subject: 7 Habits of Highly Successful Students - Habit IV [print this page] 7 Habits of Highly Successful Students - Habit IV
Before we discuss Habit IV, let us first do a little recap on the first three habits.
Habit I: Be Proactive, Take Charge
You are the captain of your own destiny. If you don't take control of it and steer yourself towards success, no one will. Be proactive in every meaningful task you attempt; take initiative in finding the solutions to your problems. Only in this way can you control the results you get in your life.
Habit II: Believe the Unbelievable
Remove the virtual boundaries you have established in your mind. Tear down the walls of possibilities and believe the unbelievable. With these new and bolder beliefs will come new and better results.
Habit III: Plan for Success
Failing to plan is as good as planning to fail. Good grades do not happen by chance, they are a product of conscious planning and effective implementation. If you want success, plan for it!
Have you started acquiring these habits? Are you ready to become a highly successful student?
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Habit IV :: Learn with Humility
"I think I have seen this before, let's skip it!", "This chapter is so simple. Everyone knows these things..." and "I already know all these" - Sounds familiar? These are perspectives that will set you on the route to failure.
Habit IV is the key to sustainable academic success. To learn with humility is a seemingly simple task that is difficult for the average student to execute. This is especially so for students who have shown a flair for a particular subject. Given their ability to rapidly understand the contents of the subject, these students usually do not possess the patience to dig deeper into the contents and uncover the essence within. They are also more likely to take short-cuts in the subject, to take their lessons less seriously and to devote minimal effort in revising for the examinations. Such actions often create blind spots in the short term, hence resulting in inconsistencies in the student's grades. They too weaken the foundation of the student in the long term. Academic success, as a result, is not sustainable.
Complacency is one the greatest enemies of students who have, at one or more points in time, achieved good grades in school. Good grades can lead to overconfidence and a decline in respect towards learning itself. They can also generate the false perception that the learner is all-knowing' and hence lead him to under-appreciate the knowledge that the learning materials have to offer. Do you recall the times when you have deliberately spaced out in class just because you think that you are already familiar with what's being taught? Sure, you may have already known 90% of the chapter, but it is the last 10% that really separates an average grade from a distinction. In a nutshell, acts of complacency are often the recipe for academic failure.
Highly successful students know how to keep their complacency in check. Despite their good grades, these students know how to keep their feet firmly on the ground and approach each new learning material with an unbiased slate of mind. This is how they learn effectively. This is how they keep acquiring new knowledge and perspectives. Most importantly, this is how they keep their academic success sustainable.
