Embrace the seven habits of highly effective students

Sean Covey is an American author who has written books on educational tools for organisations and individuals, and motivational books for children and teens. His best-selling book is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. His father, Stephen Covey, wrote the best seller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The seven habits in these books are similar but target different people.

Today, I would like to recreate the book and talk about the seven habits of highly effective students using Covey’s seven pillars.

These tips will help students navigate the problems they encounter daily including peer pressure, success or lack thereof, adolescence and motivation. The habits will help them achieve their goals and become successful in life.

Be proactive: To unlock the other habits, one has to be proactive. A student should take responsibility for their own lives. Proactive students understand that they are responsible for their happiness or unhappiness. You are in school; you are responsible for your assignments, class attendance, academic performance and discipline.

Begin with the end in mind: You are in school for a reason. You must be clear, from the word go, where you want to end up in life. How about your values, goals and what you stand for? If you have an end goal in mind, you will not waste time, wander or even be tossed around by other students’ opinions.

Put first things first: This helps students to prioritise and manage their time so that they focus on and complete the most important things in their education first.

Think win-win: Students ought believe that they can create a win-win atmosphere in every relationship. The advantage of this habit is that it encourages the idea that in any discussion or situation, it is possible for both parties to arrive at a mutual solution that is beneficial to both.

A student also learns to celebrate other students’ accomplishments instead of seeing them as a threat.

Seek first to understand, and then be understood: Many people are not good listeners and as such, they get frustrated in life with the assumption that no one understands them. For a student, especially, active listening is the most important communication skill. During group discussions, do you give others a chance to express themselves?

Synergise: When you work as a team, the result will be better than when you work alone. This is how synergy is achieved. Set time to do your revision with classmates; and as you do so, keep in mind that you do not have monopoly of knowledge. Share your thoughts with others and come up with a mutual agreement. This way, you learn that it does not have to be ‘your way’ or ‘my way’ but rather a better way, a successful way. Synergy allows you to value differences and better appreciate others.

Sharpen the saw: As a student, you should never get too busy and forget to spare some time to renew yourself. When you ‘sharpen the saw’, you are keeping yourself sharp so that you can be better in school.