Think Future: Year 8 Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude

1 What is a ‘can do’ attitude? A ‘can do’ attitude means: learning not to give up when things don’t go to plan being willing to move beyond your comfort zone. Developing a ‘can do’ attitude is critical to building resilience.

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude2 What is your ‘comfort zone’? Your ‘comfort zone’ is what you are comfortable doing. – When you are in your comfort zone, you are not stretching yourself or trying new things. There are lots of things you can do to move beyond your comfort zone. – For example, enter a competition, sing a solo, deliver a speech, or try a new activity. Successful people often step out of their comfort zone to achieve their goals.

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude3 Think about it Think of a situation when you stepped outside your comfort zone. Tell the person next to you what you did and how it felt.

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude4 What is procrastination? Procrastination is delaying something that needs to be done. – If you put off doing your homework, revising, or tidying your room, you are procrastinating. We often procrastinate when we are outside our comfort zone, to avoid doing something we find difficult.

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude5 Think about it Think about a recent situation in which you procrastinated. Why is it better to get things done sooner rather than later?

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude6 Avoid putting yourself down (1) To develop a ‘can do’ attitude, you need to learn to recognise the ways in which you may undermine yourself. Try to think of ways in which you might be preventing yourself from achieving.

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude7 Avoid putting yourself down (2) Do you ever find yourself saying things like this? There’s no point revising, I’m not going to pass anyway. I’d like to join, but I’d have to audition. What if I made a fool of myself? If you want to develop a ‘can do’ attitude, you need to avoid thinking like this!

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude8 Case study: Rebecca (1) Rebecca is in Year 11. She has a mock History GCSE exam in one month’s time. She is thinking of going to college, so her grades really matter: she will need six GCSEs at Grade A–C to do the course she would like. However, she finds History very difficult and keeps telling herself, ‘There’s no point in revising since I won’t do well anyway.’ If we can change Rebecca’s attitude, we can change her actions as well.

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude9 Case study: Rebecca (2) What can Rebecca do to improve her grade at GCSE?

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude10 Case study: Rebecca (3) You may have suggested that Rebecca could: be more positive – she should try to change the way she thinks ask for help from tutors and/or parents create a revision schedule ask for past papers so she can do some practice before the exam ask to see the mark scheme for past exams, so she can see what is expected.

Lesson 5: Developing a ‘can do’ attitude11 Summary Whatever you do, there will be times when you: encounter setbacks do less well than you expected find yourself outside your comfort zone. Failure in itself does not matter. What is important is the way you recover from any negative experiences