The first fact about attitudes that you need to accept is that your attitudes are not genetically determined like your height or eye color; they can be changedwith a lot of conscious thought and practice. You should never just accept your attitude when it is negative or self-defeating. You have the power to change it!
The second fact to understand is that attitudes are POWERFUL. They essentially create behavior. If you decide a class bores you, then your behaviors in class will demonstrate you are bored. You will have a disaffected look on your face, you may doze off, and you will not be taking notes or making eye contact with the professor. However, if you are interested by a class’ topic or decide you are going to be interested about learning, then your behaviors will demonstrate this as well. Your facial expressions will show you are paying attention, your body language will show you are alert, and you will be taking notes, adding to class discussion and making eye contact with your professor.
The third piece of information to acknowledge is that success in school starts with your attitudes – your attitudes about your abilities and potential as a student, your attitudes about the subjects you will be learning, your attitudes about your professors and peers at your college, and your overall attitude about the institution in which you are enrolled as well as your overall attitude about learning in general.
As stated above, attitudes can be changed; but, it takes regular practice. Two effective techniques for changing your attitude are affirmations and visualizations.
- An affirmation is a statement that you believe something exists or is true. The most effective affirmations are positive, use the present tense (now not yesterday or tomorrow), and are personal (meant for you not for anyone else).
- You first should identify what you want, making sure it is a positive idea/statement.
- Write it down using a present tense verb
- Once you write it down, repeat it over and over
- Say it aloud with conviction (you need to really believe what you are saying)a few times regularly each day…like when you wake up or right before you go to bed at night –it is like your personal mantra.
- You may create multiple affirmations to fit different situations you might encounter each day, throughout a week, or during a semester.
- Check out the ten affirmations to help you study at this website.
- A visualization is a technique where you “see” yourself being successful. You create a “movie” in your mind that shows you completing a task successfully.
- You should begin by deciding what you want to improve and write it down
- When you write it down, try to be as detailed as possible…what would it look like, sound like, and feel like to complete the task (an effective visualization must involve other senses besides just sight)
- Once you have an idea of what this visualization will be like, practice it in your imagination.
- Play this “movie” in your imagination as often as possible. By seeing yourself in your mind do this task with a positive outcome, you can make it happen in reality because you will have a positive attitude and you will have identified a way to make it happen.
Affirmations and Visualizations are essentially cognitive restructuring, the process of learning to identify and dispute irrational or negative thoughts that we might be carrying around in our brains. By practicing these two techniques, you can restructure your attitude for the better and that in turn changes your behaviors. Just remember the key word is practice…practice makes perfect.
Sources:
Powell, Candice, Cynthia Demetriou, & Annice Fisher. “Micro-affirmations in Academic Advising: Small Acts, Big Impact.” The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Harrell, Keith. “Why Your Attitude is Everything and How to Turn it Into Action.”Success, 2013. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Ellis, Dave. Becoming a Master Student, 12 ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009. Print
