Life Skills for Students

Shalom Rehabilitation Centre / Life Skills for Students

Life is filled with choices. The choices we make leads us to our destiny and our lives have become overwhelming. We are losing our ability to mange ideas, to contemplate, to think. But Life offers many possibilities. It is time now to stop, to reflect, to weigh the options to decide for a happy and successful life. Life is not a game of chance but life is what you make of it.

Golden Rules for Life

  • Watch your thoughts they become WORDS.
  • Watch your words they become ACTIONS .
  • Watch your actions they become HABITS.
  • Watch your habits they become your CHARACTER .
  • Watch your character they become your DESTINY.

10 Commandments for Students

  • Aspire to Achieve – Have an Aim in Life.
  • Setting Goals that can be achieved by you.
  • Achieving goals through commitment and hard work.
  • Giving your best in everything you choose to do.
  • Trying without giving up or giving in – Have a Positive Attitude.
  • Having your work finished on time.
  • Believe that “You Can and You Will”.
  • Focus on Success – Plan, Prepare and Practice.
  • Pray to God Everyday.
  • Accept Everything Gracefully.

Time, the most precious resource

The Management of time is the Management of life. When you waste time you are wasting life. Try this:

  • Make a list of all the Activities or upcoming tasks of the day.
  • Prioritizing your Activity list or your ‘to do list’. It’s not enough to be busy … the question is, what are you busy about?
  • Read the List – Urgent Vs Non Urgent, Important Vs Unimportant – Give deadlines to the tasks.
  • Schedule your work – When are you most compatible for a certain task and for how long? – Make a daily Timetable and keep it in your study room.
  • Allow changes – New task can be added to your ‘to do list’ as they come up and be assigned a priority.
  • Take the first step – A journey of thousand miles really begins with a one, first step.
  • Reward yourself – Give yourself a break when your list is half complete, have a snack, watch T.V, listen to music, go for a walk, stretch or play with the pets or kids.

 

Study Skills

    • Study, master difficult concepts and experience the ‘unspeakable pleasure’ of studying.
    • The PQ4R Method for effective study, Preview or Survey, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, and Review. (Thomas & Robinson 1972)
    • Preview or Survey – Get the best overall picture of what you are going to study before you start studying in details.
    • Question – The important things to learn are usually answers to questions, emphasizes on the what, why, how, when, who and where of study content.
    • Read – Reading is NOT running your eyes over a textbook. When you read, read actively. Read to answer question you have asked yourself or questions the instructor or author has asked.
    • Reflect – Take time to reflect on the subject matter you have just read. Critically and Creatively think why? and How?
    • Recite – When you recite, you stop reading periodically to recall what you have read. Try to develop an overall concept of what you have read in your own words and thoughts.
    • Review – A review is a survey of what you have covered. During review, it’s good to go over notes you have taken to help clarify points you may have missed or don’t understand.

Wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge be pleasant to your soul; prudence will watch over you; and understanding will guard you. – Proverbs 2:10-11

Career Planning

A Four Step Process

1. Self – Gather information about yourself (Self assessment)

  • Interest
  • Values
  • Roles
  • Skills/Aptitudes
  • Preferred environment
  • Developmental Needs
  • Your realities

2. Options – Occupational Information

  • Explore the occupations in which you are interested.
  • Job Shadowing
  • Part time work, internships, or volunteer opportunities.
  • Informational interviews.

3. Match – During this phase of the process, you will:

  • Identify possible occupations
  • Evaluate these occupations
  • Explore alternatives
  • Choose both short-term and long-term options

4. Action – You will develop the steps you need to take in order to reach your goal

  • Investigate sources of additional training and education, if needed.
  • Start equipping yourself with the skills needed.

Strategies For a Stress Free Life

Stress: A psycho physiological change in our body and mind. Anything that is imagined or real causes stress and all of us go through stress at different times of life. Every stress has a limited span and it holds positive possibilities and it is a key to change our life. The choice that we make becomes our destiny.

7 Steps to Ease Stress:

1. Never Worry Alone: Talk to someone you trust, who can help you to look at your stress in a proper perspective.

2. Get the Facts: Find out if your worry is imagined or real. Write down what exactly is bothering you. Identify the problem.

3. Predict: Ask questions to yourself. What your stress will do to you if you attend to the problem and what will it do to you if your do not attend or do anything about it.

4. Take Action: Don’t waste your time in worrying or brooding over the stress. Confront and resolve the issue. Avoiding them creates more stress.

5. Take Care: Taking care of your body physically will not only help reduce tension, but will give you more energy to deal with the problem. Make yourself busy by playing games, listening to music, relaxing and exercising.

6. The Power of Now: Live for the moment. Don’t worry about the past, about the things that has happened in the life. Don’t also be over anxious about what will happen to you in the future. Trust in God that He has created you and has a perfect plan for you.

7. Count your Blessings: You are better than many people in the world. Look at the positive aspects of life and all the good things you have received in your life.

5 D’s to achieve a Goal – Direction, Dedication, Determination, Discipline and Deadlines

PROBLEMS?

P – PREDICTRS – Help us to mould our future.

R – REMINDERS – We are not self-sufficient. We need God and others to help.

O – OPPORTUNITIES – Gives us chances to think critically and creatively.

B – BLESSINGS – Opens up doors for us that we usually don’t go through.

L – LESSIONS – Each new challenge will be our teacher.

E – EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE – No person or place is excluded from them.

M – MESSAGES – Warns us about potential disasters.

S – SOLVABLE – No Problem is without a solution.

You are an incredible creation. Look at your assets:

  • A mind that thinks at the rate of 800 words per minute.
  • Eyes with 100 million receptors
  • Ears with 24,000 fibers
  • 500 muscles
  • 200 bones
  • 7 miles of nerve fiber
  • 60,000 miles of blood vessels
  • A heart that pumps more than 1,600 gallons of blood each day
  • 500,000 touch detectors

Prayer: Lord, You created me and all around me. You know what is best for me and for those I love. In the stillness of this moment, help me to know what I need to know – to act as You would have act. May the choices I make today be motivated by my love for you and for those around me, as well as by true love for myself, because I know how much You love me. May it be Your voice that teaches me this day and Your love that leads me. Amen.