10 THE RULES FOR BEING HUMAN

1. You will receive a body.
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period of this time around.

2. You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of trial and error: Experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works."

4. A lesson is repeated until learned.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. 'There' is no better than 'here...'-
When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."

7. Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie inside you.
The answers to Life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

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Top Ten Study Tips

There are as many different ways to study as there are different people. The following is a list of tips that have worked best for the greatest number of people. Some of them may work for you, some of them won't, but try them all and work out your own study plan. You cannot change the number of hours, but you can decide how to best use them.

1) Study in the Same Place
Find a secluded place, away from distractions, with plenty of space to work. Once you've found it, study at the same place every time. It could be a desk in your bedroom, the kitchen table, or the local library. Laying down on your bed or sprawled across the living room rug are generally not good study places. Also make sure that you keep your spine erect for better level of concentration.

2) Study at the Same Time
Figure out a suitable time of day you can concentrate best, and what works into your schedule. Use that time every day to study. Try to make sure it is not too late in the evening. It is important to have uninterrupted study time.

3) Use a Homework Box
Keep all your homework supplies in one place, ready to be used. Keep them organized, and you won't need to waste your time searching for resources.

4) Cut out All Distractions
If your Study Place is too warm, you might become sleepy. If it is too cold, your thinking may slow down and become unclear. The TV should be switched off, other people's conversations should be in another room, music should be turned down, and phone calls should be taken after you've finished studying. Any other thoughts in your mind should also be set aside for a later time.

5) Do the Hard Things First
If you are dreading a particular assignment, or you are aware that it requires a lot of extra effort, do it first. Your brain will be fresh. Besides, you won't have to dwell on it while you are working on other homework.

6) Schedule Long Term Projects
Larger projects need to be broken into smaller components to make them convenient. For example, these components could be such things as gathering notes, writing a rough draft, making corrections or additions, writing a bibliography, and completing the final copy. Set yourself a deadline for completing each component and make sure you stick to it.

7) Review Regularly
Homework is not just that which is assigned every night. A regular review of your notes should be a part of your homework plan. This takes just a few minutes each day, but will pay off considerably when it comes to test time.

Write up a Contract
Each Sunday before a school week, prepare a Weekly Schedule. Update it as the week goes on. Be sure to include times for completing assignments, working on projects and studying for tests.

9) Schedule Each Homework Session
When you sit down to do your homework, make up a quick schedule as to how you are going to use your time. Break it up into blocks of time that you will spend on each task.

10) Avoid Doing a Marathon
If you've followed the previous tips, this last one should never happen. However, you need to know that marathon study sessions are the least productive way to study. So don't keep your things pending till the last moment to avoid unnecessary hiccups.

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