1. Curiosity
Ask any successful person in this world and they will tell you that the first way they started any worthwhile project was by getting curious. This is the most understated yet essential quality for getting ahead in life. Curiosity leads to discovery and innovation. For students, start with being curious about subjects and absorbing information as it is presented to you.
2. Observation
When you are curious about any person, observe how he does what he does. When you curious about any work, observe how it is being done. And watch how mistakes are made, rectified, and corrected. Observe how successful decisions are made. After observing, you have to apply those lessons to yourself and get feedback. For students, observe how the successful students in your class does, how do they excel, and how are their habits different from your own. Once you have observed this differences, you should know exactly where to start.
3. Ask questions
When you are curious and you observe something, there comes a time when you don’t understand how it is being done or some of the basics are not clear. At this time, you have to ask questions like, “How is it done with so little effort?”, “How can I start doing this in my life?”, “What can I learn from this?”, “Which people I have to meet to start doing this in my life?” When you ask questions like this, you stretch your imagination; you discover things about yourself which you didn’t knew previously. For students, ask questions to your teachers, parents, friends and any person you meet. Asking questions is a natural, yet essential, part of learning. All good students know when to listen and then when to probe for further information.
4. Willpower
When you observe with curiosity and ask questions, you will uncover things you never had before. But there will be times when you don’t feel like doing it and let it go. At such times, you have to use your willpower and decide to get things done. You have to believe in yourself that you’ll get answers no matter how much are feeling low or rejected. When you use your willpower and keep going, you’ll see amazing results. Learning something new takes willpower and persistence.
5. Discipline
Because mastery is found in consistently taking disciplined action. Learning a new language, studying a new subject, or learning about a career all takes discipline. You can only master something with persistent effort. Some good students stick to a schedule, like setting aside a specific number of hours per day to study.
6. Take action
When you take action, you learn a lot more than you learn with just reading or listening. Even if you act without thinking, you learn a lot about the subject compared to everyone else who just reads. You have to be fearless about taking tests, getting feedback, and improving yourself day by day. The most effective way to learn is by doing. You can only read so many books about swimming until you simply have to jump in the pool.
7. Remove distractions
No matter how you condition yourself for success, you will still have to remove everyday distractions to get ahead. These days our attention spans have gone short because distractions are always there to stop us to focus on our work. But successful know that in order to benefit most from their habits, they need to remove distractions effectively, they need to channel their energies in a way that they get most from their effort. Simple tasks like putting away your cell phone or not watching TV while studying all help you get ahead. Apart form all the old age advice of hard work, keep your focus on developing these seven attributes and you’ll be soon heading toward a successful career as a student.
