Frankly speaking, I was quite sad as I felt sorry for those who replied with the above and yet I sincerely hope that one day they will be exposed to such possibility and they will realise the potential that each and everyone of them has, which is waiting to be unleashed!

From a partner who shared, “I respect each opinion; each opinion is based on his/her individual ability to perform. Some people earn $10 an hour, while others earn $1000 an hour. When you tell those who earn $10 an hour that people can earn $1000 an hour, they will say it is impossible. But I respect them also because this is their opinions based on their ability.”

During the stone age, it would take about an hour to walk from Mines Resort to Jaya Jusco Cheras Selatan. It would have taken that long before the invention of the automobile and trust me on this as I had tried once before; walking from Mines Resort to Jaya Jusco Cheras Selatan. However, in the modern day, it will take barely about five minutes to reach Jusco from Mines. If we were to explain to a caveman that we could reach Jusco in five minutes, he/she would have said, “Impossible or bullshit” too. And we can’t blame him/her as his/her opinion is based on his/her ability.

True enough, my strong belief in studying hard translated directly into the good grades I had for Math, A Math, Physics and Chemistry in my O-Level examination. In fact in my A Math papers, for the first time in my life, I managed to finish it with ample time to spare to check through my papers. Even before the result was out for my A Math, I was already confident that I had gotten an ‘A’ for it.

As for my languages and humanity subject, the doubts and beliefs I had about myself translated to my not so impressive grades for both subjects. Even during my A-Level examination, I aced in my C Math and either Chemistry or Physics. As for my Further Mathematics, I only got a ‘C.’ It didn’t come as a surprise because I had not worked very hard for it and in fact I didn’t practice enough. Looking back at the efforts I put in the O-Level and A-Level exams, it is even clearer now the strong relationship between my belief in hardwork and results.

That is why in my email to the parents, I wrote, “The best gift we could give to them is the gift to first believe in their own abilities and then to take action.” It is not enough to just believe in their own abilities. The change in their results will come from the follow through action that they will be taking.

Advo’s Turbocharge! Workshop is a workshop specially engineered for children between the age of 13-17 to help the youths discover more about themselves through a journey of self reflection and exploration. One of the top training programs for kids in Singapore, this highly interactive workshop will help to open the minds of children to see themselves bigger than who they are now. Through the workshop, your children will create new empowering mindsets and beliefs about themselves. With these new empowering mindsets and beliefs about themselves, they will go on to achieve academic excellence and successes in life.

As the saying goes, “Change your mind, change your world!” When we focus on the root of the issue, we not only nib the issue at its root, we also create a long-lasting solution. The good grades will follow.

Just the other day I was marking some A Math assignments in Trigonometry and Function by a student that I got quite pissed off; my blood was literally boiling. And for a very good why I should be pissed off: she has been giving me the same not careful mistakes again and again; it was (x – 3) in one moment and then when she copied it to the next part of the question, it became (x + 3) and everything was not right after that.

The very reason I was so pissed is because she knew exactly how to do the question. She followed the right strategy and steps in solving the Function question but she gave away marks to these kind of not careful mistakes. Trigonometry is a bigger challenge to her at this point but it will get better for sure with more practice. Right now she needs to take care of a few fundamental issues first which is crippling her progress in A Math. We will work together to take down these issues one by one. There is not much time to lose before she takes her Trial Examination follows by her SPM examinations at the end of the year.

On Wednesday while I was coaching her, we talked about her dream to study Aeronautical Engineering. I asked if she really has the passion in doing it. Depending on the fields of study which she will pursue in Aeronautical Engineering, whether she likes it or not, she will have to deal with higher Mathematics. In fact, in most engineering course, she will need to take higher mathematics. And thus it is important to build her foundation well now. I told her if Aeronautical Engineering is really her passion, then she will surely find all ways to break down all the challenges to get there.

She shared with me that she doesn’t hate A Math, it’s just that she can’t seem to understand it. I wasn’t surprising she couldn’t seem to understand it. In Mathematics, we not only have to understand the concept, we also have to practice; which is the thing she has not been doing yet. And being a kinesthetic person, who learn best by doing, then all the more she needs to practice. Just as a question I have always asked her, “How did you remember all the lyrics?” She told me she just sung them again and again and again. She responded that if only A Math was like singing. I said, “Why not? I am not stopping you. If you find that by singing it out you can remember, then by all mean sing it out!”

Why is mindsetting very important? Because along the journey to your destiny you will face a lot of challenges. If you are not firm with your positive beliefs, you might fall down easily. If you are not strong with your passion, you will be hold down. If your mindset is not correct, you will tend to go to the wrong way. If you do not know where you want to go or what you are doing, you will lost in the way!

Therefore, be firm with your empowering beliefs. Be confident with your passion. Set your goals where you want to go. Even though you face challenges, you will not let it to pull you down. You know where you want to go. You will take whatever it takes to drive you to the direction that you want to go.

There are three little “brothers” inside your mind that will kill your results INSTANTLY. They are namely “complaining”, “justifying” and “blaming”. Let me introduce them one by one.

“Complaining” is the eldest brother. He always likes to give you a 1000′s of excuses that makes you feel better. When you fail the exam, he will tell you that it is not your fault. The questions are just too difficult that is out of your ability to answer. Therefore you don’t have to do anything. When you are not in the right mood to study he will tell you that let’s do something else. You are hungry, let’s go to eat. You are bored so let’s go to play. it is OK to do so as you still have months of prepartions for your O’level.

“Justifying” is the complement of “complaining”. He will further ”prove” to you what “complaining” says is true. You are suck in maths therefore it is not your fault to fail in difficult exams. Almost all students in your class fail the paper therefore it is completely fine for you to fail the paper as well. You need more fun before you can study. You need food so that you have higher energy. Usually what happen is you will spend a few hours to do all these and therefore your studying time is just wasted on doing on not important things. Studying is always not the most important thing to you as you never feel the urgency of prepartion towards your O’s.

Next is the little brother “blaming”. Blaming comes when you get something that you do not want. You blame your teachers are not good. You blame your tutors are not good. You blame you are given too little time to prepare. You blame you are given too little time to answer the questions. You even can blame your pens, your pencils or even the table and the chair that you are using not comfortable that makes you not getting your A1. Many things you can blame. Everything you blame, but never reflect back to yourself.

As what the proverb says, when you point your index finger on something, there are three fingers pointing back on you. Do not entertain these three borthers. The consequence of entertaining them are disastereous. They only have one purpose, that is to hold you back in getting your A’s by letting you to feel good and put you in your comfort zone.

Always think what you can do better. Any improvements that you can apply from your failed exams? What have you learnt from your mistakes? When similar situation are faced in the future, how can you act so that you wont repeat your mistakes?

Never compromise with your study time. Eating, playing and other not important things only do them after your study time. Study means study. There is no other reason you can skip it.

With these tips, you are 1 more step closer to the A1 category!

And yet, it is exciting to get out of bed. I would love a cup of hot chocolate to start the rainy day, watching the raindrops falling from the sky, the ripples they create when they fall into a pool of water, the sound of the raindrops beating against the window and last but not least, the freshness and sweetness in the air.

For me, it has been the most exciting 4 months and with a lot of changes. What I observed or experienced was a challenge would follow every change. At first the challenge would appear insurmountable and that is because we do not have the capability yet to overcome it. Or rather, what I will say is, “We thought we do not have the capability to overcome it.” However, the truth of the matter is, “We will not be given a challenge too big for us!” This is what I believe and this is what I use to remind myself constantly.

Just as we might continue to focus on the challenge and some will view it as problem; we must remind ourselves to focus on finding the solution. We may not have direct control to the challenge, but we always have the Power to choose what we want to focus on. Use that Power which is given to you and which cost you nothing. Because frankly speaking, if we do not use that Power given to us, someone else would be using the Power given to him/her to choose for us. Just as the quotation from the movie The Astronaut Farmer, “You better know what you want to do before somebody know it for you.” So we better start using that Power given to us before somebody use his/hers on us.

And finally after we overcome the challenge, we grow. With every challenge, there is a great potential for us to grow and to become a better person. Not only that, we are automatically ready for bigger changes and challenges in life. This simple reason of growth makes change ever exciting for me!

What we really must do is Embracing Changes and Challenges and this journey call life will surely be an exciting and memorable one!

How many of us had been through similar situation like this? How did you handle it? Were you as upset and disturbed too? I believe that most of us had been through similar situation at one point or another. As much as we do not want to, there will be times when the words of others will make us doubt ourselves; doubting if we can really achieve what we set in our mind to achieve, doubting if we are good enough, and to the extend of believing in what the others are saying.

The night when she was relating her experience with me, she asked me to share my feeling about the incidence she had that day. I told her, “I have just one thing to share with her.” I heard Abraham Lincoln speaking to me and I shared one of his many quotations with her. “I am not bothered by what others say about me as long as I know they do not speak the truth of me.”

Such simple truth and yet it could be hard to grasp at time. I have shared this quotation with family and friends who were caught in similar situation like the girl countless times. Every time I shared it, it also served as a gentle reminder to myself. We cannot always control what others are saying but we can always control or rather choose how we want to feel or react to what others are saying. They have the right to speak their mind but we have every reason to guard our mind against any negativity. The mind is our single most valuable asset. Empowering ourselves, especially our mind is very important.

You may ask me, “What if they are speaking the truth of me?” I would be glad if others point out my ‘blind spots.’ It would give me an opportunity to reflect upon them and to change if there is a need to. This gives us a chance to improve ourselves and to be a better being.