Mapping Your Path to Success Chapter 1

“Dare to begin! He who postpones living rightly is like the man who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.”-Horace

N.O.W

•The letters N-O-W can help you remember the three key points that are important to planning the future.▫N – New Skills▫O – Orientation to new settings▫W – World-wise view

New Skills

•You may have been accustomed to having parents, teachers, or even friends tell you what to do.

•Now you are becoming more independent and you are making more choices for yourself.

•You may not feel comfortable but you will be required to develop new skills (abilities to successfully complete tasks).

Orientation

•When you walk into most malls, you see a map showing the location of the stores, etc.

•However, the YOU ARE HERE is the most helpful information on the map.

•It helps you get oriented (knowing where you are in relation to everything else) so that you can decide which direction to go.

World-wise View

•No matter the size of your immediate world, changes in technology, such as the Internet, can bring you information quickly from places very far away.

•This easy access to people and events around the world has probably given you a world-wise view (helping you understand that you live in a very big world).

Key Terms• Careers – People’s life

work• Roles – The behavior

others expect of you because of your position.

• Self-management – taking good care of yourself

• Policies – Rules, or ways of acting

• Procedures – Ways of doing things

• Responsibility – accepting the blame or praise

• Quality – How good something is

• Evaluating – Determining how good something is or how well a person did

• Quantity – How much you do or how hard you try

Developing Skills in Self-Management

•Self-management means that you take the responsibility for what you do.

•Part of taking responsibility is evaluating two factors: the quality and the quantity of your behavior accordingly.

•To successfully manage yourself, you must understand the role of evaluations and then respond the right way to evaluations.

Understand the Role of Evaluations•You make evaluations everyday.

▫For Example, “You buy the latest recording of your favorite music group. Then you evaluate it by deciding whether the music is good or bad.”

•You are evaluated on a daily basis in school.▫Graded assignments and projects, tests, and

grade reports are feedback from your teachers.•Sometimes the feedback is informal, such as a

“good job” note from a teacher or a “thank you” from a co-worker.

Respond Appropriately to Evaluations

•Your response to an evaluation, whether it is a self-evaluation or an evaluation from someone else, is a critical part of the self-management process.

•When you use evaluations to improve your performance, you are demonstrating skills in managing yourself.

Self-Checklist•This checklist you can use to decide whether

you are skillful in managing yourself:▫You do not blame anyone else for what

happens to you.▫You do not try to control anyone else.▫You take credit for what you do right.▫You admit it when you make mistakes.▫You promise to learn from every mistake.▫You think about the results of your actions

before you act.

Self-Management SkillsAt School On The Job

• Attendance• Come to school every day• Punctuality• Be on time• Good attitude• Work cooperatively with

others• Basic skills• Be able to read, write,

talk, listen and compute well

• Problem solve

• Attendance• Come to work every day• Punctuality• Be on time• Good attitude• Work cooperatively with

others• Basic skills• Be able to read, write,

talk, listen and compute well

• Problem solve

Key Terms• Feedback – Performance

evaluations• Personal Transition – An

important change in your personal or work life

• Observe – To follow the rules or to watch someone

• Consequences – Results• Deadline – A date or time

when a project, report, or assignment must be finished

• Global – Relating to the entire world

• Strategies – Planning tools• Prioritizing – Ranking a

list of items according to importance

• Oriented –Knowing where you are in relation to everything else

Getting Oriented• Life is filled with changes.• Each time you make a

personal transition, you must become oriented.

• These personal transitions can be exciting, depressing, and frightening.

Learn the Policies and Procedures•Every school, workplace, and community

has policies and procedures.•These policies and procedures are a map

that guides people’s choices and behaviors.

•When employees choose to observe workplace policies, they benefit – as do their co-workers, employers, and customers.

Recognize Consequences

•Understanding what you gain if you follow the requirements (and what you lose by not following them) is critical in today’s world.

•When you have a deadline in the workplace, it means that your work must be finished at a certain time.

•During the Civil War, a ‘deadline’ was the line that surrounded a prison. Prisoners who stepped over the line could be shot dead.

Accept Responsibility

•Three keys to self-management and becoming oriented to your surroundings include the following:▫Know what is expected of you.▫Meet those expectations or ask for help if

you cannot meet them.▫Change your behavior if necessary.

Getting a World-Wise View of Life•Getting a world-wise view of life means that

you gain an awareness of the world and your place in it.

•The changes in technology have made contact between people of different countries and on different continents much easier.

•Because of developments in technology, global competition, and people’s demands, companies must change. Those changes mean that workers have to change jobs and careers more often.

Planning for Success

•Success will not just fall into your lap.

•You will have to decide what you want and then create a map for getting there.

Develop a Plan

•These simple procedures can help you from getting overloaded at the last minute of falling behind.▫Use a planner to keep track of your

activities and responsibilities.▫Make a list of everything you have to do

according to each deadline.▫Try to stay a little ahead in all your classes.▫Stay healthy and have a balanced life.

What to do if you are falling behind…

•Tell your teacher that you need help. He might not be available for tutoring but probably can tell you where to go for help.

•Form a study group with classmates. Sometimes hearing another explanation can suddenly make a confusing subject clear.

Strengthen Your Study Skills

•One of the first steps for success in school or in your career is to know how to study.

•While you are in high school, establish good study habits.

•The habits you form now can help you the rest of your life.

Study Tips

•Study on purpose.▫The study habit does not come naturally to

most people. It takes work and time to develop.

•Start now.▫It is never too early or too late to begin

good study habits.•Find the best time.

▫Choose a time of day to study when you can concentrate.

Study Tips Cont.

•Commit.▫Make a plan and stick to it.

•Do not get distracted.▫Try to avoid distractions whenever possible.

•Set the stage.▫Have good light, a table or desk, and having

school supplies and references available.•Use a system.

▫One system you can use is the 3 R’s routine: Read, React, and Remember.

Write SMART Goals• You know that your goal is well-written when it

contains this information.▫Specific

How can you tell when you achieve the goal?▫Measurable

Can you tell how close or how far away from your goal you are?

▫Achievable Can you reach the goal?

▫Realistic Are you willing to do whatever it takes to reach the goal?

▫Timed Do you have a deadline?