Students walking

Choices of Succesful Students

Smiling students in graduation gowns

Choices of Successful Students

Successful Students . . .

  1.  . . . accept personal responsibility, seeing themselves as the primary cause of their outcomes and experiences.
  2.  . . . discover self-motivation, finding purpose in their lives by discovering personally meaningful goals and dreams.
  3. . . . master self-management, consistently planning, taking purposeful actions in pursuit of their goals and dreams.
  4. . . . employ interdependence, building mutually supportive relationships that help them achieve their goals and dreams (while helping others do the same).
  5. . . . gain self-awareness, consciously employing behaviour, beliefs, and attitudes that keep them on course.
  6. . . . adopt lifelong learning, finding valuable lessons and wisdom in nearly every experience they have.
  7. . . . develop emotional intelligence, effectively managing their emotions in support of their goals and dreams.
  8. . . . believe in themselves, seeing themselves as capable, lovable, and unconditionally worthy human beings.

Struggling Students . . .

  1. . . . see themselves as victims, believing that what happens to them is determined primarily by external forces such as fate, luck and powerful others.
  2. . . . have difficulty sustaining motivation, often feeling depressed, frustrated and/or resentful about a lack of direction in their lives.
  3. . . . seldom identify specific actions needed to accomplish a desired outcome. And when they do, they tend to procrastinate.
  4. . . . are solitary, seldom requesting, even rejecting, offers of assistance from those who could help.
  5. . . . make important choices unconsciously, being directed by self sabotaging habits and outdated life scripts.
  6. . . . resist learning new ideas and skills, viewing learning as fearful or boring rather than as mental play.
  7. . . . live at the mercy of strong emotions such as anger, depression, anxiety, or a need for instant gratification.
  8. . . . doubt their competence and personal value, feeling inadequate to creat their desired outcomes and experiences.

Source: Downing, S (2008). On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life, Wadsworth