The journey towards success is one that individuals must take for themselves. As families, teachers and friends, we do our best to support and encourage; but as author Mark Twain once wrote, “I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.”
Growth areas of excellence
What then do we want out of life? How can we help our children find success in their lives, and for that matter, how can we be successful in our own lives? We don’t need a miracle, we need a method that works. At MindLife Success, we have identified several growth areas of excellence – Thinking, Creativity, Character & Leadership.
These areas are independent yet interdependent with each other. While we could begin with any domain, we also believe that the best start we could make first is thinking.
- Good Thinking, when applied to solve the many unstructured life challenges, leads to Creativity.
- Creativity, when working together through our People-Based LearningTM approach, leads to Character building.
- Finally, strong Character blossoms into Leadership.
Building blocks of life
We nurture these areas by emerging the full potential of individuals from the building blocks of their Values, Interests, Preferences and Skills (VIPS). Every child and parent is special, but just what makes us unique from each other? Using our VIPS Following Leadership framework will help you understand who you are in terms of your:
- Values – what you hold as important,
- Interests – what you enjoy doing,
- Preferences – how you like to do things, and
- Skills – what you are good at.
As parents, we must first understand who we are, then seek to understand who our children are. Then we can create the best motivational environment to match our unique gifts, leading to where we are going in life.
Jimmy was a quiet boy in his class with few friends. His parents and teachers were concerned, as he did not want to participate much in class discussions. However, by observing him, his teachers noticed that he shared a great interest for animals. He was also good in drawing. Working to his strengths, he was supported and encouraged to express himself in drawing pictures of animals. Friends appreciated his talents. Soon, he became more expressive as he shared his work and helped others during art class.
UPCOMING EVENT: Start your journey to success with a powerful new approach to Thinking Skills
We invite you to attend one of our upcoming FREE public talks for parents in February 2012 on the DSRP Method of Universal Thinking Skills, which is developed through over 20 years of research by internationally recognised experts in cognition and education Drs. Cabrera and Colosi from the Ivy League, Cornell University, USA.
The DSRP Method teaches us how to think and build knowledge by making Distinctions, recognising Relationships, organising Systems and taking Perspectives. Teaching with the Method has shown increases in test scores, development of higher order thinking skills, embedding of deeper understanding and higher transfer of knowledge in learners. Dr. Cabrera was recently invited to present a talk on “How Thinking Works” at the TEDx Williamsport event. Please click here to view his video.
Find out how you can use the DSRP Method to help your children think! Session details:
- 4 February, Sat, 2pm-4pm @ Ang Mo Kio public library
- 11 February, Sat, 10am-12am @ Toa Payoh public library
- 18 February, Sat, 10am-12am @ Bukit Merah public library
- 18 February, Sat, 2pm-4pm @ Jurong West public library
- 25 February, Sat, 10am-12am @ Ang Mo Kio public library
- 25 February, Sat, 2pm-4pm @ Queenstown public library
Limited spaces are available. Please call/sms 91423926 to RSVP today, or for more information on our other programmes.
*Article by Ling Hua Loon
More about us
MindLife Success Pte. Ltd. is the only licensee of the DSRP Method and VIPS Following Leadership in Singapore. For more information, please visit www.mindlifesuccess.com.
Mr. Ling Hua Loon is a Life Coach and holds a MA Educational Leadership. He is Director and Principal Trainer at MindLife Success Pte. Ltd. and can be contacted via email at [email protected].
