A personal message for all students ...

In less than a week's time, primary and secondary students will be going back to their school to start a new year of learning. Parents with children going to Primary One would be more anxious as to how their child will cope with the new school environment, new study loads and new friends. Those in other levels will be going back to continue their next level of study. It might take a couple of days or weeks for them to get settled down and engaged in their full-speed momentum again.

At the beginning of a new year and new term, one thing that is critically important for the students to do is to forget the past and look forward to new learning experience and achieving new goals and results. With this, I mean they have to forget the past success or setbacks, learn from their past and start setting new and higher goals for the new year. For example, whatever marks they obtained last year for the various subjects, add another 10 to 15 marks and make it the next goal and work towards achieving it. Success is a personal choice. It is all in the mind. So, the most important thing to change is the mindset.

Many students, by default nature, want to just pass their subjects, they do not have higher expectations for themselves. I always encourage them to first of all, acquire the mindset that they can be the top students. It is important to be the best we can be in anything we set our mind to do. Go for it and just do it. Nothing is impossible. It is all about attitude and mindset. I have challenged many students to do it and many of them have given the affirmation, though initially, many would feel that they are not good enough. Recently, some parents engaged me to talk to their children and the outcome of the sessions was promising and reassuring.

The first thing the students could do is to get a copy of my book which is meant for quick-reading and self-reflection and read it. As a result of reading and doing self-reflection, many students have made real changes to their lives such as, stop playing computer games, realise that beating parent at home is wrong, start to appreciate their parents more, decide to go for distinctions in examinations etc.

It is my wish and prayer that all students would adopt a new mindset for the new year, set new goals and consciously and conscientiously work towards achieving them. Best wishes to all students. Cheers!