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Academic Success for All:
Three Secrets to Academic Success
The first time I went to college, I dropped out after one semester. Convinced I both wanted and needed a college degree, I tried again. And again. And again. For me, it took five attempts at college before I eventually earned my first degree.
I have written this book for anyone who is concerned that something similar or even worse might happen to you. Having earned four academic degrees and spent 15 years teaching in colleges and universities across the United States, I have come to an understanding of education that is not widely shared with the general public. I have written this book to share that understanding with you.
In Chapter One, I explain three truths about academic success that you need to know if you want to succeed in school. Your struggles to succeed academically may simply be due to a misunderstanding of these three simple truths about learning and succeeding in an academic setting.
To help you understand whether your mindset is conducive to academic success, Chapter Two of this book contains three easy to administer tests. Completing these three tests will help you to determine if you have the right mentality for academic success. Once you have completed these three simple tests, you will have a much better understanding of why you struggle to experience success in school while others make it seem so easy to achieve. You will also have some insights about the changes you may need to make in order for academic success to be yours.
Knowing how the minds of successful people differ from your own can give you a tremendous boost, but the ability to adjust your mind to work like that of a successful person’s is perhaps the most powerful tool you can have. That is why in Chapter 3 I teach you how to actually change the way your mind works. In this chapter I introduce you to the growing field of energy psychology, which is being used by coaches, medical professionals and therapists and by individuals who want to change the ways their brains respond to specific forms of environmental stimuli. I tell you about a revolutionary form of meridian tapping, called Emotional Freedom Techniques, or EFT. EFT combines knowledge that has recently emerged in the field of psychology with knowledge of the body’s energy system that has existed for centuries. In fact, EFT uses the same meridians that are used in Chinese acupuncture. But unlike acupuncture, you can do EFT yourself. And because EFT is so easy to learn and simple to use, you can use EFT to overcome just about any barrier you can identify as standing between you and the success you desire, including the discoveries you make about yourself that explain your struggles to succeed academically. And using EFT is safe. Reported side effects of EFT include increased feelings of calm, greater clarity about how to proceed in life, and increased happiness.
Today EFT is being used by thousands of people who wish to alter the patterns in their brains that they have identified as blocking their access to success. In fact, a recent study of college students who experienced pre-test anxiety showed that EFT was effective at reducing their anxiety. Because numerous studies have demonstrated the challenges that stress and anxiety place on one’s ability to learn, students who can lower their anxiety generally perform better on tests.
If the main reason for your inability to succeed in your academic pursuits is pre-test anxiety, you can skip right to Chapter Three to learn how EFT can help. But chances are your success is limited by more than one factor. Reading Chapters One and Two will help you to identify all of the factors that stand between you and your academic success.