Funding an Education using the S.E.C.R.E.T. Method, Part 1

I’ve been writing a book entitled, The S.E.C.R.E.T. Method to Winning the Scholarship Game: New Technologies to Go to College with Little or No Debt. I have been running seminars since 1996, helping everyone from single moms to high school students find a way to pay for college

I wrote a column in August 2005, and what follows in the next few days are excerpts from that column along with updated information.

I created the S.E.C.R.E.T. method—Selective Efforts Create Rapid Effects Tomorrow—to replace FEAR—False Expectations Appearing Real.

Here are a few steps to help your research:

1. Make a commitment of 90-180 hours in the coming year to spend on your search.

This sounds like a lot of time, but if you watched one hour of TV last week, you spent 20 minutes watching commercials.

15 minutes a day equals about 90 hours a year; 30 minutes a day equals about 180 hours. If you commit yourself to such a plan, spend at least 15 minutes a day. If you skip a day, do not beat yourself up; commit to resume the next day.

Also, small steps are important to make change a habit. If you can’t commit 15 minutes, commit a minute to thinking of ways to search for scholarships. Write down your ideas. Next week, begin to implement some of those ideas. Make a phone call. Type in an internet address. Begin to fill out the form at http://www.fastweb.com/. Make the commitment of spending one minute this week, two minutes the next week, and so on.