As another school year rolls towards us, we are reminded of all things new! New uniform, new shoes, new school books and copy books, new teachers, new classrooms, new start!
However, anyone who has had difficulty in school knows how much dread can come with going back to school. Particularly if it is an exam year, or if last years school report wasn’t too good, or if you just don’t feel happy there for one reason or another.
If you continue to do things exactly the same as they have always been, and to think and respond the same as you always did, then chances are nothing will change.
The good news is that if you decide to change things for the better – to improve your school life by choice, then you can break old habits and make new ones in a matter of weeks. It may sound easy, but it is not that difficult, you just need to commit to it and be motivated by the benefits that it will bring.
We are all habitual – we live our lives by habit, we have a set routine for almost everything; the way we get ready in the morning, the breakfast we eat (or don’t eat), the route we go, the way we feel about a Teacher, Subject or Classmate. The friends we have, what we talk about and where we sit just about everything is habit!
Sometimes our routine is knocked out of sync and we have no control over it, lets say you break your foot and now you get driven to school instead of walking with your friends, you stay at school for lunch instead of going home. At first, we usually don’t like a change to the norm, it feels strange, however if it continues then we just form new habits and feel comfortable again. We find people to sit and talk to at lunch time and we get used to the changes.
But why leave anything to chance? It only takes 3 weeks to break an old habit and replace it with one that serves you better. Why not decide to change the bad habits you have instead of dreading another school year. Instead of hating History and dreading it, decide you are going to change the way you think about it, decide to get interested in it, and instead of day dreaming out the window or doodling in your notebook you sit up listen and take part. You may slip up and it may be hard going because that old habit is in your head ‘But it’s boring’ you hear the voice say. Stop yourself, decide to sit up be in the present and replace that thought with ‘It’s interesting ’. See how long it takes for this to become the automatic response to History and watch your grades improve, as you enjoy studying it and don’t shy away from full participation in the classroom. Visualise your school report at the end of the year and what grade you have and what comments are made and go for it!