Steps for Success
By:
Dr. Atef Jawad Al-Najjar
The first step:
Please
make a table spanning two pages. One page for
The first
table records day activities, and the second one records evening and night
activities (including sleeping hours).
Each will
have 12 hours and 7 days; Saturday to Friday. Each two-page table spans a week.
Then,
fill-in your regular activities (classes, prayers, meetings w/family-friends, responsibilities/shopping,
sleeping, etc)
Now add
slots to study every course on regular basis (Golden rules.)
The second step:
Add
appropriate slots to enhance your English language, where you write all new
words from all subjects in one note book.
Use a
dictionary to get the meanings, write them, memorize them, and learn the
spelling and pronunciation of the new words.
This
should help improve your understanding of the subjects in your courses:
The third step:
(a)
To follow the golden rules pro, add slots to read-ahead for each
course the day before or on the same day if the lecture is late. Make sure you
read the material exactly once, but add all new words to the words-note-book,
get their meanings from the dictionary, and learn the meanings. This prepares
you to improve your understanding in the lecture.
(b)
To follow the golden rules pro plus, add slots to make your own
summaries for each course.
The fourth step:
Subjects
that require problem solving: make sure you solve the problems yourself, and
closed book. If you make mistakes, get help in understanding the material so
that you can correct the problems yourself. This should help you develop the
skills for solving problems, which is far better than running away from the
problems. Getting others to solve the problems for you is one way of running
away rather than facing the problems and solving them. (Get help learning to
fish, rather than getting a fish.)
Hints:
(a)
To make filling the table easier, once you fill-in the regular (important)
activities, make copies the partially-filled schedule, and add the variable
components to the copies.
(b)
Revise the schedule from time to time, and update it as necessary.
(c)
Solved examples: read few (five or more) first, then try to solve
them “closed-book”.
Note:
To start
following the steps can be hard, but as you start to see the difference, you
will happily follow them.