CONTEXT…

This is the $64Million Question…

Teachers are constantly haranguing me for answers and it’s certainly given me cause for thought over the past few years.

I do NOT have THE answer but I do have some observations of what is different today, versus the ‘past’.

I know you can’t generalise, but I do believe that there have been some movements and trends throughout the years:

First…there are ONLY 2 motivating factors that us humans are driven by…

1. Avoiding Pain  – things we want to get away from
2. Seeking Pleasure  – getting more of things we want

ALSO, you need to know that ‘Avoiding Pain’ is a bigger motivator than seeking pleasure.

SO, what’s changed then?

My observation is that ‘many’ of the ‘AVOIDING PAIN’ motivators (which are so powerful) have either diminished or GONE altogether…

Factor 1 : Religion – going to ‘HELL’, used to be a big thing. Today it is not. Religious shame was a very powerful motivating force in the past to ‘make you do things’ – but, not now.

Factor 2 : ‘Victorian’ dad – this role has softened over the years as the children have taken on an ever bigger role in society and the ‘father figure’ diminished. There was once a time when the father of the house was someone to ‘fear’ if you stepped out of line, but this has changed.

Factor 3 : Corporal Punishment – ‘getting the cane’ was a big thing when I was at school; Mr Goodman (the scary deputy headteacher) was someone to be avoided at all costs. NOW you can’t ‘touch’ a child for fear of being sued and sacked from your post.

Factor 4 : Poverty – this is becoming a thing of the past. Most people have heating, lighting, water, clothes, food and all of the mod cons (phones, tv’s etc…). When I was a kid, this was not the case, we even had paraffin heaters and home-made beds/clothes. Life in general is loads easier. Heating, washing your clothes, cooking and cleaning your house is now cheaper and a whole lot faster.

Factor 5 : Personal Responsibility – in my view, I believe that kids do less ‘jobs’ than they used to. They have more leisure time and less chores. There is no responsibility placed upon young children in preparation for their future years. My own feeling is that ‘jobs’ are good, they help kids appreciate the ‘value’ of things.

Factor 6 : The Internet – the  dawn of the internet has now meant that kids can do less ‘thinking’ to complete tasks etc… this breeds laziness.

Factor 7 : Pressure from OFSTED and SATS - this pressure has meant that teachers want the results ‘more then the kids’ !!! How mad is that? In my view, we should let students ‘fail’ more often to help them understand the value of success.

Factor 8 : Grown-ups are too often giving answers rather than asking questions – this is a big factor that is largely misunderstood. You don’t have to ‘think’ when someone gives you an answer, but you do have to ‘think when you answer a question. The process of thinking is ‘learning’ and takes effort. Grown-ups are often poor listeners and poor questioners; this means that you ‘talk at them and tell them stuff’, rather than them find out for themselves.

That’s it…

My 8 factors that have contributed massively to making students less motivated and ‘hungry’ than they used to be…

It’s the reason why I have a ‘career’… !!

The Top 8 resolutions that will totally change your life

These WILL change your life – I should know – they changed mine !!

When you think about it….

Whatever we do as students- (or anybody for that matter) the idea of new years resolution is all about growth and there’s only 2 areas that resolutions are ever focused on… FACT.

1. Growing your mind
2. Growing your body

That’s it…

So when they talk about being healthy or making money or seeing more of your family or going out more, then you knowit has something to do with one or both of these things (mind or body).

OK…. So to make life easy I’ll give you 4 things to do that cost NO money at ALL that nutritionists and health experts tell me to do…

Growing your Body – helping you to look and feel good.

1. Sleep for 8 hours – WHY? Because sleep is the time when your body replenishes and rebuilds. This cannot be done in the gym or on the sofa !! 7 hours is not enough – FACT. Even though you know someone who only has 6 hours per night and they seem fine etc… This is not about survival, this is about being at your best.
2. Chew your food – WHY? Your body (and your energy levels) are only as good as what you give it. The body likes food that is as small as possible because it takes less work and energy for your body to process it. The less energy it takes, the more it gives you! This means you won’t be tired at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and yawning !!!
3. 30 mins exercise every day – WHY? Expending energy builds energy!! It also makes you FEEL good and look good improving your confidence etc… This exercise, preferably aerobic but maybe just walking, whatever it is, it will keep you in great shape physically and mentally.
4. Drink a small glass of water every hour – WHY? Your body if depleted by water by just 2 % will have 20% less power to concentrate. The reason you don’t notice is because you’re always dehydrated !! When you’re born you are 98% water, when you die < 50%!

Growing your mind – you need to develop your mind as well as your body.

1. Say WHY NOT – WHY? People always say “Yes” or “No”, this is a ‘closed minded approach’, because it means you’ve already decided. When you say “Why not?”, this lets things into your life and opens your outlook… It’s totally changed my world and allowed some MASSIVE opportunities to flourish.
2. Take a genuine interest in other people and say “Tell me more” – WHY? Let’s face it, you don’t have all of the answers, nobody ever does. But, when you say “Tell Me More”, this way you get to find out loads of things for free and you’ll make more friends and more money ( I should know !!)
3. Accept what is and accept yourself… WHY? People normally try to be ‘Superman/woman’, they want everything to be ‘just fine’ so they tell themselves that things are fine (when they’re not) and even pretend.
4. Be honest with you and your friends. Learn to like ‘YOU’ for who you are. If you feel sad – be sad. If you’re happy – be happy. Let it out, express yourself, be honest with you and others (there is still a place for diplomacy !!) – but stop trying to be someone you’re not. No-one has a perfect life. This doesn’t happen.
5. Avoid negative disempowering language – WHY? It makes you FEEL negative and negative people sap your energy. Turn everything you say into a positive. This is NOT about being cheesy or false… it’s about having fun and feeling good. Q. Do any negative observations seriously help anyone (aside from constructive feedback). If you make people feel good, they’ll want to do the same with you and spend time with you !!! This is dead powerful. Avoid words like I hate, or I don’t like – it makes you and others FEEL negative.

Eg.. “What I really like about Jon” vs “What I hate about him”, “What I really like about this” vs “What I really don’t like?”, “This could be good” vs “This is rubbish”.

I wouldn’t recommend you say these things, BUT teachers always like something in their armoury. These are some ideas I stole from a forum on the TES

“This is boring… !!”

1. “Yeah but, not as boring as detention…”
2. “Bored are you? let me check my ‘bovvered drawer’ (search in drawer) ‘nope, that’s empty”
3. “Good!”
4. “Maybe it is, but it needs to be finished by the end of the lesson so that you can go out to break.”
5. “Then make sure you learn it thoroughly…it’ll be even more boring if you have to revise it for a resit”!
6. “I didn’t realise you like me so much, four lessons a week isn’t enough for you but hey, if you want to make it ‘five’ during your lunch break then I guess there’s not a lot I can do about it except be flattered”
7. “Nope…..YOU are bored. There’s a difference.”
8. “What is that hideous noise? … Oh it’s you.”
9. “I’m sure you’re trying to tell me something but I’m not sure what.”
10. “What has 2 thumbs and doesn’t give a crap? (gestures at self with both thumbs and a smile !)

The ONE and ONLY thing I have learnt in 2010 which has reinforced my belief and fervour in what I do…

1. Don’t believe what people tell you…. and DO your OWN thing…

Some teachers told me with ‘The Big Picture’ …

1. You’ll have nothing to talk about !!
2. You can’t charge schools money for what you do
3. You’ll never work with more than a classroom of students at a time

BUT, it’s funny because…

1. I’ve now got 5 different talks all lasting 2 hours including The Big Picture, The Big Picture Pt II, The Big Leap & Pt II and also The Bigger Picture
2. I do charge schools for what I do even though it started out being FREE
3. I now work with up to 350 students at a time

Then it got even better…

They told me…

1. You won’t be able to make what you do long lasting
2. You won’t get schools to repeat buy what you do
3. The students will soon get bored of what you do

Well…

1. The material and learning we have goes throughout the whole year. We have PSHE material that develops students in the form of lesson plans and school assemblies that teachers use all year round.
2. Schools are not only repeat buying but they’re also investing in multiple year groups at once. They hire us for Year 7s, 10s and 11s all at once and then follow up with Year 8s, 9s and 6^th Formers. We have nearly 40 schools that have committed to multiple year groups this year alone. Last year it was ZERO !!!
3. The students are following ‘The Big Picture’ in numbers, we now have nearly 1700 members of ‘The Big Picture Keith Warren” and also have a new group formed (BUT NOT by me) it’s called the “Keith Warren has been to my school” !!!

So, what’s next in 2010 ?

• Target numbers of schools x 225
• More FREE teaching resources for schools
• Edit and publish my 3 books that I’ve written
• Run a Big Picture festival in Stockport with 100s of students
• Develop the Facebook page to 7000 students !!
• Film inspirational advice for students about careers to go onto YouTube
• Load up inspirational films and quotes to help students get focused
• Personality profiling to help students learn more about themselves
• Managing Money – A program for students AND “How to make a $Million Quid?”

Students make some big and life-changing decisions that they are at a very tender age to determine.

Dermot Gunn (a relative of a Deputy Headteacher I recently met) said …

“Unfortunately, children have to make the biggest decision of their life when they’re least capable to do so…”

I stumbled across an article talking about American students views on higher education and their ability to complete their course of education. You can find it at http://www.publicagenda.org/theirwholelivesaheadofthem

It made some interesting observations, specifically that 45% of the students in the USA worked longer than 20 hours per week whilst studying.

The study suggested that students leave school because the stress of work and study becomes too much as they put ‘themselves’ through school.

My interest though was focused on a couple of questions in the study…

The First Question

The question in the survey said “Did you always know that you were going to continue onto higher education?” This is essentially a question of their self belief…

• 67% of those that eventually DID NOT graduate said “YES – they did always know”
• 83% of those that DID eventually graduate said “YES – they did always know”.

This means that a significant percentage of students genuinely ‘believed’ that they could and would make it to the next level.

The Second Question

“My teacher in high school probably thought I would go onto higher education”

• 68% of teachers said YES about those students that eventually DID not graduate
• 83% of teachers said YES about those students that DID go on to graduate

The measurement is all about what they ‘probably thought’ and therefore it’s all about ‘belief’ and certainty that the student is going to do something…

You can NEVER prove that they will, or won’t, but to me the level of ‘belief’ is the biggest measure of anything…

Let’s face it, life is tough, it will require mammoth sacrifices and it is your level of belief that gets people to succeed.

I’ll make a small bet that the time that YOU achieved most in your life was not when you were necessarily rich or poor, it was just when you most wanted to !!

We can all find examples of the most fortunate students that did ‘make it’ and equally there are the examples of students who have ‘made it’ from seemingly nothing.

Henry Ford said:

“If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re probably right”.

Life is all about desire and ambition and achieving your potential.

This is what we focus on with www.thebigpicture.eu.com

Let’s face it…. You can’t monitor them and you can’t badger them… they have to badger themselves!!!

What do I mean?

Well, firstly, do you think that really successful people have a vision or absolutely no idea what they want?

So, let’s assume that they did have a vision, you know that this is the truth.

You can be sure, that the time when you achieved most in your life was when you wanted something the most. It stands to reason.

This following exercise with your students takes just 15 minutes, it’s also very powerful and effective…

This is an exercise for them to complete with themselves. It’s not for you to mark or check or validate in any way. It’s about them managing themselves and their own mind.

You say to your students:

1. “What’s an important thing for you to do over christmas? (typical answers – going out, doing nothing, having fun or seeing friends etc….)”
2. ” Similarly, what’s important to you in the next year? (Holiday, exams, money etc…)”
3. “What’s important to you in the next 10 years? (job, house, family etc…)”

They write something down… under each of these headings (this is already a good start). If they try to be clever then they’ll say “nothing – I don’t want anything”. You say “That’s ok, you’ve achieved your dream in life then, because you’ve already got nothing !!”

1. “Which one of the three things (this month, this year or the next 10 years) is the most important to you today?”
2. “Which of these things will be the most important thing to you when you’re 70 years old?”

“Let’s face it, you want to achieve all 3 things right? (I mean, who wouldn’t?) “

• So, taking each section (NOW, this year, 10 years) one at a time; ask these 2 questions…

1. “What would be the most useful thing that you could you do NOW that will help you achieve all 3 things?”
2. “What would NOT be useful and would prevent you from doing these 3 things?”

This WILL get your students to think clearly about what they really want to do today for today… and also what they might have to think about or do today for tomorrow. Although they may ‘decide’ not to complete the whole thing; it doesn’t mean they haven’t thought about it.

Powerful stuff.

An article in ‘The Times online’ talks about how ‘a whistleblower tells how her fellow inspectors fret more over pupils lunch boxes than their literacy!! ‘

Why does this not surprise me; because knowing what I know about government organisations (I used to run Sheffield school dinners for the local authority for 5 years), I ‘could’ totally believe their interest in the latest gimmicks and fads within schools. I could also believe that they lose the sense of context and the reality of what they were designed to do in the first place.  This is a little harsh, but I agree with the author, it’s definitely true for me.

The article quotes…

“School shatters your dreams before you get anywhere.” – It’ hard for me to disagree with this when I see the students body language in the workshops I run, they look disinterested and not ‘bovvered’ before we’ve even started. I know that their aspirations are determined to a large degree by their parents and their environment. The problem for me, is that many of them seem to have ‘given up’ so soon !!!

It also quotes…

“Ofsted is subject to political pressure. The emphasis is on what makes the government look good rather than what might benefit pupils”. I can easily believe that this point is true. NOT being a teacher, I don’t know, but I can believe that there are so many new initiatives to contend with. My experience of government/local authorities is that they are very risk averse and are very good at ‘covering their back-sides’, rather than necessarily benefiting the students. Show me a ‘brave’ local authority !!!

For me I feel very fortunate because I don’t have anybody to answer to, I just get to talk about stuff that benefits and changes the lives of students.

My view is that if at the same time ‘it happens’ to fit in with the curriculum (SEAL, PSHE and Every Child Matters), then great, if NOT….  I’m not bovvered !!

There is no ‘political agenda’ with what we do, all we’re interested in is harnessing the ‘dreams of young people’. Everything we do directly benefits the pupil irrespective of whether it looks good or not !!

I’m sure that Cedric (the boy featured in the article) does possess considerable talent, but the BIG question is whether or not the education system or Cedric will ever get to find out !!!

It’s a bit political and a bit Ben Elton !!    and I like it…

How do you make plans for the future if you don’t know what it is that you want to do ???

The answer of course is

‘you wouldn’t…!’, ‘you wouldn’t do anything unless you had a reason to do it…’

Seriously,

• You wouldn’t get dressed unless you had somewhere to go
• You wouldn’t eat your dinner unless you were hungry and … equally
• You wouldn’t get into a taxi just for the view !!! That would seem mad !!

BUT, people get transfixed by what they want to DO and less of who they want to BE. I‘ll explain.

ONE simple FACT

Most people don’t know what they want to do when they leave school. Most of us grown-ups don’t even know what we want to do and we’ve been around loads longer !!

BUT, I bet you know who you want to  BE….

ANOTHER simple FACT

People know who they want to BE…

People always have a vision about what they aspire to look like, behave, holiday, friends, hairstyle etc…. it’s perfectly normal.

So, for me it was simple…

1. I wanted to be successful
2. I wanted to look good
3. I wanted to have a nice car
4. I wanted to own a house
5. I wanted to be married
6. I wanted to have kids
7. I wanted to look have fun
8. I wanted to go on expensive holidays

NOW, whilst some of these things are not quite so TRUE today (I didn’t even mention my health), they were then…

And, when you know who you want to be then you normally have some clarity about what it is that you need to do to get there….

For example, I can still easily BE all of the above whether I’m a doctor or an accountant or a business owner. The point being that just because your job changes (what you do), you can still achieve your ambitions doing something else (what you want to be).

ONE more simple FACT

People change their minds !!

This is normal – who doesn’t change their mind in their life, we all do. I did and I’m sure you did too. What is good for you at the age of 16 is unlikely to good for you at 36.

So, planning for the future is actually straight forward enough if you focus on who you want to be and less what you want to do….

Q: Is it the role of teachers to motivate students?
A: You decide?

That’s not a cop out… BUT, one teacher once told me “I taught them, they just didn’t learn it”.

Where does the learning start and where does it end?

If I was a comedian and I told you “I was funny, but , they just didn’t laugh !!”. Is that true?

Or the salesman who said “I sold it them, they just didn’t buy it”. Surely the true measurement is in the result of what we said we did.

My previous marriage – I might have said “yeah, I loved my wife – BUT, did she feel loved?”…. you’d have to ask her !!!

So, going back to the teacher who said, “I taught them, they just didn’t learn”. That doesn’t quite stack up. So, how do you motivate students to learn then?

The techniques people often use…

Competition – This is a good thing BUT it’s good to realize that it doesn’t work for all kids. The reality is, the only person who is truly motivated by competition is the person who thinks he/she has a chance of winning!

Rewards don’t always work either, if the child is having difficulty. All reward systems are based on the concept that the child CAN DO IT, he just chooses NOT TO. That’s great if you know they’re not really trying.

Punishment is not normally very effective way because it takes the child’s favourite thing, whether it be a football or a skateboard, and take it away from him when they’re bad. Marriages even break up over sex or money, and it’s because one spouse takes the thing that the other spouse wants and uses it to manipulate the other person. You’re basically saying “I’ll give it to you when you’re good, and I won’t when you’re bad.” So if it doesn’t work with adults maybe it might not be all that effective with kids?

So, what do I do to motivate?
The NINE RULES here I have made up are inspired by the author Richard Lovoie.

Play – Have fun, enjoy, enthuse and bring energy to the room.
“No-one ever achieved anything without enthusiasm” Emerson

Personal – School is about life.
• Indulge your students and listen to their stories.
• Indulge yourself – Share your stories with them… if it benefits them?

Provoke – Ask questions about life, ask questions about the topic – it gets them to think… It’s powerful when they get to see things through their own mind !

Praise – Catch People Doing Things Right. Be focused on praise BUT be specific and sincere. The praise should be focused on effort and improvement – this is always effective. We all need to feel good enough.

Power. Letting your students determine some of the agenda or make certain rules gets them to feel like they’re ‘in charge’ without you losing control.

Projects. These are very powerful mechanisms for connecting different skills and knowledge and harnessing natural curiosity.

Positive People. This gets them to learn quickly how to behave in a positive manner.

Prizes. Rewards can be powerful when they are unannounced and not too familiar. The prize may be as innocuous or humorous as you like.

Prestige. All children need to feel important, and some more than others, so prestige and recognition are fundamental. Consistent encouragement and opportunities to showcase these talents are important.

That’s it… These techniques are NOT magic as you can see, they’re just ways of keeping people focused when their natural attention wanes. It’s incredibly powerful and effective and it’s a lot of fun…

It’s funny – I get asked this all of the time. My job is to motivate students and yet, what is that motivates me?

Days gone by…
A few years ago (4 years ago to be precise), I ended up being divorced and depressed. It was a very dark time and one that I found hard to come to terms with.

However, whilst my life was seemingly out of control, I recognised that my fate was something that only I could control.

For the first time in my life I recognised what was truly important, it didn’t take me long to work out…

1. Seeing my kids
2. Paying for my kids
3. Anything else afterwards

Why?
It was simple really, I realised that my wife, house, material possessions, car and half an acre of land counted for very little. What I thought I ‘owned’ – I didn’t… I was merely in charge of them for NOW.
Q. If I did OWN them, then how come they got taken away from me in such a short space of time?
It dawned on me that I can’t own any of these things; the only thing I truly own is ME and my MEMORIES !! I also realised that maybe I didn’t really know who ME was.

When I’m older
Furthermore…. I also recognised that when I died – I’ll only leave behind three things of any value – That’s ‘Jack, Archie and Millie’ – my three kids.

I Needed to Change
So, I set about trying to spend more time with my kids and as a consequence I gave up my job and focused on the things that I truly valued – my kids !!

New Career – NEW Me !!
Within 2 years I was training and speaking with corporate organisation across the country. This was a great experience for me, but this was only the start of my learning curve.

I was a big kid in an adults body…
Being depressed was a horrible time for me but it taught me a lot. My vulnerabilities and my problems led me to recognise that what had happened to me was something I could have done with learning when I was much younger… ‘NOT at 37 years old !!’.
I also recognised that I wanted to reach out and touch more than just the corporate organisations of the world. I wanted to engage with young people and students – these were the people I could relate to.

Starting in Schools
I ran my first ‘Big Picture’ event to 85 student boys at Kings Grammar School in 2007 in a cold school gymnasium. It totally changed my life and also theirs…

This was the precursor to ‘The Big Picture’ that you see today.
So you can see that what truly motivates me is…

1. Personally – Seeing my children and being ME
2. Professionally – Changing the lives of students across the UK

“All I want to do is make a difference”