By: Casey Seidenberg
Dreading back-to-school? Do this!
Do you have that familiar mix of back-to-school anticipation, dread, and impending “I’m going to get lost in the school maze” anxiety. What if I told you that you possess a secret weapon to transform your school experience? Enter the world of taglines – snappy one-liners that hold the key to you being happy at school, or really happy in any area of your life.
Every area of your life, every relationship and every situation can be summed up in a one-liner. These taglines aren’t just fluffy words; taglines inform what we think, what we say, and what actions we take or don’t take.
Think about the areas of your life where you’re totally rocking it – where success, happiness and pride are your best buds. You probably have taglines such as “I am a social butterfly”, “I’m a math wizard”, “I rule the soccer field” or “I am a master of witty comebacks”.
On the flipside, for those moments when you feel like a tadpole in an ocean of sharks, you have pesky negative taglines running the show such as “high school’s like a never-ending rollercoaster” or “I turn into a human tomato in group discussions.”
But guess what? Imagine that each of your taglines are correlated to the speed you’re driving through life. If you have a positive tagline in any area, you’ll go fast. For example, if you have a school tagline for yourself like, “I’m a genius,” well, away you go, academics will move quickly for you. But in any area where you’ve got negative one-liners, such as “I suck at making friends”, you’ll go slowly or stay completely stuck (and likely friendless).
So, what if you gave your taglines a makeover that put you back in the driver’s seat cruising through school on a smooth paved road. Here’s how:
- Ditch to those gloomy taglines and say hello to their upbeat cousins. Swap “school is a bore” with “Let me see how much I can learn this year” and wave goodbye to “I’ll never fit in” with a more confident “I’m the friend everyone’s looking for!”
- Close your eyes and imagine the day where your taglines rule. Feel the buzz of nailing assignments, making pals, and seizing each school day like the superstar you are.
- Celebrate your tagline victories. Every fear conquered, every test aced, or room charmed – each of these is evidence your new tagline is taking root. The more evidence you collect for the new tagline, the more you’ll live into it.
So stride into school this year with your head held high because it is full of believable, positive taglines that will steer you to your happiest and most fulfilling school year yet.
