the air

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So you think you have what it takes to memorize information? How good are you at memorizing words? Students who are preparing to enter college and even college students have a big need to learn “big words.” The SAT is notorious for using complicated words to test your understanding of not only context but also comprehension. Sure, the SAT no longer has those dreaded analogies, but it does still have the reading section. Why bother memorizing words when you can learn them and use them in your everyday writing and/or talk?

The problem with memorizing words is that you will often forget them after several days. The trick is that you need to learn HOW those words are USED in everyday instances. According to my professors and friends, my writing (my blog does not count) is quite advanced and equivalent to what most researchers and academic professionals use. This includes (note: it’s just a small list):

• use of proper grammar
• use of intellectual words
• correct use of images, figures, and tables

So what’s my secret? It’s really not a secret, but more of a formula for success:

1. I read books, magazines, flyers, blogs, websites, etc.
2. I note down and look up words I don’t know as soon as possible
3. I practice using those words in writing and in everyday conversation

There you have it! That is my formula for successfully learning how to use words rather than simply memorizing them. Now let’s go further and I’ll explain each step in more detail.

An In-Depth Look At My Formula For Learning Words Successfully

1. Read Read Read

Yes, your mother’s advice on reading was correct. The more you read, the better it is. However, you should also read a variety of different publications. This means, read different magazines such as Forbes, Car and Driver, Cosmopolitan, etc. Honestly, it may seem weird reading a “chick” magazine, but you’ll be surprised as to how well thought out and well written the articles are. How about reading books from different authors? From my experience, reading books by the classical authors works wonders for your grammar skills and word-hunting expeditions. These authors include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe, etc.

The key here is that you want to focus on the type of words they use and their use of grammar. You don’t necessarily need to enjoy the material, but you should have the attitude that you want to observe their usage and see how you can learn from it. In a way, you’re doing the same thing that your high school English teachers wanted you to learn.

2. Write it down if you don’t know it!

If you don’t know a particular word, WRITE IT DOWN! What if you’re on the go and don’t have a pen and paper handy? Use your phone and write up a draft text message with the word. You don’t even need to send yourself a text message. The point is that you should note down any word that you are unfamiliar with. The second step is then to look it up and learn the meaning of the word.

What I generally do is look up words as I am reading. This way, I can understand how the word was used in context. It helps to understand what I am reading and it is definitely much more beneficial to me than to wait and look up words. However, there is nothing wrong with compiling a list of words and then looking up their definitions. Try it out and see what method works for you.

3. Practice what you have just learned

Remember what the problem with memorizing words is? You eventually forget what you memorized. The best thing to do is to practice using the words you have just learned. I do the following:

1. Write down the word five times
2. Write down the definition of the word in your own words
3. Write a minimum of five good sentences using the word
4. Re-write the word five times

Yes, it does sound like a lot of work, but it works. The reason why I write down the word ten times is so that I become used to writing the word. I write down the definition in my own words so that I know I understand what it means. And I write a minimum of five good sentences so that I know how to use the word correctly.

What exactly are “good” sentences? A good sentence, to me anyways, is one that reflects thought and accurate use of the word. This may mean that I end up writing five paragraphs using that word only once in each paragraph. The point I make is to ensure that I know when and where to use a particular word correctly. Learning words is a long process, but it will ensure that you will never forget how to use a word.

The Bonus Step

The next step after all of that is really just consciouslly knowing to use the word in everyday lingo. Next time you’re conversing with some friends, go ahead and use the new word you learned. It will help you understand how to use the word correctly and it will become natural for you to use it. Try these steps out and share your experiences.

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Many college students fail to understand leadership and often walk the path of tyranny. What students need to do is understand how to lead before leading. One of the basic principles of leadership is that you have to have followers. Just take a look around. If Barack Obama did not have any followers, how could he lead? How could we call him a leader? How could we even suggest that he is leading Hillary Clinton? Before you lead, you have to have followers. Pretty easy so far, don’t you think?

One of the best lessons I am learning about being president of the IIE student chapter at NIU is leadership. I’m learning how to work well with others, deal with miscommunication and poor information, work with deficient work quality and inadequate participation from colleagues, and more. Perhaps the single most important lesson I am learning is to lead through empowerment not judgment. Empowerment is, in my words, the art of teaching others to take the lead and move forward. Empowerment allows others to experience the same euphoria that you enjoy but in their own world. It’s really not a novel idea, but it is an idea that goes against conventional approaches to leadership.

Everyone’s Your idea sucks

A big mistake that many students make as team leaders is to go out and “suggest” that their approach is the best. Some of these students are so good, that they will feign interest in a discussion and garner other group members’ ideas as well. The true student leader will always enter a group discussion with an open mind before making up his/her mind. It is smarter for a student leader to listen to other people first before even saying their own ideas or offering their opinion. Some students are intimidated by leaders and will shut-down the moment they hear the leader’s ideas. They will even go as far as supporting the leader’s ideas regardless of what they think. Get others to talk before you talk. That way, there’s more participation and more people will feel like they “own” the task.

Let them make goals

Once you decide, as a group, what needs to be accomplished for a particular task, let the group decide what goals they need to set. If you are the leader, this is the time to keep your mouth shut and observe how the group is interacting. In my opinion, effective leaders mediate between members and let the members decide what course of action to take. Remember, a group cannot function with full effectiveness unless they all move forward together. The balancing act comes into play when you have to override someone and say that their goal is not necessary. Again, let the group take ownership of the goals and “lead” them to making goals that you think will work.

Empower their drive

I hate looking over someone’s shoulder to make sure that they are working correctly. The hardest thing about being a leader is dealing with ineffective group members. So I combat that dilemma by empowering my group members. I let them tell me how they will approach a particular task and how they will see it to fruition. I even go as far as making them write it down and verbally (in writing as well) promise to complete the task. My strongest emphasis are always on the deadline and the final result. The golden rule I follow is assist throughout the process. By continually offering my help and asking for quick reviews, I am able to demonstrate to them that I care about them and their work.

Sometimes, things don’t work out the way I planned. And that is what I am still learning to deal with. However, I think that sometimes, we do get ineffective team members who we simply have to deal with and carry as dead weight. It is at this point, where I ask for your methods. How do you deal with ineffective team members? What do you think about empowering others to accomplish tasks? What are other effective tools you recommend that have the potential to work?

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While in college, many students have a tendency to relax and take things casually. During important opportunities, these same students will do a complete 180 and commit to delivering impressive results. I remember a few months ago, a friend of mine committed to creating a fundraiser and running it herself. She presented some excellent ideas on how to encourage everyone to donate and she was very loquacious about her passion for helping the less fortunate. When it came time to actually deliver on what she said, let’s just say, I was left with a very bad taste in my mouth.

Listen Before Committing

The problem here is that too many people have ambitious ideas with no plans on how to actually go about accomplishing their ideas. Moreover, many people commit to delivering something without fully understanding what it is that they need to deliver. Hence, it is essential, imperative if you will, to listen and understand what is being asked. That way, you can then assess whether or not you need/want to commit.

Ask Before Committing

So we covered the listening part. Are you ready to ask questions? Needless to say, we cannot understand everything and it should be natural for us to ask for clarification. There is nothing wrong in even asking someone to repeat what they said or rephrase their speech. Not understanding what you are committing to is a great way to de-value your personal stock and should serve as a wake-up call. By asking the right questions, you’ll be able to make a well-informed decision as well as meet or even exceed the expectations of the person you are committing to.

Impress By Delivery

Remember that girl I talked about? She has an inherent tendency to impress others by making lofty commitments. Sure, the people on the other end might be impressed and feel confident in her. However, when it comes time to see the final results, what do they actually see? By impressing through commitment and failing to impress by delivery, you simply cause disappointment for others with no further value in your personal stock. More people are impressed if you deliver a product or service that exceeds their expectations. More people are disappointed if you cannot deliver on everything you committed to. So why impress others by committing when you can easily impress people by delivering the results they expect?

Complete the Commitments First

In the last point, I mentioned that you should impress by delivery, not impress by commitment. Before you go “above and beyond” the call of duty, be sure to successfully complete and achieve the commitments you made. If there is time left, feel free to add value to your work. For instance, let’s say you committed to tasks 1 through 5 and you accomplished tasks 1 through 4. Now, suppose you decided to do other tasks in the hopes to create value but skipped task 5 because it could not be completed by the deadline. In the end, you did not deliver what you committed to. Certainly, you added value, went above and beyond, and completed tasks 1 through 4. However, what if task 5 was a critical task that somebody was depending on? Do you see the picture that I am trying to illustrate?

Add Value, Some Restrictions Apply

In the last point, I talked about how you can go ahead and add value to your commitments. This usually means going above and beyond what you committed to and the expectations of the person(s) you committed to. The trick with adding value to your work is to ensure that:

• it does not take too much time
• it supports the primary commitments

If an extra task(s) take(s) too much time, you may want to reconsider it so that you do not deliver your results past the deadline. If you can complete additional tasks before the deadline and be ready to deliver them before the deadline, consider adding value to your commitments. However, what if the person you committed to is asking you to make more commitments? Simple, understand the commitment, request additional time if you think you’ll need it, and abandon all value-added tasks until you complete the new commitments. Going above and beyond is a great concept, but you should only execute that concept only if you can deliver everything prior to the deadline.

If an extra task(s) is unable to support your original commitments, you may wish to reconsider it. Remember, you cannot determine the added value of your tasks. Only the person receiving your results will ascertain the value of the additional tasks. For instance, say you committed to delivering a report on different computer monitors and you included another report on computer speakers. The person you delivered the result to would undoubtedly be surprised but would find little value in your added report. Now suppose that report on computer speakers outlines how particular computer monitors support speaker attachments. This may prove useful if those specific monitors are covered in your original report. See the difference? Only add value if it supports the original results that you committed to delivering.

Add Value Beyond The Delivery

Whenever I deliver a report or complete necessary commitments, I do my best to follow-up with the persons I delivered my results to. This way, I can assess their satisfaction with my work as well as remedy any issues they may have. This is a special type of value that you are adding to your work. It shows others that you care about your work and want to ensure that your work is up to the expected level. Most companies practice this value-added service and you may now it as the “customer satisfaction guarantee.” You do not need to necessarily guarantee your work, but following up and fixing any issues is a sure way to create extra value with little work. And let’s not forget, you’ll have one happy customer who will appreciate your work even more.

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One of the most irritating events in my life is listening to dreadfully prepared presentations by my engineering peers. Many people will agree with the opinion that engineers are passionately socially retarded. However, engineering presentations are quite adventurous and give us glimpses of what we can expect in the future. The one thing that most college engineers fail to do correctly is design and present an effective and amazing presentation that leaves the audience yearning for more. And I’m sorry to disappoint you, but engineering presentations are interesting because they are far more inspirational than a traditional Cosmo article.

Simplicity is the key

Allow me to get over my engineering arrogance and simply proclaim an idea for the masses. “Simplicity” is the key to success for any presentation. Effective presentation speakers (i.e., Steve Jobs) not only are enthusiastic about their presentation, but they are continually telling the audience why they are listening to him. He provides answers to issues that they commonly face and says his words as if he’s trying to educate you on your available options. Mr. Jobs does all of this by simply expressing his ideas/words by using an image or a keyword. By keeping it simple, the audience is able to clearly remember his points while absorbing his supporting arguments.

Avoid extensive animations

In a professional environment, I strongly believe that no one should engage in trying to impress their managers through trivial means. Rather, impress your audience with creative ways to express your ideas, words, and beliefs. That does not mean you should resort to elaborate animation sequences on PowerPoint. What it does mean is that you should be willing to explore how you can engage your audience. Believe it or not, audiences appreciate the ability to interact with you. So do yourself a favor and skip the “over-the-top” animations.

Practice

Now I realize that many college students like to breeze through presentations. Some of us even shudder at the thought of speaking publicly. No matter what path you choose, you have to practice your presentation throughly. What I have learned in the past few years is that if I prepare for a presentation throughly, I can deliver it without any nervousness in my voice and I will feel genuine passion for my topic. Let’s face it. Most of us college kids are not very passionate about academic topics. If you can feign genuine passion, believe me, your grade will improve greatly.

Now I now that this may seem like a very short list of tips, but you should remember that you have to find your own successful style. You probably won’t improve overnight, but you can start today to have a better presentation tomorrow. If you inspire yourself, you will inspire your presentations; and in return, you will have one hell of a presentation that will definitely leave your audience speechless. I found a great website that discusses professional presentations in great detail. Check it out and let me know how it works out for you.

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Once you succeed at a particular task or goal, do you ever think that you are on top of the world? Do you ever feel that there is nothing that you cannot accomplish? Too often, many people find themselves full of confidence once they accomplish the so-called “difficult” task. What you will not find is people challenging themselves to go further and not accepting their success as the apex of their life. So why do these people stay behind their success but fail to go beyond their own success? That is something worth asking yourself daily.

Afraid of failure

I remember reading a from a motivational book that many people are afraid of success. I never understood what the author meant by that until a few weeks ago. People are not exactly afraid of success; they are, in fact, afraid of “what happens” after success. This is the point where expectations increase and the pressure is on to re-produce the success. And it is at this point where almost everyone concerns themselves with failure. They feel afraid that they will not be able to replicate their success. They allow even the smallest setback as an omen for their upcoming demise. However, very few people look at the challenges and simply claim, my failure will be the success.

Failing is succeeding

We spend so much time telling ourselves how important it is not to fail that we almost always fail to even realize that success is built around failure. In my opinion, humans learn through mistakes. If one way doesn’t work, another way should work. If not, you keep trying another way until it does lead you to where you want to go. The best part is that humans have built this type of logic into robots too. Just take a look at the iRoomba vacuum cleaners. Sure, you can outline a boundary that defines the area. However, the robot “makes a mistake” by bumping into objects and automatically determines a way around the object. It will continue “bumping” until it finds a way out. Humans work the same way. Hence, if you fail, you are one step closer to success because you now know a way that does NOT work.

Success is just a stepping stone

Whenever you succeed, don’t waste your time thinking about how much you had to overcome and how it was such a great journey. The moment you succeed at something, begin planning for the future. Life is continually changing around us and your environment will change as a result. Hence, staying behind your success is a sure way to fail in the future. That’s why you have to start diversifying and looking for new ways to continue to succeed to ensure that your success arrives at a continuous pace.

What’s the difference between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence? They’re both actors and they’re both good at making people laugh. So why does one actor earn far more money than the other? Will Smith diversified himself by being a sitcom actor, an established singer, a serious drama actor, and an action hero. The same cannot be said for Martin Lawrence. Sure they both enjoy success, but by diversifying, Will Smith has ensured that he can enjoy success in different forms. He does not need to make comedy films to earn a reputation (e.g. Independence Day, I Am Legend).

Go beyond and win

To wrap it all up, the point is that you need to go beyond your success and ensure that you always succeed. Since life changes around you, it is logical to assume that you must continually change your ways to ensure that you continue to succeed. So don’t stay behind your success, stay ahead of it. If you disagree, why? How do you do things to ensure that success for you is not a limited resource?

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