VISUAL PERIPHERAL: UNLEASH THE POWER WITHIN

The quote comes from my good buddy Dilip Mukerjea's forthcoming new book.

VISUAL PERIPHERAL: FOLLOW YOUR BLISS

The quote comes from my good buddy Dilip Mukerjea's forthcoming new book.

CHAMPIONING STUDENTS: ACQUIRING SELF-EFFICACY SKILLS

[continuation from the Last Post ~ in connection with the recent launch of a series of new programs intended for parents as well as their school-going kids/teens, under the auspices of 'The House of Creative Brains'.]


Broadly speaking, self-efficacy refers to having the personal confidence in the mental functioning of your own mind.

More explicitly, it means that you are confident in your personal ability to learn new things, to think about them, to make use of them, to make informed decisions with them, to sculpt decisions into actions, & finally to put them to work in your own life.

In addition, self-efficacy also refers to understanding the consequences of your personal actions, & recognising what you must do to achieve your personal goals & objectives in life, even in the face of adversity.

In a nut shell, for a student who is imbued with strong self-efficacy, he or she will always trust himself or herself of having the personal ability to view his or her academic challenges &/or study problems as "tasks to be mastered".

He or she is likely to develop deeper interests in the tasks, & is also more prepared to try again, when he or she doesn't succeed in performing a task the first time.

His or her thinking is driven by : "I Can Do It! I Will Do it!"

As a result, he or she goes into purposeful action, because ultimately he or she knows that "I will Take Charge! I will Do it Myself!" offers him or her the best choice in life.

After all, life is essentially making choices. More importantly, life is a DIY (do-it-yourself) project

Self-efficacy is the Number 1 predictor & determinant of success in life, academically as well as professionally. This is based on the brilliant work of Canadian psychologist Dr Albert Bandura, who coined the term.

Dr Bandura strongly believes that, to which we fully concur, one's personal success in life is always tied to one's belief or conviction in the personal capabilities to initiate & successfully perform specified tasks.

The entire program from Dilip for both parents & their kids/teens is specifically designed to promote & inculcate academic self-efficacy skills.

I like to leave this inspiring quote from the great Indian statesman, Mahatma Gandhi, to sum up my post:

"If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning."

[to be continued in the Next Post.]

[For more information about the series of new programs under 'The House of Creative Brains', please get in touch with Ms. Faye Yeoh via her email faye_yeoh@yahoo.com]

ATTENTION PARENTS: WHAT KIDS & TEENS NEED TO SUCCEED

I love to surf the net, especially in the afternoons after my gym practice. One of my "stage coach stations", so to speak, is the Amazon online store.

Recently, I came across two books which I had read with gusto during the late nineties.

In fact, they were part of my store repertoire, when I was running my small but unique retail outlet, aptly called 'The Brain Resource" in the Central Business District, established from the early nineties to about mid-2005.

The books are:

- 'What Kids Need to Succeed', by Dr Peter Benson;

- 'What Teens Need to Succeed', by Dr Peter Benson;

I am glad that the books are still available at Amazon. As a matter, Dr Benson has written two more - newer - books, namely:

- 'Vision: Awakening Your Potential to Create a Better World';

- 'Sparks: How Parents can Ignite the Hidden Strengths in Teenagers';

which I have yet to procure & read.

What I love about the first two books is the positive "asset building" philosophy of Dr Peter Benson. To me, it is an essential component in developing self-efficacy & enhancing self-worth.

In a nut shell, he breaks it down to forty developmental assets - external as well as internal - which kids & teens would need in order to succeed in life, starting with family support.

For more information about the positive "asset building" philosophy, readers can go to Dr Benson's corporate website, which is a goldmine of information nuggets.

Dr Benson is a widely recognised authority in the field of creating success developments among adolescents.

For a quick overview of the 40 developmental assets, readers can go to this link to download the appropriate .pdf document.