Mental Toughness Development Toolkit Sec. Edu. FULL

STROOP EXERCISE You will see a series of slides which show: A 5X5 grid of 25 words describing colours – some are the same colour as the word, others are in different colours to the word they describe. E.g. RED and RED. There are 4 rounds. You have 8 seconds to look at each slide and decide which words are in the same colour they describe. You have 8 seconds to record this between each slide. The slides move forward automatically once started 1

Stroop colour test ORANGE RED PURPLE YELLOW BLUE GREEN 2

Matching colours to their name Get ready!

1. WHICH TWO WORDS MATCH THEIR COLOURS ? RED GREEN ORANGE BLUE YELLOW PURPLE ORANGE RED GREEN BLUE YELLOW PURPLE BLUE ORANGE GREEN YELLOW RED PURPLE BLUE RED ORANGE GREEN BLUE YELLOW PURPLE 4

Round 1 Record which two words are the same colour as the word they describe

2. WHICH TWO WORDS MATCH THEIR COLOURS ? BLUE YELLOW PURPLE ORANGE RED GREEN BLUE YELLOW PURPLE BLUE PURPLE BLUE GREEN YELLOW ORANGE ORANGE GREEN YELLOW RED PURPLE BLUE RED RED GREEN ORANGE 6

Round 2 Record which two words are the same colour as the word they describe

3. WHICH TWO WORDS MATCH THEIR COLOURS ? ORANGE BLUE GREEN RED YELLOW YELLOW GREEN PURPLE BLUE ORANGE PURPLE BLUE ORANGE GREEN YELLOW RED PURPLE BLUE RED RED GREEN ORANGE PURPLE BLUE YELLOW 8

Round 3 Record which two words are the same colour as the word they describe

4. WHICH TWO WORDS MATCH THEIR COLOURS ? BLUE YELLOW PURPLE BLUE YELLOW RED YELLOW RED PURPLE BLUE ORANGE RED GREEN ORANGE BLUE GREEN YELLOW ORANGE BLUE PURPLE YELLOW PURPLE ORANGE RED GREEN 10

Round 4 Record which two words are the same colour as the word they describe

Now check your answers Round Colours 1 Green, Blue 2 Green, Purple 3 Blue, Red 4 Red, Yellow How many did you get right? 12

“Bop It” Concentration Exercise Running the exercise – Bop It* is a game/toy marketed by Hasbro which requires attentional control - concentration and focus – for mastery. It is an excellent exercise, which typically will take a lesson and energises people. 1. Issue a ‘Bop It’ game to each pupil. Demonstrate briefly how the game works. 2. Explain that: Phase One I am going to give you 10 – 15 minutes to have two or three goes at Bop It. We’ll stop then and find out how people are doing. You will have a “best” score which we will then try to improve by improving your ability to concentrate. It might be challenging because it is a noisy exercise and there will be lots of distractions for the others. Run the exercise for a few minutes. Then stop everyone. Phase Two Let us find out what everyone has scored. Some of you will have good scores, others will have lower scores. It doesn’t matter – we’ll see how everyone can improve. Phase Three Those of you who got good scores – what did you do that helped you to get a good score? Those of you who got the lower scores – what was the challenge for you? Phase Four I want you to pair up. Those who got good scores with those who did not. Take 5 minutes to explain what you did and what you have learned from each other. Phase Five Now let’s have another go. Take 15 minutes and see what you can now do – what score can you get? How many have improved their scores? Congratulate them for improving. Why has that happened? This game works if you can concentrate and learn to concentrate. But not just for this game but for every time you need to concentrate – doing coursework, reading, doing and exam or test, etc. The important thing is that we can all learn to concentrate better and it helps us to do many things better. © AQR International 2016

“Bop It” Concentration Exercise Teacher Review& Discussion Guide The essence of this exercise is to get students to reflect on what they are doing – can they focus, can they shut out distractions, how to they focus with more intensity (which does develop). When does this ability matter? (For reading, writing and listening, etc.) Will it make life easier or better if they can master the ability to focus - which they all should be able to do? When would the ability to focus help them? Are there times and situations where they know they can focus – playing a favourite game, watching a favourite programme, etc. What can they learn form that? Encourage students to:  Reflect on what they have done and what they have learned.  Identify what they can do to improve concentration.  Think how they can apply this to coursework, study, reading, etc. Reflection will usually produce a crop of answers around three themes: 1. Techniques – this is often to do with organising themselves. 2. Setting goals and targets and steadily working towards them. 3. Concentrating and blocking out distractions. It is useful to run a follow up session after a few weeks. This exercise works well with other Concentration exercises in this series. Background This is an exercise which is engaging and illustrates the value of repeated practice as well as concentration. It has the advantage that it has a built in scoring mechanism which enables progression to be assessed. Studies show that it is possible to improve attention span from an (UK) average of 8 minutes to 45+ minutes. Not only enabling students to be more productive but it takes the stress out of such activities. Support Materials & Resources Bop-It game available form most toy stores and many on-line shops. There are several versions. Basic versions are fine. There are similar – such as the “Simon Says” game which are equally useful but don’t always have the element of noise. © AQR International 2016

About Bop-It This is a game, which uses a hand held device through which any of five instructions are issued verbally from the toy and which requires the player to respond with an appropriate action on the device in a very short time scale. The scenario is further complicated in that the device also issues a lot of background noise in the form of an intrusive electronic beat. This tests the ability to deal with distraction. It is a very simple exercise, which simply requires a good degree of attentional control to perform well. The device enables an individual’s performance to be scored. It can be used at a variety of levels of complexity but the basic level is sufficient for this exercise. When conducted in groups the confusion of noises adds to the distraction and is sufficient to severely test attentional control for most people. There are a number of ways in which this exercise can run. Provide a BOP-IT to each person and give them a fixed time (10 - 15 minutes) in which they familiarise themselves with the game and seek to achieve the best score. Then review the exercise in large or small groups to identify what were the issues and what do they need to do to improve performance. Typically most will be too tense, will try too hard, will find the noise distracting, be aware of everyone else and find it difficult to empty their minds and think of nothing else. Then enable a re-run. Review the difference. Some or all will begin to improve. If needed allow for a re-run. There are several versions of Bop-It – all work equally well- basic versions are fine. The simpler one works well for ages up to 11. The larger one works well for 11+ © AQR International 2016

Stork Stand Exercise Running the exercise – a good icebreaker which demonstrates how to Empty the mind” and the benefit of so doing. An exercise which is widely used in sports applications and in martial arts and meditation training. For most this is a challenge which they need to master by learning form repeated practice and failure. 1. Explain that: You need to find a spot away from chairs and other hazardous objects. Begin by standing on both feet but putting all your weight on one leg. Place your arms outstretched and gradually raise your free leg. Keep that leg just off the ground. Close your eyes and try to maintain your balance. Then raise the leg to touch the knee How long can you keep this up? (Let’s see who can do it for the longest). Repeat for the other leg Now repeat with the instruction to “empty the mind”. One way of doing this is to pair people up and get them to have a conversation with each other and stop thinking about the exercise. By concentrating on the discussion most will find they will achieve longer stork stands. Another is to open a book and read it. © AQR International 2016

Stork Stand Exercise Teacher Review Model scores are shown below. Encourage students to: Reflect on what they have done and what they have learned about being able to “empty the mind” and achieve a task which is challenging. Identify what they can do to improve concentration. Think how they can apply this to coursework, study, reading, etc. Background This is an exercise widely used for balance training in sports. Increasing balance does not only enhance physical performance, but it t is also thought to contribute to improved psychological and emotional states through the building of self-efficacy (life control and confidence in abilities). Support Materials & Resources None Rating Score (seconds) Excellent > 50 Good 40 - 50 Average 25- 39 Fair 10 - 24 Poor <10 © AQR International 2016

Did You See The Gorilla? A Concentration Exercise – This is an excellent icebreaker, especially as an introduction to Commitment or Attentional Control exercises. It’s also a fun exercise. It is often called the Dancing Gorilla exercise but announcing it as that can give the game away. It takes about 10 mins – more with discussion. Running the exercise – The video for this is on YouTube - www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo I am going to show you a YouTube clip. All instructions are in the clip. We’re going to see how good you are at concentrating. Run video and stop it at 36 seconds Check how many passes people saw. (The correct answer is 15, which appears in 5 seconds). Some may spot the gorilla. Run video through to the end Check how many saw the gorilla. Teacher Review: Why do you think you didn’t see the gorilla? How often do you miss something because you concentrate too hard? Teacher Review: People who fail to see something right in front of them while they are focusing on something else have a lower 'working memory capacity' - a measure of attention control, or the ability to focus attention when and where needed, and on more than one thing at a time. In other words some people can multitask, others can’t. It’s working memory. What you need now, not long-term memory where we learn to store data and facts. It explains for instance why some people have accidents – they genuinely didn’t see the gorilla/other person. Support Materials & Resources YouTube clip © AQR International 2016

Colour Changing Card Trick A Concentration Exercise – This is an excellent icebreaker, especially as an introduction to Commitment or Attentional Control exercises. It’s also a fun exercise. It takes about 10 mins – more with discussion. Running the exercise – The video for this is on YouTube - www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3iPrBrGSJM I am going to show you a YouTube clip. All instructions are in the clip. We’re going to see how good you are at concentrating. Run video and stop it at 1 minute and 14 seconds Check how many changes did you notice? (The correct answer is 4 which is shortly explained in the video) Run video through to the end Check how many saw the changes. Teacher Review: Why do you think you didn’t notice the changes? How often do you miss something because you concentrate too hard? Or you are focused on one thing only? Teacher Review: People who fail to see something right in front of them while they are focusing on something else have a lower 'working memory capacity' - a measure of attention control, or the ability to focus attention when and where needed, and on more than one thing at a time. In other words some people can multitask, others can’t. It’s working memory. What you need now. Not long term memory where we learn to store data and facts. It explains for instance why some people have accidents – they genuinely didn’t see what happening in front of them Support Materials & Resources YouTube clip © AQR International 2016

Juggling Exercise Running the exercise – A very good exercise which is repeatable. It impacts on Challenge (stretching oneself and learning from mistakes). It also impacts on all 4 Cs. It’s useful to devote 10 minutes over a series of weeks to this. 1. Issue three Juggling balls to each person (bean bags work as well) 2. Explain that: Find a spot away from chairs and other hazardous objects and each other. Juggling is when you work with three balls at a time when you only have two hands so that one ball will always be in the air. We’re not looking to turn you into expert jugglers but you will all learn to juggle the balls even if only a little. And you should all steadily improve if you put your minds to it. I’ll give you 10 minutes to see how many times you can toss a ball whilst juggling. 3. Stop and find out how people are doing. Teacher Review How well do you think you are doing? Can you do better? Why do you think you are finding it difficult or doing well? 4. Now suggest that they are going to try again to improve their juggling. Pair people - Someone who is struggling with someone who is doing well. Get them to support each other to improve. Give them 15 – 20 minutes. You can show a short juggling training video to give ideas either to start or at step 3 www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCt1bmSASCI or www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2_j6kMg1co Teacher Review How did it feel when you improved? How did you feel about doing something that might have been outside of your comfort zone? What helped you to do better? What did you learn about learning? Patience, practice, learning from mistakes. When you did get it, how did you block out distractions? When else could you usefully do that – coursework, reading, revision, etc. © AQR International 2016

Juggling Exercise Background This is an exercise widely used for to enhancing a wide range of skills and attributes. It's an aerobic exercise, it develops core strength, and the focus required to toss multiple objects from hand to hand can be a stress-relieving distraction. It is an excellent exercise for developing Commitment – particularly the ability to concentrate on the task at hand. If your brain is locked in the rhythm of juggling, you aren't thinking about doing much else. It turns out juggling is a workout for the brain in other ways too. Juggling improves hand-eye coordination, reflexes, peripheral vision and a host of other motor skills [source: Rosenberger]. Recent research has even demonstrated that juggling can affect the size of your brain. Studies show a correlation between juggling and changes in the brain's grey matter, the cell bodies responsible for computation and processing within the brain, and white matter, the nerve fibres that connect different parts of the brain by way of electrical impulses. There is even research which suggests that learning juggling helps people “learn to learn”. Support Materials & Resources Juggling Balls or bean bags © AQR International 2016

GOAL SETTING EXERCISES © AQR International 2016

GANTT Chart Exercise A Goal Setting Exercise Running the exercise – students will need access to the GANTT chart worksheet in order to complete the exercise. This exercise usually takes around 30 -45 minutes to complete – regular updates will be useful to follow progress on charts. Explain to the students that a Gantt Chart is a visual representation of a schedule that is used to ensure all components/actions are completed in time so the project runs smoothly. Let them know it is used widely in the world of work and is used in sectors from building cars to making sure shopping turns up at your doorstep on time! Explain that: The Gantt Chart Worksheet will act as their guide to getting from the start point of an activity, to the end point. This can be a project or a piece of coursework. The aim of the exercise is to 1. Identify a project or piece of work that needs to be completed within a specific timeframe. They can choose their project from any aspect of their life. Give them examples such as completing coursework, running an event, planning for the future etc. 2. Get the students to think about what actions need to take place and when. Ask them to think about which ones will have an impact on others if they are not completed on time. 3. Get them to think about how long each action will/should take. Use the chart to begin to plot these down. 4. Ask the students to think of any actions that will overlap in time. Will this have an impact on them? How will they deal with it? 5. When they have completed the chart get them to review it. Does it look achievable? If not, why? What will influence the outcome? 6. Ask them to think about the resources and external influences that might have an effect on the schedule. 7. At the end, ask them if they are happy with the plan and whether they believe they can complete the project/piece of work. The total time for this exercise is 30 – 45 minutes. © AQR International 2016

GANTT Chart Exercise Teacher Review This exercise will get students thinking about what they want to achieve and how they are going to do it. By identifying the elements that will get them to the end point, the task will seem less daunting and not as large. Offering advice around who could help them/where they could go for information and other prompts will allow them to see the task as achievable. Get students to think about how this will help with the stress of a big project. Will it make it easier? NOTE – Teacher review: Using the GANTT chart is a positive method of breaking down a larger piece of work into more manageable chunks. This will allow the student to realise that they can do small pieces of work and build that up into a larger outcome. Time management enters this aspect of work through the GANTT chart also. This will help with coursework and other areas of their life. Try to ensure that a student does not make the chart too overcomplicated. If this happens the chart can become daunting and have a negative impact. Background The Gantt Chart is a type of bar chart (lots of examples are downloadable from the internet) that is used to illustrate a project schedule. By breaking the work into pieces and showing their relationship between each other (their dependency) it offers a clear and efficient way of managing a project or piece of work. Heavily used in the world of work, this skill can be applied in most, if not all environments. Support Materials & Resources Pens and scrap paper (for writing ideas down) GANTT Chart worksheet © AQR International 2016

GANTT CHARTS A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the duration of tasks against the progression of time. Commonly used in project management, it is particularly useful for: Planning and scheduling tasks or projects which have several components (and therefore a degree of complexity) Helps to plan how long a project should take. Helps to set out the order in which the tasks need to be carried out. Provides the capability to show dependencies between tasks Helps to identify bottlenecks or crisis points Monitoring progress of a project or complex task. Lets you see immediately what should have been achieved at any point in time. Lets you see how remedial action may bring the activity back on course Enables “milestones” to be identified Process for creating a Gantt Chart 1. Identify the component tasks within the overall task or project. 2. Identify how long each these component tasks should take and whether they should be sequential or can be run in parallel with another component tasks. 3. Identify who is responsible for each component tasks 4. List the component tasks on one (vertical) axis of a graph with time in suitable intervals on the other (horizontal) axis. You have now created a Gantt chart! 5. Set the tasks out (preferably in colour blocks) on the Gantt chart showing 6. Milestones (key points in the project) and 7. Key linkages between component tasks You now have a visual representation of the work you (and others) need to carry out to achieve the overall task or project. © AQR International 2016

The Paper Tower Exercise A Goal Setting Exercise Running the exercise – This is a problem solving and teambuilding exercise which typically takes around 40 – 60 minutes including group discussion. Best worked in groups of 5 or 6 students, they are challenged to design and build the tallest free standing paper tower they can manage using only the materials provided. Explain that: This exercise runs in two phases – a design and planning phase and a build phase. You are going to work in teams of X. Your goal is to build the tallest free standing paper tower using only 50 sheets of paper and some sellotape (and a pair of scissors). The paper tower cannot be attached to anything other than the floor and, on completion, must say upright for at least 15 seconds. We can see who builds the tallest tower. For the first phase you will be given 10 sheets of paper, sellotape and scissors. Each team will have 10 minutes during which you can design your tower, practice using the paper provided and create a plan for the build. This paper will be discarded at the end of the planning phase. You will also need to estimate how high you think you can build your tower. In the second phase you will have 50 sheets of paper with which to build the tower. You will have 20 minutes to do this. I will tell you when to start and stop each phase. Options (for re-run of exercise at a later date)  Team must operate in silence for whole or part of build phase  Only one person can speak during build phase  The tower must support a paper sup ½ full of water Teacher Review Ask students to describe how they feel. Do they feel good because they have achieved something? How does that compare to when they don’t deliver on time? Did everyone contribute to, or participate in, the exercise. If not, why not? what could each individual have done to improve their contribution? If asked to do so again, could they build a better/taller tower? Why and How? What did the “winning” team do that others didn’t do? © AQR International 2016

The Paper Tower Exercise NOTE – Teacher review: This exercise works well with with introducing SMART goal setting and with Think Three Positives. Its very effective exercise to get students to think about how they interact with otehrs – both in terms of commincations and getting things done Discussion Guides: For the group: Why do students feel good when they have completed a task – even a simple task? How did those who failed to achieve feel? How does that feeling compare to when they fail to achieve a task? What difference does this make for them? Does it make them more or less positive about achieving the next task? How did they approach the task – did they believe they could do it? Why do they think that thinking positively helps performance, wellbeing and behaviour? How could they have set goals more effectively. For individuals: How effective did they think their contribution was? How could they have been more effective? Did they have ideas which weren’t voiced? Why? What is the one thing they have learned that they can work on? Support Materials & Resources Simple – 60 sheets of A4 paper per group (50 for the build phase and 10 for the design and practice phase). It’s a good way of using A4 printed paper which might otherwise be scrapped. A roll of sellotape per group. A pair of scissors per group. A tape measure to measure height (ideally up to 3 metres) © AQR International 2016

What I will do tomorrow Exercise A Positive Thinking Exercise Running the exercise - Paper and pencil version- a short (10 minute) exercise which is run at the end of each school day and at some point at the beginning of a following day. The exercise can be run frequently or occasionally to let a habit develop. 1. Students will need post it notes and somewhere where they can place it on a notice board or wall. 2. Explain that students will do an exercise which will help them to focus on their achievements and successes…creating more positive mindset. 3. Explain that: Day One You are to think of something that you must achieve by X time on the following day. It can be something you are already committed to doing or preferably something you will target yourself to do. It doesn’t have to be something big. It can be something simple. It should be achievable. You have 5 minutes. Then write down your action on a post it note and put it up on the wall with everyone else’s. Day Two If you have done what you said you would do, take down the post it note and replace it with a post it note where you describe how you feel? Teacher Review Ask students to describe how they feel. Do they feel good because they have achieved something? How does that compare to when they don’t deliver on time. Do they feel more positive and more confident that they will deliver on time with their next task whatever that is? It can be useful to do this every day for a week and then occasionally. NOTE – Teacher review: This exercise works well with introducing SMART goal setting and with Think Three Positives It can be expanded to embrace bigger tasks – even assignnments. Also can be linked to one of the planning and organising exercises. © AQR International 2016

What I will do tomorrow Exercise Background This is an exercise in Cognitive Behavioural Modification. The purpose is to show how the individual can build a sense of control though understanding what it feels like to achieve things – even simple things. And to understand that wanting to feel good is an important driver which is created through achieving things. By focusing on the positives we can change our mood which impacts on our Mindset. The goal here is to show young people how to focus on their positives, their achievements big and small, even if their achievements are small to build on these. Discussion Guides: Why do students feel good when they have completed a task – even a simple task? How does that feeling compare to when they fail to achieve a task. What difference does this make for them? Does it make them more or less positive about achieving the next task? Why do they think thinking positively helps performance, wellbeing and behaviour? Support Materials & Resources Simple – some post it notes and somewhere to post them so that everyone can see them. © AQR International 2016

Goal Setting Exercise What is my Goal Exercise Running the exercise –students will need access to the Goal Setting Worksheet. This works best with younger students as an entry level exercise in goal setting and understanding the building blocks to achieving. This exercise usually takes around 30 -45 minutes to complete. Setting goals gives meaning and direction and can be used for small or big tasks. Explain to the students that goal setting is a good way of approaching new challenges. Explain that: The Goal Setting Worksheet will act as their guide to getting from the start point of an activity, to the end point. The aim of the exercise is to: 1. The first question will be ‘what is my goal?’ Get the students to think about this for a couple of minutes. They can decide what their goal is – but remember to be realistic. If there goal is to win the lottery just remind them of the odds! The goal can be directed by the teacher (a piece of work) or the student can identify their own goal, personal or academic. Get them to write it in the box titled, ‘what is my goal?’ 2. Ask the students to spend 10 minutes filling in the other boxes on the worksheet. Ask them to think about the practicalities of completing the goal as well as their commitment and challenge to the task. 3. While they are completing the boxes get them to think about why this goal is important to them – what will happen by completing it? Who will benefit? How will it make them feel achieving it? The total time for this exercise is 30 – 45 minutes Teacher Review This exercise will get students thinking about what they want to achieve and how they are going to do it. By identifying the elements that will get them there the task will seem less daunting and large. Offering advice around who could help them/where they could go for information and other prompts will allow them to see the task as achievable. © AQR International 2016

Goal Setting Exercise NOTE – Teacher review: There is an option to include the SMART Target setting process within this exercise if the group are responding positively. You can use this cue card in conjunction with the SMARTER cue card to expand the exercise. Another cue card which may be useful to include in this exercise is the Eating an Elephant card. Background The simple definition of goal setting is the process of identifying something that one wants to complete or achieve and setting a process out in which order to be successful. The aim is to guide and motivate a person so that they can accomplish small tasks which will contribute to the final outcome. It is a major component in sport and personal development. Much work around goal setting has been within the world of work by authors such as Edwin Locke. Support Materials & Resources Pens and scrap paper (for writing ideas down). Smart Target worksheet. © AQR International 2016

SMART Targets Worksheet Specific What am I going to do? Why is it important to do this at this time? What do I want to ultimately accomplish? How am I going to do it? S Measureable How will I know that I have reached my goal? M Attainable Can I see myself achieving this goal? Can I break it down into manageable pieces? A Realistic Is the goal too difficult to reach? Too easy? R Timely What is my target date for reaching my goal? T © AQR International 2016

HOW DO YOU EAT AN ELEPHANT? Answer: A slice at a time An Exercise in Commitment – Particularly Goal Setting and Setting Milestones An Introduction to a technique that helps to plan the achievement of a big/bigger goal and in setting Milestones Running the exercise – It is most effective when run in conjunction with a real activity or challenge that has been set – an assignment or project. Explan that: I am going to introduce you to simple technique that will help you to plan the achievement of bigger tasks – like writing an assignment. You will apply it to the task that I have just set you. The 4-2-1 technique shows you how to create the slices. What you do is this:  Take a goal or target e.g. upcoming coursework. It has to be completed in 4* days or 4* weeks  Work out what you must do by the end of next 4 weeks if this is to be achieved- the different elements. These can be transferred to a Gantt chart later on.  Work out what you must do by half way through your task – i.e. the end of 2 weeks if this is to be achieved. List the tasks and activities.  Then using this as your end point, Work out what you must do by half way to this point (1 week) if this is to be achieved. List the tasks and activities.  You will now have a plan with milestones at 1, 2 and 4 weeks. Next  Work on what you must achieve before your first milestone. This should now be achievable – it’s not the big goal but an important step on the way. The actions will typically be small actions that are more easily handled.  When you get to your first milestone, check what you have done and, if necessary adjust your plan in the same way as above to re-set milestones. *It can be any time period as long as you can set milestones for the end goal, 50% of the way there and for the next 25%of the way there. © AQR International 2016

HOW DO YOU EAT AN ELEPHANT? Teacher Review: Ideally this should be done with a real activity. Check students understanding and get student to do the exercise in class. Check that they are happy and feel confident they will achieve their goals. Review use of the technique on completion of activity. Where else can they apply it? Background This is simply a way of scoping and planning work that might be a little challenging or complex. It’s great for projects and team activities where activities might have to be allocated to others. It works well with Gantt charting and with SMART goals setting. Milestone should be SMART too. Support Materials & Resources Sample 4-2-1 template is available to download © AQR International 2016

Exercise: 4-2-1 rule Think of a major objective you have to achieve over the next x months. Take an element of your action plan. Work out what you must do by the end of the task if it is to be achieved. Then work out what you must do by halfway there if this is to be achieved. Finally work out what you must do by the time a quarter of your time has been taken if this is to be achieved. Use the boxes below to record your ideas. Period What has to be achieved What might get in the way End Big Goal: The End 100% 50% 25% This exercise can be carried out individually or, sometimes more effectively, in groups. Reflect:  Does the first milestone appear achievable? Are you more confident that you can achieve this target? Do you feel more in control?  What might stop you achieving each target – have you planned to deal with it? Are there lead times you need to take into account?  How confident do you feel that you will now hit the big target?  How can you explain this to others and gain their commitment? © AQR International 2016

OVERALL MENTAL TOUGHNESS © AQR International 2016

Managing My Time – Doing First Things First The Urgent v Important Matrix “The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do. They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.” Managing time effectively is a challenge at the best of times but especially so when we under pressure to achieve really important goals – such as an exam. A useful way of approaching Time Management is to be clear about the importance and the urgency of what you are doing or being asked to do. The Urgent and Importance matrix helps us to assess each activity in those terms. Urgent Quadrant 1 Quadrant 2 URGENT + IMPORTANT NOT URGENT BUT E.g. IMPORTANT E.g. Revision Preparation Assignments Personal Development Meetings Leisure Interviews Important Quadrant 3 Quadrant 4 URGENT BUT NOT NOT URGENT, NOT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT E.g. E.g. Some e-mails and Games & TV phone calls Trivia Things you might like Some phone calls doing It will obviously help to plan the use of time. It is also very useful to assess every activity when we find ourselves doing something. © AQR International 2016

Managing My Time – Doing First Things First Most people find themselves repeatedly in Quadrants 1 and 3, which leads to a state of crisis and panic. This indicates that most of us respond more quickly to what is urgent than what is important. Thereby, using precious time on less productive activities. Quadrants1 and 2 is where we should be. Either attending to what is urgent and important or dealing with Important things but before they become urgent. However, more often, we find ourselves in Quadrant 4. It is then that we become bogged down with unnecessary, time-consuming tasks…often by choice! Using the time you have available to best effect improves …  Your ability to control CONTROL  Your ability to deal with challenge CHALLENGE  Your ability to achieve your most important goals COMMITMENT  Confidence in your abilities to handle the challenge CONFIDENCE Support Materials & Resources No special materials required. © AQR International 2016

Pre- Exam Nerves - Tips Overview Generally developing mental toughness in individuals will help most to deal with pre-examination pressures. The mentally tough will see the examination as an opportunity to show the examiner what they are capable of. However, there are things that all students can do to manage pre-exam nerves. These include: Revising before you sleep Apparently, people remember best what they do just before they go to sleep. Students can make audio recordings of material they want to remember – key points, facts, important themes etc. and listen to them just before they go to sleep. Both the act of creating the audio and to listening helps retention. This works especially well in groups. Students can prepare material together and record topics using different members of the group. They will often associate a particular theme or idea with a voice – also helping retention. This is a technique often used by actors to memorise their lines. Research shows (University of Basle) that mentally tough students are able to sleep better than mentally sensitive students are and it translates into better performance. Creating Visuals Students can often remember material in visual form more easily than they can recall words or sounds. Adding to flow charts, images, pictures, outlines, etc. to revision material can help learning. Stimulating Long Term Memory When taking on board new information, the brain often needs time to process it and make sense of it. That is another reason why revising before sleep can help. Another approach to improving long-term memory is to take the material and prepare it in another format. If verbal – create a picture. If visual – describe it in words. Create lists, acronyms, mnemonics, and flow charts – especially when building knowledge about a subject. High performers will often take time to re-organise material so that they can remember it better. © AQR International 2016

Pre- Exam Nerves - Tips Managing Anxiety Everyone experiences nerves and anxiety before any stressful event such as an examination. The more successful are able to manage their anxiety. Many of the breathing and muscular control exercise described elsewhere in this kit are extremely useful as are some of the visualisation exercises. There are some easy exercises that can also help:  A couple of weeks before an exam, students can write down their concerns and fears on a piece of paper. It is easier for them to be objective about those fears if they are transferred out of their heads and onto the paper. Individually or in groups, they can consider or discuss how they might deal with these fears.  If possible, sometime before the real exam, allow the student to sit where they will take the exam or sit in a room/setting which is very similar. This can also help to allay fears. Working in Bursts It is useful to improve attention span. Some of the exercises in the Commitment section of the toolkit help people to do that. However, revision can be an intense activity and it is useful to encourage people to work in bursts of 20 minutes, taking a break for a few minutes before embarking on another burst. It can also be useful to change what is been worked on regularly. Background These tips work for many but may not work for all. They are all worth trying. Support Materials & Resources No special materials required. © AQR International 2016





Primary School Toolkit Fun, quick and easy activities to develop mental toughness in KS2 students £250 per goo.gl/Zaa0tp Digital Pack Sample the toolkit w w w . a q r i n t e r n a t i o n a l . c o . u k • 0 1 2 4 4 5 7 2 0 5 4 • h e a d o f f i c e @ a q r . c o . u k