On today’s episode, Dr. Legatt interviews Julie Kim, founder of Julie Kim Consulting, and they discuss mindsets, growth, and working with their students.
Transcript
VO: Welcome to College Admissions Real Talk with Dr. Aviva Legatt, a podcast for students seeking to get admitted to top-tier colleges. Each episode will feature an important tip for your college admission success, delivered with candor and love. If you’ve ever wanted to take a peek inside the mind of a college admissions officer, this is your chance. Have a question? Text Dr. Legatt at 610-222-5762. So, what’s your dream school?
JK: We also meditate in our sessions with our students, so in their eyes, and I’m not a good… I mean, I’m not an expert in meditation, but I picked up on a few things here and there. So we all close our eyes together and meditate and visualize, “What would it feel like for you to get accepted into your dream college?” And they’re like,” Oh, my gosh, I’m crying or I’ve never had this kind of a moment to myself.” And it’s literally like four to five minutes, right? So, Yeah, I love all things mindset, and I feel like one day I’ll just be doing that.
AL: Totally. I hear you. I took a mindfulness-based stress reduction course. I don’t know if you took one of those classes, but it was really helpful. It was sort of like a meditation training. It was like learning how to meditate and all these different strategies for meditating to reduce stress and sort of focus in on what you want. And I think that what you were saying sounds really powerful for students. And also, I would echo your approach to say that if you’re honing in on your feelings or your emotions, you’re putting yourself in the better mindset to make these really important life decisions that students are making around college. It’s not a light decision. You can’t just make it by picking the top 10, the top 20, you have to pick something that’s a personal fit for you. And if you don’t know who you are as a person, then you’re not going to pick the right fit for yourself. So I really appreciate that you’re working on that. So tell me, I know you mentioned meditation, are there any other specific strategies that you recommend for students to hone in on? I don’t know if you would call it a success mindset or focus mindset, but talk to me a little bit about how one could go about developing that.
JK: The very first step is to identify your limiting beliefs. So it’s a set of beliefs that you hold and that you think is true about yourself. So everyone has limiting beliefs and there’s nothing wrong with it. But as soon as you acknowledge it, you’re a little bit more conscious of it when you live your day-to-day life. So, for example, limiting belief could be I’m not smart enough or I’m not a good leader. I am not a good test taker, or I don’t think I am a good public speaker. So there are many limiting beliefs that you hold, and you want to identify them and every time you think about that limiting belief, you can acknowledge it first because if you’re in resistance, that creates a lot of anxiety. Accept it and say, “Okay, this is what I’m thinking, but how can I turn that around into a more powerful belief?” Or you could also say, It’s an affirmation, right? It’s like a muscle that you build in the beginning is so hard, because you’re like, “How do I change this limiting belief?” But the more you do it, the more you identify it, acknowledge it, and turn it into a powerful affirmation, you start to gradually believe the more powerful one. It’s literally training our subconscious mind to start to believe that you are not that limiting belief. That’s not who you are. You picked it up when you were young because these things are somethings that we pick up. They say, starting when you were born all the way, until when you’re around second or third grade. That’s when your subconscious mind is really formed and built and I don’t know, maybe a second-grade teacher told you like, “Hey, sit down. You talk too much”, and you’re like, “I don’t want to speak out in front of anyone.” We want to start to dismantle our subconscious mind and replace it with more positive ones, that will empower you to take action.
AL: Definitely. I know my second-grade teacher told me I can’t follow directions.
JK: And now you’re a college consultant.
AL: Yeah, exactly. So forget them. Forget them. You know, it is funny how all these messages do stick with us, especially when we’re kids and all the things we grow up with it and carry with us are really… could be powerful. And if we can harness them and put some of those things aside, then we can even get to a higher potential than if we just walk around with this stuff and we don’t talk about it or think about it.
VO: College Admissions Real Talk is hosted by Aviva Legatt, edited by Stephanie Carlin, and produced by Incontrera Consulting. I’m Caroline Stokes and this has been your daily boost of college admissions insight. Have a question? Text Dr. Legatt at 610-222-5762. For more information on Dr. Legatt and Ivy Insight visit www.ivyinsight.com. And you can pick up Dr. Legatt’s book, “Get Real and Get In”, at major retail outlets across the world. Insight out.
