I don't know about you, I don't think it is just Australians but I never seem to be alone - even when I am I have someone with me - do you know who I am talking about? It is the voice inside my head, it follows me everywhere and it is very rarely quiet. Yak Yak Yak on it goes. It is like some of those kids that you meet that never shut up. It is not so much that it continually talks to us, but moreso what it is saying that is the issue.

Does the voice inside your head say stuff like" "You should have gone and talked to her, your pathetic", "That test result was awful, you will never be able to do math" or "Dream on you will never get into that college that is only for smart kids"? If it does then you have a real problem. If this is the case you will never get good grades. What do you think a robot would do if you give it an instruction to move forward and at the same time you give it an instruction to move backwards? Well it may lurch, back and forth but it never make any real progress. Sadly, that is probably the story of how you are going in high school if these are comments being made by the voice inside your head.

You see you have two parts to your mind: the subconscious and the conscious. What is happening for you is that you are going into a test saying that you have learnt all of the work and you will do really well. On the other hand your subconscious mind (that voice inside your head) is saying no it is going to be too hard you are going to fail just like last time. Both minds are fighting each other and you are making no progress.

You need to start being aware of what thoughts are going on inside your head and turn them around to your advantage. Next time that voice says 'this work is too hard' say something rubbish you don't know what you are talking about 'I can do this work easily and effortlessly'. Don't focus on the negative comment, just dismiss it and restate the comment with a positive feel.

This is something that will take time because you probably don't remember what you were thinking when you got up this morning, when you had a shower, when you were having lunch etc. It is time to become more aware of that voice inside your head and begin to reprogram it for success. Until you start this reprogramming you will unfortunately have little chance to get good grades.