How to reverse engineer your success

I am delighted to be one of the mentors for the TEN4TEN program here in the Central West. There are 10 year 11 students matched with 10 local community leaders for a unique mentoring experience.

My wonderful mentee is Amy and we meet monthly to check in and discuss her options over the next few years. She is celebrating her successful nomination as one of the Vice Captains for Orange High School in Year 12 after going through a rigorous selection process. Congratulations Amy! Great practice for the future! 

In our most recent catch up, Amy mentioned she is prepping for her Preliminary HSC exams - the year 11 exams in term 3 and she is feeling pressured on time and how to get her exam summaries ready. She is doing a wide range of subjects including some she refers to as "content heavy". We brainstormed different revision styles and came upon Mind Maps. This is a strategy that can be used for an overarching view of a subject and for drilling down into the smaller facts. I have used it previously while studying at medical school and beyond. 

Having chosen a studying and revision time, we talked about time management leading up to the exams. There are 5 weeks to go, and Amy wants to be revising and practising exam papers in the last two weeks. So there are 3 weeks to draft up the mind maps. 

We talked about time commitment per week, and prioritising certain subjects which are more content heavy. Amy was confident about reviewing this content herself, drawing up a weekly plan and evaluating how she is going every weekend. 

Finally we reviewed healthy self-care habits that Amy already has. She loves sport and regularly trains and plays netball and basketball. Catching up with good friends is a priority as well as getting a good night's sleep especially before a morning session of HIIT training. 

So using this strategy of reverse engineering Amy's success at her next exams, we worked backwards from the deadline, planned out what needs to be covered and what is the most content-rich and time heavy. Regular evaluation is so helpful to any plan and something I do weekly in my business. It helps me become aware of any obstacles that might be getting in the way of my goal. 

I was also interviewed for an article on Rural Health Pro about the TEN4TEN program which is available here.