The document discusses the challenges students face when transitioning from being "stars" in high school to average students at Stanford. It proposes using random text messages throughout the day to prompt students to list three positive things about their current situation as a way to increase positivity and combat stress from failure without embarrassment. Existing solutions like counseling, online forums, and inspirational quotes are deemed flawed because they are not specific, frequent, or personal enough for this environment. The texting solution could spark behavior change by connecting a mindfulness exercise directly to the individual student's situation through personalized, regular prompts on their phone.

1. State of the Art The Current Landscape of my Expert Focus

2. What’s going on Define “star” as one who positively stands out, whether socially, academically, athletically Stanford consists of high school stars not used to failure Problem: In an environment full of former stars, many students may no longer feel as special Even being average hurts Potential imposter syndrome present after initial disillusionment

3. What needs to be done Need to adapt to their new situation Maintain focus Stay positive

4. Approach Dominantly a mindset change—not very many solutions in this arena Not trying to make them be stars again May be unrealistic We are looking for a way of combating the STRESS associated with the failure, not a way of eliminating these failures

5. Current Solutions Counseling Social stigma Very occasional Not a popular service

6. Current Solutions Realizing you’re not alone in failure www.fmylife.com Many are fake Posts too distant from user’s situation- humorous but unreal Forums/support groups None specific to “Stanford students failing” This is a special case For a solution based on environment, specificity is key to get the connection

7. Current Solutions Stanford Resilience Project Links to failure->success stories Hitting the correct audience, but Not widely known Few make first step of going to site- requires admitting they feel like failures Eventual successes of the stories may actually be discouraging because not everyone is as lucky Remember our approach: we are dealing with stress of failure, not getting rid of failure

8. Current Solutions Daily inspirational quote/song of the day May become habitual There is only so much a generic quote can do when not directly applicable to the situation Once a day = feel good in morning, end up feeling bad again

9. A New Solution Random texts throughout the day that prompt user to think of 3 positive things about their current situation, whether in life or in their moment Personal to user (user is author) Frequent and consistent Not embarrassing Can increase positivity without revealing that you feel like a failure

10. Summary Many flaws with existing solutions can be solved with random texting as a prompt for this mindfulness exercise to increase positivity and spark renewal Connection of this exercise to a text = Type of behavior change

11. Works Cited www.fmylife.com http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgi-bin/drupal/resilience http://www.facebook.com/famousquotes http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html http://news.stanford.edu/thedish/?p=10701 http://www.stanford.edu/group/bridge/Bridge/About_Us.html