Learn—Maximum Time: 45 Minutes

Read:In the last meeting, you worked on a few skills and habits to help you succeed in your training program. Today you will work on skills that will help you stay on course to finish your training.

Even when it is difficult, finish your education by doing these things:

Work with a mentor.
Learn in groups.
Learn from failures.
Change direction only when necessary.

1. Work with a Mentor

Read:Heavenly Father places people in our lives who care about us and who can strengthen us. Some mentors may have a lot of experience doing what you want to do and can answer your questions. Other mentors may be willing to spend time encouraging you to make changes in your life and hold you accountable to progress.

Discuss:Who has helped you the most as you’ve developed your self-reliance plan? What did he or she do?

Read:Elder Robert D. Hales taught, “Prayerfully select mentors who have your spiritual well-being at heart” (“Meeting the Challenges of Today’s World,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2015, 46).

Read:Continue to seek out mentors. Look for people who are successful doing what you want to do. Watch what they do and the characteristics that make them successful. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions, and be open to learning from them. Always express gratitude for a mentor’s help. Pray to know how you can develop and strengthen these special relationships, and put into practice what you learn.

2. Learn in Groups

Read:Groups give us the opportunity to share our ideas and learn from the experiences and knowledge of others.

Discuss:What are some experiences you’ve had with group projects in the past? What have you learned from this?

Read:The same principles that make this self-reliance group successful can be applied to your future study groups or similar groups, such as work teams and Church councils. To help make groups effective, do the following:

Find the best students to work with—especially those who are as committed as you are.
Treat everyone as equal participants.
Speak respectfully to others. Everyone should feel safe sharing his or her ideas.
Set a regular time to study together.
Agree on a specific goal at the beginning.
End each study session by making commitments: “What will each of you do and when will you have it done?”
Have fun together but stay focused.
Be prepared and do your part. Share what you know and learn all you can from others.
If you are working on a project together, know the deadline and assign smaller portions to finish before the deadline.

3. Learn from Failures

Read:In your training you will experience some failures. It could be a failed test, a missed assignment, or a bad grade in a class. Failure is a part of learning. The best learners pick themselves up after each failure. Learning how to do this is more important than never making any mistakes, which is not realistic.

There are many ways to react to failure. Some negative reactions include giving up, beating yourself up for failing, or doing nothing because you are afraid to fail again.

There are also positive ways to respond to failure. These include:

Seeking counsel from the Lord.
Learning what caused the failure and avoiding that.
Counseling with your mentor.
Trying another way to achieve the purpose or goal.
Reevaluating if this action is taking you in the direction you want to go, then changing course if necessary.

Discuss:What have you learned from a failure or disappointment in your life?

Read:“No one likes to fail. And we particularly don’t like it when others—especially those we love—see us fail. We all want to be respected and esteemed. We want to be champions. But we mortals do not become champions without effort and discipline or without making mistakes.

“… Our destiny is not determined by the number of times we stumble but by the number of times we rise up, dust ourselves off, and move forward” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “You Can Do It Now!” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2013, 55).

Discuss:What will you do the next time you experience failure?

4. Change Direction Only When Necessary

Read:At some point during your training, you may feel like your education path or the job you are seeking is not right for you. You may think you should change direction. If these feelings arise, be careful and thoughtful about making such a change.

When thinking about changing direction, you should ask yourself, “Would the new direction really be better for me?” In the first six meetings of this self-reliance group, you thoroughly considered your options. You talked with many people and researched the job, the training it required, and how to pay for the training. You made decisions you felt good about.

You owe it to yourself to consider a change of direction as carefully as you chose your current direction.

If necessary, use a new copy of a self-reliance plan (on pages 191–92), as well as the activities in chapters 1–6 to make your decisions.

Discuss:How can you avoid impulsive decisions but also avoid overthinking and being indecisive?

Read:Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught: “I have absolute, certain knowledge, perfect knowledge, that God loves us. He is good. He is our Father, and He expects us to pray and trust and be believing and not give up and not panic and not retreat and not jump ship when something doesn’t seem to be going just right. We stay in. We keep working. We keep believing” (“Wrong Roads,” lds.org/media-library).

Discuss:What are the most important things you learned in today’s group meeting?