Jagadeesh Krishnan psychologists and international Author

Positive Attitudes and Perceptions About Learning

Without positive attitudes and perceptions, students have little chance of learning proficiently, if at all. There are two categories of attitudes and perceptions that affect learning: (1) attitudes and perceptions about the learning climate and (2) attitudes and perceptions about classroom tasks. A basic premise of the Dimensions of Learning model is that effective teachers continually reinforce attitudes and perceptions in both these categories. The master teacher has internalized techniques and strategies for enhancing these attitudes and perceptions to such a degree that the techniques are frequently transparent: they have become part of the fabric of instruction and are barely noticeable to the undiscerning eye. To illustrate, let's consider Mrs. Salley's class.

Mrs. Salley's Class

It's Monday morning and time for the first-hour class. Mrs. Salley is standing at the doorway, greeting students as they come in. “Hey, Mike, how're you doing?” “Martha, I heard you got a couple of hits in the game last night.” When students are seated, Mrs. Salley usually asks them to move into cooperative groups. Today, however, she spends some time going over a few rules and procedures that students seem to be confused about. Although she explained them a week ago, students are ignoring them. When she questions a few students, she finds that their lack of adherence is more a product of misunderstanding than of disobedience or disregard. She reviews the two rules and asks students what they think about them—if they want to change them in any way. No one seems to really mind the rules. Only a few students ask for some changes. Most of the other students agree that the changes would make the rules better. Mrs. Salley responds, “OK, that sounds reasonable.” She writes the new version of the rules on the board and explains that she'll keep them there for a few days just to remind everyone of them. She then asks students to break into cooperative groups. Before they start their assignment, she goes over it in detail, providing students with a model of what things should look like when the task is successfully completed. She says, “This might look a little difficult at first, but you can do it. We've gone over everything you need, so don't get discouraged. I'll help you if you have any problems. Give it your best shot; that's all I'm looking for.”

Although this scenario might give the impression that Mrs. Salley was dealing with peripheral issues before she got down to the business of teaching, she was actually setting the stage for learning by attending to specific attitudes and perceptions that affect the learning climate and classroom tasks. Mrs. Salley was dealing with the learning climate when she greeted students at the door, organized them into cooperative groups, and discussed and revised the two classroom rules. And she was attending to attitudes and perceptions about classroom tasks when she provided students with a model of what the successfully completed task might look like. She was also attending to attitudes and perceptions about classroom tasks when she told students that even though the task might look difficult, they had all the skills and abilities necessary to complete it.

The relationship between attitudes, perceptions, and learning is complex. As the above scenario illustrates, however, there are two very general areas on which a teacher can focus with the confidence that her efforts will reap rich rewards.

Fostering Positive Attitudes and Perceptions About the Learning Climate

During the 1980s, the amount of research on the role of classroom climate in the learning process increased tremendously (e.g., Brophy 1982, Fisher and Berliner 1985). Within that body of research and theory, climate was conceptualized in terms of factors external to the learner, such as the quality and quantity of the resources available, the physical environment of the classroom, and so on. More recently, psychologists have begun to view classroom climate more as a function of the attitudes and perceptions of the learner than of elements external to the learner. If students have certain attitudes and perceptions, they have a mental climate conducive to learning. If those attitudes and perceptions are not in place, learners have a mental climate not conducive to learning. In general, two types of attitudes and perceptions affect learners' mental climate: a sense of acceptance and a sense of comfort and order.

Acceptance

Intuitively, we know that learning is inhibited if students do not feel accepted by the teacher and by their peers. You may recall a time in elementary school when you did not feel accepted by your peers, or a time in college when you felt that a professor did not respect you. In both cases, these perceptions probably distracted you more than a little from learning. Researchers confirm the importance of a sense of acceptance. Tom Good and his colleagues (Good 1982, Good and Brophy 1972) have illustrated the importance of students' perceptions of their acceptance by the teacher. Similarly, for decades Arthur Combs (1962, 1982) has championed the importance of students' perceptions of their acceptance.

Virtually all of the research and theory in this area indicate that teachers help students feel accepted in the classroom through seemingly trivial yet very important behaviors. Recall Mrs. Salley's greeting students at the door. This simple act contributes enormously to students' sense of acceptance. In clinical psychology, Robert Carkhuff (1987) has identified specific behaviors that foster acceptance. In education, too, several researchers and theorists have identified and articulated specific techniques to enhance students' perceptions of acceptance. Much of the work of Madeline Hunter (1969, 1976, 1982), for example, and the techniques presented by Kerman, Kimball, and Martin (1980) in the popular Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement (TESA) program deal with activities that enhance students' perceptions of their acceptance. A teacher can foster students' sense of acceptance in many ways:

By making eye contact with each student in the class, being sure to pay attention to all quadrants of the classroom.By calling all students by their first or preferred name.By deliberately moving toward and staying close to learners.By touching students in appropriate and acceptable ways.

Overtly planning for and using these and related behaviors can help students feel accepted and can also foster teacher insight and awareness. For example, a secondary science teacher once told me that after trying to give eye contact to students in each quadrant of the classroom, she realized that she always avoided looking at students in the left back section of the room. She wondered aloud if she had been doing this all through her fifteen years of teaching and said that if she had, she felt sorry for the hundreds of students who had sat in that part of the room.

Teachers also influence students' sense of acceptance by the manner in which they respond to students' questions. Here are a few basic but powerful behaviors:

Providing wait time—pausing to allow a student more time to answer instead of moving on to another student when you don't get an immediate response.Dignifying responses—giving credit for the correct aspects of an incorrect response.Restating the question—asking the question a second time.Rephrasing the question—using different words that might increase the probability of a correct response.Providing guidance—giving enough hints and clues so that the student will eventually determine the correct answer.

Again, these actions may seem insignificant, but they send powerful messages to students. One teacher told me that she never realized the extent to which she was communicating a lack of acceptance of her students until she began monitoring her responses to their incorrect answers. She found that her usual response was to immediately move on to another student until she received the correct answer. She concluded that her behavior during questioning had highly negative overtones that probably made students reluctant to answer her queries.

Students need to feel accepted by their classmates as well as by their teacher. Although this need has been popularized in recent years through the cooperative learning movement, its importance has been recognized for decades in the research on the social aspects of learning. According to Slavin (1983), research on the utility of cooperative learning was already well developed by the 1920s. From his review of the literature, Slavin has concluded that the positive effects of cooperative learning on academic performance are not well established, but its effectiveness in fostering acceptance and understanding among the members of a group is undeniable.

The most popular model of cooperative learning is probably that developed by Roger and David Johnson (Johnson, Johnson, Roy, and Holubec 1984). In their model, they stress that “individual accountability” and “positive group interdependence” are key elements of cooperative learning. Neither of these dynamics occurs naturally. Teachers have to structure tasks to create individual accountability and group interdependence, usually by asking each group member to be responsible for a different aspect of a task. For example, one member might be responsible for gathering information, another for organizing the information into a cohesive whole, another for orchestrating the best way to report the information, and so on. Individual accountability and positive group interdependence are also fostered by asking students to assume different interaction roles, such as facilitator, recorder, and reporter. It is these very dynamics of cooperative learning that increase the probability of acceptance among group members. Slavin (1984) notes that this probability is heightened when teachers structure cooperative tasks so that groups are mixed in terms of ethnicity, gender, and ability.

Cooperative learning is not the only way to nurture students' sense of acceptance. Based on his theories of psychotherapy, Glasser (1965, 1969) has devised the classroom meeting, a period of thirty to forty-five minutes during which students and teachers set aside their normal academic activities to engage in nonjudgmental discussions of personal, behavioral, or academic problems in an effort to find collective solutions. Glasser describes three types of meetings, each with a slightly different focus. In their discussion of Glasser's model, Joyce and Weil (1986) focus on the social problem-solving meeting, which is usually concerned with behavioral and social problems. It is the group dynamic in such meetings that generates a sense of acceptance among members:

The orientation of the meeting is always positive—that is, toward a solution rather than toward fault finding. Obviously, many problems do not have a single answer. For example, in the case of coping with a bully, the solution is often in the class discussion itself (Joyce and Weil 1986, p. 207).

Feeling accepted is an important aspect of a positive learning climate. The formal and informal techniques described above can help teachers create this environment.

Comfort and Order

Comfort as described here refers to physical comfort. A student's sense of physical comfort in the classroom is affected by such factors as room temperature, the arrangement of furniture, and the amount of physical activity permitted during the school day. Researchers investigating learning styles have found that students define physical comfort in different ways (Carbo, Dunn, and Dunn 1986; McCarthy 1980, 1990). Some prefer a noise-free room; others prefer music in the air; some prefer a neat, clutter-free space; others feel more comfortable surrounded by their work-in-progress. To accommodate such diversity, many learning-style theorists suggest that students work together to develop group standards for the physical environment of the classroom. For example, as a group, students can decide:

How to arrange desks and other furniture.When to take breaks and what kind of breaks they will be.What to display on the bulletin boards and walls.

Presumably, allowing students to make these kinds of decisions keeps in check the teacher's natural tendency to organize the physical environment in a manner that is comfortable for her but not necessarily for her students.

Another important aspect of a sense of comfort is the affective tone of the classroom. Research by Mandler (1983) and others (Santostefano 1986) indicates that a positive affective tone is generally conducive to learning. Most teachers foster a positive affective tone by capitalizing on the lighter side of instruction and even building levity into their daily routine. For instance, I once observed a secondary teacher who had been described to me as “the best of the best,” and within five minutes of the start of her class, I found myself laughing. When I reflected on my notes to identify the factors that made her the “best of the best,” I concluded that she not only knew the content well and presented it clearly, she also quite consciously got students (and myself) laughing and maintained the jocular tone throughout the lesson. In retrospect, I saw that I had learned a great deal and had fun doing it.

Until recently, little attention has been paid to the importance of positive affect in teaching, but the clinical work of Roger Mills and his colleagues (Mills 1987; Mills, Dunham, and Alpert 1988) has illustrated its central role in learning. Basically, Mills asserts that our affective state at any point in time colors our cognition and behavior. The highest affective state is joy or happiness, and Mills asserts that teachers should overtly attempt to bring about this state whenever possible. Teachers who have for years used humor as a part of their instructional repertoire can take pleasure in knowing that they have been capitalizing on a basic principle of human behavior to enhance student learning.

Order refers to identifiable routines and guidelines for acceptable behavior in the class. Thanks to the research on classroom management (Anderson, Evertson, and Emmer 1980; Emmer, Evertson, and Anderson 1980), educators have clear directions on how to proceed. For example, we know that explicitly stated and reinforced rules and procedures create a climate conducive to learning. If students don't know the parameters of behavior in a learning situation, the psychological environment can become chaotic. Rules and procedures are commonly established for the following:

Beginning classEnding classInterruptionsInstructional proceduresNoninstructional proceduresGrading proceduresGeneral conduct in the room or schoolCommunication procedures

Order also refers to the perception that the learning environment is safe. Although Maslow (1968) established the importance of a sense of safety, it was probably the work of the late Ron Edmonds (1982) that made educators most aware of the importance of a perceived sense of safety in the learning process. At a fairly global level, Edmonds noted that students must believe the school grounds are safe; that is, they must believe they can eat lunch in safety, use the lavatories in safety, walk home in safety, and so on. For the vast majority of American schools, this level of safety has already been secured (although it remains a concern in environments where “gang cultures” have established a foothold).

Students must also believe that they won't be victimized by other students in direct or indirect ways, and that if they are, teachers will immediately intervene. Unfortunately, breaches of safety frequently go unnoticed by teachers. I once interviewed a secondary teacher who was “sure” that students in his homeroom class perceived the school in general and his class in particular as a safe environment. When he asked students to fill out an anonymous questionnaire about their perceptions of safety, however, he discovered that some students in his class were practicing what amounted to extortion—demanding payment for protection.

In summary, teachers need to be aware that their simplest behaviors often determine whether students feel accepted—by both teachers and classmates. And they need to be aware that they can adjust the physical environment of the classroom to make students feel more comfortable.

Fostering Positive Attitudes and Perceptions About Classroom Tasks

Proficient learners believe that the tasks they are asked to perform have value, that they have a fairly clear understanding of what the tasks require, and that they have the resources necessary to complete the tasks. Teachers can use specific classroom techniques to bolster these beliefs.

Task Value

Of the beliefs listed above, the perceived value of tasks is probably the most important to the learner's success. Current research and theory on motivation (McCombs 1984, 1987; Schunk 1990) indicate that learners are most motivated when they believe the tasks they're involved in are relevant to their personal goals. Glasser (1981) and Powers (1973) hypothesize that human beings operate from a hierarchical structure of needs and goals: they must satisfy basic physical needs (e.g., food, shelter) and psychological needs (e.g., acceptance, safety) before being able to form goals—to decide what they are “consciously trying to accomplish” (Schunk 1990). From this perspective, working to develop a positive mental climate, discussed in the previous section, focuses on meeting students' psychological needs. A growing body of research indicates that when students are working on goals they themselves have set, they are more motivated and efficient, and they achieve more than they do when working to meet goals set by the teacher (Hom and Murphy 1985, Schunk 1985). This research strongly implies that if educators expect students to be motivated to succeed at classroom tasks, they must somehow link those tasks to student goals. Some powerful ways of doing this include allowing students to structure tasks around their interests, allowing students to control specific aspects of tasks, and tapping students' natural curiosity.

Overtly gearing tasks to student interests is a simple matter of knowing what students are interested in and then linking tasks to their interests. For example, knowing that many students in her class are fans of professional basketball, a mathematics teacher might use the box scores from the newspaper to illustrate the concept of the “average.” Oddly enough, there is little research evidence indicating that teachers are using student interests, except in the area of reading instruction. Morrow (1991) notes that within that body of research, the trend is toward identifying and capitalizing on student interests, especially within literature-based instructional approaches.

Allowing students to specify how tasks will be completed means that assigned tasks are relatively open-ended. For example, an English teacher might review the rules for using commas and then, as a practice activity, ask students to find examples of each rule in whatever kind of material they want to read. A student interested in baseball might use the sports page. A student interested in music might use the written lyrics to popular songs, and so on.

Capitalizing on the natural curiosity of students is another way of making tasks relevant. Human beings are naturally curious. In effect, we are “hard-wired” to want to know why things happen, how they work, what the parts are, what will happen if . . ., and so on (Lindsay and Norman 1977). Teachers can tap this natural curiosity by offering interesting “tidbits” along with content. For example, I once observed a teacher present students with some of the details of Hemingway's life before she asked them to read one of his short stories. Specifically, she described how Hemingway had established a counterintelligence organization called the Crook Factory to deal with the influx of German spies in Cuba and the presence of submarines off its coast during World War II. Students were fascinated by the account and their enthusiasm carried over into their reading of the story.

Task Clarity

Fundamentally, if learners do not have a clear model of how a task will look when it is completed, their efforts to complete the task will often be ineffective. Educators like Hunter (1982) have provided teachers with strong guidelines about how to make tasks and expectations about tasks clear for students. In general, the guidelines suggest that teachers provide models of completed tasks. For example, following the Hunter guidelines, a language arts teacher who has asked students to write an essay might give students an example of a completed essay that illustrates all of the assigned criteria.

Resources

Obviously, students must perceive that they have the necessary materials, time, equipment, and so on, to complete a task. These are external resources. Not so obviously, students must also perceive that they have the necessary internal resources—the “right stuff.” Contrary to popular belief, the “right stuff” is not necessarily ability. In fact, current research and theory in psychology indicate that learners commonly attribute success to any one of four causes (Schunk 1990; Weiner 1972, 1983): ability, effort, task difficulty, or luck.

The first two of these, ability and effort, are key elements of motivation. Learners who believe they have the inner resources to successfully complete a task attribute their success to effort; there is no task they consider absolutely beyond their reach. Learners who believe they are good at some things but not so good at others attribute their success to ability; they perceive themselves as incapable of success at some tasks. In the classroom, teachers should continually reinforce the importance of effort and boost students' sense of their ability. Teachers might give powerful examples of how effort paid off in their own lives or in others'. Covington (1983, 1985) suggests that students should occasionally receive rewards (such as grades) based on their efforts rather than on their successful completion of tasks.

Teachers can improve learning by planning ways to improve students' attitudes and perceptions about the classroom climate and about assigned tasks.

Planning to Develop Positive Attitudes and Perceptions About Learning

Good teachers have always tried to foster positive attitudes and perceptions about learning. In a well-run classroom, many of the ways they do so seem to be simply a part of the natural flow of activity. But seemingly transparent behaviors are usually the result of conscious decisions, of teacher planning. Because attitudes and perceptions do play such an important role in learning, teachers must overtly plan and carry out behaviors to ensure that they are reinforced. To explore how a teacher might plan for reinforcing positive attitudes and perceptions, let's consider Ms. Conklin, a junior high school science teacher who has decided to develop a unit on weather. As part of preparing for the unit, she decides to write up a plan for what she will do to reinforce the first dimension of learning.
Planning for Dimension 1

Even though she's been teaching for more than ten years, it  has decided to make sure that she reinforces positive attitudes and perceptions during her unit on weather. She was prompted to review her methods for doing this by a videotape she recently saw of herself in the classroom during her second year as a teacher. What she noticed as she watched the tape was that she used to do some very nice things in her classes that she somehow discarded over the years. For example, she noticed that she would frequently touch students on the shoulder as she walked up and down the aisles, and she remembered that this simple action seemed to create a bond between her and the students, making them feel accepted and cared for. She decides to reinstate some of the old practices that she let lapse.
It's begins with a planning guide that lists the two categories of attitudes and perceptions important to learning and the components of each While looking over the planning guide, she realizes that she can't attend to all these components in a single unit, so she lists the ones she will emphasize and the steps she will take to do so:Help students feel accepted by the teacher.Greeting students at the door every day will help start classes on a positive note.Help students perceive classroom tasks as valuable. Explaining how tasks might relate to students' daily lives will help students' develop a more positive attitude toward them. Its realizes that she must first find out what her students are interested in, but she thinks the extra effort will pay off.Help students be clear about classroom tasks.Describing how each task might look when completed or presenting models of completed tasks will help students understand what they are trying to achieve.

As it example illustrates, planning for Dimension 1 is basically a matter of asking and answering two broad questions that include several more specific questions:

What will be done to help students develop positive attitudes and perceptions about the learning climate?What will be done to help students feel accepted by the teacher and by their peers?What will be done to help students perceive the classroom as a comfortable and orderly place?What will be done to help students develop positive attitudes about classroom tasks?What will be done to help students perceive classroom tasks as valuable?What will be done to help students believe they can perform classroom tasks?What will be done to help students understand and be clear about classroom tasks?

These questions cannot be addressed in every lesson. As planning illustrates, only a few are emphasized in any one unit of instruction. Over the school year, though, a teacher would probably address all these questions. If a teacher consciously and systematically addresses one or more of the areas of Dimension 1, students will likely develop and maintain positive attitudes and perceptions about learning
By
Jagadeesh Krishnan

Jagadeesh Krishnan psychologists and international Author

4 Flawsome Ways to Be Your True Self

Be your true self… I am sure you have heard it million times and maybe you already read some tips on how to embrace yourself. But the problem with all those tips is that they provide general information. I am going to share my own experience that will hopefully help you to ditch the crowd and finally welcome your own life’s flow.

I live in the society where everyone – literally – tries to teach me how to live my life. Oftentimes, I had to give up and follow their advice because of enormous pressure. I did it to please them, believing they would leave me alone as soon as I did what they wanted. But it never happened.

Whenever I meet my relatives, neighbors, or friends, everyone starts telling me what I am doing wrong in my life and what I must accomplish before my 30th birthday. I know I have my drawbacks, some body flaws, and life problems, but I am a human being who is not perfect and not striving to be the one.

If you are struggling with the society’s pressure, self-shaming, or you are feeling empty or depressed right now, read on to cheer yourself up and fall in love with your true self.

1. You have your own clock

You must receive a higher education before you hit 22 and find a well-paid job before 25. You must get married before you turn 27 and give birth to a baby before 30. You must travel around the world. You must buy a house and a car. You must pay off your debts.

There are too many musts and other people have more plans for your life than you do. I was raised this way. I knew I must do that and that before I hit my XXs. Each time I failed to meet that deadline, I felt horribly disappointed and depressed.

Does it sound familiar? Hold on for a minute. Why do you have to live according to someone elses’ instructions? It is your life and you have your own clock. Even if you don’t buy a car before your 40s or do not get married before your 50s, there is nothing wrong with you. It is your life. Have your own plans for it and let others know about them.

2. Love your body

I was born overweight, but quickly lost those pounds during my teen years. When I hit my early 20s, I lost more pounds due to stress, overthinking, hypersensitivity, and family issues. I have spent half my life worrying about my weight and even still hear, “You must put on pounds asap.” Okay, I know my genetics and everyone in my family was slim and trim till the 30s, so why should I body shame myself?

Body shaming is one of the biggest problems of the modern world. People seem to never be satisfied with anyone’s body. Just check your Facebook feed and read comments. “She is overweight.” “She is too thin.” “She has small breasts.” “Her breasts are too big.”

No matter your body shape, weight, and flaws, embrace your body and love it with your whole heart. Protect it from others and stay away from those who are trying to make you hate your body. It is okay to work on it, but avoid body shaming at all costs.

3. Embrace your traits

We all have positive and negative traits. Someone talks or swears too much while others stay silent. Some people can express their feelings openly while others prefer to show them in a hidden way.

Unless you are well aware of your negative traits, do not sweat too much about them. Again, no one is perfect. Work on your drawbacks but do not let others bring you down because of them. Most importantly, do not let yourself belittle you and prevent you from doing the things you love.

People will never stop talking or criticizing you, even if you become perfect. So, stay your true self and spend more time with those who accept you the way you are. If someone treats you badly, it is because you allow them to do it. You allow them to be in your life and slowly ruin it.

4. Do what makes you happy

Do you love dancing but think you are too old for starting a class? Do you want to live a child-free life until your 40s but dread that others will think you are infertile? Do you want to try a hobby that you are sure your family will not approve? Do you want to go vegan but you are afraid to experience the lack of understanding?

Honestly, I almost always do the things that neither my family nor my partner or friends like or approve. When I declared I am a vegetarian after trying to hide this fact for years, I had to deal with tons of negativity. Even now, they are still trying to convince me that a vegetarian diet is dangerous.

Apart from my eating habits, my family, partner, and friends dislike my job and my daily schedule. Everyone is trying to convince me to quit my job. Friends do not like the music I listen and my partner does not like my habit of feeding every bird in the garden. But you know what? I absolutely ignore them all and do everything that makes me smile and happy. It sounds selfish, but everyone wants to be happy and I spent too much time pleasing others and ruining my happiness.

If someone dislikes your hobby, job, lifestyle, whatever, it is their problem, not yours. Leave them with their problem and keep enjoying your life. All those things help you stay your true self.

It is so hard to realize that you can’t please everyone and people will keep criticizing you forever – no matter what you do. But staying your true self is important. You are a miracle and you are awesome. If someone thinks otherwise, kick them out of your life. That’s my major tip for you today
By
K. Jagadeesh
Psychologists and international Author

Jagadeesh Krishnan psychologists and international

5 Things You Need for a Successful Mindset

Change the game by changing the way you think.

What’s the biggest difference between those who succeed and those who don’t? Mindset. It’s a small thing that makes a big difference and is the primary catalyst driving your feelings of self-worth, competence and confidence.

Make no mistake, the most successful people have it. And if you intend to ascend to those coveted ranks, you’re going to need it, too. Are you willing to do the work and elevate your mindset to achieve uncommon success?

Consider the following five elements to help you develop a successful mindset:

1. Self-Talk

Ever think the only conversations that matter are the ones you have with someone else? Not quite. The conversations you have with yourself are the most important ones you will ever have. To be clear, we talk to ourselves all day, every day. Eventually, all that robust data adds up to create our individual self-concepts. Be careful what you say to yourself. Plant seeds of positivity and inspiration, rather than criticism and doubt.

2. Intentions

Your intentions set the tone for how skillfully you navigate personal and professional success. Have you set yours high enough to challenge the status quo? If not, think bigger and push past your comfort zone. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, because that’s where the real growth happens. Setting your sights high and believing in the most remarkable outcomes you can attain changes the way you show up in the world. Believe me, no one has ever regretted embracing the power to think big.

3. Grit

When it comes to success, world-renowned psychologist Angela Duckworth says, “Talent counts, but effort counts twice.” Got grit? If not, know this: Both passion and perseverance are vital to your long-term success. Experiencing initial excitement when deciding to pursue a New Year’s resolution is quite common. Less common and far more difficult is the sustained focus and drive—throughout long periods of time—needed to achieve it. Grit helps us push past the desire to give up, especially when things get rough. Fortunately, it can be learned and continually developed over time.

4. Strategy

Declaring a goal, without more, will do little to ensure its success. Only substance and structure will successfully ignite and move it forward. Begin by chunking your goal into smaller segments to organize it, making it more manageable. Then create a strategic plan with scheduled activities and outcomes that will help to assure its success. Notice what works and be proactive about tweaking key elements where necessary. Be open to feedback and embrace innovation along the way.

5. Execution

Creating a strategy is one thing, but executing it is another. Decide in advance that taking strong action will be the litmus test for your success. Sure, there will be days when you won’t feel like working or perhaps even be discouraged. No matter. Your goal is to take bite-sized pieces of the apple until it is finally consumed. Whether making a phone call, sending an email or physically maneuvering to achieve the next steps, dig deep and take action. Execution helps you build trust in yourself, as well as reflects successful past performance, bringing you one step closer to your desired outcome.
By
K. Jagadeesh Krishnan psychologists and international Author

Jagadeesh Krishnan psychologists and international Author

Master These 5 Attributes to Successfully Influence Others

Leveraging ‘executive presence’ to harness undeniable influence

Ever wonder what it takes to command a room, influence perception or get a seat at the table?

A striking personal appearance, excellent communication skills, extraordinary competence, clout and rapport are each compelling qualities that immediately come to mind.

However, no matter which individual variables you consider, they all point to the same thing: your ability to successfully wield influence through executive presence.

But what is executive presence, exactly?

Harrison Monarth, an expert in coaching high-level players in the art of perception management and author of Executive Presence: The Art of Commanding Respect Like a CEO, describes it as the ability to:

Accurately “read” people and predict their behaviorInfluence the perceptions of othersPersuade those of opposing views to your sideCreate and maintain a personal “brand”Manage and control your online reputationPerform damage control when things go wrong

Harvard Business Review explains it this way: “Although executive presence is highly intuitive and difficult to pin down, it ultimately boils down to your ability to project mature self-confidence, a sense that you can take control of difficult, unpredictable situations; make tough decisions in a timely way and hold your own with other talented and strong-willed members of the executive team.”

No matter how you define “executive presence,” if you want to develop greater influence and in turn, greater personal and professional success, consider mastering the following key attributes:

1. Competence and Credibility

If you seek to wield influence, take a hard look at the man or woman in the mirror and get clear on the value you bring to the table. Do you dabble or have you developed unqualified competence in area of expertise? Are you actively leveraging your skill set and knowledge base for the benefit of others? If so, is that benefit recognized, respected and touted by your peers? It isn’t enough to reside in your own head; your contributions must be palpable and held in high regard by others.

When American business magnate, investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett enters a room, there is zero question about his ability to deliver on the promise of results. He knows his stuff and prides himself on being a consummate learner. His track record? Exemplary. Well-known for an unmatched ability to advise on and disrupt complex market trends, his competence and credibility each speak volumes.

2. Confidence

Even if you are competent and credible, when you don’t believe in yourself, it will always be difficult to convince anyone else that they should. But do not confuse arrogance with confidence. Confidence is an innate beacon of light that draws others to you, inspired by your competence and credibility.  Arrogance, on the other hand, is distinguished by blatant pretense and quickly turns people off. When you are certain of the value that you bring, there is no need to overcompensate.

When former President Barack Obama enters a room, he embodies unmistakable, unshakable confidence.  His compelling demeanor, marked by a powerful sense of certainty, is magnetic. Widely acknowledged for his standout ability to influence others by leveraging the perfect trifecta of competence, credibility and confidence, he has become an irresistible icon the world over.

3. Compassion

Having all of the above qualities does not exempt you from being compassionate. To effectively influence anyone, they must also know that you care. We’ve all heard the familiar adage coined by Theodore Roosevelt, “People don’t care how much you know until they how much you care.” This sentiment especially rings true when it comes to influence.

It’s one of the main reasons that Oprah Winfrey, for example, has become such a beloved celebrity. While she has contributed a great deal of thought leadership over the years, people have come to love and admire her even more because of her compassion for others, vividly demonstrated through philanthropy. She really cares about people, and her compassion has made raving fans of the masses as a result.

 4. Charisma

Charismatic leaders are often the most influential. Rapport is a powerful tool that can be leveraged to connect with virtually anyone. As humans, we have an innate, almost primal desire to connect with one another. That desire, however, does not always translate in everyday interactions. Sometimes we're successful. Other times not so much. Developing charisma requires being intentional and focusing on others rather than yourself. When people feel connected to you and your vision, they are far more likely to get on board and offer their support.

Lee Iacocca used his charisma to work many a room and influence others through the gift of gab. One famous instance was his ability to persuade Congress to guarantee a sizable loan to Chrysler that saved it from a crippling bankruptcy.

5. Consistency

If you are spotty in how you show up, your personal brand will lack credibility and you will lack the ability to garner influence. Consistency is key to building executive presence because it provides the best “evidence” of your deliverables. If you bring your A game every now and again but your C game most of the time, you’ll be known as an average player. People need to know they can count on you to do what you say you will, at a level that reflects excellence. If not, your efforts will all be for naught.

Floyd Mayweather has developed an impeccable reputation for excellence in the boxing world, not only because of his remarkable skill, but also because of his consistency. He trains consistently with an enviable work ethic and expends tremendous mental and physical effort to capture every win. His opponents, as well as his fans, have come to know this truth quite well.

Are you ready to wield influence? If so, work to master these critical attributes to maximize your personal and professional success
By
K. jagadeeshkri@gmail.com

jagadeeshkri@gmail.com

The way of the world is to find fault with others. The world is dominated by mind, which is motivated by ego. The nature of mind is to entwine us in ego. We think we are superior to all others. This egoistical thinking leads us to criticise others. Throughout the day it is hard to escape criticism of others. Whether at home, during one’s commute, at work, at social gatherings, during leisure activity or while playing sports, or even shopping, someone is bound to come along and criticise us.

 There may be a mild sarcastic comment, a put-down, someone commenting that what we are doing is wrong and there is a way to do something better or an outright verbal fight. Even if we try to stay alone for an entire day, our thoughts are besieged by memories of words spoken by others who criticise us. These thoughts may replay in our heads over and over again. And we react. We may accept what others may say and then feel bad about it.   At times we become critical of our own self. Then, we take steps to change what we are doing even if we are right.

These critical remarks may upset us and lower our self-esteem. Or, we may try to prove them wrong. We may fly into a rage and then think of ways to take revenge on them. The anger may escalate into verbal abuse or physical violence. If we do so, we are not only wasting our life’s breaths, but we are creating more karma for which we have to pay. We will also face health problems. Worse, we may become angry and want to take it out on others. There is no good ending for retaliation and revenge.

We just add fuel to fire. Instead, we want to put out the fire. One way to do this is to ignore the criticism of others. At first, we can politely listen and ask,” Is there any truth to what they are saying? If i listen to their remarks can i improve?” If so, we can take a good hard look at ourselves and make necessary changes so we can become better. However, if we find that there is no truth in what is being said, we can graciously thank them and ignore their remarks. It is not worth getting upset over the comments of others when they have no validity.

The key to ignore the invalid criticism of others is to forgive. If there is no truth in what people say, we should forgive them for being  ignorant of the true situation, and move on with our lives. When life is so short and the journey back to God must be completed within our lifetime for us to have spiritual success, we do not want to waste time dealing with the criticism of others. When we face criticism we can meditate to calm our minds from the reactions we may otherwise face. If we want to reunite our soul with God, we need to calm our mind to meditate.

Meditation puts our attention on the bliss and intoxication inside. We are focused on the spiritual divinity within and not on the outer world. We are so intoxicated that we do not notice other people along the way
By
K. jagadeeshkri@gmail.com