Invicta Mentis

Students aren't the only ones to dread standardized exams. "More than 200 'unqualified teachers' in Texas were able to get jobs or promotions at schools across the state under a broad scheme in which impersonators were paid to take more than 400 certification exams for them, prosecutors said this week," the New York Times reported today. Standardized exams, while flawed, are more frequent and more consequential than ever: standardized exams are the legislated gatekeeper for almost every professional, academic, and upward mobility opportunity. ?? And while educators and traditional test prep continue to address only the cognitive dimension (via repetitive quant and verbal drills and vocabulary memorization), anxiety has emerged as the post-pandemic pandemic: over 60% of Gen Z suffer from an anxiety disorder. Anxiety is cited by students as their single greatest obstacle to academic achievement today. Peer-reviewed research shows that highly test-anxious students will score 12 percentile points LOWER than their low-anxiety peers, which in many cases is the difference between acceptance and rejection or pass and fail. Invicta Mentis is the first to deliver scalable efficacious systematic test-anxiety interventions by addressing performance for students of any and every ability, allowing them to perform their best when it matters most: on their standardized exams. We deliver these interventions through proprietary on-demand modules, 1-on-1 coaching, community support, inspirational interviews, and membership/technical support. Let Invicta Mentis show you how.

"I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings so there was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day." The above is Tom Brady's response to Baker Mayfield's statements that Mayfield had inherited a "high strung" environment from Brady as the new starting quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “The building was a little bit different with Tom in there. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out,” Mayfield said. “They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football for guys who weren’t having as much fun.” Both Tom Brady and Baker Mayfield are considered elite NFL quarterbacks. But one of them has two total playoff victories (in different seasons). The other has 35 playoff victories, seven Super Bowl rings, and is considered by almost every objective measure to be the G.O.A.T. Can you guess which one is which by their comments? Elite performance on the football field and on your SAT/ACT does not happen by mistake. If you want to perform at your best when it matters most, then you have to train your MINDSET. Let us show you how at Invicta Mentis.

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"I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business." - Warren Buffett The Oracle of Omaha famously (and on more than one occasion) bestowed to us mortals a simple recipe for long-term business leadership success: first THINK, then FEEL, then ACT. It's such a simple framework, yet so foreign to many of us who first FEEL, then ACT, then (finally, if at all) THINK. This is emotional regulation, saving us (and Warren) from ourselves, especially in the most pressure-filled business situations. How many situations (personal or professional) could have resulted more favorably if we hadn't impulsively reacted, and instead exercised just a tiny bit of emotional regulation? So what is the key to developing this critical ability? More than discipline (Buffett's reads 500 pages per day) and smarts (Buffett was no slouch at Columbia Business School), the Inc. article rightly notes that a growth mindset is required. This is a good lesson for us all, especially in how we approach high pressure situations (in Invicta Mentis parlance, "performance events"). Athletes and businesspeople regularly work with coaches for this very purpose. When the pressure is on and everything in us is screaming to ACT, we take a growth mindset, remember our training, and THINK first. This is no different for students to prepare for elite performance on the SAT, LSAT, MCAT, or GMAT. Emotional regulation is required for elite performance on your standardized exam, and it starts with a growth mindset. If you want to perform at your best when it matters the most, then you have to train your mindset. Let us show you how at Invicta Mentis.

“It just comes from my mindset." That's what Cooper Flagg, a 17 year old Duke basketball commit just out of high school, attributed to his performance when he held his own for three days of practice at the Olympic men's basketball training camp against the best the NBA has to offer. “Once the ball goes up, I'm just trying to win at all times, so I'm just a competitor and that's what it boils down to. It's a little bit of adjustment being on the court with them, but at the same time, I'm just playing basketball and just trying to win.” Was he nervous? Absolutely. Did he have impostor syndrome? Undoubtedly. Was there an "awe factor" of walking on the court for the first time with the best basketball players in the world? Of course. But Cooper was trained for this, and he attributed his success solely to his MINDSET. This is a good lesson for us all, even in how we approach standardized tests. Elite performance on the court or on your SAT/ACT does not happen by mistake. If you want to perform at your best when it matters most, then you have to train your mindset. Let us show you how at Invicta Mentis.

Today in the WSJ: $200 billion in Covid money resulted in "modest" (read: lackluster) academic recovery for students as shown in national standardized testing results (see the WSJ article published today). More forebodingly, the article says that "the remaining dollars won’t be enough to get students back to where they were before the pandemic, the researchers projected. The findings come as the?money is running out?and some schools are cutting academic-recovery programs." Traditional education methods, even at funding rates TRIPLE those of pre-pandemic rates are not moving the needle. That's the same as saying "traditional go-to-market strategies are not working in today's markets," and that's even before acknowledging the law of diminishing returns. Why are we surprised? As the consumer and markets evolve, so too do students. Yesterday's classroom pedagogy is clearly not resonating with today's students. So what is different about today's student? Anxiety is the post-pandemic pandemic, episodic at breathtaking rates:?60% of GenZ (born 1997 to 2012, or today's students) are suffering from an anxiety disorder (https://lnkd.in/e28kmVy4), to the point that the US Surgeon General explicitly says that we are in a mental health crisis (https://lnkd.in/gsJgCGcW). And while traditional pedagogy and greater funding is addressing the learning disruptions, widening achievement gaps, instructional challenges, and assessment issues to make what gains we are seeing, there is no SYSTEMATIC way to address to the mental health impacts which students today are dealing with in a very real way. We at Invicta Mentis believe that a different approach must be taken. We need to treat standardized tests for what they are – a performance event filled with stress and pressure that’s no different from a championship game. These "performance events" are filled with stress and pressure no different from a championship game. As a result, we recommend a novel approach to standardized testing. Peer-reviewed research has shown that providing high school students with simple interventions addressing emotional regulation resulted in higher performance on standardized tests. In a 2019 study, researchers were able to reduce failure rates on standardized tests in half. (https://lnkd.in/eKMpnSZX) We at Invicta Mentis believe that the right mindset is the key to standardized testing performance. We teach that test anxiety is NOT a life sentence, and empower students to overcome their anxiety with proven performance science. Let us show you how to address test anxiety in order for your student to realize their full potential on any standardized exam.

We're #hiring a new Director, Business Development (India) in United States. Apply today or share this post with your network.

#GrowthMindset, #MentalPerseverance and #Grit are - more than specific subject matter expertise - your student’s GREATEST asset to successful academic, and future personal and professional achievement.

How are YOU developing #MentalPerseverance, #Grit, and #Resilience in your youth? #YouthSports are a wonderful way, but not without risks.

#AI, as with every new promising technology, is destined to become obsolete.? Ironically, these very breakthrough technologies are the driving force for the greater need of genuine, fundamental, elite human #Performance, fueled by #Leadership, #MentalToughness, #Reslience, and #Grit.