Good Habits Equals Successful Students

Success in college, every student wants it. Is it easy? No. If you have made it this far, and you do not have any habits to be successful in college, well, you are in big trouble. What can good habits in college get you? Well, look at the opportunities you have. Acquiring academic skills, enriching one’s knowledge, higher grades, and getting a great paying job. More often, it has been claimed that successful college students obtain their success because they are intelligent and study hard. It goes way beyond that, a successful college student is not successful from being intelligent and studying hard. In order to be successful, you need to work on your goal and achieve it.

To begin with, students begin college with no expectations, except bad ones. In the reading “Fear Factor” by Cox, the author interviewed college students to see how they faced their fears and overcome them. “Students were admitted to feeling intimidated by professors’ academic knowledge and by teacher’s power to assess students and assign grades,” Cox writes. The students adapted a fear that they would be exposed to the class and professor as “too dumb for college.” Therefore, students did not raise their hand or ask for assistance leading them to miss out on information. Professors do not want anything but the best for their students. You can always email a professor and they would be happy to help you. Students also did not turn in assignments because they feared it is not good enough. When students submitted writing assignments for a formal assessment, 'their deepest fears were disproved.” Fear plays a big factor when we first start college and it’s why many students are overwhelmed to drop out that first semester. Kyra continues to point out, '...my fear is maybe just in my head, rather than actual fact... 'I don't think anybody's given you what you needed, to learn.” Everyone knows, or should know that being a college student can be stressful and it can’t be easy for you. Therefore, work till you drop, don’t quit and say “I’ll continue this tomorrow,” because the truth is you won’t.

Why are some students significantly more successful than others? In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he explains about the ten thousand hours that helps us be successful. The ten thousand hour rule proves the idea that in order to become successful in a certain skill, one must have practiced that skill for at least ten thousand hours. “The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice… magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.” He mentioned how the Beatles, Mozart, and Billy Joy worked really hard to get where they are now by putting in ten thousand hours of work. Bill Gates who was born during the time where programming and computer technology was emerging, therefore sparking his interest in computers, later bringing him to create Microsoft. When you look at the birthdates of the highly successful technicians, you can see a pattern. These guys were born at just the right time to take advantage of the personal computing revolution. Bill Joy had been just a little bit older, so he had to do programming with cards. Bill Joy could have been a biologist. Their success came from being born at a time when a new technology was emerging. “Their success was not just of their own making. It was a product of the world in which they grew up.”

College students are supposed to be “professional.” As a college student, avoid being absent. Attending class is the most priority. Have you ever lost over $100? College is expensive, and when you skip class it is as if you are throwing away money. Going to class makes a good impression to the professors, so make it a habit. They appreciate when students show that they care about their education. If you cannot handle this small little piece of self-control, then how do you expect to become a successful college student? College is a big transition from high school, so you cannot count on a student to send you all the notes and you are good for the day. You will have to play catch up, as a lot goes on in over 90 minutes in each class. You think you’re taking a day off of class to relax, but really you’re stressing more about missing. In case of an emergency, students should professionally contact the professor via email as soon as possible with a reasonable explanation. Moreover, there are plenty of professors that grade based on attendance.

It is Sunday night and the clock is ticking. You have assignments due at 11:59 in the night, and you are sitting on the bed stressing yourself out for procrastinating. How did this happen? Whether you are in high school or college, full time or part-time job, it doesn’t matter, procrastination ends up ruining our lives. In the TED Urban video, “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator” he pointed out how procrastination involving tasks without deadlines end up ruining our lives and careers. It is for those tasks that the 'panic monster' doesn't show up and the 'monkey' causes our procrastination. He showed how procrastination is not really a bad thing, as it keeps us alerted. It is not really a bad thing, although procrastination somehow keeps you alerted in a stressful way, it does help focus on the 'fear' to complete an assignment. The speaker didn't portrait procrastination as something that is only bad but he described it as something that could be good for us. You can always avoid procrastination, a good habit is to have a planner where you can write down everything you have to do for each class every week, this is a habit that will save your classes.

Setting yourself specific deadlines to complete tasks will keep you on track to achieve your goals, and will mean that you have no time for procrastination. Organization will help you through college. Wouldn’t you hate losing your notes or maybe even your homework? It is the worst. Binders are great, keep one and a daily planner. A planner should be your best friend! Planners can be used to write down your schedule for the semester and will help keep plans in order. You will know where everything is at and you can divide your work into sections, therefore everything is in just one place. If you find yourself jotting down reminders in odd places or never consulting your student agenda, there are numerous apps designed to help you to be more organized, such as Trello. Use the app and you can add homework assignments, exam dates and reminders. Keep your notes neat and you will get your work in on time. One day, many actually, you might have very long essays, exams you need to study for through your notes, or math that needs really hard thinking. When you are neat and clean and you're able to do you’re school work on time, that will show the professor you take their class seriously and you really care about passing the class.

When you take the time to create a network, it can pretty much help you transition through the college work world. Engaging with students will help you get through your classes and this is how. We have this thing called networking. You meet someone, maybe exchange numbers and help each other through the class, like give and take. Having positive relationships with everyone can only help you at college. Talking about engaging with students, it is a good habit to keep in touch with your professor. A professor isn’t some dispensing machine, pouring out what he or she knows during a lecture and that is it. Professor are very caring and want the best for each and every student, so, develop a connection with them and they will help you through the class. Whether it is something you did not understand, or you need time for something.

Every new semester, students create lists with the goals they want to achieve. Something to keep you persistent is goals. Goals have a definite reason of why you are in college. It could be a career, graduation, or even getting your doctor’s degree. Whatever it is, being persistent will help you through it. Most students work really hard for their first exams and assignments. To be a successful college student, it is important to change all bad study habits in college. Unfortunately, many of today’s habits are doing more harm than good, despite it being unintentional. Students should identify what habits work for them best and stick with it on a daily basis. For instance, some students study better in the morning or can work more efficiently in the night. Try to figure out if you can work better by dividing your assignments in smaller chunks or rather write it in in one shot. Figure out what doesn’t work for you on a personal level, create a time schedule that would work for all your classes and stick to it. Always have a plan b, because you never really know what can happen. If you have a MacBook and cannot resist but keep checking your social media, use SelfControl to block specific websites during fixed hours with a specific time that you choose. Every student should change their bad study habits. Therefore, everyone can achieve his or her set goals and become a successful college student.

Any habit can be changed or created once we understand the process on how they work. We make habits at some point and we begin to not notice them, yet continue to do them because our brain automatically follows them. In the reading “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg, the writer talks about habits. He explains that changing a bad habit is very rewarding. Within the Golden Rule, people realize how to change their habits through it. Rather than to change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine. There is a 3 step loop habit in our brain and they are known as: Cue: starting the habit, routine: the action you take, and the habit itself reward: the benefit you gain from doing the habit. Habits can be designed, any habit can be changed once we know how they work. You cannot really replace an old habit with a new one. To change a habit, you use the same cue, and provide the same reward, but shift the routine. “If you want to change a habit, you must find an alternative routine, and your odds of success go up dramatically when you commit to changing as part of a group.” In the habit loop, you believe the habit is there and you stick with it because the reward satisfies you. If it is something small you will be consistent with it and you have to build it up in order to keep up with it. “Almost any behaviour can be transformed if we set up different routines in response to our cues.” So, to change a bad habit, what makes it irresistible? Do you lose focus fast? Procrastinate? Too lazy? Find the reward you are seeking for to substitute for the bad habit. For instance, you want to eat junk food after a good workout. Substitute it with a nap instead of junk food. Once the habit becomes more deep-seated, your response towards reward happens right after the cue triggers the habit. It happens in anticipation of the reward.

In conclusion, college students should be respectful to their instructors and classmates and avoid being absent. Students should not feel intimidated about their professors. The way to solve this is to communicate with the professor, after all, he is a regular human being, who was possibly intimidated by their professors as well. Being a successful college student is not an easy way to go, doesn’t it take pressure to create a diamond? A good mind set, good habits, and determination are key to success every college student should possess to do their best in college. For a college student, making good use of such habits and changing the bad ones pays off to great opportunities. You will obtain a great high paying job, adapting to good habits, and enriching one’s knowledge.