Hey parents, here’s a little note to share with your beautiful teens…

I could teach you content with my eyes closed. The textbook has all the answers if you need them. But what does that matter if your internal environment is clearly struggling. You won’t hear me, you definitely won’t remember anything and, to be honest, I can’t imagine you would care but I’ve come to know that learning does not, and will not happen, if you are not living in a healthy mind.

The disconnect between a thriving internal and external environment can happen without us even knowing. You may look around and think why aren’t things going my way? Why does everything seem so difficult? How come I keep trying and failing? You may feel like you’re falling behind but you don’t know why, or perhaps you do know why but you’re fighting the motivation slump..

Through years of being in the classroom, it has become abundantly clear that a blocked mindset has the most profound impact on everything else around you. Your mindset has the power to change, shift and control every single outcome in your life. Every thought you let pass through your mind is represented in your world – so they need to be good! When we don’t know how to take care of our mindset, negative shifts can play out.

3 Mind-Bending Buggers that just get in the damn way!

1. Blockages

A lack of motivation, sitting in procrastination mode, uninspired and bored! These may be signs you have unconsciously put mental blocks in your way. It may start feeling frustrating when you’re stuck and unsure why. You may be asking yourself; why aren’t things moving forward? I can’t get ahead. When we’re in a state of overwhelm, mental blocks can sit right in the way. Starting with small tasks, tidying your physical environment and taking breaks when needed is a great place to start when shifting these blocks!

2. Limiting Beliefs

“I don’t think I can do it, so it’ll always be like this.” “I don’t have enough time.” Or “I’m too young to be …” sound familiar? Limiting beliefs keep you from reaching your most significant potential. Our beliefs influence our thoughts, words and actions, and then the way we interact with the world around us. The way you think then impacts your words and behaviour too.

3. Self-doubt

“I’m not … enough to do that.” Self-esteem is one of the most prominent challenges teens face. Changing this comes down to undoing a lot of negative beliefs. Challenging yourself consistently, and celebrating every accomplishment – big or small, will help to shed that self-doubt. A coach can really help you to create new patterns of self-belief and excitement about your future. 

Cause and Effect

Have you ever heard of cause and effect? For some people, they blame their situations on anything around them, anything but their own actions. This is known as being on the ‘effect’ side of the equation – you look at the effect of your actions and behaviours, or the way you’ve reacted to something, and you blame, get mad, find fault, or even sulk about it. The truth is, for any change to actually occur, you need to sit right in the ‘Cause’ of it all.  To be at cause means to take responsibility for all that is happening around you. Have you ever heard the saying “if you do what you’ve always done, then you will get what you’ve always gotten”? If you are at cause, then you are also at effect. If you make positive change then you will see positive results. Make sense? All you have to do is put more focus onto How rather than Why. Understanding Cause and Effect is very practical with the aim of training you to be in charge of your own mind, the way you think, your views towards past and present events, and mostly your approach towards life.

For example, believing something like; “I can’t concentrate on this assignment, because I’m having a hard time with life” the “because” in that statement has led to the effect. Effect focuses more on blame, you blame the other for what you can’t achieve.

The aim is to help you fix on the causes and how to achieve it. 

You’re not the first, you won’t be the last, but most importantly you’re not alone if you find yourself tumbling, caught off guard by the stumbling blocks of schooling and life stress. But, when you feel caught in a whirlwind, the Hatch Hub team are here to dust you off and pick up those blocks, working with you to reset them into a solid pathway that will keep you on course on even the hardest days.

As always, if you need us, we’ll be right here. The right coach is waiting for you to jump on a call. Whether you’re supremely gifted or your attention has drifted, there’s an Academic Specialist (aka the ally in your corner) ready to mentor any senior student, and suited to any subject or project you can throw at them. And because learning isn’t one dimensional Hatch Hub not only offers 1:1 academic support, but throws in wellbeing mentoring, group workshops, study organisation guides and education and mindset resources accessible Australia wide as the cherry on top.