Church Camp

My kids and their Dad was preparing for church camp whole weekend. Gathering their tent and camp stuff for the whole week. I feel down because I won't be able to talk to them everyday , whenever I want too. Anyway, kids are so excited about the camp. They go every year, for a week. Church camp is fun, a lot of bible study, recreations, like hiking, games and stuff. And the fun part is swimming at the lake. Water is freezing cold though. But over all it's a way to catch up with friend from all over the place. Have fun kids!

Manage Your Time Effectively

Managing time is the key to many things. For school, it can really help you out. This is a compilation of time-managing and time-saving techniques.

Get yourself a calender, and paste it up on a frequently-seen place. If you can't buy one, print one out. Make sure you can write things into it, too, so you can know when to do things.
Learn memorization methods. It can cut time, and give better results, if you use more than one strategy to memorize something. Example: In certain schools, there is a tradition called Declamation. You memorize something, and recite it. Most people only read it and say it over and over, an agonizing process. But there are other ways to memorize things...
Learn to love work. Work is much easier and faster when you like working. And don't fall asleep at work! You'll never get anything done if you fall asleep at work. For school, it's generally the same thing. But if you have a teacher that likes to give all the written work in homework form [HW], then take notes during the class, and use those to do the HW.
Stop procrastinating! Procrastination only piles up work. Do it now, so you can do it in moderation.

Write down important events, and their corresponding times. When projects are due, when parties are on, and so on are all important things.
Use colors. It sounds wierd, but if you're in a family, or have a lot of stuff to do, using different colors is always a good idea!
Highlight the really important stuff! The SATs are more important than a party, so mark it down in a color AND highlight them. That'll bring your eye to them.

Try the Subconscious Reading trick. It's based on the Roman Room method, and here's the idea. Type up and print out what you need to learn. Print out four to seven copies preferably. Tape it up all over your room. This method has not been tested, though, so use this only if you are using other methods too-don't rely on it.
Use the Roman Room trick. Imagine a room. First, memorize all of the room's aspects. Maybe if you're a good drawer, you can draw it out. But don't use the drawing to memorize, memorize it in your head. Then, think of the things you need to remember, and put references to them in your head. Got the SATS next week? Put some SAT practice papers on the desk, write the date in something noticable on the wall, etc.
Practice your eidetic memory. That is to say, try to train a photographic memory. Example: Practice saying random things said to you in the order that they're said.
Use study cards. Need to remember a specific name? Write down the name on one side of half an index card, and write important facts on the other side. Or write, say, Spanish on one side, and English on the other. It's very useful, in almost any circumstance. Except memorizing a speech. Don't rely on this to memorize a speech.
For number memorizing, use the Dominic System.

*
o A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4, E=5
o S=6 G=7 H=8 N=9 O=0

For each two digit numbers, think of something to help you remember it. Example: After just a glance, you can remember that pi's first four digits are 1415, or AD, AE and remember it as Jesus Christ raises from the dead speaking Spanish, warning people of el aeropuerto! El aeropuerto!!!

Motivate Yourself

A simple guide to getting back up after a tough figurative fall.

Think through a set of goals that sound as though they are what you want, and try to be specific. The key to most motivation remains setting goals, but you can't just pick any goals.
Make it general. Let's say you want a Corvette specifically, are you really saying you want a new car, or maybe just a car you can stop worrying about? Getting yourself to a reliable car is a goal that is easier to achieve and accomplishes the need you had from the get go. This is not copping out, no one needs a Corvette.
Do this with all of the goals you have, do not simply pick ones that sound good like most people pick New Year's resolutions. If the goals you set for yourself make your life easier or more rewarding, they are probably the type you need to focus on.
Cut pictures out of the car that you want, or the TV, stereo, golf clubs, whatever you are aiming for, and put them up somewhere you can see them every day. On the fridge door, or on the wall next to the computer. When you look say "That's my car" or "That's my TV". Visualizing these items as yours will help keep you motivated.
Anyone who has had serious issues with motivation knows that someone telling you to "stay motivated" is a bit daft, since you weren't in a motivated state to begin with, and as such, is hard to /stay/ in. However anyone can get themselves motivated.
6. Make your goals in the very beginning small. If you write out a long list of things that are really valuable for you to do, and then you mess one up, you're going back to starting at zero and you will likely feel pretty badly. Instead make a list for each day, and at first, only put down maybe 3 or 4 things, a set of activities that might take you 2 or 3 hours.
If you can do that, then a week later start adding things in about an hour at a time and build up. It's like doing pushups in the Army, the first day you get there and feel terrible because you can't keep up with the physical training, but you build up to it. Goals and mental attitudes are the same way. You have to make it a series of small steps. Don't set yourself up for failure by reaching too high at first. You can always reach higher the next week. There's no limit here, so pace yourself.
Rely upon yourself for the motivation and the drive. Other people do not have and will never have the same vested interest in your success. Motivation and success is a function of habit. You must break your bad habit of procrastination, and replace it with one of good planning. The most successful people in the world aren't always the brightest, or the best looking, but no matter what other talents or gifts they have been blessed with, they have underpinning their self esteem a series of victories over tasks both large and small. This is how you learn anything in school, gain confidence dating, and everything else in life.
Don't just think that you're the best, prove it to yourself. Your opinion matters the most in your own motivation, but you know when you're pulling your own leg as to your accomplishments. It's far easier to just start dealing with your responsibilities and knowing, with an incredibly strong epistemic justification (by which I mean, you KNOW this) that you can handle what comes up because you have before, than trying to know you can tackle it because you're all warm and fuzzy inside. Warm and fuzzy accomplishes very little, but neither does beating yourself up.
Reward yourself when you complete a part of your task, your mind will recognise this and you will want to do whatever you did to give yourself a treat more.
Get back up if you fall. Start again. Start where you are comfortable. Getting back up to try again, no matter how small that task, goal, activity, errand, or whim; If you can complete it, you are already back on your way. Get up, don't look back. Cheers!


* Focus yourself and your availability: your time and space management. If you can organize your time and work out something that will allow you to build on your motivation and do something to allow you to achieve your goals, you will actually get somewhere.
* That's about it. You are the one doing this. Whatever you accomplish, was your doing. Not this article or your mates who encouraged you, but yours. Don't brag, it makes you seem daft. Just keep going. You'll be amazed what you'll end up taking on and completing in short time.

* There are things that will occur that you must do, studying for exams for instance. With any luck you will be reading this well before your exams, because you should be studying for your exams all semester... now shouldn't you? Procrastination is the opposite of motivation in our day to day lives. Remember, do a bit a day. When your exams come around you won't be sweating like everyone else. Now /that/ is positive reinforcement.
* Do not rely on thinking happy thoughts. Know that you can do it from experience. Fill one hand with happy thoughts and the other with excrement, see which hand becomes full first.
* CONSULT YOUR MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL if this lack of motivation has been paired with feelings of depression, loneliness, bouts of crying, thoughts of hurting yourself or others, etcetera. Clinical Depression is a serious illness that results from chemicals in the brain being quite literally out of balance. Clinical Depression is treatable, many times it is not something which will follow you your whole life, and anyone who thinks it is can bugger off. It's your life, be careful with it, and seeing a doctor if you're the least bit concerned might cost a bit of coin, but could be priceless to have a professional talk to you, and see how he or she can help.