This thought is often accompanied by avoidant behavior that might cause students to put in less effort into subjects they might not like. The decreased effort results in fewer chances for practices which eventually lead to lowered grades. When students receive the low grades, they perceive the grades as a reliable indicator of their chances at future success with the subject and in their minds, the notion that they were always going to fail at that subject is cemented.

While it might seem like this self-fulfilling prophecy is borne out of disinterest on the student’s part, it is important to understand the other emotion that possibly underlines this disinterest – fear.

What is fear?

Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm. An intriguing aspect of fear is that we do not even need to experience said danger, pain or harm in order to feel scared – a mere prospect of pain would suffice.

Yet, fear is also debilitating. On a physical level, it activates our biological fight-or-flight responses – elevating our heart rate and making fearful memories more vivid. On a psychological level, fear affects how we think and make decisions. Rational thought gets thrown out the window, causing us to make snap decisions that we might later regret. What’s more, memories that evoke fear stay in our minds, more vivid than other memories, eliciting the same emotion when we remember them at a later date. One day, we have a fear-inducing encounter with a spider. The next time we see, or even think about, a spider, we are likely to experience fear again. This would stop us from ever going near a spider again and we become entirely disinterested in ever learning more about spiders. When asked why, we say we simply do not have an affinity with them. How, then, does this relate to students and examinations?

How fear leads to disinterest at school

Take for instance, a student who put in all his effort into studying for a Math test but has received bad results. He might feel fearful about investing as much effort for the subsequent Math test. The pain or threat of failure is, at the very least, unpleasant, because it implies that the student’s efforts are useless. As time passes, the amount of effort invested is reduced and his ‘inability’ to do well at Math becomes a part of his self-concept. Years later, the student sits in a Mathematics classroom, entirely disinterested. On a subconscious level, his vivid memories of previous failed attempts at Math and the stinging notion of his perceived incompetence contribute to his fear, leading him to mask it with disinterest. Just like with the spiders, it seems easier to simply choose the path of least resistance.

The challenges in fighting fear

In an academic setting, the biggest problem with this is that it is entirely counterproductive. Avoiding one’s inner fears only means that these fears will never be addressed and might be exacerbated. In a sense, its abstract nature makes it all the more difficult to eliminate. After all, it’s not like we could get an emotional transplant and replace fear with a positive emotion of our choice. What’s more, fear manifests in concrete consequences that affects learning and progress. Taking a leap of faith to test our own abilities can be terrifying.

Fighting fear and disinterest

Luckily, the intangible nature of fear is also its weakness for it can be defeated with tangible actions. The only real way to fight fear is not to eliminate it, but to push through it regardless of its existence. In school, the best way to combat disinterest borne out of fear is to simply try. Try and try again, and after each try, approach teachers for constructive feedback so that every attempt is better than the previous.

Fighting against fear is arguably scary, intense and risky. However, to remain in a state of emotional and academic stasis would be unfair to our future selves, who are relying on our current selves to be brave and courage, as Nelson Mandela once said, is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.

While sleep hygiene might be easier to achieve for those of us who have fixed daily routines, it is actually more important for those of us who have irregular daily routines. Students usually have irregular daily routines due to lesson schedules or project/assignment deadlines to meet. Students might find themselves sleeping at different times each day to make up for sleep deprivation on longer school days.

Prolonged sleep deprivation affects our heart rate, blood pressure, immune system. It can also affect our moods and memory. This would impair our social and cognitive functions at school and work. Thus, developing good sleep hygiene would enhance the quality of our sleep. How do we do it? Read on to find out!

Develop a sleep routine

The best thing about good sleep hygiene is a consistent sleep routine. All of us have different circadian rhythms – biological sleep systems that secrete hormones, regulate body temperature and respond to light in the environment. Based on signals from our circadian rhythms, our bodies know when to awaken and fall asleep. Irregular sleep habits cause our circadian rhythms to get confused, preventing us from falling asleep when we want to. Resetting our body clocks with a consistent routine would help us achieve quality sleep.

For example, you can develop a habit of having a warm cup of chamomile tea, followed by a bath before bedtime. In time, your body would adapt to this routine and your circadian rhythms would take into account these nightly repeated behaviours, allowing you to not just to fall asleep easily but to have a quality night’s sleep as well.

Put phones away before bed

Some of us might already have a consistent nightly routine. We wind down before bedtime, snuggle into bed and… use our phones for the next couple of hours. In this regard, our mobile devices hold us, hostage, keeping sleep at bay.

The blue light emitted from mobile phones affects our circadian rhythms, causing us to be more alert. Blue lights prevent the release of melatonin as well, a hormone associated with sleep.

Try to put the phones away before bed. If you really have to use it, good sleep hygiene practices would include dimming the lights on our mobile devices or, if we’re reading on our phones, switching to night mode so that the screen would not be as bright. There are also apps that can be downloaded to reduce the blue light emitted.

Don’t stalk the clock

Even with a good pre-bedtime routine that involves putting our phones away, there is one more important presence in our rooms that can affect our sleep hygiene – the clock. It stares at us with unforgiving eyes, reminding us of how fast time is passing and how quickly we have to wake up. If you find yourself tossing and turning in bed, thinking ‘I only have 5 hours left before I need to wake up…I only have 4 hours left before I need to wake up…’, you’re not alone.

The trick to falling asleep, in this case, is to not focus on the idea that you HAVE to fall asleep. Rather, just believe that you WILL and try not to think about it.

With these tips and tricks up our sleeves, we’d be able to achieve quality sleep that would lead to improved physical and psychological health and an enriched life. Sounds like a great way to start the new year!

On 12th and 13th August, 51±¬ÁÏ and 51±¬ÁÏ Kumis organised the 7th edition of the 51±¬ÁÏ Badminton Open 2017. 1. The tournament was held at 51±¬ÁÏ SAMTAS Hall. A total of 176 Badminton enthusiasts from all over Singapore turned up and battle it out for the top 3 spots in each of the 4 categories.

Facilitated by Mr Eric See, from the Tournament Workshop, teams from institutions such as the Singapore Institute of Management, Institute of Technical Education and local Polytechnics locked horns in both Singles and Doubles categories.

Ten members of our 51±¬ÁÏ Badminton Club took part in the Men’s Singles and Doubles categories respectively. Though they did not make it to the semi-finals, they fought valiantly against their opponents.

The next adrenaline packed event was the 51±¬ÁÏ Paintball session, which received an overwhelming response from the students. All 40 slots were fully booked a month prior to the event.

The event was held at the Singapore Discovery Centre. Participants were taught on the basic offensive and defensive tactics about the game. After some intense shoot-outs, students were left with multiple colours of pellets marks on their clothing.

Participants noted that they felt very satisfied after the event as they had bonded well and made new friends through this event.

Customer Experience (CX) has now become a key differentiator for top brands and can make all the difference between a retailer’s success and failure. Businesses are now recognisning the need to increase their efforts across various customer touch-points and pay more attention to localising customer-management initiatives.

Here are 7 tips on improving the CX for retailers.

• Respond to feedback

Do not ignore customers. Consumers hold responses on their feedbacks to the company in high regard. They are unlikely to support retailers that do not respond to their feedback.

• Fix it the first time

One of the top frustrationsconsumers have are when they have to ask for the same information multiple times, and not having issues resolved the first time.Retailers need to prioritise and minimise the amount of effort customers need to go through to have their issues resolved. This can involve additional training and the empowerment of frontline staff in resolving customers.

• Make customers believe

Be sure to let your consumers know you are listening and acting on their feedback. This makes customers feel valued and the service delivery personalised.

• Invest in the online experience

Online processes and offerings help retailers become more efficient. Social media platforms must also be maintained and attended to as the platforms are now a popular medium where customers interact with businesses.

• Be one easy call away

While customers are more open to online channels for services and feedback, brands should still make it a point to have their phone numbers readily available in case customers feel they need to contact the organisation.

• Put security first

Customers do not always “see� your security, but want to know it is there. Walk the fine line of having publicly accessible information about the company’s security measures without revealing too much information to potential data thieves.

• Balance technology and the human touch

While technologies offer efficiency, companies need to understand that the human touch is still important to customer experience. Companies must balance appropriately make use of technology or the traditional human touch across all their touch points.

With these 7 tips in mind, retailerscan avoid being caught in the “experience gap� – the gap between the experience brands believe they are delivering and the experience their customers actually receive. Creating a positive experience for consumers is the key to customer acquisition, retention and even promotes their brand through word-of-mouth.