“Whatever  you believe becomes your thoughts,

What you think becomes your words,

When you speak  about your thoughts, it becomes your action,

What you act on them, it becomes your habits,

Whatever your habits are, that becomes your values,

Whatever your values are, becomes your destiny”.

                                                     -Mahatma Gandhi

That is the power of a habit.

So, what is a habit?

A habit is a fixed way of thinking; wanting or feeling acquired through repetition of a previous mental experience. A behavior that becomes a habit is not noticed by a person because the person does not require to get engaged in it consciously while doing them.

So, then what is a bad habit…

A bad habit has all the features of a Habit with just an addition of negative behavior, which affects our lives in ways that paralyze our life goals.

The habit Loop (Anatomy of a habit)

Trigger (Cues) —-Behavior (routine) —-Reward. Explaining it with an example, suppose your life goal is to become healthy but you are unable to manage your habits. You come home to sit in front of the PS3 and eat chips.

Trigger (Playing games)—-Behavior(Munching on chips)—-Reward(Feeling relaxed and satisfied).

Let’s put it into steps:

1) Identification of a bad habit is the most important step to changing it.

2) After identification, break it down in the similar way that has been shown in the example.

3) Identify the triggers that cause the behavior

4) Find out alternative methods of behavior that give you the same rewards.

This can be applied to form any good or bad habits that you might be dealing with. In spite of understanding the habits in detail, it is sometimes very complex to get over a bad habit alone. Do not shy away from seeking help if it starts to feel hopeless. Visit a therapist nearby.

This disorder commonly known and abbreviated as ADHD is a disorder that is common in children. According to the Diagnostic and statistical manual of disorders; 99 percent of ADHD cases are below age 16. Let us look into this disorder in detail to diagnose it at the early stages. The problem with all mental disorders is that the symptoms are also a part of normal behavior and hence it becomes difficult to draw the line when it becomes a disorder. It is more so if it is in children.

By definition, Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is marked by a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with daily functioning and development. This could lead to unstable relationships, poor work performance, and low self –esteem.

The most important words here are Inattention, Impulsivity, and Hyperactivity.

Inattention;

It means that the child might be lost from the task at hand, hence is not able to persist for long at one task. Is not able to focus for long and is unorganized. While these problems are not due to the child’s failure of comprehension or disobedience.

Impulsivity;

They are not able to delay gratification. So, they Do not think before they take actions and often lands in risky situations because of the same.

Hyperactivity;

Restlessness, over talkative, fidgety and tends to move a lot. Is in constant activity.

Inattention symptoms that can help you diagnose the disorder Include:

1) Procrastinates: does not complete his tasks and moves from an activity to another and leaving all of them incomplete.

2) You may find the child to be disorganized and is not able to focus on the task at his hand.

3) They work without paying attention to details and hence make silly mistakes.

4) Cannot stay on one topic during conversations, do not follow instructions.

5)They forget things easily

Hyperactivity/Impulsivity may often demonstrate in ways like

1) Fidget with toys or articles on the desk

2) Are restless most of the time i.e., climb s or runs around at add times

3) Unable to remain quiet or engage in silent hobbies

4) Is constantly moving, talks non-stop.

5) Interrupt the conversation without waiting for their turn.

These are signs that should raise a concern in your mind; Hence, only a mental health practitioner can diagnose the symptoms of the disorder with accuracy.

Happy Women’s Week to Everyone!

Women are breaking barriers in every sphere of Life. They are taking care of finances besides looking after the household. I have an analogy that needs to be shared when talking about Limiting Beliefs. It is more applicable to women.

Do you know how elephants are trained to stay in control of their master in spite of being such gigantic creatures? This is how, When elephants are just born, they are tied to a rope to keep them in the vicinity of their owner. The baby elephant cannot free itself from the rope because they are fragile but Slowly and steadily these giant creatures come to their full size. The strange thing is even when they grow up they never think of breaking off the rope which is as easy as standing up and starting to walk for them. Why? Because they think the rope cannot be broken as that is what they had believed all along since they were born. They are tied down by their negative beliefs about themselves.

Women often behave in a similar way like that of a giant elephant; unaware of their potential. Often ignorant that the time has changed and they can move out of the rope!Let’s take a lesson from this and take the first step to believe in your own self and be everything that you are and leave everything that you are not. We will get into it step by step:

Step 1: SWOT ANALYSIS

Knowing yourself is the first step to any change that you wish to bring in yourself or your life. A shortcut to that is through SWOT. Locate the traits in yourself that you might label as “Strengths”, and “weaknesses”. And find out your “opportunities” and “threats” in life at present. This will give you a picture of the mountains you have still to climb and the resources that will get you there.

Step 2: Identify your negative thoughts

Journal on a daily basis for a week all those negative thoughts and things you say to yourself. Write down verbatim in your journal and try to find out a theme, you will find a thought that dominates you in most of the sentences. Think critically about these recurrent thoughts. Are they true or have they been taught to you by the society and family? Always check what you speak to yourself.

Step 3: Evaluate the negative thoughts

Once you have identified the negative thoughts, evaluate them under the categories of real and imagined or perceived threats. Some of your negative thoughts are actually your weaknesses and simply motivating yourself will not help. You need to do some rectification.

Step 4: Take small steps

Now, that you know what rectification you have to make; take small steps towards the new way of behavior and thought. Take calculated risks in areas of your weaknesses and increase the degree of difficulty progressively. For example, If You find it difficult to travel alone, start taking solo trips to a place that is 50 km away from you and then increase the distance and go!

Step 5: Extrapolate

You are aware of your inhibitions now and are also aware of the fact that most of them are just negative beliefs that you fed. Do one thing each week that you just believe that you can never do. Put this newly learned lesson to all areas of your life; Personal and Professional.

We are facing a lot of advancements in our Society. Change is inevitable but it is happening too fast. If we look at the last ten years there have been enormous changes in the way we deal, think and progress in life. We as adults are facing a lot of trouble and overlooking that our kids are also suffering with us. There are few mental health issues that particularly affect the younger ones in our vicinity. Mental health can be very critical to the overall wellbeing of the kids. It similar to poor performance in exams due to fever or any other physical illness. As teachers, educators and parents let us be on the watch out and look at it in greater detail.

Most Common mental health issues in children are:

Anxiety:

In anxiety, a person experiences tension and fear without any specific reason. Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problem experienced by children. This is demonstrated by students keeping away from classes for the long duration of time. They are unable to finish their assignments on time due to fear of failing in exams. In anxiety people overanalyze everything. Keep a check on the expectations that you put on the child and understand when the burden is getting unbearable.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder:

The warning signs for this include, short attention spans, easy distractibility, hyperactivity, and talking too much. This disorder has a devastating impact on the students’ ability to learn and remain in the classroom. Educators should refer the child’s condition to the parents and mental health practitioners at the earliest.

Autism Spectrum Disorders:

This includes a range of disorders. The symptoms range from difficulties in social interactions, repetitive behavior, inability to understand verbal or nonverbal communication etc. The child will generally be withdrawn and aloof. This can range from mild to severe such as, Asperger’s syndrome.

Depression:

Symptoms include absenteeism, a general decline in interactions and a lack of motivation. Family members should look out for symptoms, like isolation, sleepiness, excessive or decreased appetite and suicidal tendencies.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder:

Students show signs of hostility, negativity, aggression towards teachers and other students. They often tend to challenge classroom rules and blame other classmates. Anger is a major symptom and often unpredictable.

These are only a few of the issues that children face. But, There are much more;  we will be covering them in the next blog on the same topic.

With the intrusion of technology in our world be it business, media, or education; the way we perform has changed. Technology has perforated to the level of booking taxis, ordering food, buying clothes, furniture, or even virtually touring the world. No wonder the term ‘global village’ has become so common in our vocabulary.

The ways of education have been transformed from what you had been taught a few years ago in leaps and bound. Technology has changed the way you teach the students and the way they learn it. There is an application for any subject that the student is interested in. Knowledge is becoming redundant in this age of the internet. Everything and anything is available with the click of a mouse. Hence, gone are the days when teachers could postpone a students question until the next class; this requires more preparedness and the expansion of horizon for the teachers. Since your old school beliefs of education are being challenged;  the gap between you and the student has widened. Not only this, there is also the problem of generation gap to add to it.

As teaching is becoming  more challenging for you, keeping a few things in mind can help you stay afloat:

Meaningful conversations:

The technologically wired generation is cut off from the real world and it is very crucial to bring them to terms with what is happening around them, sensitize them about issues that matter to the collective society. Meaningful conversations help students remain grounded.

Avoid Performance pressure:

Avoid negative thoughts. It is normal for a person to not know everything under the sun. The role of a teacher is to impart as much knowledge as they can and as much as they have. Do not become burdened by over expectations from your own self. Apart from being a teacher, you are a human being who is still learning. Avoid feeling powerless and learn from them what they know better.

Make them curious:

Learn what interests your class. Feel the pulse of the students and customize the pedagogy according to their needs. The main idea is to engage them i.e, do workshops, schedule interaction timings, one to one sessions, classes to foster creativity by applying what they learned in real life scenarios, etc.

Apart from these show them positive regard for whatever they have created, added value to. Motivate them intrinsically letting them work on subjects that interest them and show them what they can achieve by doing what they do well. Set goals and show the roadmap to reach there.

Teachers are constantly bombarded with information about how to teach, what to teach and make learning more enjoyable as well as productive. It is very difficult to manage a class of students having a multitude of needs. All the students have different potential to learn and to recognize and effectively utilize that is a lot of work.
Let’s look into some of these effective strategies to make it easier for you.

Make them believe in themselves:

The biggest tool for learning is to believe that one can learn. If a student feels that whatever is being taught is too difficult for him, he will not make any efforts to learn it and eventually lose interest too.

Overwrite what they already know:

What students already know effects their new learning. Take initial assessments or tests to establish the baseline of the students. Knowing the students’ aptitude would help in further knowledge building and development.

Give feedback:

Give students proper and timely feedbacks. When a student has performed, review their performance in detail explaining areas where they can improve and set goals for them. Also, tell them what books to read, and steps to take for meeting goals.

Teach them self-regulation:

Teaching them the skills of self-regulation like attention, organization, self-control, planning ahead, learning strategies, etc. Teach them record keeping, time planning etc. They can keep a diary of their past and future performances for referring and comparing.

Work on improving emotional well being:

Self-esteem, a belief to succeed, internal motivation, managing stress, and emotions effectively would help in improving the students’ performance. If a student has a positive self-concept, he will do better and learn more.

Maintain class conduct:

Nurture positive environment through effective communication among the students. Give them support so that positive relationships are maintained and misbehavior is punished. Set a definite rule book for each student to be followed to help them inculcate the same in their life.

Read our other Blogs.

You are the one always giving a portion of yourself through imparting knowledge. It is a profession for the people excited to share, educate, learn,re-learn and innovate. A profession that required commitment and honesty. That looks like an enormous amount of responsibility. Isn’t it?

Here are some of the tips to manage yourself when you are about to wear out:

Time management:

So, a lot of your daily work goes into managing papers, materials, checking daily work given to students, grading test papers etc. This kind of work requires a lot of attention, precision, patience which would wear you down. Time management becomes essential for this.

Tip:

Basically, There are certain parts of the day when you function better and it is different for different people. Keep the difficult activities for this time. Do not take up the work of assessment and grading when you are tired or in a bad mood. Your assessment means a future for the child.

Inspire Yourself

All of you in the teaching profession love to impart knowledge, But you lose the zeal midway in the daily routine.

Tip:

Keep photos, cards, posters, wallpapers that are inspiring to you, so that you can remind yourself of the noble purpose of teaching. A little reminder here and there will get you back on track.

Steam off :

Thus, as an educator, you are always surrounded by documents, materials, undisciplined students, over demanding parents; resulting in all your emotions getting bottled up; You feel like you are inside a huge pressure cooker.

Tip:

Involve yourself in some leisure activity for some time daily. Cultivate a hobby which you can do without any hassles at the comfort of your home. Dancing, singing, cooking, pottery, art etc are extremely therapeutic to tackle any difficult situation.

Retain your Identity:

Tackling difficult students, disciplining them, providing whatever is best for them; you start losing your identity as an individual.

Tip:

Go out, meet with your friends, have a cup of coffee, relax and do something that reminds you of the person you are outside of being a teacher and provider.

Read on

The scientific meaning of the word stress is to exert pressure or tension on a material object. But, this is more often used today as a psychological phenomenon occurring due to excessive pressure on the mind due to the external circumstances around a person. When there are multiple tasks you need to juggle with but you are unable to manage, you are left overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety, nervousness, irritation making it very difficult for you to carry on. Let me tell you here that, not all stress is bad. Stress is a mechanism that is used by the body to indicate that there is a danger around, the heartbeat increases, cortisol is released into the bloodstream to meet the emergency. Again, If this goes on for a prolonged period of time this hormone affects your immunity.

How to deal with the difficult behavior of students?

As educators, you always have in mind the best for your students and do everything for their better future. Although it is the best technique to deal with patience, understanding, and acceptance, the situation sometimes gets out of control and you have to resort to other ways of dealing with it. Here are some ways you can do it:

Calm down:

The first and the most important step when you are dealing with a stressful situation is to take a few deep breaths. Deep abdominal breathing helps decrease the heart rate and lowers down the blood pressure.

Generate Insight:

you cannot keep accepting misbehavior just because you understand the causes of the behavior. Let the students understand and realize their mistakes. Show them where they went wrong and how they can prevent repeating the same in future. Also, make them understand the consequences of their behavior.

Do not judge them:

It is very disgraceful to be identified as a bad person, it reduces the chances of future changes in behavior. Do not abuse, ridicule or blame them.

Communicate with family:

Meet their family and convey them about the misbehavior of the student. Let them know how the student misbehaves in class and guide them on how to cultivate desirable behaviors in the future.

Reinforce good behaviors:

When a student behaves in the right way to reward them with a praise; a token etc for others to model the same behaviors in class.

Listen actively even during the conflict:

Even when you are angry, try to stay in control and listen to what the student is trying to resent, where he is coming from and if the dissent is genuine.

Recommend a counselor:

Set a timeframe for the improvement to take place by establishing a positive rapport. Let the student know that you care, but in spite of all these if the situation is not improving refer to professional help. This might need some intervention that is more complex.

“What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare”

–William Davies

You are always busy, running errands to meet your daily needs and that of your significant others. But do you even think once, how much of yourself and your life you are losing in the process? When did you last sit down to have a hearty conversation with your friend or spouse or children? Can’t think of it? You have high chances of soon experiencing a burnout.

What is a burnout?

Unlike Bipolar disorder or depression, burnout is not mentioned in any diagnostic manual. There are no clear symptoms to find out that you are having a burnout but there are some generally accepted indicators for the same. Many researchers are of the view that prolonged stress, depression, anxiety, fear or any other underlying mental fight could lead to a burnout. Physiological stress can also produce a burnout. As the name suggests, burnout is the complete depletion or exhaustion of mental or physical energy.

Symptoms to  assess a state of burnout:

Physiological signs:  This includes general fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, difficulty breathing, heart-related problems, loss of appetite etc, get yourself assessed by a medical practitioner.

Your immune system will become weak: When your body is already coping with a huge amount of stress, all your resources will be used up and your body will become more prone to infections, allergies, diseases etc.

Anxiety: You may experience a little fear or an edgy feeling in the beginning but later your fear may become so big that you may not continue with your professional life.

The sadness of mood or depression: Again, a burnout is insidious and takes a lot of time to come to the surface. In the beginning, it feels like mild emotional fatigue, but later on getting up from the bed becomes a task. In severe cases, it can also be suicidal(consult a therapist or a doctor at this stage mandatorily)

Loss of enjoyment and pessimism: A feeling like that of a dark-coloured cloud hovering overhead. You do not enjoy things that you earlier used to and have become very critical about everything.

Interpersonal damage: You become angry too soon and that too on trivial things. You do not feel like meeting people or socializing and keep yourself out by closing your door or not going out of the home.

Decline in productivity at work: There has been a significant decline in productivity. You do not enjoy your job either. You are also absent from your work most of the days.

When will you be having a burnout?

If you are one of those high achieving individuals. You will most likely be a victim of burnout. Do you Feel overburdened continuously, keeping a long to-do list and are always under the pressure of time? This could result in a persistent exhaustion. We are all dealing with more commitments that we could manage with our physiological or psychological capacity. It is very important to care for your own needs before you could actually help or support others.  It is hard to ignore conditions like workplace conflict or meeting your deadlines but help is available.

Do an assessment of yourself before it gets late. To win the race of life, not only do you need power but more importantly you need the consistent power supply which can last till the end. It is of no use to start with a high intensity and breakdown halfway.

The most likely reason you are reading this blog would be that you are dissatisfied with your current job or are already looking for a job change. What is that a job means to you describes a lot about how you treat your job.  Most of us spend almost fifty percent of our lives on the job and often dissatisfied. So, why is it that you are dissatisfied with your job?

What is a Job-Fit?

A job-fit is a match between the organization and employee. Elaborating it, I mean that like people organizations also have personalities which need to be more or less compatible. In simple language, the job that you do should be matching your emotional, physical, psychological needs. Therefore, Job-fit is an assessment to be taken up on the side of both your employer and you for increasing the quality of life and minimize psychological burnout.

What could turn fatal?

To explain further let us take an example; Among the various types of personalities, you are a person who is social. You are most likely empathetic, helpful, kind and friendly, You enjoy socializing with people or helping others and would be best suited for a teacher or caregiver. But what if you are doing the job as a Computer programmer? You would invariably be demotivated, stressed, depressed or even think of ending your life.

There are many reasons why a poor job fit would result in poor psychosocial functioning. You would be demotivated not only with your work but also your entire life in general. A person who is demotivated will always be low on energy, lose his sleep at night, will not be interested to help others, turn hostile and severe depression.

Finding a meaning in your job

Earning a living is just one reason to continue doing your job for the many other reasons. Firstly, A job should give you an Identity, and if that identity does not match your concept of who you think you are, it will create a crisis for you. Apart from the self Identity, there is also social Identity i.e; what people think of you as a person. When these Identities are in synchrony you experience satisfaction from life and are motivated to contribute more. Secondly, As already mentioned a normal person spends almost fifty percent of his time or rather life on his job. It is essential that this job gives you happiness and enhance your life quality. If you are dissatisfied or unhappy with your job, it is equal to wasting fifty percent of your life.

To summarise, We are saying that it is too much loss!

Not all of us know or would ever know what our calling in life is but we should seek help to get the career assessment done so that we could work on something that gives us happiness and in turn we also create great work.

Read More