Book “Positive Solutions for Success”, and Coach Jill Larson drastically changed the way I look at life and think. The program guided me how to live a stable and quality life, which is based on health, wellness, wealth and relationships. Every topic (term) has many subtopics that explains it minutely. What is interesting about all of those terms is that no matter how different and independent we think they are, we cannot live quality life without any of those. With Coach’s teaching and experience it helped me realize it.

Until the sessions with Mrs. Larson I didn’t realize how much I was aggravating myself. I was so blocked that I didn’t even realized those were blocks. She helped me realize that things aren’t unsolvable as I imagined them in my head. Taking ACTION STEPS I understood how to deal with my life, how to aim negative thoughts, love myself and others.

Besides my own problems and blocks I got to know how to take care of my finances, which was a nightmare for me. Mrs. Larson insisted on writing everything down, having a journal, and being overall organized. Those action steps and organization skills were the key for succeeding my fears. Nonetheless, for me, the most important is that I learned I should never be scared out of something new, it only gives me more unnecessary blocks.

This twelve hours course made me aware that the time, which is given to us, is precious. We should always work on ourselves and respect each other. Most importantly what I learned is that we are doing all of this so we can ENJOY our life, and prevent ourselves from being a prisoner in our own life.

I’ve learned a lot through this program. I benefit a lot from the way I think, the way I do things, and the way I treat others. I began to make a new plan for my life. I also implemented this plan, and I found it to be of great help to my life.

The biggest improvement for me was the section on health and wellness. Before the course started, my mental wellness had a big problem… This course and Mrs. Larson gave me a suggestion. If I feel angry, depressed, or anxious, I can ask myself: “What should I do to improve this situation?” Then just do that. After that, I started to calm down. I understand that there are always opportunities….
I am very grateful to Mrs. Larson and Positive Solutions for Success program.

Another section that helped me a lot is the meditation section. Before that, I didn’t have an exact concept of meditation, let alone meditation. So I don’t think it will help me much. Before this section began, Mrs. Larson sent us a video to help us meditate. And during the class, Mrs. Larson showed us the specific way to meditation. After this time, I discovered the benefits of meditation. In fact, meditation has many benefits. Meditation is enlightening. This practice of meditation is an exercise that constantly pulls our hearts back to the present. Ten minutes of meditation you have to deal with thousands of thoughts. So, meditation will subtly improve our concentration. Some buddies have improved their listening and learning efficiency through meditation. This practice also improves your ability to perceive, and you will find your impulsive emotions in the face of things, which is not easy to be emotional. Once I was angry and angry, I couldn’t detect it, and I regretted it when I was angry. And now I sometimes find that I already want to speak up against others. At this time, I will stop, think about the reason, and adopt a reasonable treatment.

Another thing I learned is leadership. The most important thing I have learned is leadership. First of all, if you want to lead others, you must learn to respect yourself and respect others. Only by learning to respect can we better develop our leadership abilities. Another point is that we must learn to impose strict requirements on ourselves first, and then ask others.

Overall, this program has helped me a lot, whether it is in terms of physical health or life or my leadership skills. Thank you very much Mrs. Larson and his team for bringing us such a good Program!

The thing that I liked most about the classes was not a specific thing but the fact that I understood myself much better.

The way that and methods to understand myself emotionally better, things that can keep myself in the track of my objectives. I figured out that being a leader is not just knowing how to tell people to do whatever they are supposed to do, to be a good leader to other people first you have to be a good leader to yourself.

Another thing that I would like to keep in my life from now on are things like paying more attention to what benefits the food that I’m eating in bringing to me, what I’m learning from the TV shows that I’m watching, basically paying attention and choosing what is good for me and what is bad better, understanding that every human need a break from learning the entire day but in need to conscious about it, because nowadays we are very exposed to crap all the time.

Concluding that program gave an extra view about myself as a person and leader and I really that there are a lot of things that I can improve on in my daily routine for the better. I fell lot more confident to start my daily routine as a prefect and think is going to be a good thing.

I am very happy to give my feedback on this course here. At the end of this semester, I was lucky to be the perfect candidate for the next semester, and after being elected, the principal signed us up for a very meaningful course. This course is not very academic and difficult to understand. On the contrary, it is a course of life significance. It teaches you how to have a healthy self, in all aspects of health, psychology, physiology, and healthy ideas and so on, so that we can have a better and happy life. This whole course means more to me than that. It’s not just about teaching you the way to a successful life. It also raises my opinions on many problems. When I have my own opinions, I will stay after class and tell all of my thoughts on the course, my notes, along with my own thoughts on the notes which are out of the course, and even the thoughts of ideas. I like this feeling of “start thinking” very much. I still remember that it seems that in the third class, I took a lot of notes. Of course, most of them are not notes, but my inner point of view and ideas. I stayed after class; Mrs. Larson is still there, too (she always stays after class for us to ask questions). At that time, she listened to my notes and ideas and also thought about the notes. She respects my ideas very much (which makes me happy). I told her all my ideas. She would tell me what my ideas are worth agreeing with or what can be reconsidered. I like to have someone help me with my ideas, and I like to hear suggestions from others, all of things are what Mrs. Larson did for me. I would always like to thank those who gave me advice, at this point I would like to thanks to Mrs. Larson.

I have not only gained the knowledge of health, physical and mental maintenance in a positive way, but also the advice of how to be a successful person, as well as my own ideas and a very excellent teacher.

When I knew I was selected to be a prefect, I was really excited. I prepared a lot and made a daily schedule to improve myself. Take one typical example of myself, keep smiling to my life whatever it brings me. As we all know, it is a ‘easier said than done’ thing. I always told myself ‘the worst I have been experienced will be the best lesson for better me’. When I think it is the worst, then I will not give up toward everything, because I already face the worst. It is interesting to mention a point in the book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’. The one the impressed me the most is Karel. His experience and formula did inspire me a lot. ‘Only by forcing ourselves to face the worst situation and accepting it mentally first will be in a position where we can concentrate on solving problems. So that is one example of how I solve problems or how problems will affect me.

After I have the lessons with Ms. Larson, I do learn from her and reflect on myself. Everything that happened might not be without a reason. We can use our planner to make adequate preparations and consider more widely. For example, when we plan to do something with others, we might get ready earlier to avoid some accidental things happening. And also, I develop a habit to make a self-reflection every night before I go to bed. I would lie on my bed, think about what I did in the whole day and what should I improve.

Through these two weeks, I can strongly feel I learn a lot and my daily life is full. My work efficiency is higher. I take my time accurately to follow my planner. Also I am more clearer in my direction and pursuit for my future.

When I first heard from Mr. Foster that we would be given a “life course”, I was really excited because I thought I would be able to improve my leadership skills as a prefect. However, as I learned with Jill, this course is not only about a specific activity or challenge to overcome; it is about the whole set of skills necessary to succeed in life; which made me much more excited as we advanced in the reading. One of the many important subjects treated in the course is about putting things in the big perspective; that is, giving importance to anything according to its relevance in life. Putting things in context (another name for it) helps me create a plan, a process to things, and, therefore, patience. I have come to realize that the many times I felt anxious in my life were because I ran out of patience; phrases like: “I should be better”, “I am late” or “it is a too long road for me” are examples of thoughts that came when I started to compare myself to others; leading to this lake of patience and motivation. But it is through mini meditations and a little bit of success on each activity that I have learned how to not compare and keep myself active and intense. 2 This is one important example of an area that I have improved in my life after scratching the surface of the learnings the course offers; it is extremely important that now we, as students and teachers and as lifelong learners, keep our evolution towards a mindful and positive way of approaching any new or old activity or challenge.

I think these classes were really important and not only for prefects because everybody should learn how to be a leader, these skills are important for life, for our jobs in the future, for helping others.

About this course… I like it very much and I think this is going to help me during my whole life, and not only for being a leader but also for being organized, helpful, calm, proactive, responsible and how to have a good relationship with others.

I learned a lot how to stay calm in a stressful situation, how to control our feelings and to do something to help me when I need help and other situations that we are going to have during our lives. Sometimes when we have a really hard situation, we have to take a time to think before doing something wrong and we cannot say that we do not know how to continue or that we are not capable of doing it.

Another thing that I think is good to say is that it was very clear when Ms. Larson explained something to us, it was very understandable. She gives us a lot of examples to understand better.

Of course, we have to live some situations to get what Ms. Larson said because we are not changing as fast as we want. Sometimes we will get this maturity when we become adults because now we are so young.

I am a very incisive person so talking about jobs was very good for me, very helpful also because I do not know about what am I going to do in my future and this is going to help me a lot.

Now we have information to pass around and this also can help other people with any disease or stress or something like that.

In my experience with the Positive Solutions for Success program, I read and learned about how to live a positive lifestyle, manage finances, plan for the future, create a job resume, how to find the career that fits me, and how to maintain a positive relationship. Although, through all of those topics, we had homework for them. We were responsible to first, get a planner and write our daily schedule in it. Then we were told to complete sections of the book for homework, in the start of summertime. Doing schoolwork more than needed has always been something that bored me. However, Mrs. Larson explained to me how this is not homework to get an A in a class, rather a way to improve myself and get an A in life. I completely invested my time into the program and learned many ways to be a successful leader and person. I would definitely recommend this program to anyone looking to better themselves, physically, financially, and positively. It helped me to become more open to communication, and to be more organized and be excited about it. The planner has been a lifesaver and I have only had it for 2 weeks. I write down holidays, birthdays, special occasions, and scheduled appointments in there. Utilizing a daily planner has allowed me to become more independent of myself. I now schedule my own appointments and hockey lessons. I make plans with friends with ample amounts of time that suits both of us. The planner has really helped to organize my lifestyle, even more than it already is. Another very important tool I learned from this class is how to calm myself down during nerve-inducing events. I have been able to take 5 minutes to meditate and calm myself down before meetings with my boss, and even before oral surgery. Also, the financial skills I have learned in the class will help me to become more financially independent. I can now earn, save, invest, and spend wisely and correctly to help me make the most money I possibly can. The Positive Solutions for Success course has made me a man among boys in the world we live in today. I recommend this class to anyone that is looking to better themselves in any aspect of life, because this program will definitely help you with it. I plan to further the process of positive solutions for success throughout my entire life, as the next steps in the program are to reread and live the principles. The program truly allowed me to make my assets known to myself, this not only helped with my self-confidence in the workplace, but also the ability to utilize those acknowledged abilities in day to day life. I cannot demonstrate enough gratitude to show how appreciative I am of this marvelous program. All I can do is hope to see Mrs. Larson in person someday, to truly thank her properly for changing my life.

Hoosac School, Hoosick Falls NY – Leadership, Life Skills and Career Counseling Class

When I first received an email from Mrs. Klein and Mr. Foster about taking a leadership class, I honestly was not too excited. I had a closed off mindset about the class before it even began. However as soon as I joined class Monday, June 1st, it all changed. 

This class has opened my eyes to so many little things about myself that I can improve in order to have a better and fuller life.  Before I started this class, I often told people “I know, I know” and never opened up to hear what they were trying to tell me. Now I try my best to never say “I know” and listen to everything they are explaining.  I have found that it helps my relationships with others because I used to be the “know it all”. This class has helped my relationships with my peers immensely. I have learned how to negotiate and resolve conflicts in a way that is healthy for all who are involved. I learned how to ask and receive feedback from others, and how to apply the criticisms in order to better myself which has not only helped me as a person, but also as an athlete.

Not only has this class helped me with my relationships but after taking this class, I have seen numerous improvements within myself. I have been able to build up my self-confidence, my mental wellness, physical wellness, emotional wellness, and spiritual wellness thanks to all of the tips and action steps I was given in class. This is the best I have felt about myself in a long time, and it all started with a change of my mindset. 

Overall, I would say that the most helpful thing about this class was the connection Mrs. Larson had with every one of us. She always made it known that she was there to help us or answer any questions we had not just about class, but life in general. Another helpful thing that I took away from this class was the importance of getting a planner. If Mrs. Larson had not told me to get a planner for this class, my schedule would be a complete mess. However, now that I have it I have never been so organized with my days, and it keeps me less stressed throughout the day. It’s hard to pick out certain things that were helpful that I took away from this class because honestly, I found every little aspect to be helpful in its own way.

The Leadership and Life Skills course provided by Positive Solutions for Success has taught me many new things, and I definitely will use them in my life for now on. It is hard to choose only one thing I liked the most from the entire course experience, but the idea of taking care of your mental, spiritual, and physical health really opened my mind. Throughout the course, I learned how to be more organized, and to manage my time better what, without a doubt, makes me not only a better leader but also a better human. It makes me less stressed, more efficient, and it also makes me achieve more successful outcomes.

Besides, the entire idea of health and wellness, how to have a better lifestyle to manage your positive and negative feelings were important reminders for me. I always had problems with my self-confidence, and the skills that I learned regarding that, as celebrating my accomplishments and understanding myself better are already being effective in my life. I also loved to know more about meditation and the effects it has on our daily life. The meditation assigned to us was a great way to understand better the entire concept of involved on it. I did it with my family, and it had positive impacts on all of us.

Another point that was very interesting to me was the negotiation skills. I learned that the idea of negotiation being something big, only restricted to important situations, is not very accurate. I realized that “negotiation” itself is present daily, in small activities that we do in our own homes, I also learned that those skills can improve even relationships. The entire idea of financial wellness, S.M.A.R.T. Goals, looking for opportunities, and
visualization exercises also had positive impacts on my life, and I look forward to using them daily.

In conclusion, the course was more than a positive experience for me, and I am very thankful for the opportunity. I can assure that Positive Solutions for Succes made an impact on my life and that I look forward to seeing what is coming next with everything that I learned in the past two weeks!