10 Habits of Successful Students: by now I am sure you have heard the famous quote from Waldorf, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." It is a great quote and it is also very true in study.
The first habit you must acquire is to treat your study like a business and not like a hobby or a project. This means you must devote a substantial amount of time to learning about your new study. Of course, you can ask for help with homework, but you must have goals set and you must follow through with those goals. This is important because if you don't this will be a recipe for failure.
The second habit to cultivate is to read regularly. Reading will keep you sharp and improve your knowledge of your study. The third habit is to read often and take regular notes. This will enable you to refer back to your notes at a later time if you find that you've made a mistake or you simply didn't understand something when you read it.
The fourth habit is to hold yourself accountable. In order to reach your goals, you must be able to monitor your own behavior and be accountable for it. One way to do this is to set up an appointment with yourself every morning to review what you have done during the day. Habits of successful students are habits of continuous monitoring and accountability.
The fifth habit to cultivate is to focus on the student rather than on the task at hand. Habits of successful students are habits of working at your own pace. When a student becomes aware of his or her own efficiency this automatically eliminates the need to push the project ahead of their schedule. They become self-aware of how well they are actually doing and can make adjustments where needed without having to wait on the manager. They also become more relaxed because they know that their work is not done yet and they can always look forward to more challenge tomorrow.
The final habit to cultivate is to take a step back and check your performance. Habits of successful students are habits of self-evaluation. Students who don't have a habit of self-evaluation tend to focus too much on what they did, how they failed, or where they failed. They focus on the end result instead of focusing on what they did right. You can't expect your student to notice if you've already checked in on your progress the last few times you met.
There are many other habits that can be broken down into ten steps. When you begin to see success in your student's life, you can add a habit of gratitude. When you recognize the success, it doesn't mean that you're going to stop trying to do the things that you did right. Instead, give your student a sense of pride because of the fact that you have seen the positive results from their efforts. Appreciation and focus are powerful tools that will aid you in achieving success with students.