| If you are a college student or a university | | | | that yelling at yourself will make you try harder |
| student who is studying and facing exams, you | | | | and improve your performance. Actually, this |
| already know that you will benefit from learning | | | | negative self talk will increase your anxiety and will |
| better studying techniques and better note-taking | | | | interfere with your ability to learn effectively. |
| methods. What you may not know is that an | | | | Take some time to watch very young children |
| important part of being a good learner is to feel | | | | learn. During the first few years of life, humans |
| very confident about your learning ability. | | | | learn a huge amount of information at a much |
| Why is it important to have good confidence in | | | | quicker rate than they will ever learn again. When |
| our ability to learn? | | | | very young children learn, they do so in an |
| When you don't have a good confidence in your | | | | attitude of joy and exploration. They don't criticize |
| learning ability, you will approach learning situations | | | | themselves for being bad learners. |
| and exams in a state of nervousness and anxiety. | | | | Even as adults, we do our best learning in an |
| A lack of confidence in your learning ability will | | | | atmosphere of fun and exploration. We learn |
| actually interfere with you ability to study | | | | better when we think learning is fun. We don't |
| effectively, and it will interfere with your ability to | | | | learn as well when we tell ourselves that we are |
| remember what you have learned. | | | | stupid. |
| Being completely confident and happy about your | | | | If your negative opinion of yourself is holding you |
| learning ability will lessen your anxiety. Confidence | | | | back, how do you go about changing it? Two |
| in yourself will improve your learning perfomance | | | | very effective techniques that can help you |
| and improve your memory of what you have | | | | change your self-image are affirmations and |
| studied. | | | | visualization. |
| How can you tell whether or not you lack | | | | Instead of focusing on your current negative |
| confidence in yourself as a learner? | | | | self-assessments, focus instead on the kind of |
| If you lack confidence about your learning ability, | | | | person you would like to be. What personal |
| you probably already know it because you | | | | qualities do you want to have? |
| become very tense and nervous about facing | | | | Write down a description of how you would like |
| exams. | | | | to be and how you would like to perceive |
| When you are in a learning situation, pay attention | | | | yourself. Write out some simple phrases that |
| to the sorts of thoughts that frequently go | | | | express your desired qualities as something that |
| through your mind. What messages are you telling | | | | you have right now. |
| yourself? Spend several days becoming aware of | | | | Spend time creating images of yourself learning |
| the way you talk to yourself internally. Write | | | | easily, and let the feelings of confidence fill you up. |
| down the thoughts that pass through your mind | | | | Revisit these positive images frequently. See |
| so that you can review them. | | | | yourself succeeding in your exams, and feel the |
| Are your statements about yourself mostly | | | | sensations you would feel as you get a very |
| positive or mostly negative? Do your thoughts | | | | good mark. |
| reflect confidence in your own abilities? Or are | | | | Using visualizations and affirmations correctly can |
| you constantly yelling at yourself for your | | | | go a long way to improve your confidence in your |
| mistakes and shortcomings? Are you calling | | | | ability to learn, and when you are more confident |
| yourself stupid, lazy, or unsuccessful? | | | | about your learning ability, you will actually learn |
| If your statements to yourself about your | | | | better. |
| learning ability are mostly negative, you may think | | | | |