Fun fact: only 5% of people who start a diet stick with it past 3 months.

Changing something, anything about your life is downright difficult.

When I saw that statistic I was flabbergasted – only 5%?!

But then I thought how does that apply to me and my teaching.

How could I learn from the people who are successful to optimize the performance of young people on my course.

Also, in the back of my head I was thinking I must be doing something right because my success rate is in the 90s!

Anyhow, this week I am onboarding my September cohort and I put a lot of time and effort into thinking about my first call.

I think it’s a reason why my completion rate is much higher so I thought I would share.

Why is the first call so important?

Well it is the moment we meet each other.

It is my chance to get them to buy into the transformation from zero to hero in Maths!

If this call goes well… I have a motivated young person who can handle the challenging process of change.

If they do not buy into me or the vision of their future, well life becomes difficult.

Here are 5 things that I use to my advantage in these tight-rope calls!

1. Build rapport – the student is buying into me as much as they are buying into Maths.
2. Listen and validate their thoughts, feelings, fears and concerns. Connected learners are successful learners.
3. Connect them with the emotion of their transformation – what would it look and feel like to have Maths sorted in 12 weeks? If you knew you could overcome impossible obstacles what would you do next?!
4. Get their input – How will you take notes? When and where will you complete your work? What will you do if you get stuck? What topics (maths related or not) interest you so I can tailor the course?
5. Give them a clear picture of how success will be measured. I have weekly self-taught videos and quizzes that they should complete by Thursday each week. They also have 1-to-1 and group calls where their attendance is required. Even if they don’t believe in themselves, if they do all this they can’t help but succeed. Have faith I tell them!

So there you have it. Change is hard but you can tip the scales in your favour if you follow these steps I have found.

I’ll leave you with a few quotations to end.

”Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.“ – Elon Musk

“Only I can change my life, no one can do it for me” – Carol Burnett