Office Etiquette Tips - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / Office Etiquette Tips - Introvert Whisperer Office Etiquette Tips Things You Don’t Learn In School That Can Impact Your Career When we’re launching our first career, our biggest concern is our ability to handle the content of the job.   It’s a well-justified anxiety.   The next thing on our list should be our ability to become part of the office culture.   While a business culture is composed of many things, an early deal breaker is handling the office etiquette poorly.   It’s the thing that if done wrong, will create a negative impression that can stick with you and set your career up for a complete stall out.   Clearly, that’s not what you had in mind. Let’s look at some tips and the rationale for them: Pick up and respond to voicemail. In the business setting, you have to operate with a sense of urgency. Everyone is trying to get something done in a certain period of time.   If you are part of the food chain and hold up work because you spaced paying attention to your voicemail, you just negatively impacted business.  Not good. When you can‘t respond to voicemail. There will occasionally be the time when you are away from your desk and won’t be able to access your voicemail. When that occurs, change your greeting message to let people know you won’t be checking and to give them an alternative if the matter is urgent. Respond to email. While speaking to someone is faster and more effective, many people use email to save time, effort and avoid voicemail tag. Even if you get a high volume of email, skim each one to determine if an urgent issue exists that requires your attention.   Get to the rest of the emails when time allows. Confirm meeting requests. If someone is setting up a work meeting, they asked you because they thought it important for you to attend. Make sure you confirm your attendance and put it on your schedule. Notify for a cancel. If you have had an unforeseen issue arise that will cause you to miss a meeting, notify the meeting owner at the earliest possible time. This will allow them more time to move the meeting, if they determine you are a critical attendee.   This could create a cascading effect so you need to minimize how much you do this sort of thing.   Work out options for coverage.   Perhaps you can obtain a summary from a peer or send someone in your place.   Find out if key decisions will be made that you want to give input into â€" consider submitting your thoughts to the group in advance or to the meeting owner. Don’t gossip â€" ever. There is no real “code-of-silence” in the work place. Assume everything you say will get passed on to someone else. That includes bad-mouthing the boss. Be cautious in the morning. We all have biorhythms that dictate our energy level throughout the day. A vast majority of people require some ramp-up time in the morning where they might like silence, alone time or time to drink their coffee while emailing.   Pay attention to how other people function, especially in the morning. Don’t converse during a meeting. This can really offend some people, even if you are discussing the content with your neighbor. Stay focused on the meeting topic.   Engage the information and people at the appropriate times. Check your spam folder. You may have people sending important emails that your server has deemed as spam. Do yourself, and people you are doing business with outside of your company, a favor and check the spam folder at least once a week for the occasional errant (but important) email. Pay attention to noise. Especially if you work in an open or cubicle environment, you have to ensure your noise level is low. If you listen to music, put in ear buds.   When talking to someone, keep your voice lower than you might if you were in a closed space. The basic rule of thumb is to keep the business moving and be aware of the people in your work environment.   Everyone, including you, wants a job situation that they enjoy and can feel productive in.   While these points may not totally make or break your career, they can slow it down if you abuse the people who are trying to work with you. And now I would like to invite you to claim your Free Instant Access to the Career Makeover Newsletter AND eWorkbook “Should I Stay or Should I Go” â€" both dedicated to Your career success, when you visit. Do you know what your next career step is?   Many people don’t. I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my eBook on how to construct your Career SMART Goals â€" that will help you put together your actions and keep you accountable.   Get your copy now and start your action plan today: CLICK HERE Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleash your professional potential.

How to Play Jazz on the Guitar

How to Play Jazz on the Guitar Become a Jazz Guitarist ChaptersHow Do You Make a Jazz Guitar Sound?Jazz Guitar SwingThe Main Jazz ChordsJazz Guitar: The Minor Melodic ScaleJazz Guitar ImprovisationJazz Guitar Vocabulary“Jazz musicians were liking things before they were cool since before it was cool to like things before they were cool.” - AnonymousThe oldest guitar-shaped instrument is over 3,500 years old! While jazz music is much newer than that, it’s still got a rich and diverse history.While often considered elitist in comparison to styles like bossa nova or flamenco, this is mainly because jazz music is difficult for beginners to play but once you start listening to it and playing it, you'll see just how enjoyable it can be.Learning jazz guitar in order to play jazz blues, Gypsy jazz, or jazz-rock is an impressive feat. Not just anyone can become a jazz guitarist. You need to know how to play the guitar and then put a lot of effort in to come anywhere close to the great jazz guitarists like George Benson, Pat Martino, Kenny B urrell, or Mike Stern.In this article, we're going to look at what gives jazz tunes their distinctive sound and feel, what chord progression you should use, and how jazz guitar lessons can help you the next time you have to play a solo. PeterGuitar Teacher £12/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors EdgarGuitar Teacher 5.00 (8) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PaulGuitar Teacher 5.00 (12) £18/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ToddGuitar Teacher 4.75 (4) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors SamueleGuitar Teacher 5.00 (5) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors KurtGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RyanGuitar Teacher £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsHow Do You Make a Jazz Guitar Sound?Jazz has a warm, soft, and round sound. To get this, you need to start with a jazz guitar.The first thing you should do is buy a guitar i f you want to start playing! (Source: storytellersupply)Forget about a classical guitar or a folk guitar and look for an electric guitar with a big soundbox. These are also known as hollow bodies or archtops.  Of course, these come at a price as these instruments are designed with almost solely jazz in mind.The strings play an important role in producing a jazzy tone. In jazz music, the strings are very slack because they’re hit hard.  Opt for flatwound strings for a warmer sound.The pick or plectrum also plays an important role in creating that jazz sound. You need to get a really hard plectrum. In fact, some musicians even opt for wooden or horn plectrums. Choose one that’s slightly bevelled to avoid a harsh sound.  To get a jazz sound, the best way is to listen, listen, and listen again to jazz music to get an idea of the rich culture of the music.Jazz Guitarist InspirationDjango ReinhardtPat MethenyWes MontgomeryJimi RaneyJoe PassLarry CoryellGeorges BensonJim HallJohn McLau ghlinWolfgang MultsphielJohn ScofieldJimi HendrixKurt RosenwinkelJonathan KreisbergJazz Guitar SwingSwing is one of the foundations of jazz music!Jazz has a particular rhythm that takes a lot of practice to get right! (Source: WikiImages)What is it exactly?Swing (or shuffle in blues music) is a way of playing whereby the second quaver of each pair of quavers is played late. The quavers are played like a triplet. In jazz, you can play in a ternary rhythm instead of a binary rhythm if you want.I recommend listening to jazz rhythms on the drums to get a better understanding of how to play jazz guitar. While the drums are often found at the back of the stage, the drummer actually plays the lead role in jazz music.There are different ways you can swing. For example, you can vary your swing during a song. You needn’t always play that second quaver in the same way.  To get the hang of swing, you need to be laid back. You need to voluntarily play offbeat. However, you mustn’t do it all the time. You still need to play to the beat every so often.This technique is better with slow and simple songs. Just keep in mind that with jazz music, it’s better to be late than early.  Train your ear to understand this nuanced technique and replicate it.  Finally, work on jazz phrasing which can be really difficult for guitarists. PeterGuitar Teacher £12/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors EdgarGuitar Teacher 5.00 (8) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PaulGuitar Teacher 5.00 (12) £18/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ToddGuitar Teacher 4.75 (4) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors SamueleGuitar Teacher 5.00 (5) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors KurtGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RyanGuitar Teacher £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsThe Main Jazz ChordsPlaying jazz guitar is like building a monument... incredibly difficult!  There are plenty of chords, chord progressions, solos, licks, ways to play notes, guitar effects, and different styles (Gypsy jazz, blues rock, jazz fusion, etc.)  You won’t become a great jazz guitar player with just a few chords!Discern the difference between chord progression in jazz an when playing hard rock or heavy metal guitar...Jazz music takes more than just a trumpet! (Source: ahkeemhopkins)One thing’s for sure, while the deep fifth plays an essential role in rock, blues, and pop music, it has no place in jazz music.  With its powerful sound, it doesn’t really mesh well with jazz’s round and warm sound. However, it can be played on the higher notes.While this rule is often broken, it’s better to leave the low fifth harmonies to one side for now.  Jazz chords are usually enriched chords as they provide colour.  7th chords are very common in jazz music. These are the first ones you’ll learn, be them major or minor.You’ll find the same cho rds popping up again and again in popular jazz music. You can have fun with the jazz classics and start creating your own pieces easily. Jazz music often uses evolutions of a series of common chords. It’ll be much easier learning new chords once you’ve got the hang of the basics.When you see chord diagrams, they show you the fingerboard vertically. The lowest string is at the left. The frets are represented by boxes and circles represent where you should place your fingers. 1 represents your index finger and 4 represents your pinky. If there’s a cross on the string, it means you won’t play it.Jazz Guitar: The Minor Melodic ScaleRock tends to use minor pentatonic scales whereas the best jazz opts for the melodic minor scale.  There are plenty of minor scales but the minor melodic scale is the most commonly used for jazz solos.There are 7 notes in the scale and you don’t need to avoid any of them, unlike the major scale in which you should avoid fourths.  It’s played on ja zz’s iconic cadence: the II V I. This corresponds to C major, D minor 7 (II), G major 7 (V), C major 7 (I).To better understand this minor melodic scale, it’s recommended you do a few exercises:On D minor 7 and C major, play the D scale.On G major 7, play the flat minor melodic, also known as the altered scale.All these notes will produce a jazz feel to your music, getting you one step closer to that jazz style.How different is jazz guitar from playing rock or folk music on the guitar?Jazz Guitar ImprovisationWhat would jazz be without improvisation?Not much! Jazz music is built upon a musician’s ability to improvise. This is what makes mastering the style so difficult.There are certain scales at every jazz musician should be familiar with. (Source: SocialButterflyMMG)One thing’s for sure: if you want to become a jazz guitarist, you’re going to have to master it. Jazz isn’t an easy style for beginners to understand.In order to play jazz, you have to have a deep understan ding of jazz music. Furthermore, improvisation is the foundation of jazz. In order to improvise, you need to be fully versed in chords, scales, arpeggios, and harmonies.  You can’t improvise with just a few notes as your improvisation will be terrible.Why not start by playing intervals?The interval is the distance between two notes:C to C: Perfect unisonTwo notes from C (D): SecondThree notes from C (E): ThirdFour notes from C (F): FourthFive notes from C (G): FifthSix notes from C (A): SixthSeven notes from C (B): SeventhEight notes from C (C): OctaveOnce you go beyond the octave, you end up with double intervals. Intervals are useful for a number of things:Understanding how chords are put togetherPlaying chords on the neckCreating chords on an acoustic guitarReading notes and quickly finding themUnderstanding arpeggios, phrasing, and melodiesImprovising and finding new melodic ideasTraining your earMake sure to study music theory to better understand intervals, play better solos , and improvise better when playing jazz.And the, the next step would be to write your own guitar compositions...Jazz Guitar VocabularyBecoming a jazz musician is quite the challenge. It’s hugely important that you learn the lingo in order to improve your guitar playing, understand music theory and how a melody works, and create a composition.We've also included glossaries and explanations of vocabulary in our other articles on guitar resources and learning how to play the guitar,  so make sure that you also check them out!NutThis is the part at the far end of the fingerboard on the head of the guitar. This is one of the two points over, along with the bridge, where the guitar strings are suspended and make contact with the guitar.Sound BoardThis is the part of the guitar that receives the vibrations from the bridge and amplifies them.Now discover more music genres you could play on your guitar...

A Simple Way To Expand Your Guitar Solos

A Simple Way To Expand Your Guitar Solos Suzy S. Do you feel like your fingers get locked in a box on the neck when you want to improvise on the guitar? This simple tip from guitar teacher Samuel B. will help you blow the lid off that box and start building better guitar solos At the age of fourteen, I could readily cite figures such as Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jimi Hendrix as musical role models. I was not a child prodigy, but I maintained a pretty infectious enthusiasm for my instrument (and obviously still do). A year prior, Id been introduced to the blues scale by my eighth-grade band director and had used it in multiple rehearsal-room guitar solos. I now introduce it to my students once theyre ready to move up to the middle of the neck. There are two versions of it â€" the “clean” version (involving no more than two notes per string): E|O|||-O| B|O|||-O| G|O||O-|| D|O||O-|| A|O||O-|| E|O|||-O| and the “dirty” version (which is a little busier â€" see the two added notes): E|O|||-O| B|O|||-O| G|O||O-|-O| D|O||O-|| A|O|O-|O-|| E|O|||-O| These are both movable scales, which means you can play this shape up and down the neck starting on any fret. I will instruct you to play both versions backwards and forwards and (later) to experiment with them while I accompany you with a simple chord progression. You can also do this on your own with a recording or a looping pedal. After a while, you may find yourself unconsciously imitating patterns played by your own role models. Naturally youll want to branch out. Although enharmonic notes higher up the neck will likely prove seductive (and, yes, I play a small assortment of them in my guitar solos), Ive found it easier to play a parallel scale lower on the neck than the position where you have been playing the standard blues one: E||-X||-O|||-O| B||-X||-O|||-O| G|X|||-O||-O|-O| D|X|||-O||-O|| A||-X||-O|O|-O|| E||-X||-O|||-O| These added notes will make for a very different exercise for your left hand than standard version. For one thing, youll be using your index finger one-third as often as the bulk of movement will now be concentrated in your middle and pinkie fingers. Approach this scale delicately as it is more difficult to play than its neighboring version. After all, your index finger (thumb aside) is your strongest one. Also, dont focus on licks so much as fluidity. Take your time. Play this new combination backwards and forwards at whatever speed feels right to you. Once it has become familiar territory, youll be able to shift easily back-and-forth between both the lower scale and the higher creating twice as many possibilities for ways in which youll be able to express yourself musically. Samuel B. teaches beginner  guitar lessons in Austin, TX. He teaches lessons face-to-face without sheet music, which is his adaptation of Japanese instruction (involving a call-and-response method).  Learn more about Samuel here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo  by  jikatu

French Grammar Rules How to Conjugate Common Irregular Verbs

French Grammar Rules How to Conjugate Common Irregular Verbs Sign up successful The conjugation of “être” is probably the two most irregular verbs in French. For “être,” it can be helpful that “estar” and “ser” are the two Spanish verbs for “to be.” Both verbs are romantic languages with Latin roots. Spanish-speakers may see the forms of both verbs jumping out at them in different present forms. For those who dont speak another romantic language already, watch as the “s” present in the Spanish verbs sneaks back into the present tense conjugation of its French cousin: Je suis Tu es Il / elle / on est Nous sommes Vous êtes Ils / elles sont The root “ser-” the second Spanish verb for “to be” comes back also in conjugating the future tense in French. For those Spanish speakers out there, keep in mind also that the accent circonflex in French (^) often indicates an -s that over centuries became silent and was then dropped. So être  was likely at one time estre, and êtes  was likely once estes â€" again, likely very familiar looking to Spanish speakers out there. The verbs “aller” and “avoir” also change forms quite a bit in the present tense: Je vais Tu vas Il / elle / on va Nous allons Vous allez Ils / elles vont J ai Tu as Il / elle / on a Nous avons Vous avez Ils / elles ont The verb “faire” becomes a bit more regular. Like most -re verbs, the -re in faire comes off and is replaced by various endings in the present tense, with the exception of the third person plural. Some of the endings corresponding with other subject pronouns also vary a little from the typical -re endings. It is worth noting that this verb really has two separate meanings â€" to make and to do. So whether you talk about doing homework or making a cake, you will use the same verb when speaking in French. Here is the present conjugation: Je fais Tu fais Il / elle / on fait Nous faisons Vous faites Ils / elles font A notable element of irregular French verbs is that they sometimes come in pairs and trios that are conjugated in the same way. The pattern for conjugating “venir” can also be applied to “tenir” (to hold) and “revenir” (to come back). Je viens / tiens / reviens Tu viens / tiens / reviens Il / elle / on vient / tient / revient Nous venons / tenons / revenons Vous venez / tenez / revenez Ils / elles viennent / tiennent / reviennent Other similar pairs include: 1) “croire” (to believe) and “boire” (to drink) 2) “voir” (to see) and “revoir” (to see again) 3) “mettre” (to put) and “remettre” (to put back) Look out for these patterns to help you categorize the irregular verbs you know, and to learn them more easily! French grammar also has two irregular verbs for to know â€" “connaître” and “savoir”. To learn more about how to conjugate irregular verbs, check out the video below. As you acquire more French vocabulary, try practicing using these verbs. For instance, talk about places you might want to go to practice the verb “aller,” or descriptions of yourself or your and friends to use the verb “être.” Then write it down, and check your spelling for each form, correcting them if necessary. You might try using one or two per week â€" because each one will take repetition and reinforcement to remember, especially with the irregularities. Remember how common they are, though. That is, after all, why they are so irregular. Even with only a few verbs, you may find there is a lot you can say! For more one-on-one help with the French language, sign up for lessons with a private French tutor! Tutors are available to teach you in-person or online via Skype. Search for your French tutor today! Carol Beth L. teaches  French lessons in San Francisco, CA. She has her Masters in French language education from the Sorbonne University in Paris and has been teaching since 2009.  Learn more about Carol Beth here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by The Natural Step Canada

7 Sided Polygon

7 Sided Polygon A geometric figure which is formed by 7 straight lines by joining together but the lines should not cross each other, each of two lines meet at a point and form a vertex. So 7 sided polygon has 7 sides and 7 vertices 7 sided polygon is known as heptagon. Types of polygon: - Equilateral polygon is the geometric shapes which consists of all the same sides. For example rhombus is an equilateral polygon because all sides of rhombus are equal. Equiangular polygon is the figure when all angles are same. For example rectangle is an equiangular polygon because all angles of rectangle are equal to 90 degrees. Regular polygon are those figures whose all sides and angles are equal like equilateral triangle and square are the examples of regular polygon. Formula of regular polygon Sum of interior angle= 180 x (n 2) Each interior angle = 180 x (n 2) / n Sum of exterior angle = 360 degrees Each exterior angle =360 / n Number of diagonal = n x (n -3) / 2 Number of triangles = (n 2) Where n= length of each side of a regular polygon. Question: - Find the single exterior angle of a 7 sided polygon. Solution: - Each exterior angel =360 / n = 360 / 7 = 51.43 degrees (approximately). Question 2: - Find the number of diagonals of 7 sided polygon. Solution: - Number of diagonal = n x (n -3) / 2 = 7 x (7 3) / 2 = 7x4/2 = 7x2 = 14 There are 14 diagonals in a 7 sided polygon.

Can Online Tutoring Truly Work

Can Online Tutoring Truly Work 0SHARESShare Modern technology facilitates students to be remotely tutored via computers. The process supports the use of a whiteboard and the stylus system in which both the educator and the learner can write on a digital whiteboard using a stylus pen which is apparently comparable to writing on a notebook. This makes the experience of online tuitions more real and accepted. Tutor Pace, an online tutoring website strives to make the learning process more effective by providing the essential tools and material to tutors for imparting the best education to their students. It helps tutors to address some of the commonly faced challenges in their daily teaching practices: To make sure that every student is developing his learning and understanding skills in spite of having a different learning-understanding style To keep students engaged so that they can find interest in the program To teach difficult concepts with a motivating approach To help students to proceed to a higher level of thinking To instantly identify areas of student strength and weakness To continuously assess the students learning ability Customize teaching process to make it more effective These allow online tutors to teach, guide and monitor student effectively. What makes an internet learning effective? Highly Animated sessions to explain complex problems Active participation in discussion Option to take off Choice to turn off the voice-over 24/7 service Time saving and economical Interesting one-to-one session We are an educational-assistance portal offering a complete suite of assistance services to students from k-12 across the world. [starbox id=admin]

Building Childrens Confidence in School

Building Children’s Confidence in School School doesnt come easy for every child. It can be a challenging experience, and one that requires persistence and patience. Unfortunately, however, when school work becomes overly difficult, many children lose faith in themselves as students. Left uncorrected, this can have a lasting detrimental effect on a childs performance in school and overall attitude and demeanor. To pave the way for school success, parents should work to build their childrens self-confidence. Confident children do not shy away from hard work and will generally see failure as an opportunity to make changes and try again. How can you develop your childs confidence? Here are several tips: Be supportive. Children typically trust what their parents say as the truth, so its essential that parents regularly let them know that they believe in their abilities. To grow into capable, confident students, children need to feel supported by parents, not controlled. Let your child take the reins on homework and school and be on hand for help. Work together on goal setting. The process of goal setting helps children take control of their success, resulting in a greater willingness to attempt hard things and increased confidence that their efforts will yield good results. Encourage your child to lay out what he or she wants to achieve and the barriers standing in the way, as well as a plan to work around those obstacles. Foster independence. Whenever possible, parents should offer their children the chance to make decisions for themselves. Set high but achievable expectations, then put trust in your child to tackle tasks on his or her ownfrom homework to household chores. This will cultivate your childs sense of responsibility. Every accomplishment, however small or routine, gives your child the assurance that he or she is capable. Encourage doing new things. Parents who nudge their children to put themselves out there to try thingsfrom joining a new club to taking challenging classesare helping them grow and adapt to new situations. Always support your childs attempts to acquire new skills and learn from challenging endeavors. While parents cannot simply make their children confident, they can take note of their childrens strengths and encourage them to work hard, take initiative, persevere, and learn from their mistakes. These types of actions inspire children to go for what they want and strive to improve themselves as students and people, taking calculated risks along the way. Confidence, after all, is one of the building blocks for academic achievement. By making your child feel empowered and skilled, you are equipping him or her with the tools for lifelong school and career success. About Huntington Huntington is the tutoring and test prep leader.Its certified tutors provide individualized instruction in reading, phonics, writing, study skills, elementary and middle school math, Algebra through Calculus, Chemistry, and other sciences. It preps for the SAT and ACT, as well as state and standardized exams. Huntington programs develop the skills, confidence, and motivation to help students succeed and meet the needs of Common Core State Standards. Founded in 1977, Huntingtons mission is to give every student the best education possible. Learn how Huntington can help at www.huntingtonhelps.com. For franchise opportunities please visit www.huntingtonfranchise.com. 2018 Huntington Mark, LLC. Huntington Learning Center, the three-leaf logo, and 1 800 CAN LEARN are registered trademarks of Huntington Mark, LLC. Each franchised Huntington Learning Center is operated under a franchise agreement with Huntington Learning Centers, Inc.

How to Stay Motivated While Studying for the GRE

How to Stay Motivated While Studying for the GRE GRE/MAT Graduate School Blog What’s the hardest part of preparing for the GRE? In my experience as a GRE test-taker and a GRE tutor, I’d say it’s not any one skill or a single section of the exam. It’s motivation. Beating the GRE is a big, high-stakes undertaking. It can be easy to get discouraged if you run into difficultiesâ€"and you will! So many test-takers delay their entry into grad school, or get disappointing scores, because it was just so hard to stay motivated and on task during their studies. Don’t let this happen to you. Stay motivated by making the right study plan A good study plan can be a fine balancing act. You want to study enough to build your skills and make real progress. But you also want to schedule your studies realistically, making a plan that you have time for. A typical plan for GRE prep lasts about a month, but it’s also possible to improve your plan by extending it to last two or three months long. Keep your plan focused, organized, realistic, and flexible. Flexibility is especially important for staying motivated, because it’s easy to get discouraged if you set up a rigid, detailed study schedule, and fail to follow it exactly. Flexibility gives you the ability to get “back on the horse” even if you miss a day or two of your study plan. But even flexibility can only go so far. Sometimes the best-laid study plans of mice and men (and women) can go awry. So to be in the right, motivated mindset…. Be mentally prepared for setbacks You may fall behind on your study plan for reasons beyond your control. You may even need to put your study plan on temporary hiatus for something else in your lifeâ€"a move, a greater workload at your job, illness, family obligations… who knows? Life happens. And when life puts an obstacle on the road to your academic goals, that doesn’t mean your goals are truly out of reach. Make sure you think about how you’ll feel if you have to take a break from your GRE studies, either for a few days or longer. Think about ways you can stay in practice, at least a little, if you are on break. In other words, be ready to continue your GRE prep no matter what. Have the mindset that you will finish practicing for the GRE, and that no possible setback could be permanent. This is thekey to staying motivated,and this attitude decreases the chances that setbacks will actually delay your goals. Have fun Learning to enjoy your GRE studies is probably the biggest factor in staying motivated. It’s also a “motivation ingredient” that test-preppers often overlook. And this is understandable; at a glance, GRE prep doesn’t look like fun to most people. But GRE prep really can be a lot of fun. For GRE Verbal practice, you can read GRE-like articles from interesting news websites, such as the New York Times, BBC, and the Atlantic. You can play vocabulary games or math games with fellow study buddies. You can practice AWA by writing on Internet message boards that interest you, or posting to social media websites with your friends. There are many other possibilities as well. To say motivated, look for the ways that you can take the language and math skills on the GRE and use them in activities you enjoy. Keep your eyes on the prize This really ties it all together. While you’re carrying out your study plan, bravely weathering distractions and setbacks, and having fun, never let yourself forget that passing the GRE will get you into your dream school. And always think of passing the GRE as a matter of when, not if. Study time will pass, studying activities will be completed. And motivation will be your best friend along the way, walking with you on the road to your target score, and beyond. About David Recine David is a test prep expert at Magoosh. He has a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He has been teaching K-12, University, and adult education classes since 2007 and has worked with students from every continent.