Sticky Post

The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitudes of their minds.
Albert Schweitzer, M. D.

Cultivating Good Habits of Mind for Success and A Good Life

Welcome to ASPIRE! by Familia! We are a group of "young" teachers, new to the profession from the National Institute of Education. In 2010, we embarked on a service learning project to help Singaporean youths Act, be Strong, take Pride, be Inspired, have Respect and be Empowered. We conducted a 2 day camp for secondary school students from the West Zone cluster of schools to teach them good Habits of Mind and to help them ASPIRE to achieve their goals and dreams.


Habits of Mind are nifty tool
s that can help a person achieve personal success and greater task efficacy. Ever procrastinated on a job, gave up a really difficult task, lost your temper at a family member or not understood why you did well on one piece of homework and did badly on another? Good Habits of Mind can help provide answers and solutions to your problems! There are 16 good Habits of Mind that researchers have identified as integral to success--all successful people practice and embody these good Habits of Mind in one way or another.


  • Gathering Data Through all Senses
  • Responding with Wonderment and Awe
  • Creating, Imagining, Innovation
  • Remaining Open to Continuous Learning
  • Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations
  • Questioning and Posing Problems
  • Listening with Understanding and Empathy
  • Finding Humour
  • Thinking Interdependently
  • Thinking Flexibly
  • Thinking about Thinking (Metacognition)
  • Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision
  • Striving for Accuracy
  • Taking Responsible Risks
  • Managing Impulsivity
  • Persisting

Can you think of reasons why cultivating these Habits of Mind can be beneficial to yourself?


This blog documents the journey of our students over their 2 day camp and seeks to provide students, teachers, everyone, with knowledge of good Habits of Mind. You will find in our blog materials, resources and good stories to reflect upon and to emulate. We hope that you will find our blog content interesting and useful, that you will be inspired to think about overcoming, managing and reflecting on life--its joys and problems.


"A Habit of Mind is knowing how to behave intelligently when you DON'T know the answer, when you don't know what to do."
~ From the Institute of Habits of Mind

"The sum of one’s intelligence is the sum of one’s habits of mind."
~ Lauren Resnick

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going."
~ Jim Ryuh

"Successful people aren't born that way. They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don't like to do. The successful people don't always like these things themselves; they just get on and do them."
~ William Makepeace Thackeray

More quotes can be found here.

Cultivating Good Habits of Mind for Success and A Good Life

Here are some good Habits of Mind teaching and learning resources and links!

From: http://www.chsvt.org/wdp/Habits_of_Mind.pdf

The Institute for Habits of Mind is a good resource centre for quotes and and classroom resources!

The Habits of Mind Curriculum for The Community High School for Vermont Students contains many useful lesson plans, materials and learning aids to teach Habits of Mind. This resource is particularly useful as it is a full guidebook on curriculum teaching on Habits of Mind. The lesson plans are pedagogically sound and useful and applicable to almost all students. Use the content page as your guide to locate relevant and useful resources.

From: http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/images/publications/books/costa2009_fig1.gif

A Local Sporting Hero who Embodies Good Habits of Mind


We had the honour and privilege of meeting a local sporting hero--Singapore's national record-holder for the 100m Mens sprint event--Mr. U. K. Shyam! During his keynote address, Mr. U. K. shared with us his personal journey to success and the various habits of mind he exercised to achieve his dreams and goals. He said that he learnt from each and every fall he encountered, every setback and obstacle he had to overcome. He also emphasized the importance of knowing that when one door closes, another will open, and that we should remain open to continuous learning, be flexible and open to new chances for us to develop our lives.