BrainTree

Welcome to episode 32 of BrainTree Podcast – “Helping Students Tackle Assignments” In this episode Prue and Rocky discuss how you can encourage students to tackle their assignments in the right way and help them come up with reasons that motivate them to get started in a timely fashion. Quotation for the episode: “Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant”-- Robert Louis Stevenson In this episode of BrainTree Podcast, Prue speaks about: How you can get students starting their assignments. Advice to give to students on how to approach assignments. Effective internet research and prioritizing. How peer sharing is useful for students. Breaking the assignment down into steps to follow. Helping students make a workable plan. The aim is that parents and teachers will plant seeds to build skills. You could sit down with students and do this for them, but better to spend that little bit of time to teach them how to approach assignments effectively so that they can do it themselves! Tune in whether you’re a parent, teacher or student who’s looking for a way to make the assignment process less stressful. News and Updates: To find out more about Prue and what she has to offer, visit www.enhanced-learning.net where you’ll find a section for teachers and schools, and a section for parents and students. HELP#1 – Starting Secondary School (For Teachers) HELP#1 – Starting Secondary School (For Parents) There are also workbooks there for study skills, time management, goal setting workbooks and exam prep workbook. You can subscribe and listen to BrainTree podcast via iTunes.

Welcome to episode 31 of BrainTree podcast – “Living Your Life By Design”. In this episode, Rocky and Prue speak about designing a life free of stress, anxiety and depression that will help you pursue your dreams and live happily. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step" - Lao Tzu In this episode of BrainTree podcast, Rocky discusses how to turn your life around and shares: How to deal with the increase in stress and anxiety. Importance of being deliberate about living your life. Simple daily routines that will help you live your desired life. How exercise is linked to good mental health. The ideal way to start your day and it's impact on the rest of the day. This episode was inspired by a teacher who asked Rocky, “How do we put you out of a job”? She was referring to the increase in anxiety and depression in young people in schools. Listen to this episode as we look at not just how to deal with anxiety but also look at the habits and routines happy and successful people use in their lives and how research is proving that living your life by design is an essential component to having a “good life”. News and Updates: If you want to know more about Rocky, visit his website. Also, check out his “Online Wellbeing Resource”, It’s a program that helps people with stress and anxiety. This resource contains 18 valuable modules. You can either purchase a personal or school license for affordable prices www.humanconnections.com.au/offers/online-wellbeing/free Links referred to in episode 31: FREE Online Wellbeing Resource Module. You can subscribe and listen to BrainTree podcast via iTunes

Welcome to episode 30 of BrainTree podcast! In this episode, Rocky and Prue discuss valuable “Success Tips for Secondary Students”. You’ll listen to key messages that you will definitely want your student to know. These tips are especially relevant for when students first enter the world of secondary school, but will apply to all students looking for ways to improve their academic performance. “Try not to become a man of success, but rather become a man of value”—Albert Einstein In this episode of BrainTree podcast, Prue shares five main and critical success tips for secondary students: Understanding the concept of independent learning. Working smart. Being organized and planning. Asking for help early. Learning how to study properly. Tune in whether you’re a parent, teacher or student to listen to some valuable tips and ideas. News and Updates: Prue has just started a new series of resources that she’s writing. It’s basically a “HELP series” (Helping students become Effective Learners Program). Prue has written the first one in the series which is all about starting secondary school. It’s available for a very affordable price and there are two versions, the first for teachers (to photocopy and use with classes) and the second for parents to use personally with their student. HELP#1 – Starting Secondary School (For Teachers) HELP#1 – Starting Secondary School (For Parents) Links referred to in episode 30: Using Your Diary for planning video Weekly Planners You can subscribe and listen to BrainTree podcast via iTunes. 

Welcome to episode 29 of BrainTree podcast! In this episode, Rocky and Prue are going to discuss "Meditation and Mindfulness". Rocky divided the episode into two main parts: Studies that proves meditation changes the brain. Practical ways to start applying meditation and mindfulness. "Mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally" -- Marcia Lucas On this episode of BrainTree podcast, Rocky and Prue are going to share: How meditation helps you focus on the present. How meditation strengthen your brain through "gyrification". Difference between the brains of meditaters and non-meditaters. Tips on starting a meditation practicing. How meditation helps in reducing stress. The best way to start your day. Meditation and mindfulness can be very closely linked. You don't have to sit down in a formal  practice, you can include it in your daily habits and become more aware of what you're doing. Focus on what you do in the moment! It's a piece of advice yogis have given for thousands of years: take a deep breath and relax. Watch the tension melt from your muscles and all your niggling worries vanish. Somehow we all know that relaxation is good for us. News and Updates Rocky is releasing his “Online Wellbeing Resource”, It’s a program that helps people with stress and anxiety. This resource has 18 modules (short videos, audios, PDFs). To access one of the modules for free! “Meditation and Mindfulness Module” Visit: http://humanconnections.com.au/offers/online-wellbeing/free Click here to get my free Meditation and Mindfulness video and audio Mindfulness App mentioned by Prue: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id417071430 You can subscribe and listen to BrainTree podcast via iTunes.

Welcome to episode 28 of BrainTree Podcast! [00:47]  Prue and Rocky introduce the topic "Managing Perfectionism" and their new learning resource "Be a Better Learner".  Prue says that out of the 20 resources that she had written, it’s the best by far. From Michael Lore, author: “At its route, perfectionism isn’t really about a deep love of being meticulous. It’s about fear. Fear of making mistakes, fear of disappointing others, fear of failure, fear of success.” [02:47] Prue says she has a tendency to be a perfectionist but sometimes it can be a good thing because it means that you are meticulous, you follow up the details, you do things to a really high quality. But it becomes a problem when you’ve got so much pressure in yourself to do things perfectly that your life loses balance. [04:07] Rocky thinks that if we keep waiting until it’s “perfect”, we’re not really producing much. Prue explains the difference between someone who’s a "perfectionist" and someone who’s "just doing things well": Perfectionist: Their fear of failure is almost greater or stronger than their actual desire to achieve. Sometimes they’re paralyzed because they don’t want to do it unless it can be perfect. Just doing things well: They get things done and maybe in a prefect way. [05:14]  Rocky shared a story wherein he had a student who was a very brilliant student, a gifted writer. The student submitted an assessment paper with one page that really impressed Rocky, but he was surprised that when he turned to the next page, it was blank.  The student said, “I’d rather not complete it than fail.” [06:43]  Prue explains that it’s this rationalization that they have in their mind that, “If I don’t attempt it and I fail, it’s not really my fault because I didn’t attempt it.  But if I attempt it and I fail, that’s then a personal reflection on me.”  That becomes incredibly paralyzing if you have to be perfect all the time and if your work has to be the absolute highest quality all the time, you just don’t move forward. [15:10]  Prue shares tips for making students less of a perfectionist: Parents and teachers have to admit to making mistakes themselves so that the students can see that everybody makes mistakes. Help students to actually plan their workout and identify realistic time frames. The Parents should avoid comparisons particularly with other siblings or other children. [19:45]  Prue also says that teachers can start to help students change the way they think.  Get them to question and help them understand that they can’t absolutely do everything.  Also, teaching students techniques to positive self-talk.  Rocky & Prue reference to three helpful past episodes related to this topic: Episode 18:  How to Change Negative Thinking. Episode 10:  Five Ways Our Brain Stops Us from Achieving Goals. Episode 2:  Goal Setting. [22:25]  Rocky says, breaking the task in small bits takes the pressure off, rather than suffering and ruminating and procrastinating over it and then eventually not turning the work in. [25:08]  Teachers and parents need to have some empathy for what they’re going through and to understand that they don’t want to be like that, it’s crippling.  They need a lot of guidance as to what is truly important and where do they need to spend their time. [29:11]  Rocky and Prue both agree that this has a lot to do with really just getting some movement, doing something, getting momentum. Do one little bit at a time. It’s all in your head.  You just have to say, “I’m just going to start. I’m just going to do it.” Because if you don’t do anything, you just can’t move forward. Updates and News To know more about Prue and what she has to offer, visit www.enhanced-learning.net where you'll find a section for teachers and for schools, and a section for parents and students. There are also workbooks there for study skills, time management, goal setting workbooks and exam prep workbook.

Welcome to BrainTree Podcast! [00:51] Prue and Rocky introduce their productivity tools and their Be A Better Leaner resource. [01:40] Rocky introduces a couple of quotes for this episode which come from Nelson Mandela. "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." "The majority of what you want will come from a minority of what you do." [03:05] Rocky moves in to today's topic which is all about productivity. He tells us a personal story about how he used to scrape through work and look forward to the weekend or a holiday, until he decided to change that mindset. He also references a poll he did amongst his teacher colleagues where many of them responded that they wished they had more time and their primary hurdle in life was a lack of time. [07:05] Rocky explains the myth that successful people are multi-taskers, in fact, Rocky explains that prioritising the most important thing will help you to be more efficient and more productive. Prue explains that we should rank our tasks in terms of importance and start at the top, not moving on until the top item on the list is complete. [10:15] A client of Rocky's told him that he needed to have more willpower, but Rocky tells us that willpower is like a muscle, and it's essential to work in some rest to not burn out. Rocky goes on to say that he aims to gt all of his most strenuous tasks done in the morning, because he'd be less capable of completing anything too taxing in the late afternoon. [12:09] Prue asks if it's hard to know what is the most important thing. Rocky tells us that it is simply to ask questions. If you ask ineffective questions such as "Why am I so busy?" then it will be hard to find an actionable answer as the question is too abstract. Rocky explains a more effective question you can ask yourself: "What's the one thing I can do today, for ______, such that, by doing it everything else will be easier or even unnecessary?" [14:38] Rocky asks the question of Prue regarding her Ph.D. Prue answers that she struggles as she can think of three things immediately. Rocky suggests that you must be as decisive as possible in choosing the one thing. [17:53] Prue asks Rocky about his work routine and Rocky tells us about turning willpower in to habit. Rocky and Prue both agree that it is important to plan what you should work on, so you don't get distracted by answering emails or any other less important items. [22:10] Rocky quotes that research has shown that habit forming could take up to 66 days, contrary to what Rocky has previously quoted, so it may take a while for this planning and prioritising method to take hold, but you must stick with it. Rocky also suggests sharing it with friends and colleagues so that you can create a support group that makes it easier to keep the habit. [22:55] Rocky starts to wrap up by sharing the routines he intends to implement this year. He tells us about The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn Achor, which tells us to end the day reflecting on the positive actions of the day and write down three good things that happen every day, why did they happen and how did it feel? Review your good things list at the end of the week. [30:10] Take two minutes to send a positive email. Even something as simple as a thank you note can have great benefits for personal well-being. Rocky tells us about a study where customers of coffee shops were given buy-10-get-one-free cards, and there was a much greater completion rate when customers were given the card initially, with progress already stamped. [32:40] Rocky's final tip is called activation energy, if we can make a 3-20 second difference to making positive habits easier and negative habits harder, the chances to create those habits in the future is increased. Rocky suggests if he wants to watch less TV then he will remove the batteries from his remote.

Happy new year! Welcome back to a new year of BrainTree podcast. Rocky and Prue are back for another year of learning. [01:17] Prue has returned from an overseas trip and the hosts discuss the value of travel as a learning experience. They then introduce the topic for this episode and Prue sets up that there are seven different areas that should be considered when preparing for a new school year. Rocky suggests that some might also be relevant outside of school. [03:18] Prue introduces her quote for this episode. She quotes American musician Brad Paisley. "Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. So make sure you write a good one" [04:54] Rocky goes on to discuss that often life is happening to us rather than we're engaging and defining our life. Prue agrees with this. [06:00] Prue starts looking at her seven areas to prepare for learning. She starts with 1. Look at your environment which she had previously discussed in episode nine. Clear the clutter in your physical environment and you will clear the clutter in your mind. [08:45] 2. Be organised and create a filing system for your materials. In whatever format your learning materials are in, make sure they're organised and you can easily find what you want when you need it. The hosts discuss that the system doesn't have to be alphebetised or any other strict format, but you should create an organisation system that you feel comfortable with. Rocky tells us how his filing system of choice is Evernote. Prue also suggests being flexible. [12:22] Once your have established a clean environment and a filing system then you should move on to 3. Create a working routine and schedule for the year. Prue tells us that creating a structure and a process will help make your study and learning more efficient. Rocky suggests revisiting episode eight for more information on this. [15:00] 4. Think about your planning systems. How are you going to manage the workload? How are you going to keep track of what work needs to be done and how are you going to schedule and plan that work? Prue suggests a diary or calendar and also a term planner. Rocky recalls that in episode five they discussed a variety of methods for planning. [16:22] 5. If you're a student then the start of the year can set the tone for the rest of the year. If you start the year with an attitude that is open and ready to work then you will benefit. Rocky agrees that if you do not have the right tone and attitude then you will not succeed with any of the other steps. [21:22] 6. Do more than you're asked to do. Whatever tasks are laid out for you, you should try to be ahead of the curve. The students who excel are the ones who take more responsibility and set their own pace in their curriculum. Rocky and Prue discuss being proactive and discuss how to teach students to take their own initiative. [27:30] 7. The final step is to make sure you have your lifestyle in order. Make sure you have enough sleep, pay attention to your diet and nutrition and make sure you don't overreach and you have enough time to rest and restore. [29:40] Rocky begins to wrap up by asking for feedback. If you have any comments or questions then please get in touch. If you have any ideas for topics you'd like to hear discussed then send it in. Don't forget to leave us a rating or review on iTunes!

Merry Christmas! Thanks for downloading this special episode of BrainTree podcast. Since today is Christmas Day, we don't want to take up too much of your time, so this is a short Christmas message for you! [01:50] Since BrainTree is all about learning, Prue suggests you take some time while your family and friends are around you to learn more about them and your interactions with them. Rocky agrees that sometimes it can be good to refocus and look at people and interactions in a new way, as well as learning something about your own role in those interactions. [04:34] Rocky tells a story about "How to Fill Your Bucket." from a children's book he recently purchased for his daughter. There was a young boy who could see what others couldn't, that everyone had an invisible bucket above their heads. He noticed when his family were angry with him his bucket began to drain, which caused him to drain other's buckets. He tells a story in front of his class and as the class are enthralled with his story he realises his bucket is refilled with their applause. He helps out a friend and both he and his friends buckets are filled with his kind actions. Thank you for listening! Enjoy your Christmas and look out for more BrainTree podcasts in the new year!  

Welcome once again to the latest episode of BrainTree Podcast! [00:53] Rocky starts off early with a quote "Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts and you are a slave to your emotions." He then introduces today's topic which is managing your emotional state. Rocky introduces a technique to do this called anchoring, which is mentioned in Rocky and Prue's resource Be A Better Learner. [02:56] Prue and Rocky jump in to explaining what anchoring is. Rocky gives us a few examples of anchoring that we use every day. First the link of smell and memory and certain smells strongly evoke specific memories. Also a particular song or sound that reminds you of a moment or an experience. [04:52] Rocky tells us of the growing evidence and research that we are unable to learn effectively if we can't manage our emotional state. Anchoring can help you do that. It is a conditional response that links to an emotion. He goes on to tell us a saying from the field of neuro-plasticity which is "neurons that fire together, wire together." So essentially we can program our emotional response to learning. [10:16] Prue volunteers to be used as an example to rewire her feelings towards completing her Ph.D and Rocky explains the process of rewiring anchors. First, we must choose the emotional reaction we desire in any given situation. Prue tells us how she would like to feel and Rocky asks her to recall times when she has experienced those emotions. She thinks about this while Rocky explains the process further. [14:05] Rocky suggest that a previous overseas trip might be an ideal memory for this exercise and Prue tells us that even recalling those memories changed how she felt. Rocky tells use that we want to access our visual, auditory and kinesthetic senses of that memory. Prue recalls a time on a recent trip where she felt most focused, enthusiastic and energised. Rocky wants Prue to anchor this memory to a subtle and unique physical touch. Prue chooses to press her thumb to her finger. [18:10] Now we've chosen the memory and the action, we need to anchor the two together. Rocky asks Prue to recall her visual memory of the memory and anchors it to the action. Our hosts then move on to the auditory senses and anchor them to the action also. Rocky then moves on to the feeling and the emotion of the memory and Prue anchors it to the action. Rocky then asks Prue to practice and test the result, which has a small effect and Rocky tells us that to get a stronger connection and more effective result, we will need to repeat the anchoring process. Rocky suggests that constantly exercising this muscle and anchoring for a few minutes every day will make this process more effective. [25:36] Rocky tells us his experience of teaching this technique to his young daughter and tells us about the anchors that we might have already without even realising it. At this time of year many retail spaces will be playing seasonal music, Rocky tells us that this in an auditory anchor that they use to put customers in a seasonal purchasing mode. That's all for this episode. Don't forget to leave any comments or questions!

Welcome to the latest from Rocky and Prue at BrainTree podcast! [01:56] After introducing a new resource on learning, Rocky and Prue jump in to the topic of the day, restoring your energy. Prue starts things off with a quote from one of her students "Studying for my year twelve exams is like going on a school trip to Canberra: you know it's important, but it's really boring." Prue and Rocky both say they enjoyed the quote, even if it is inaccurate about Canberra. [04:08] Rocky tells us that research is showing that a majority of teachers burn out of the profession after just five years and that stress is increasing across many professions. Prue tells us that she discovered an article on mindbodygreen.com that she wanted to discuss with Rocky. So here's the tips: [05:48] Rest when your body says rest. Prue tells us a personal story about learning to rejuvenate and help her study better. Rocky tells us a similar story about learning to listen to his body. [09:22] Cultivate stillness within you. Rocky tells us that there is a healing power in stillness. It doesn't necessarily mean quiet, but it can. It's more about being in the moment. Prue suggests taking a moment before studying or starting an exam to take a deep breath and find calm and stillness within you. [12:31] Practice whole-body breathing. Prue and Rocky both discuss focussing on your breathing, concentrate on deep breaths and find how deep you can breathe. [15:58] Nourish your body wholeheartedly. Rocky tells us it's important to listen to your body in reaction to foods and find the foods that nourish you. Prue tells us that there's often conflicting advice on when. what and how much we should be eating, so it's important to listen to your body and don't force something that doesn't feel right. Our hosts also tells us to stay hydrated and avoid energy drinks. [22:46] Explore gentle and restorative movement. Prue suggest trying walking, stretching or yoga to find what helps restore your energy. Prue and Rocky both tell us about their evolving preferences for gentle exercise rather than strenuous exercise. Rocky recommends reading Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey. [26:04] Have compassion for yourself. Rocky tells us that we gain energy from love and compassion. Prue says to not be harsh on yourself. [27:28] Stop doing what drains you. Prue elaborates by talking about how your body responds to different people, places or situations and suggests listening to this, although sometimes it's hard or impossible to avoid this. Both Prue and Rocky suggests that if you are entering into situations or dialogues with people that drain your energy and you can avoid it, then you should try to cut it out or minimise it. Rocky tells us that if you can't stop doing things that drain you, then you need to start doing more things that uplift you. Prue says that even if you can't change the situation, you can change your response and reaction to the situation. Rocky tells us that this is easier said than done, but it is important and powerful. [32:29] Nurture what inspires you. Inspiration is energy. Rocky tells us about an anecdote  about year twelve students who are constantly told that there's no year thirteen and they only have one shot at this, which both Rocky and Prue suggest is terrible advice. Rocky also tells us about a man who was too depressed to work, but when he imagined a possibility where he could work doing what inspired him he suddenly gained energy and was more inspired. Prue tells us about her love for animals and both hosts say that what inspires you and your "purpose" is not necessarily your work. [37:47] Be vigilant with your time. Learn to guard your time like the gift that it is. Rocky and Prue both suggest you must schedule time for yourself. Rocky tells us about how he gives himself a break by taking a weekend away, which he calls "Rocky's Retreat".

Welcome to the BrainTree podcast. Prue's taking a break for today's episode and is making way for Rocky to interview tennis player and coach, Alison Scott. [01:35] Rocky introduces Alison and she gives us some highlights of her career, including competing against some of the most elite players around the world. [04:35] Rocky shifts to talk about Alison's website GirlsTennisAcademy.com and why Alison has created this. Alison tells us that she was inspired by her Grandfather's words when convincing her to play tennis. She tells us that tennis allows girls to grow and learn their strengths and compete on the same plane as boys in tennis. She tells us about the virtues of self confidence that can be gained through sports and competition as well as other life skills that can be learned. [08:28] Alison tells us about the strength that can be gained from learning and excelling at sports at a young age and how it can lead to great respect, from both males and females. [14:41] Rocky gives us some insight into how skills learned on the tennis court, such as self-confidence, dealing with adversity and taking responsibility can be applied to life off-court. Alison goes further to say that tennis (and life) is not about the results and winning the game, for Alison, winning is a bonus and the important take away from her tennis experience is the resilience and how it led to her being an entrepreneur and a mentor. [18:18] Rocky says that we shouldn't label children as "gifted" lest they fall short of that mark and then become emotionally damaged because of this failure, when in fact it was no failure at all. Alison tells us that she lost a lot of matches before she started winning, but her measure of success was not how many times she won, but more the journey of learning and growth. [21:47] Rocky suggests going back to episode six where he talks about a success mindset, which fits in with Alison's sentiments about improvement versus having a fixed goal. Rocky and Alison continue to discuss working on improvement rather than simply winning. Alison gives another anecdote about her losses driving her to improve and help her grow to love the game. [29:29] Alison tells us about her "aha" moment and an opponent she had when she was nine years old that changed her life. She came confidently into a game off an easy win, and was then easily beaten by her next opponent. She used that loss as inspiration to improve her own skills and persevered to be better. [33:49] Alison gives a message to parents to say that when their child is struggling that it's ok to find it difficult, the challenge is to keep at it, practice, work hard, improve and don't give up. Rocky tells us his passion for the concept of energy. Alison expands on using energy to help you convert your goals and desires into actions. Thanks for listening! Don't forget to leave any comments or questions!    

Welcome to the BrainTree podcast! Rocky and Prue are back to give you more tips about learning and study skills. [01:00] Prue starts us off with a quote about Google by Douglas Coupland: "With Google, I'm starting to burn out on knowing the answer to everything. People in the year 2020 are going to be nostalgic for the feeling of being clueless." [03:26] Prue introduces today's topic with a query from a parent, who said that her son spends hours researching on-line, but often yields relatively little results. Here's Prue's ten steps for refining your results when researching: [04:54] Step 1: Requirements Be very clear on the focus of your task. Don't search for the general subject, but refine it down to keywords and make sure you understand the goal. [06:03] Step 2: Brainstorm Spend some time coming up with your own ideas before reading other's ideas. Brainstorm phrases and similar that can help you refine your search. Prue also reccommends using Wikipedia at this stage to get an overview of your subject, but don't use it as a reference. [09:50] Step 3: Plan Plan and prioritise your study. If you need to write a single paragraph, then research that topic less than the topic that requires three paragraphs. [10:34] Step 4: Get Feedback Ask a teacher, parent or peer to look at your plan and check that you're on the right track. They may even suggest things you may have missed. [11:16] Step 5: Broaden Your Search Go to libraries, look at books, magazines databases and other knowledge bases. Don't just focus your research on the internet. [11:53] Step 6: Start Your Internet Search Take your plan and use it to begin your internet search. Put your exact phrases in quotation marks. [12:36] Step 7: Be Selective Don't just click on the first result. Look at the sources and read the ones that will be the most useful to you. [14:29] Step 8: Assess the Information Check how current the results are, how reputable the source is, if they're biased or reliable. Not everything written on the internet is fact. Be careful who you trust. [16:00] Step 9: Record the Information Record the content, but don't forget to record the source as well. It can be hard to find things again, and there's many ways to discover if you don't reference properly and will be penalised for plagiarism. Don't forget to record the author, the title and the date you accessed the website. Prue suggests using OneNote and Evernote to make referencing easier. Rocky tells us more about the benefits of Evernote for students. [25:16] Step 10: Record the References Make sure you have as much information as possible, not just about the content of the research, but where you got it and who wrote it. [26:11] Rocky and Prue wrap up and discuss the next episode before signing off. Thank you for listening, leave us a comment or ask us a question if you have one!

Welcome to the latest from BrainTree podcast! This week Rocky takes the lead in telling us how to turn learning into a positive experience. [01:54] Rocky starts us off with a quote, today it's from Henry Dougherty. "Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life." So today's episode is all about learning! [02:55] Rocky tells us a story of his childhood self scoffing at the idea of learning being important. [05:37] Rocky tells us the answers to two questions that he gets very passionate about. His question about what students associate with the HSC (NSW Secondary School Certificate) yields responses such as stress, anxiety and pressure. His question about the main message that students receive is that failure in the HSC will lead to failure in later life. So Rocky asks where this pressure has come from and both he and Prue advise that you should try your best, but there's always alternative routes to where you want to go. [10:10] Prue tells us about the contrasting experiences of her and Rocky in their support at school and they discuss the power of positive reinforcement in motivating students as well as setting a positive example. Rocky further explains the detrimental effects of negative attitudes in influencing a growth mindset. Rocky suggests listening to episode eighteen - How to Change Negative Thinking for more information. [17:55] Rocky recites an encounter he had with a teacher from his Teacher Training who asked how to respond when students are apathetic toward the results and consequences of standardised testing. Rocky says that education should be less goal-oriented and more process-oriented. Prue suggests going back to episode six - Success Mindset to understand this better. [22:43] Rocky discusses game-ification in learning and gives teachers some tips on why this works for learning. The learning is open-ended and there's more that can be explored also, no one is telling them what to do. Many of the most popular games involve learning in a self-motivated fashion. Prue and Rocky discuss the emerging research in this field. [26:36] Another important aspect of games that should be incorporated into learning is that it's safe to fail, to learn, explore, build and share. It's ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. Rocky further tells us that we need to foster learning that enhances participation and contribution that self-driven, creative and collaborative. [30:16] Rocky announces the upcoming release of his and Prue's Be A Better Learner resource, so keep an eye out for that! Our hosts wrap up the episode by teasing the next one where Prue will be discussing research. Don't forget to give us any comments, questions or feedback and please leave us a review on iTunes! Links and resources The the article below. HSC has reached its use-by date and risks stifling learning potential

Welcome to episode 19 of BrainTree podcast! Rocky and Prue are back in the hot seat after Prue's trip to Canada and this episode they're ready to give you advice on prioritising. So let's get started! [04:14] Prue starts us off with her quote for this episode. Today the quote is from Stephen Covey, "The key is not to prioritize what's in your schedule, but to schedule your priorities" [06:05] Prue tells us a story about learning not to avoid things you dread any more and her trypanophobia. Rocky tells us that the fear is worse than the action itself. [09:18] Rocky tells us about the Pareto principle or the 80:20 rule. So 20% of our effort yields 80% of the results. So it's better to find and work on what's important and to prioritise than just working on everything at once. [13:38] Prue gives us a simple method for prioritising work, and that is to ask yourself "what do I have to get done before I go to bed tonight?" Rocky asks about long-term projects and Prue tells us that your long term projects should involve planning, so that it's a group of smaller tasks that have staggered deadlines. Rocky suggests we take a look back at episode four - motivation, to learn more about this. [17:30] So the how do we decide what's important? Prue gives us some more advice from Stephen Covey in ranking tasks into four quadrants. [19:55] Prue tells us about another technique and warns us against just writing a list of tasks to be completed as it will just lead to stress. If you have less than ten tasks to complete then you can try to rank them, otherwise just circle and prioritise the top three tasks.  [22:19] Another technique is known as the C.U.L.L. technique. This stands for What is Critical? What is Urgent? What can I put off until Later? Lose it! Prue runs us through this technique and explains that some things just don't need to happen. [25:20] Prue runs through another couple of techniques and speculates if it's mainly females that use the Radial Pile Technique, which involves arranging tasks in a circle around your desk. [28:56] Rocky tells us a story of prioritising in his own life and tells us that it's also important to schedule and prioritise your home life in around your work. Prue also says to have a guideline for how much time you plan to spend on any given task. If you have any other tips for prioritising then please let us know. Don't forget to sign up for updates and leave us a review on iTunes!

Welcome to episode 18! Prue and Rocky have a great show for you today. They've been up late working, but they're both ready to help you change your negative thinking. [02:27] Prue asks Rocky for his quote to kick off the show, but today Rocky has two quotes for us, the first from Zig Ziglar: "You can not perform consistently in a manner which is inconsistent with how you see yourself." and the second from Robert Cialdini: "The strongest need in the human personality is to remain consistent with how we've defined ourselves." Rocky tells us that our self-concept is the foundation of the quality of our lives. [06:39] Rocky outlines some definitions of belief and the meeting of knowledge and emotion. Our thoughts are fuelled by our beliefs, so when we have positive or negative thoughts it impacts how we feel. Thus when we act on those beliefs they feed back into our feelings. Rocky gives us an example of when he's seen this happen. [11:20] Rocky informs us of what he believes is misinformation about changing your internal script. Just repeating positive affirmations, although it's popular, is not effective. Rocky has a corollary to that which is that this is only helpful if you believe those things, and if you don't believe it then positive affirmations can have the opposite effect. [15:37] So how do you change the negative beliefs? Rocky gives us his process, refined over many years from his Accidental Counsellor Training, the first step is 1. Identify negative belief Rocky recommends that you find exactly what your negative belief is and write it down, so that it's really clear. The next step is 2. Change the focus Rocky helps us imagine shrinking and removing that negative experience through imagination role-playing. The final step is to 3. Imagine yourself and how you would feel if you didn't have that negativity around you. [24:13] Prue asks if this changes the negative feedback pattern described earlier. Rocky tells us that we need to interrupt that pattern at the point of behaviour. If we keep doing what we've always done, we're going to keep getting the results we've always got. Getting different results will give us a new experience. [25:38] Rocky tells us about a study undertaken by Martin Seligman, where he spoke to a variety of depressed people and asked them what they would do on this day if they were not depressed. He found later on that simply imagining that scenario helped people start the journey out of depression. [32:33] Prue wraps up the episode and Rocky leaves us with a final quote from Dr. David Lake "What's most personal is most universal." Thank you for listening! If you liked this episode or any others then please give us a review!