DAILY MOTIVATION LINKS &
Inspirational Quotes:

Here are the daily quotes and links to the motivational self improvement pages on the site. Keep this email in you inbox and it is simple to click each day for your daily motivation!

Just click on the link below for today’s date and read the motivation articles, tips & quotes for today.

March 1

"If you don't quit, and don't cheat, and don't run home when trouble arrives, you can only win." - Shelley Long
being happy tips - 7 Weeks To A Happier Life

March 2

"Put your heart, mind, intellect, and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success." - Swami Sivananda
building self esteem article - Believing In Yourself

 

ادامه نوشته

Tips on Studying For Final Exams

 

By:Tiffany Provost

Final exams are almost here; have you been preparing? Consider these suggestions on how to study for a final.

Take a short amount of time to re-examine your readings. Going back over readings that you have done, even just skimming them, is a good idea. The reason for this is: your last test will cover content you've read. Skim through the textbook, reading the first several sentences in each paragraph. The idea covered in the paragraph should bring the subject matter back to mind. Take a moment to review the reading carefully if you find that you are having difficulty recalling information or understanding any ideas. It is important to feel at ease with each assignment's main points when you get ready for the final exam.

Going over class notes. Notations made by teachers are there for a reason, they are important. Handouts from your teacher, should be studied in detail as you prepare for your final exam. This is the time to see if you have a complete set of handouts and get copies if you don't.

Look over all the work you have done previously. Previous pieces of work that your teachers has made notes on are a good sign of what you should be focusing on. Make sure that you cover the practice tests and exams over and over as you prep for your final. Get to know all the concepts in them. Proceed to observe how your instructor graded your responses. Needless to say, spend more time on those concepts that perhaps you didn't completely understand the first time.

Devise a few study papers. Study papers are a great way to summarize your learning. Just the simple act of writing down the concepts can be helpful. By gathering this information, you will have a focused collection of only the most pertinent study information from which to study. Time will be needed to devise your study notes, and you might get a pal to share the workload. Make copies of all of your notes and then arrange to exchange them with a friend.

Meet up with school friends. Make sure that you make time to study with a group of friends as the time for final exams comes closer. Explain concepts to each other to ensure that you grasp them, and ask each other quiz questions. The best way to be ready for a final is to use your time studying.

Tiffany Provost writes about preparing for exams and education for http://www.howtodothings.com

The English Teacher

Classroom Rules for Behavior &
Seating Charts

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The very first thing a teacher should do in a new class is to establish behavior rules. They should be reasonable and doable. There is no better time than the first day to establish these rules.

First, attendance should be taken. Then a seating chart, already filled out, should be used. On the first day students are waiting to see what happens. The seating chart, is part of their first day experience. When a seating chart is established later, it disrupts at least some of the students in their routines, makes some unhappy with the changes, and signals that the teacher is having difficulty controlling the class.

A seating chart the first day establishes that the teacher is in charge of the physical environment of the classroom as well as the academic environment. This understanding is particularly useful when dealing with 'kinesthetic' students who are often those who first need discipline.

To avoid placing students in the class alphabetically, as they may have been since kindergarten, students can be assigned alphabetically in diagonal row order. That is, students can be assigned from the bottom left corner of the seating chart to the upper right corner, diagonally. The assignments can work upward or downward from there. The purpose is simply not to have the same people sitting next to each other who are very familiar with each other.

As a result, students with 'early alphabet names,' may be seated in the back of the class and some whose names usually come later, are placed in the front of the class. This change may prevent routine behavior learned in earlier years from being easily reestablished in a new classroom.

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How to do:

When you take attendance the first day, you can ignore some noise and problems as you call out the names and fill out the attendance sheet. Do it calmly. Have the attendance taken accurately first.

Then, standing by the first seat to be assigned [the front left hand corner] announce to the class that in your classes you have assigned seating. Then announce, pointing to that desk, the name of the student who is to sit there. The student already sitting there will be willing to leave. Generally students don't want to sit in the front of the class. The others, except the one whose name has been called, are glad not to have to sit there. They are all hoping they won't have to sit in the next seat [to that student's left].

[You assign the first row across, the second row across, the third row across, etc. for the actual seating of the students because it is easy for the students to understand where to go.]]

The student who is assigned to that first seat may not be happy, but remember, on the First Day the students are waiting to see what will happen. How can he/she object to being assigned a seat? Will any student be willing to go to the office on the first day for that reason? [If so, you will be establishing control, and that student will have a "mark against them" in the principal's office for unreasonable actions.] You focus on that one student at a time. You are not focusing on controlling the entire class, rather, one student at a time... in the back of your mind, you are controlling the class, but the focus is one seat at a time. Look at the *seat*, point to it. Move on to the next seat as the one student leaves, the next one starts coming to it. Once the momentum starts, it will move smoothly even though some may be losing seats they thought that they had, next to friends, or in the back of the room.

Once they are all assigned, it is important to have the class focus on some work in order to cement the transition they just went through. I tell students to take out their notebooks and write down the class rules. This "take out the book" behavior is established habit so it helps in getting them past any feelings about their new seating positions. They write down class rules as I read them and comment on them, so that they will understand and remember them.

*Again, on the First Day students are waiting to see what will happen. If they don't get the rules that first day, they will begin to assume what the rules will be, or are, according to past experiences. Then you may have to undo their assumptions before establishing your rules. The first day is better. And giving the rules is a good transition exercise.

[If new students come in the next day, you can give them a copy of the class rules to copy into their notebooks, and ask them to return the original. Check to see whether they did copy them, and put a mark into the gradebook to certify that they read and have the rules. *Then later they can not claim that they didn't know what a particular rule was.

If you get done with the rules before the end of class, you should have a not too difficult homework assignment for them... to keep their good behavior in the process of being established for the entire class period.