Take the College and Career Readiness Quiz

Are Compliments the Key to Success?

Mon, 10/05/2015

Students have a lot on their plate, between presentations, exams, and other occasions in which they need to bring their A-game. Recent research shows that encouragement can help improve performance.

This article from New York magazine (http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/09/please-tell-me-about-a-time-i-was-awesome.html ) talks about a Harvard Business School working paper (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2662057 )on “best-self activation” (http://cbdr.cmu.edu/seminar/Dutton.pdf )that suggests that asking friends and family to remind you of your successes may enhance your ability to tackle problem-solving tasks. The idea is that you will be motivated to reach levels of past success. Additionally, this type of encourage seemed to improve response to stress, resistance to illness, emotions, and creativity, plus better relationships with employers and performance under pressure.

So if you’re struggling or stressing over an upcoming project, ask your nearest and dearest to remind you of how awesome you are and to bring up past examples of academic excellence.

Posted by: 
The College of Westchester