Some Preparatory Thoughts

1. Calm yourself and your mind before doing the exercises.
   
2. Be prepared to DO the action necessary to accomplish each exercise.If necessary, make a pact or commitment with yourself to do the exercise as outlined so you know you've struck a deal with yourself.
   
3. Understand that the exercises cannot fix you -- you are responsible for yourself. Only you can fix you.
   
4. Be fully honest at all times with yourself. Keep a daily journal and tell yourself what's on your mind before each day's exercise routine.
   
5. If you don't like something that is going on in your life, say so. Then ask yourself what action you can take to fix it.
   
6. Recognize that progress comes one step at a time, and be prepared to decide on each step to be taken. Then take action so that your goals can become reality.
   
7. Be still and listen to your inner self-guidance. Hear your inner voice without any preconceptions and without overlaying it with the thought patterns that have held you back in the past.
   
8. Recognize that outer and inner changes will most likely happen together, because one is unlikely to occur without the other.
   
9. Be open to success, and to wonderful changes in your life. Expect them, demand them and know they will come.
   

Corporate Lessons from Children

The most beautiful, challenging, yet thrilling dimension of a training career comes from interacting with children. They are smart, creative, simple and honest. These four attributes are, however, quite rare in most modern workplaces. Although we do invest a lost in making our employees creative, the environment we provide is often contradictory.

Here are few observations:

• Children ask for everything- no matter how expensive it is. They don't care about who actually owns it. They know what they want and they demand it. Grown-ups on the other hand, waste their lives wondering whether to ask for it or not!
  
• Children always want to win, without hurting someone else. They don't create trouble for others in order to pursue good for themselves… they just care about winning. Are we still that eager, yet not greedy?
  
• Children are happy without any particular reason. Searching for reasons to be happy for many adults is close to nonsensical.
  
• Children get bored quickly. They hate doing the same thing over and over again. This disenchantment gives them the hunger to find new things to do, or at least new ways of doing the same old thing.
  
• Children forget grievances, and more on with building stronger relationships. They fight, they yell- yet they settle issues, 100 times faster than adults. What a shame for us older lot.
  

(Dawn Classified, Dated: 08^th Mar 09)

Problem Solving Tactics

Tactic	Action	Outcome
CLARIFYING	Re-read the problem as if you were editing it: analyze givens, make unstated assumptions explicit, clarify goals.	A restatement of problem--its givens, assumptions, and goals--in your own words.
VISUALIZING	Draw a figure and label givens, close your eyes to form a mental picture and then imagine what the experiment would look like if you set up the equipment.	A figure, diagram, model which should help you see relationships between givens and unknowns.
ANALOGY	Recall or use the text or notes to find a similar problem, method, result, useful theorem technique.	A model to follow in solving your problem.
SUBGOAL	Break problem into simpler problems; do only part of the problem.	Partial solutions leading towards goal.
ALGEBRAIC	Introduce variables for unknown; write equations, relations.	Symbolic representation of the problem.
BRAIN-STORMING	Think of every formula or definition related to the concept or terms.	A list of formulas, conversion factors, or definitions to be used.
QUESTIONING	Assume you are going to ask the instructor for help: what would you ask? Identify what you need to know to solve the problem.	A list of questions whose answers lead to a solution.
UNIT ANALYSIS	Compare units in answer you want to compute with units in given information; look for conversion factors involving these units.	A series of relationships involving units which can be multiplied or divided to get desired goal.
IDENTIFYING	Identify concept behind problem, type of problem, section of book from which taken.	Once you know the concept behind the problem you can use brainstorming, analogy, or other tactics.
TEAM	Work with a classmate or friend.	Discussion of ideas which can lead to broader understanding.
TRIAL-ERROR	Hit-miss attempts; try special cases.	Corrective feedback, better understanding of problem; may lead to induction.
INDUCTION	Try cases, searching for a pattern.	Generalizations and insights about problems.
WORK BACKWARDS	Begin with answer if given, or approximate an answer, try to figure out how it was obtained.	The process for solving the problem.
LOOK BACK	Check and verify your work; is solution reasonable?	Verification of solution.
INCUBATE	If making no progress after 30 minutes, stop working on problem, sleep on it, or leave it for a few hours.	An opportunity for insights and ideas to develop.
GO FOR HELP	Ask for hints or explanations.	Obtaining necessary insights and strategies.

www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/supplemental_instruction/manual/probsolving-groupwork/probsolve-tactics.doc