John was missing homework deadlines. He wanted to hand in his homework but he didn’t know how to get organised and would learn afterwards that he had missed the date. No-one had ever taught him how to be organised and use a calendar to plan ahead. To make things worse, his deadlines and homework were all on the school system in a way that confused him.

What we did

• Created a calendar with John on his computer
• Put homework deadlines into John’s calendar
• Looked at the school information and put this into his calendar
• Planned when to do homework in his calendar
• Set a regular time for John to keep this process up to date

John went on to hand in all of his homework’s on time. He became much more confident about his deadlines because he could organise his schedule. John started to plan his work ahead of schedule and felt that he could relax because he was on top of his work.

Naomi began to sleep better which immediately helped her mood. Understanding toxic relationships and the damage they cause helped Naomi understand that things were not all her fault. She realised that she had experienced a form of bullying. She planned small changes in her life and began seeing her friends individually at first and then together. Naomi made sure that every day she used something from her self-care kit and gradually, her confidence grew and she felt that she was back in control of her life and able to care for herself.

Lydia kept going blank in her exams. She was an exceptional student who always scored highly in class tests or homework. However, whenever there was an exam her anxiety levels would build to such an extent that she could not think clearly and would go blank. This was very frustrating because when she left the exam she realised that she did have the knowledge after all but couldn’t remember it within the exam situation.

What we did

• Explored Lydia’s catastrophic thoughts and whether they were accurate
• Looked at the Stress Cycle of Panic and how to break it
• Identified the Role of Adrenalin in her anxiety response
• Understood the 3-Scoop Ice Cream Model of the brain
• Identified Stress Management Techniques to use before and in the exam
• Used the Revision Cycle and improved Exam Techniques

Lydia started to understand that she could control her reactions to stress. She learned how adrenalin works to affect the body and why it does this. As a result, she learned how to help adrenalin enhance her performance by using stress management techniques before and in her exams. In this way she could adjust her response and keep her thinking ‘on-line’ within the exam. She prepared using new revision techniques that actually mimicked her thinking and behaviour within the exam and this built her confidence in the run up to and in the exams.

Jake started to recognise how his critical self-talk was making him work so hard that he was burning out. He realised that by reducing his stress he could actually improve his performance. He learned to identify unhelpful and inaccurate self-critical thoughts and to replace them with positive evidence-based thoughts about his own strengths and his past achievements. He gradually learned to trust himself and to set realistic goals which reduced his procrastination. His confidence improved as he learned to believe in himself and stop using fear to motivate himself.

Michael was struggling with procrastination. Every time he tried to work he would put off the work for many hours and then feel very guilty about it. Each time it happened he felt less confident about his ability to get down to work and this undermined his confidence even further. He would often procrastinate all day and work late into the night to compensate. He felt that he could never be sure that he would get down to working and therefore planned to work for long hours when he did actually begin. The longs hours that he planned to work actually put him off starting to work because it felt so daunting. But he was caught in a cycle, feeling he should capitalise on the rare occasions that he managed to work by doing long hours and then being put off by these expectations.

What we did

• Identified the reasons why we procrastinate
• Learn to change states gradually from rest to work
• Value the role of momentum and how compound effects build using small pieces of work
• Use the 80:20 Rule to set up the best conditions for work
• Use regular and effective breaks to improve performance
• Use planning ahead as a method to reduce procrastination

Michael quickly realised how his expectations of himself were largely the cause for his procrastination. He identified his best conditions for working and set these up on a regular basis. He experimented with short pieces of work and realised that he worked best in cafes and needed to move environments in order to keep his productivity high. He started to trust himself and set up gentle ways to change states so that he would gradually feel ready to work, this included setting up a plan for the day and putting in lots of breaks. By putting this in place he started to build momentum which reduced procrastination even more. Michael started to be able to trust himself to actually do the work that he planned to do, when he planned to do it and this also reduced his procrastination.

Tessa learned how the order in which she carried out her revision activities saved her time, improved her memory and vastly improved the quality of her revision. She started to work using her best study conditions and gradually extended her periods of study as her concentration grew. Tessa set herself a balanced revision timetable, identifying her good and bad topics and mixing each so that she covered everything. She used breaks as a way to keep her concentration going over longer periods and as a way to test her long-term memory. As a result, Tessa felt so much more confident in her approach and this motivated her to keep revising even more. She was saving time and regularly saw just how much she was remembering. She also gave herself permission to take time off and to see her friends and relax in the evenings before bed. This meant that she felt she could continue the process right up until the exams without burning out. She went into her exam season in good condition and the revision techniques she learned helped with her exam technique.