Learning in the 21st century

We live in a digital and mobile world where Google, the Internet and mobile technologies have disrupted traditional classroom learning and requirements for immediate recall.

Internet-accessible resources are extensions of our memory. There are over 30 trillion links and 2 billion plus users. Our students are using these resources from all around the world to learn. Tomorrow, there will be more and more technologies that thrust information at students, stimulating curiosity and thinking.

Our challenge is how to adapt our learning strategy in a way that leverages and maximises these opportunities, to facilitate what will be needed of our students in future.

Unfortunately, remembering facts and regurgitating them in exams has limited real-world value today. The need to store facts in our head is vastly reduced because of the expansive store of knowledge now at our fingertips. What is valued is the ability to use knowledge critically and analytically.

Students today need more skills and competence than ever before to function in tomorrow’s world. One of the most important skills is the ability to reinvent themselves for lifelong learning. They also need to develop both technical competence and emotional maturity.

METHODS STILL OLD-SCHOOL

While the world has changed, schools and educational systems, however, have been slow to adapt.
New ways of delivering content online through massive open online courses (MOOCs), such as those organised by Coursera and Udacity, have become popular with millions of students around the globe. These methods are in their early stages; most still use a lecture format, albeit delivered to an audience of millions.

Indeed, traditional lectures remain the dominant method of teaching around the world, even though numerous studies indicate that this approach is ineffective by itself. At best, these methods provide only basic information; conceptual understanding comes from more interactive learning.

Teaching is not simply presenting ideas and insights, nor filling students’ heads with what we know or transmitting information. Learning is not just committing facts to memory but the ability to critique, synthesise, analyse, use and apply information.

However, the curricula for most subjects are packed with vast content — those facts that faculty feel students should commit to memory; facts that are now available at their fingertips. The packed curriculum leaves little time for students to acquire a conceptual understanding of the subject and how to use that knowledge.

The addition of greater interactivity is essential to make knowledge transfer in universities more meaningful in today’s world. But how do we integrate the digital world’s resources into classroom-based learning?

How do we create the foundation for lifelong learning, so that someone recognises what he knows and what he doesn’t know; knows how to seek information; knows how to use and critically assess multiple resources; and can effectively articulate his rationale for solutions to problems? These are key issues that educators around the world are beginning to tackle.

REAL-WORLD USE

To accomplish these aims, we have to be clear what is it that we want students to learn. We have to understand that recall of knowledge or fact, as traditionally assessed in school, is only the first step.
A key element in any directed learning environment is the assessment of competence in that knowledge. Psychologist George Miller developed a simple framework for assessing levels of knowledge in relation to competence, specifically in medicine, but it is applicable to other subjects.

The first step — “knows” — is knowledge about a subject, such as recalling facts. The second is to “know how” to use the knowledge, such as in analysing a problem. The third step is to demonstrate proficiency in applying the knowledge — “shows how”. In medicine, for example, this is assessed by observed examination of patients or actor-patients.

The fourth step is to see how the knowledge is integrated into the real world. This requires assessing competence when a person is working and, in the case of physicians, is part of the ongoing assessment after they enter practice. The final step, “mastery”, refers to the competence of an expert who teaches the next generation.

 

The field of medicine is fortunate in that the bedside clinical experience — where students talk to and examine the patient and relate what they find to lessons or go back to their resources to fill in the gaps in their knowledge about the condition — assists in the long-term retention and better conceptualisation of knowledge.

 

But this approach, of linking what is learnt to the real world, can just as easily be adapted to any other field of learning, helping students to consolidate and learn to apply concepts.

This is the start of a weekly series on learning and education. In the articles to follow, Professor K Ranga Krishnan will use what is known from pedagogical work, psychology and the neuroscience of learning, as well as experience at Duke-NUS, to contribute to the ongoing conversation in Singapore on approaches to education.

Are schools really teaching lifelong learning?

In today’s world, knowledge is constantly being updated. Often, entire approaches and systems are replaced, so we need to create new methods and skills to deal with them.

Those in higher-skilled jobs need to have a deep conceptual understanding of their specialised areas, and use that knowledge to create new ideas, apply them to new areas, developing new products. They need the critical thinking to integrate and use their new knowledge, rather than recall compartmentalised information and poorly-linked, memorised facts.

Students have to take responsibility for their own continuing learning. At the same time, schools should promote such lifelong learning rather than focus on the acquisition of static knowledge — education is not completed when a student leaves university. In practice, though, few — if any — educational systems are geared towards broad success in developing students with a proclivity for lifelong learning.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has measured the outcomes of education systems every three years since 2000, involving well over a million 15-year-olds in 60 countries. The PISA results show that too many students are not well-prepared to understand concepts and solve problems.

EXPERIENCE, THE BEST TEACHER

Our goal must be to develop our students’ ability to adapt to changing requirements and circumstances, so that they can apply knowledge creatively in different circumstances. They must be willing to augment core competencies and move flexibly across areas.

To achieve this goal involves learning not only in schools through formal learning processes, but also through informal methods, which occurs increasingly through social networks. In general, at least three approaches are possible.

The first is to develop work at home that interfaces with and expands what students already do — that is, allow more collaborative projects to search, find and apply information. Learning from each other through face-to-face or online interactions can teach them how to learn on their own and in teams. These are valuable skills often required in the real world, and they can be the basis of adult lifelong learning.

The second approach is to introduce true experiential learning in real settings for short periods — maybe during off times, holidays and so on. Experiential learning in areas of interest can foster students’ motivation, one of the most important elements for self-guided lifelong learning.
Such learning would have to be age- and knowledge-appropriate. For those leaning towards the health profession, for example, this type of learning and exposure to the workings of healthcare institutions can stimulate and enhance their interest.

Experiential programmes are likely to be critical building blocks of education for the new generation, especially of junior college students and undergraduates. Such programmes are available in science and research — but in too few areas and too few locations for too few students.

EXAMS FOR EXAMS SAKE?

A third and key element is the development of assessment systems that reflect the goals of teaching students to ask questions, conduct their own research and follow their interests.
The typical examination system is designed to assess knowledge, and a few are built to assess application of knowledge.

But, at the core, it is still based on knowledge acquisition — and not on what is needed for the new century. The exams are evaluative and are given at the end of periods of study. Ultimately, they teach students to be good at taking exams (often by cramming).

Rather, formative assessment tools have to be built to guide the development of lifelong learning. These are ongoing assessments to ask whether students are learning what they are supposed to; whether they are heading in the right direction, and what can be done to help them along.

These methods do not replace current educational approaches but, when properly balanced, they can enhance and promote effective learning. Experiential learning becomes a vehicle for differentiating interest and competency, and thus promotes personalisation in education.

All these are critical to the development of lifelong learning. In turn, they lead to a more productive knowledge economy.

Learn what you desire, not what is required

Learning can be of three kinds: Learning that we desire, learning that we need and learning that is required (compulsory learning). The third kind is often what children feel they learn at school and the first is what they want to learn (such as getting better at the World of Warcraft game).

Plato and sometimes Socrates are quoted as saying “compulsory intellectual work never remains in the soul”. There is truth in this saying — if we do not desire what we learn, we may not remember it long enough. Therefore, maybe we need to work on making learning desirable and interesting. In this regard, a set of simple experiments illustrate desirable self-learning.

A dozen years ago, computer scientist Sugata Mitra in New Delhi carried out a fascinating study. He took a personal computer and placed it in a room full of children who had never seen or used a computer.

He then watched them from the outside — hence the name for his experiment, the hole in the wall. What he observed was children playing and figuring out how to use the computer even though they were not provided with any instructions.

The children were learning by doing, helping each other and experimenting, a desirable form of self-learning. In a subsequent study, a computer was placed in a kiosk and loaded with learning games in a village. The games were free downloads from the Internet. Mathematics games covered numbers, shapes, sizes, quantities, addition, subtraction, division, multiplication and algebra.

The children did better in tests and their performance was related to the time spent in the kiosk. Obviously this did not work for everyone, but it shows that a learning environment can be productive for children.

SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING

But how much can children learn without the help of teachers who are experts in their key subject areas? Another experiment, which involved Tamil-speaking children aged between 10 and 14, showed they could learn a limited amount of basic molecular biology by themselves using a public computer facility, but demonstrated improvement when a helper was present, although he or she was not knowledgeable in the subject matter. In fact, the learning outcome of the children without a helper was similar to children at a nearby state government school taught molecular biology by a teacher.

The children who had a helper performed just as well as their peers in a privileged private urban school.

Could this learning be used as a tool in regular schools? I had the privilege of watching a class that promotes self-directed collaborative learning at MacPherson Secondary School with Dr Chew Lee Teo, who is a lead specialist (Learning Partnership in Educational Technology) from the Education Ministry. They used a knowledge-building approach, where students and teachers collaborate, brainstorm and learn together. They also conducted a simple experiment to enhance learning and serve as a focal point.

The learning was interactive, with questions and answers building a knowledge base for the entire class. The teacher served as a mediator and facilitator, and not the one with all the answers. The learning environment kept the children engaged and more importantly, they were able to relate to their own real world experience.

In other words, the learning was less based on a compulsion to learn and more on a desire to learn. They worked on laptops with access to the Internet and software that promoted learning. The software and the teacher became the tools to excite, adapt and improvise the learning process and build context to the learning exercise. The entire class became a self-learning environment.

We have evolved as human organisations by organising ourselves into structures that adapt, learn and evolve. We have evolved through self-organising. Each time we meet new people, we learn about them or the world around us. This environment for organising ourselves to learn has been called the self-organising learning environment (SOLE). While we as humans are always self-organising to learn or accomplish things, one place that SOLEs do not always exist are in learning institutions.

Building an environment and structure to develop self-learning is what schools and colleges should strive for. The MacPherson school experiment demonstrates the development of a self-organising teacher-facilitated learning environment.

The learning environment and the class was a study in excitement and energy. Its collaborative approach is much closer to what students will encounter in the real world, where they will not have to regurgitate answers, but work on projects that function in the real world.

The sooner schools and universities move from a compulsory learning approach to a desirable learning one, the closer we will get to learning for the soul.

Injecting some fun into learning by reading comics

Comics is a fun way to engage children to read and be curious of things around them. At a recent family gathering, I noticed my little eight-year old nephew engrossed in a book at one corner which is not his usual self.

Curiosity drive me to move closer to him and I realised that he is reading a comic book. "It is the latest issues from Detective Comics," he told me eagerly, his eyes beaming with excitement. "As much as I admire the pictures, I'm paying particular attention to the writing. I'm motivated to truly understand what's happening in each panel," he continued.

For me, it's impossible to overstate the educational value of superhero comics -- or comics of any sort, for that matter. At an early age, my passionate engagement with this literary art form greatly strengthened my reading and writing skills and, by extension, my success in the classroom when I was a kid.

Hence, inspired by my nephew, I started a short research on comics reading in education and found the following information on Mr Josh Elder who advocated the use of comics in education. I have pasted the information below for the benefit of all:

Creating Reading With Pictures

In 2009, Mr Josh Elder, an award-winning graphic novelist and nationally syndicated cartoonist had formed "Reading with Pictures", a non-profit organization that advocates the use of comics to promote literacy and improve educational outcomes. He shared that he was one who succeeded in his learning through comics reading.

As the son of a single working mother, he recalled having to wait in line for government-issued cheese and faced a future where success seemed anything but certain. "I was one of those kids that shouldn't have made it," he says. Elder also had a difficult time in school -- not so much with comprehension (his IQ tested off the charts), but with finding relevance in his studies. All of that began to change when his teachers encouraged his passion for reading comics. "When they saw that I was reading so much on my own, they didn't try to stop me," Elder says. "They let me go."

He eventually found greater meaning in learning other disciplines, like psychology and history, to cultivate his blossoming interest in storytelling. "Comics made my educational process so fundamentally different, enhanced my prospects so significantly that I feel I had to share that with other people," he says. "It isn't fair that I benefitted from this and other people don't."

Comics That Make Kids Smarter

For the very reasons that comics have helped him, Elder is passionate about ''Reading With Pictures". The first major volume, Comics That Make Kids Smarter, was released through Andrews McMeel Publishing with the help of some of the greatest creative talents in comics and visual literacy which addresses topics in social studies, math, language arts, and science.

Each chapter is aligned to comply with Common Core Standards, and the teacher's guide is chock full of detailed lesson plans. I’m fond of Solution Squad: Primer, an adventure story about a team of teenage heroes whose powers are based on mathematical concepts. The lesson plan reads:

Caught in a deathtrap in which the only means of escape is solving a prime number puzzle, the team creates a list of prime numbers using a prime number sieve to crack the alphanumeric code and catch their archenemy, The Poser. Students will read and discuss part of the comic as a group and solve the encoded message alongside the heroes.

Reading With Pictures engages education experts like Tracy Edmunds -- an author, editor, curriculum developer, and comics enthusiast -- to contribute the interesting comic contents in the book.

Edmunds believes in the power of comics and graphic novels as educational tools, which require readers to not only receive information passively, but also interact with the text and images to construct meaning.

"That is the key to the magic," Edmunds says. "The immediacy of comics can also take what students may think of as 'boring' subject matter and make it interesting and motivating. The lesson plans we developed help teachers take advantage of the power of comics to teach every subject."

Up, Up, and Away

In addition to his contributions to "Reading With Pictures", Elder also serves as an ambassador for the U.S. Department of State, using comics to help students in Belarus and Chile cultivate a greater interest in reading, writing, and storytelling.

In America, Elder hopes to start a similar program through Reading With Pictures. "The biggest challenge is getting students to pay attention in the first place, getting them to care," he says. "Comics are a way to do that. We need to use every trick that we can to keep them involved and engaged."

In the meantime, Elder continues to make appearances at education conferences and comic conventions around the country, promoting his organization and the power of learning through comics. Eventually, he hopes to release an entire series of standards-oriented comic products, each geared to specific subjects.

"We're a toolkit, and I want people to do as much with that toolkit as they can, because that's where you make a real change," Elder says.

Blogging in the 21st-Century Classroom

Ever since I started blogging, I find that it is a great way to practise writing. Hence, I strongly believe that introducing blogging to students can instil writing interest in them and help them to improve their writing.

From my brief blogging experience, I do have a little sense of achievement when I see the rising of the page view statistics of my blog and the occasional reader comments raised. My interest in maintaining and writing this blog naturally grows as I receive more of such positive responses.

As I browse through educational website, Edutopia on this subject, I realised that classroom blogging is indeed used by a High School teacher, Ms Michelle Lampinen, NBCT  in one of her classes and has achieved amazing results too!

Below are the reasons cited by Ms Michelle Lampinen:

Blogging Gives Students an Audience

It is often a real challenge to get young students to sit down and write - an activity most youngsters dread as it's a 'no-fun' activity, boring and to a certain extent, mind-blogging. Primary school students are at the age where they really need authentic reasons to write as they really need motivation. A blog is a way to see work in print and have a truly authentic purpose. It means that people other than their teacher will be reading their work. When they realised that their writing can attract comments from strangers online, they got the incentive to revise their work before they can post them online.

When the articles written by these children are reviewed in class, an atmosphere of excitement is created and everyone is propel to "join in the fun", thereby developing an interest for blog writing naturally and their writing skills improved unconsciously.

The most rewarding part of blogging is seeing the page view statistics rising and positive comments pouring in to show their appreciation of the writing piece. Knowing that someone out there has been reading your writing and liked it is the greatest motivation ever!
 

Skill and Enthusiasm

The real power of blogging, the greatest benefit in writing for a blog, goes not to the audience but rather to the writer. It is in the very act of writing, the preparation of the content you are going to share, that the benefit is found.

Writing is a reflective process, and the creation of content you're going to share causes you to work hard to make your thinking clear. An audience creates anxiety, and appropriate levels of anxiety support our best efforts. And the best writing calls for our best thinking.

In the process of formulating my blog post, I have figured out the real value of what I really believe about the topic of universal blogging. I have a better understanding of my own thinking because I have stopped moving, thought, written, revised, thought, written, revised, and finally edited.

Would I have taken the time and put out the effort to do this if I was not writing for my blog? Let's be honest. Probably not. The blog is the taskmaster, the responsibility that not only provides the audience but also asks for my input.

Through classroom blogging, student writing has improved by leaps and bounds. When she read her students' blogs (which, by the way, are mature, insightful, funny and engaging), she does not find herself pulling her hair out over the careless mistakes they make in formal papers. Not every post is perfect, but the majority are well written and free of grammar and usage issues that are familiar with seeing in their other work. If they become sloppy, all she needs to do is to politely comment about it on their blog, and the mistakes never appear again!

Their improved skills transfer to formal work. Integrating quotations in literary papers has become simple now that we have so much practice with smoothly embedding hyperlinks. Additionally, student response to texts has improved; some of the posts they must write are based on stimulus texts of their choice.

Students' persuasive writing is improving, too. A mini-lesson and quick in-class prompt has resulted not only in well-argued blog posts but also in students excitedly telling how they can use that technique to perform a persuasive task.

Benefits extend beyond the classroom. Introverted students tend to share more online than they do in person; blogging is an invaluable way to get to know them better as people and students. It's also great to see reserved students garnering attention from their peers. Furthermore, students understand the importance of hearing many voices. One recently noted that she enjoys the blogs because "some of the quieter folks during discussion can talk about their opinions too, so we finally get to hear them."

Less Agonizing Pain

It’s no secret that students value an authentic audience for their writing. Some of the favourable feedback are as follows:

• "It forces me to write. I usually try to write a couple times a month on my own but that is pushed to the side when I have too much homework."
• "It is a good way to have us write without it being formal or full of pressure. I also like the fact that I have control over what I write about, and that definitely makes the assignment easier."
• (my personal favourite) "I don't like any assignments in general. However, I feel like the loose nature of the structure of the assignment makes it less agonizingly painful to do than most other assignments."

Hence, I believe that encouraging students to blog about topics from other classes helps them see connections among subjects and realize that writing is a worthwhile skill in any field.

Common mistakes that prevent success

I have got back to my job for almost one month now. Besides re-adjusting myself to working in the office, I find myself once again expose to inevitable straits of human behaviour that often hinder our smooth road to success! 
 

If we want to find enduring success and fulfillment, we’ll need to grow and mature. We can’t act like innocent kids and expect others to succumb to our desires and fancies, right?

In this article, I have listed out six ways that we often subconsciously behave like big kids, and hence prevent ourselves from becoming successful.

Here are the six common mistakes that grown-ups make:

1. You do what you feel like doing, instead of what you ought to do.

When kids don’t want to sleep, you can’t force them to.
When kids refuse to eat a certain type of food, you can’t force them to.
When kids are bored of playing with a particular toy, you can’t force them to be interested in it.
In other words, kids do what they feel like doing.

Many grown-ups are like that too. They do what they feel like doing: watch YouTube videos for hours on end, use social media obsessively, or eat too much junk food. The list goes on.
They lack the discipline to do what they ought to: fulfill their responsibilities, work hard, honour their parents, etc.

No one’s perfect. But if we want to lead a meaningful life, we must have a sense of duty and commitment in the areas that matter.

2. You frequently complain, and rarely express gratitude.

Despite sacrificing my career for my son by staying home intermittently to take care of his needs, he never said “thank you”. In fact, he view it as something I ought to do as his mother.

I’ve noticed that some grown-ups aren’t thankful either, no matter how comfortable their life is. Somehow, they always manage to find something to complain about, whether it’s the weather, their spouse, their boss, or the government.

I’m not saying that we should never complain, but I am saying that we should cultivate a grateful spirit, not a complaining one.  After all, gratitude is the foundation of happy relationships and a happy life.

3. You allow your circumstances to dictate your mood.

When my son had a bad day in school, he would suck and keep to himself, ignoring everything and everyone else around him.  However, when he receives his birthday present, he will start to sing praises to everyone he sees!

Many grown-ups are like this too. If they’ve had a good day, and had enough sleep, and had a nice meal – they’ll be cheerful. But if things haven’t gone their way, or if they’re tired or hungry – they’ll be irritable and snappy.

If we want to find long-term happiness, however, we need to realise that happiness is a choice. We can choose to be joyful, regardless of our circumstances, not because of them.

4. You have a sense of entitlement.

Every day, my son behaves as if his parents owes him everything and he is entitled to all that we have given him, never say a word of thanks to us and expects more and more to be given to him each day!

Some adults also have a sense of entitlement. They believe that the government owes them a living, or that their parents should still support them financially, or that their spouse exists to make them happy.

The truth is, we’re entitled to very few things in life, if at all. If we have a sense of entitlement, we’re unlikely to be contented and happy.

5. You don’t manage your emotions well.

Much as kids let the circumstances they are in affect their mood and emotions, they are often not in a position to manage their emotions too.

When my son gets bullied in school, he brings his bad emotions back and start to throw tantrums at home as if the entire world owe him an apology!

Many grown-ups don’t manage their emotions well either. They lash out when they’re frustrated, and speak unkind words when they’re angry.

We all get upset once in a while, but if we don’t make an intentional effort to discipline our emotions and actions, we’ll damage a lot of relationships along the way.

6. You believe that you’re the centre of the universe.

My son seems to believe that his parents are there to provide everything for him no matter how much effort and inconvenience that will cost us. Neither does he show concern for our needs.

But some adults subconsciously believe that they’re the centre of the universe too. They continually focus on their needs, their feelings, their desires, and their rights. Because of their self-centredness, they find it hard to show respect for others and to be socially responsible.

It’s tempting to think self-centred thoughts, so this is an area I’m working on myself. But we must remind ourselves that a meaningful life is one that’s focused on others.

The bottom line

Kids are adorable, and they really are a bundle of joy.

But as we get older, we must ensure that we’re not behaving like big kids who haven’t actually grown up. I’m confident that as we mature, we will naturally learn to master the following traits:

1. Do what we ought to
2. Cultivate a spirit of gratitude
3. Choose to have a good attitude

4. Eliminate our sense of entitlement

5. Manage our emotions
6. Focus on the needs of others
… we’ll find the success and fulfillment we’re looking for.

Success and Perfectionism

 

Being a self-proclaimed perfectionist, I was particularly attracted to an online article on the setbacks of perfectionism. In this article, the author opined that to achieve success in life, you don’t have to be Amazing Amy. You don’t even have to be Alright Amy. The internal pressure to be perfect, to look and act just right, can actually hold you back. In fact, experts are finding that perfectionists succeed despite the desire to make everything perfect, not because of it. So stop being so hard on yourself.

They have identified six ways that perfectionism can sabotage you—and how to beat it back.

Problem #1: It Can Make You Sick

The pressure you put on yourself to be error-free can take a toll on your health. According to a Trinity Western University study published in the Journal of Health Psychology, those with the highest need for perfection “ran a 51% increased risk of earlier death” as compared to participants with low perfectionism scores.

The reason? The stress you feel to excel can raise levels of hormones like cortisol. Chronically elevated levels of cortisol cause everything from heart disease to memory impairment, says the Mayo Clinic.

The Fix: Admit You’re a Perfectionist

“A perfectionist’s response to stress is actually to work even harder, so they may get headaches and feel tired a lot,” says Emma-Louise Elsey, certified professional coach and owner of Life Coach On The Go!

The first step is recognizing the problem (sound familiar?)—so pay attention to your feelings. If you can put down your work fairly easily, then it’s probably not perfectionistic behavior.  “However, if you feel compelled, tense, tightly wound, or grumpy, then that’s a sign that perfectionism has taken over.” Once you recognize the signs, step away from the computer.

Problem #2: It Can Make You Depressed

Perfectionists aren’t riding high in pursuit of flawlessness. Actually, they’re much more susceptible to serious mental issues like depression, says American Psychological Association research.
When University of Florida researchers assessed the mindsets of subjects identified as perfectionists, they found many more “maladaptive” characteristics. Subjects experienced more self-criticism and a deep sense of failure that undermined much of the pride an impeccable project should foster.

The Fix: Make Mistakes

What? Yes! Screwing up is actually good for you. It’s called exposure therapy (neat, right?) and Kirri White, life coach and owner of Kirri White Coaching, highly recommends it. Make small errors on purpose at times and then don’t fix them. Gasp!

You’ll see that those small errors, such as leaving a grammatically correct comma out of an email, don’t undermine the whole project—and that’s okay.

Problem #3: You Don’t Know When to Pivot

Do you have a hard time giving up and trying something new? “Beware of ‘all or nothing’ thinking,” says Elsey. The tendency to think that anything short of perfect is a failure can cause you to miss out on amazing opportunities.

By trading that feeling of negativity for a healthy dose of optimism, you may actually discover solutions in another direction that you never noticed before.

The Fix: Be Open to Change

When things aren’t going your way, ask, What can I learn?
“Knowing when to hold on and when to let go is wisdom,” says Elsey. When you experience a setback, Elsey recommends asking, “What is the wise thing to do here?” That way, you can pivot in a more successful direction.

Problem #4: You’re Difficult to Work (or Live) With

When your hopes are sky high, it’s not a surprise that you project these same expectations on those around you. But in reality, this kind of pressure on colleagues (and loved ones) can backfire. When you raise the bar beyond a realistic reach, it can make others uncomfortable.

“Organizations are all about relationships, and perfectionism can harm your career,” says Elsey. “When looking for someone to promote, companies look for results. But they also want someone they and others feel comfortable with.”

The Fix: Trust Others More

Learn to embrace good enough. “Perfectionists find it difficult to delegate, so they micromanage and nitpick,” says Elsey. Who cares if the dishwasher isn’t loaded the “right” way? At least it’s loaded.
When you pull back and relinquish some control to colleagues, subordinates, friends, and family, you’ll find they will meet your expectations in surprising ways. And you might even discover that their way of doing things works just fine too.

Problem #5: You Procrastinate

Have a hard time getting started on something new? Interestingly, there’s a link between those who seek to be flawless and those who have a hard time completing work. The reason? “Many perfectionists spend inordinate amounts of time preparing,” explains White. The fear of failure can run so deep that it hinders your ability to start a project.

The Fix: Set Priorities

Rearrange your priorities, says Elsey, so perfect doesn’t come first. Elsey recommends using Pareto’s Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule. “Pareto said that we spend 20% of our time doing 80% of the work, then the remaining 80% of the time on 20% of the work.”

When you find time is getting away from you because you’re fixating on one detail, step back and ask yourself, “Is this important enough?” “If you’re not sure, ask your bosses,” adds Elsey. “I’m sure they will have an opinion.”


Problem #6: You Don’t Try New Things

When you’re preoccupied with being perfect, you may avoid situations that can make you look bad. This means passing on opportunities and experiences that may have been worth the effort—even if you’re not the standout in the crowd. “The perfectionist is always trying so hard to get it right and get it right the first time,” explains White.

The Fix: Treat Everything Like a Rough Draft

“My favorite tip is to encourage approaching life as a draft copy and to be more welcoming of mistakes,” says White. “This means reminding ourselves that we usually have more than one chance to get it right, we are always able to improve, and we can learn and evolve as we go along. If we do mess up our draft, it means nothing more than we are fallible human beings.”

So go to that karaoke bar with your colleagues, even if you can’t carry a tune. Flaws can be fabulous!

Life is a Gift, Cherish It!

Life is a gift, cherish it! The world is such a beautiful place and we ought to thank god for bringing us here to enjoy the many wonderful things it has to offer!

I have always felt that it is a privilege to be alive and breathing when I wake up every morning to see the sun rising up from the east and a new day beginning.

There is so much for us to learn, explore, enjoy and share with our loved ones and so much to be grateful of. Every life on earth is a wonderful story with their unique experiences and new inventions are constantly created to improve the place we live in. For better or for worse, this world is what its inhabitants have made it out to be!

The entire universe is filled with living things, the trees, flowers, birds, fishes, elephants and tigers, humans and the list goes on and on ...... Each one of these creatures mentioned has a life of its own and is enjoying every bit of their lives in their own way.

Hence, all of us should be thankful for the opportunity to enter this beautiful world (earth planet) to see, hear, smell, touch and taste all the things made abundant for us which aren't even available elsewhere on other planets (god knows!) Enjoy!