Education That Builds a Life
Education is a lot more than mastering academic subjects. The habits formed in school should prepare a person for life.
Preparedness – being ready to begin without delay
Opportunities pass the unprepared by and come to those who are prepared. Success begins with preparation—being dressed for the occasion, having the right tools in hand, and being ready to work when the opportunity comes.
Punctuality – honoring time and commitments
Being on time is one of the simplest ways to demonstrate that you can be trusted. Punctuality shows respect for other people’s time, proves that you keep your commitments, and makes you a dependable employee, friend, and partner.
Consistency – forming habits that remove the struggle of daily decision-making
Success is rarely the result of what we do once, but of what we do repeatedly. Consistency turns what ought to be done into what is done by habit, enabling a person to keep moving forward even when enthusiasm fades.
Independence – learning to take responsibility for one’s own work
Life does not always provide a cheerleader to keep us moving at every step. Independence teaches a person to recognize what needs to be done, take responsibility for it, and get the job done without waiting for someone else to provide direction or motivation.
Completion – finishing what is started
Starting a task creates possibility; finishing it produces results. Completion teaches a person to stay with a responsibility through difficulty, distraction, and inconvenience until the work is actually done.
Performance – giving your best effort, not just getting by
Doing well matters. The pursuit of good grades and quality work teaches a person to take responsibility for the results he produces, to give his best effort, and to refuse to be satisfied with merely getting by.
Attitude – approaching work with the right spirit
How a person approaches his work affects both how he experiences it and how others experience him. A right attitude makes difficult work more productive, makes a person more pleasant to work with, and demonstrates a willingness to do what needs to be done without complaining or resentment.
How Does It Work?
Mind to Work is not a curriculum. It is a student development system that works alongside any curriculum to cultivate character traits and habits that will benefit the student both in education and in life.
Stay on Track
Focusing on one or two character traits at a time, Mind to Work breaks objectives down into habit-forming steps that motivate students toward responsibility and independence.
Incentivize Success
Mind to Work presents available rewards to the student upfront and then tracks progress to make every small success move them closer to larger rewards.
Useful Reports
Mind to Work makes reporting a natural byproduct of the learning process. As students work, the system records school days, hours of instruction, assignments, grades, progress, and more—providing reports without additional data entry.