10 Mentalities I gained in High School

1. Just because someone else has a better or a different idea than you, it does not give you a reason to feel bad about yourself and/or the other person.

2.Similar to #1, just because someone else is better than you at something, it does not mean that you have to act defensive and compare your other strengths with him/her. Instead, use your energy to bring the other person up instead of putting your energy towards negativity. You are not going to be good at everything, and it is important to acknowledge the strengths of someone else.

3. Always have a mindset that is eager to learn something new, whether it’s a new skill, or something new about another person. Be open-minded to new things instead of fearing them.

4.It’s OK to fail the first time, because mistakes are crucial in the process of learning the right things and remember by heart.

5.Be open in accepting criticisms and advice from others even though you may think they are irrelevant. It’s good to know your image in someone else’s eyes. Again, this tip can be very useful in practicing the art of open-mindedness.

6.Even if in the back of your mind you are devaluing someone or you think they are not worthy of your time, erase that thought because

7.It is ALWAYS your responsibility to make the first move in breaking the ice when you initially meet someone for the first time. After all, this can paint a great first impression of you and help you improve whatever social fears you have.

8.Its never a bad idea to talk more than the other person (about yourself, different topics, etc…), except for gossiping about people, but do keep a good balance of not talking too much and let the other person engage as well.

9.NEVER stop trying and putting your 100% in everything because sky is the limit.

10.When you think others have it all together and everyone else are all in a better position that you, stop and erase that thought immediately because no one has it all together and they have other struggles that you have no clue about!

BONUS: Never underestimate yourself and the power you can exude onto someone else 🙂

10 Tips on Motivating Yourself to Work-Out

I have a love-and-hate relationship with working-out: I love it because I feel stronger afterwards, yet I hate it because of the painful physical process. As mentioned in my “Skills & Hobbies” section, one of my favorite hobbies is swimming, so for me, I treat swimming as my work-out routine. Having been a competitive swimmer who swims a few dozen laps 2-3 times a week, there were definitely times where I wanted to give-up and skip out my practice sessions. However, I learned few tips and tricks to change-up my mindset and motivate myself. Remember, committing to working-out is all about having the appropriate mentality, and with these tips below, you will be amazed at the results you produced from yourself! 

1. Have a reason or a goal as to why you are working-out: Similar to completing projects at work or school, these actions all stemmed from having a goal and a desire to achieve that goal. When you are facing emotional and/or physical barriers while working-out, having a goal creates a reason why you should continue this routine. Your goal will be unique compared to other people’s goals, so YOU gotta keep that goal in the back of your head to constantly motivate YOURSELF.

10 Tips on Time-Management

As a high-school student who had to juggle 5 different extra-curricular activities and maintaining decent academics, having the skill to manage my time properly has helped me a long way. In my last 2 years of high-school, I was a senior cadet in Air Cadets, on the Executive team for 2 major clubs in my school, practiced 1 hour piano every day for my Grade 10 RCM Piano Certificate, and maintained  a 90+ average at academics. Read below for 10 tips (in no particular orders) on how I learned to manage time efficiently and effectively!

1. Be disciplined, that means actually following your plans and schedules that you made: Most online tips would just tell you to make a schedule, but any plan can be destroyed by a single thought of procrastination (trust me I have made this mistake more than enough). In order for you to actually execute your planned schedule, being disciplined is definitely the key to success. What does being disciplined mean? It means telling yourself to stop procrastinating and actually get to work. When you have a busy schedule, you won’t be able to afford losing time to a few extra YouTube videos. To manage your time properly, going hard on yourself will only result better rewards for you.

10 Overall Tips on Surviving IB

Looking back at my 2 years of being an IB student, I definitely learned many valuable lessons (except how to fully spell IB) and tips that made me into the person I am today. I finished IB with a 39/45 points, and I decided to make this post, which includes 10 tips gathered from my friends who got even high points, and myself as well. Enjoy!

1.Start early on everything: Waiting till the last night to start an assignment will automatically give you more stress. IB itself causes you a lot of stress, so why wait and give yourself even more stress? Plus, if you do wait till the last minute, the quality of your work will also slope downward, resulting in a bad mark.

10 Tips on Choosing the Right University For YOU

Relating to my first post on “Life Events” where I discussed the process of my application to universities, this post is for me to share my insights on how to choose the right university/college for YOU! They are in no particular order, and these points are focused on choosing between University of Waterloo and University of Toronto (both are great schools in Canada) when I was in this difficult position. *Disclaimer: these points are purely my opinion/experiences, and it is crucial to be open-minded so that you respect the universities/colleges that you did not end-up choosing.

1.Visit the campus and get a general vibe of the post-secondary institute. See if you can get inspired in the surroundings of the campus. For example there was a distinct difference in the overall aura of the campus when I visited University of Waterloo and University of Toronto.