Image credited to https://unsplash.com/photos/Q_Sei-TqSlc
Maintaining all-round success at school never happens by chance. It is usually the result of consistently carrying out series of actions which later become habits. From my observations so far, I’ve discovered that highly effective students possess winning habits that are supportive of their academic career success. Do you care to know what those habits are? If so, then read on.
While writing my book on student success – Be A High Achiever, I interviewed with a number of top students from different universities and did some other research.
And the outcome?
I compiled some interesting qualities of highly effective and successful students and share them here.
Highly effective and successful students:
1. Schedule their time properly:
Having recognized that time is precious, highly effective students plan their time properly to ensure that they complete
required tasks before the deadlines as much as possible (they’re not perfect though). They strategically map out time to study for tests and exams in advance, complete assignments and projects early, revise lecture notes after lectures and still make out time for some fun. Keeping such schedules not only helps to identify the tasks to be done, but it also helps in organizing those tasks in order of priority, focusing on one task at a time. This way the most urgent and important tasks get done before the others. When you work with schedules, you are more organized and able to do the right things at the right time .
2. Are up for the challenge
Top students practice the saying that if you only do what you can do, you’ll never be better than what you are (I got that line from Master Shifu in Kung Fu Pandu 3. You’ve watched it? 🙂 ). These folks don’t just remain in their comfort zone by taking easy courses; instead, they take courses that’ll stretch their intellect and resistance level because they know that’s the only way to grow.
3. Set goals
Top students are goal setters; they know where they currently are and where they want to be in the future. They recognize their
purpose and critical improvement areas in the various aspects of their lives (academic, financial, social, spiritual and so forth) and then create SMART goals to achieve their desires in those areas (SMART goals are covered here).
4. Have a positive mental attitude
Highly successful students maintain a positive mental attitude. They understand that in order to succeed in the physical world,
they must first succeed in the mental world. Though they encounter several hits of failure along the way, they realize that
failure is neither fatal nor final. Brian Tracy, a success expert, once admonished, “Above all, you must maintain a positive
mental attitude, looking for the good in every situation, and remain determined to be a completely positive person.” A
positive mental attitude is the exact type of attitude you require to excel at school. (Check out this post for more on PMA “Maintain a positive mental attitude”)
5. Associate with other top students
Have you noticed that we tend to become or act more like the people we hang out with the most? That explains why highly successful students flock together with other top students and wannabe top students (and possibly with other smarter students). By modelling their success habits, and exchanging ideas and strategies amongst themselves, these flocks of high-achieving folks enjoy the benefits of synergy. Besides that, by the Law of Attraction which states, “like attract like,” it’s also clear why top students are more apt to gravitate towards those of their own caliber. I am convinced beyond any iota of doubt that if you make it a habit of associating more with students who are both at the same and at a higher level of success than you are, you’ll definitely become more successful.
6. Practice self-discipline
Highly successful students do what they say they’d do whether they feel like doing it or not. They study when they say they
would (and not go to the mall with friends instead); they attend their morning lectures even when the temptation arises to sleep
in, and they refuse to yield to suggestions that conflict with their values and belief. Top students keep up with their habit of self-discipline till the very end, till victory is won – whatever victory is, either short term or long term (that is persistence – self-discipline in action). The amazing thing about self-discipline is that when applied in one area of your [school] life, success in that one area will trigger a series of successes in other areas. That’s how come you can achieve all-round success when you begin applying self-discipline. By mastering self-discipline, you’ll be opening the door to achieving a high level of self-esteem and self-confidence.
7. Commit to excellence
A rather famous wise man, Deepak Chopra, once said, “If you focus on success you’ll have stress. But if you pursue excellence,
success will follow you.” Hence, in whatever you do, be it – completing an assignment or project, writing a paper, preparing
for an exam, delivering a presentation, working at a part-time or co-op job, spearheading a club event, and the list goes on – make sure to put in the best of your ability and capability because that’s exactly what top students do. Choose to make excellence your brand, and you’ll distinguish yourself amongst your peers.
8. Maximize the use of available resources
On campus, knowing what resources are available to help you excel at school is highly essential. Not only do top students
identify these resources, but they also put them to best use. You paid for these resources so you may as well just maximize them and not let your tuition fees waste away.
9. Learn from failures and mistakes
No one is perfect and, of course, that also includes the best of the top students. But one thing highly successful students do
differently is to take account of their failures and mistakes to gain insight from them. Here is a good example of what I mean:
whenever highly effective students get their exam or test or assignment papers back, so long as they didn’t score a 100% (or whatever the target may be), they make sure to find out what they did wrong to have lost some marks. They meet with the prof or TA or GA to help clarify comments on their exam if necessary, learn what exactly they didn’t do right and ask how to best answer the question they had missed. This applies to assignments and projects as well. Finding your mistakes and reason for failure or mediocre pass marks is the first step to making improvements.
10. Take good care of themselves
Balance, balance, balance. Top students balance their school life so that while they attend to their academic work, other areas of their school life (health, spiritual, financial, emotional, and social) aren’t jeopardized. (No doubt it’s not easy but it’s worth it.) The truth is that ignoring one or more of the non-academic areas of the school life can negatively impact your academic work. For example, not maintaining proper sanitation and eating unhealthy can lead to illness which can affect one’s
academic performance.
Cultivate these habits and watch your performance at school & life skyrocket. The good thing here is that these success habits, once developed, can be transferred to later stages of your life after you graduate from school, so you won’t be wasting your effort and time working to develop them now.
I believe so strongly that nobody is better than you per se; if anyone is performing better than you in a particular area, it’s because he/she is doing something that you aren’t doing yet. Once you begin doing the same things, you’ll undoubtedly get the similar results.
And I’ve just shared some of the habits of highly successful and effective students, and I strongly believe that your level of success will get upgraded by applying these habits.
To your success!!