Make failures stepping stones to success !

Many children get upset if they fail to obtain expected marks exams despite studying regularly. Understand that failure is the first step towards success, and to find the reasons for failure and implementing appropriate solutions is the right way to proceed. To help students who are facing such situations some common reasons for failure and the remedies are given ahead.

Causes of failure and their Solutions

1. Not studying wholeheartedly

Usually children feel bored of studies, but love sports as well as reading story books and mystery books. They are not very fond of studies because every word has to be read carefully, with concentration and special effort has to be put in to understand the topic. Children also have a number of other distractions like cartoons on television, cricket series, movies etc. because of which they do not study wholeheartedly.

1 A. Solutions

1 A 1. Impress the importance of studying upon your mind !

1. You will have to exercise and practise a game daily if you wish to become a great sportsman, is it not ? Similarly, everyone wishes to have a bright future, for which studying is very necessary.

2. Studying is like penance, which enhances knowledge. To experience this joy of knowledge, you need to study a lot.

Dear Children, if you feel bored of studying, recollect these points! This will impress the importance of studying on your mind.

1 A 2. Take autosuggestions 

Example : Master Gurudas has fixed a time to study during the day; however, he does not begin studies even when the hour shows up, and he continues to play.

Personality defect : Lack of seriousness for studies

Autosuggestion to be taken by Master Gurudas : Whenever I continue to play even after my study time is up, I will become aware that ‘I will pass the exam with good marks only if I study on time’, and immediately I will start studying.

2. Lack of concentration during studies

2 A. The mind gives rise to a train of thoughts which distract the mind :  Dear children, in a previous article we have seen the structure and function of the mind. We perceive the external world through the five sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin, and then we get thoughts about what we have perceived. An example is illustrated below

When you hear a song, the thought process that generally occurs is – Listening to a song – The singer who has sung that song – Name of the film – The actors who appeared in that song – Friend accompanied to the film – Conversation with the friend etc.

Although the text book is in front of the child’s eyes, the mind is wandering. Consequently, the mind cannot concentrate on studying.

2 B. Remedies to enhance concentration

2 B 1 Keep your mind pure and clean : If your mind is pure and clean, concentration is easily attained. Bad thoughts make it difficult to attain concentration. Hence, read only good books from which you can learn something, watch good programmes on television and befriend those who have noble thoughts.

2 B 2. Take autosuggestions : To become aware of the mind drifting and to be able to concentrate on studies, take autosuggestions.

One example of an autosuggestion : ‘Whenever the thought of playing cricket comes to my mind while I am studying, I will become aware of it and by becoming aware of the fact that my welfare lies in studying with complete devotion and concentration, I will concentrate on my studies’.

When this is done continuously for 2 to 3 weeks, the wayward mind can be brought back to studies. So when the mind begins to get engrossed in the sequence of listening to a song – the actor singing the song – the film etc., the subconscious mind makes the conscious mind aware of it, and before it drifts further, brings it back to studies. (For an overview of how to enhance concentration refer to this article on our website.)

3. Poor memory

3 A. Concentration and memory are interdependent : Usually, concentration and memory go together; if concentration is good, the memory is good too, and if concentration is poor, the memory is poor. The reason is whenever something is read with concentration, it reaches the subconscious mind and is retained well in the memory.

At times, even if the concentration is good, whatever is read is not retained in the memory. The reason is, if an individual is suffering from a major psychological illness, then to be able to forget the unhappy incidents, his subconscious mind creates memory loss for those incidents. This is termed as ‘defence mechanism of the subconscious mind to overcome anxiety’. Once this defence mechanism is used by the subconscious mind, along with anxiety-creating events many useful things are also forgotten. If this takes place in a student, then though his concentration is good, he is unable to recollect what he has studied. Hence, poor memory is found among students who have suffered from a major psychological illness.

3 B.  Remedies to improve memory 

3 B 1. Play memory games : Memory games help to keep the brain invigorated and help retention.

3 B 2. Perform Yoga : Simple Yoga asanas (like Suryanamaskar) and breathing exercises also help increase concentration.

3 B 3. Prayer : Prayer is a powerful tool. When we pray earnestly to God, He helps us in different ways. Reciting Shri Sankashtanashana Ganapati Stotra is praying to Shri Ganapati, the Deity of Knowledge.

4. Too many personality defects

Laziness, procrastination, lack of time-management, lack of seriousness, lack of self-confidence, overconfidence are some of the personality defects in children, because of which they are unable to study properly. Besides, psychological energy of children with greater number of personality defects is wasted in unnecessary aspects. That is why, their potential is not utilised to the fullest and they are unsuccessful in exams.

To learn how to get rid of one’s personality defects, go through the series on Personality Development.