College Hacks: Habits of a Successful and Efficient Student

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”
Aristotle

Habits are the small decisions we make and actions we perform every day that
influences our character and personality. Habits are dependent to our decision making
and we need to understand that there are several factors that affects our decision
making such as past experiences, maturity, environment, individual differences, and
escalation of commitment. Meaning, if we want to develop lifechanging habits then we
need to first address our ability to make right choices. Remember that who we are
today is essentially the sum of our habits and choices. When we learn to transform our
habits, we can transform our life.
Understanding how to build new habits (and how your current ones work) is
essential for making progress in your health, your fulfillment, and your life in general.
Remember that it is within your power to make the decision to change your life.
How to Build New Habits?
1. Learn to start with tiny habits
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out”
—R Collier
- The idea is to make these behavior changes or habits so small that they're easy
to do and you can’t say no. The reason why most people who wants to change
fails to change is because they’re putting too much weight on their shoulders to
do things that can only be done through small progressive habits.
- There is power in small improvements and slow gains. Start small and gradually
improve. Mastering your habits is more important than achieving a certain
outcome.

2. Understand that building new habits is a Process

- Building new habits doesn’t happen overnight. It requires consistency, small
efforts, and small steps in the right direction every single day.
- It’s a process, It’s a process, It’s a process. Change takes time.
The Three States of Change:
a. Current State – It defines who we are today and how we do things at
present. It may not be working great, but it is familiar and comfortable
because we know what to expect. The current state is where we have been
successful or failed and where we know how we will be measured and
evaluated.
b. Transition State – It is messy and disorganized. It is unpredictable and
constantly in flux. The place where new habits either thrive or fail. The
transition state requires us to accept new perspectives and learn new ways of
behaving, while still keeping up our day-to-day efforts. The transition state is
challenging.
c. Future State – It is where we are trying to get to. It is often not fully
defined and can actually shift while we are trudging through the transition
state. The future state is supposed to be better than the current state in
terms of performance. 
- The future state solely depends on the transition state. The habits we
developed in the transition state will either make us better or worse.

3. Be Resilient and Adaptive

The best way to improve your self-control is to see how and why you lose control.
—Kelly McGonigal
- Along the process of developing new habits, there are times where we will
fail to do our responsibilities and commit mistakes but that is normal. Top
performers make mistakes, commit errors, and get off track just like
everyone else. The difference is that they get back on track as quickly as
possible.
- When you fail do not put additional stress or pressure in yourself by
overthinking and by blaming your limited capacity. Failing is normal, but
dwelling in failure is a choice. You just need to be consistent not perfect.

4. Be Patient
- The road to self-development is a long one, and those without patience—who
want to see results immediately—may not be willing to walk it .
- Patience makes it easier to live because it reduces negative emotions like
stress, anger, or frustration. When one is patient, one is calmer and more
open to changes.
- Patience gives people the perspective to focus on long-term strategies. You
would have noticed that patient people have a reputation for persistence.
This is because they work towards their goals despite setbacks and delays.

The Dilemma of College Students:

A common complaint I hear from students is that they never seem to have
enough time to finish all of their work. They vent about how many hours they spend—
late nights review, weekends sacrificed to paper writing—but no matter how hard they
try, there always seems to be something else due. It is easy for college students to
become “stuck in a state of permanent catch-up.” Understandably, these students feel
like they have reached their academic limit; they believe that unless they forgo sleep or
any semblance of a social life, there are simply not enough hours in the day to stay on
top of all their schoolwork.
The problem here is not the amount of available hours, but rather how each
hour is spent. A lack of time, therefore, isn’t enough to explain why so many students
feel overwhelmed. So, what does explain this phenomenon? The answer, has much
more to do with how we work than what we’re trying to accomplish.
As humans, our minds have evolved to prefer short-term tasks. Therefore, when
you decide to study on a Sunday morning with the goal of finishing all of your
homework and writing a paper, your brain isn’t happy. The idea of spending eight
consecutive hours trapped in a study carrel is dispiriting. Plus, it’s hard to focus for that
long, so pretty soon fatigue will set in, your concentration will wander, and every
distraction will suddenly seem impossibly appealing. Before you know it, the day will be
over and you’ll realize that you haven’t accomplished much productive work at all. The
next day, new assignments will pile onto those you didn’t finish on Sunday, and the
tiresome process starts all over again.
So, the question is, what can we do to improve our efficiency in studying?
We need to improve our Timing and Focus.

Work Accomplished = Time Spent x Intensity of Focus

Replace long, low-intensity stretches of work with a small number of short, high
intensity sessions.

Now to accomplish this transformation you need to gain control over your habits and
that is not easy. This requires self-motivation, persistence, and an all-out dedication to
become the better version of yourselves.

Habits that we need to develop in order to become successful and efficient:

1. Create A Good Study Environment (7 Rights for Successful Studying)

a. Right Attitude - Good grades are your responsibility. You own them and no
one else does, not even your mom. You can get good grades.
b. Right Energy - Your brain is connected to the rest of your body. To work well,
it needs food and sleep.
c. Right Location - Find a quiet place where you can spread out all your stuff,
such as the library. Stay away from places where you are tempted to slack off
d. Right Time - Set regular times for studying. Pick times when you are most
alert and least likely to get distracted. Make it a routine.
e. Right Pace - Determine how long you will study. Stretch yourself, but break
down your study times into doable chunks.
f. Right Sequence - Prioritize your work. First, focus on the now and second,
focus on the later.
g. Right Response - You have the right to say no: NO to incoming text
messages, NO to a crazy party, NO to your friend asking for a favor, and NO
to the same video you’ve seen ten times already. Don’t be afraid to say no.
It’s okay

2. Time Management
- We need to develop time-management system that will help us achieve
stress-free balance without requiring you to sacrifice the spontaneity and
excitement of college.

What You Need: A calendar and a list

- Record all of your to-dos and deadlines on your calendar. This becomes your
master schedule.
- List - Some piece of writing material that you can update throughout the day.
- Example: A sheet of paper ripped out of a notebook each morning.
- Remember, to-dos and deadlines that exist only in your mind drain your
energy, distract your attention, create stress, and are more likely to be
forgotten.

The key to this system, is that you need to deal with your calendar only once
every twenty-four hours. Meaning you have to update your calendar each
morning.

The system can be summarized in three easy steps:

 Jot down new task and assignments on your list during the day
 Transfer new items from your to-do list onto your calendar
 Take a couple of minutes to plan your day.

Here are the things that you should do:

 Try to label each of your to-dos for the day with a specific time period during
which you are going to complete it. Be honest
 Be reasonable about how long things really take—don’t plan to read two hundred
pages in one hour.
- The truth is things will come up. Don’t assume that every hour that looks free
in the morning will stay free throughout the day.
 Don’t try to fit in work right up until sleep time because you need to be able to
unwind and relax.

Remember: the goal here is not to squeeze everything into one day at all
costs, but rather to find out how many of the tasks listed for the day you
actually have time to accomplish.

3. Declare War on Procrastination

- The real challenge is not figuring out what you should be doing but
marshaling the motivation to actually do the work once it’s scheduled.
Without some control over your schedule, you cannot be a happy and
successful student—no matter how good your intentions.

Battle Plan:
a. Feed your Body the fuel it needs to perform at its peak
- If you want to defeat procrastination, you need to provide it with the energy
necessary to concentrate and win the fight. Without proper care, it will turn
against you.

Nutritional Rules for Maximizing Your Mental Energy while Studying:

a.1 Drink Water Constantly
- Your body needs water to function. Hydration increases your energy, masks
boredom-induced food cravings, and staves off sleepiness.

a.2 Monitor your caffeine intake carefully

- Don’t drink more than one large caffeinated beverage in any one-hour
period.

a.3 Treat food as a source of energy not satisfaction

- When studying, carefully choose snacks that promise a long-term energy
boost. Try vegetables, fruit, anything whole grain, lean proteins, peanuts, or
natural granola bars.

a.4 Don’t Skip Meals

- Hunger, and the corresponding low blood sugar, will rob you of your ability
to concentrate and set you up to succumb to procrastination. So, keep your
meals regular. If you’re pressed for time, eat fast.

b. Build a Routine
- Your schedule varies each day. But you should be able to identify at least one
hour, on each weekday, that is consistently free. Once you’ve identified these
protected hours, use them to do the same work each week. The goal is to
transform these slices of work into a habit, something you no longer have to
convince yourself to do.

c. Plan your Hard Days

- Hard days are inescapable at college. Sometimes you simply have more work
due than you can handle with a well-balanced schedule. You can’t avoid hard
days but you can control their impact.
- Expect the challenge, prepare for the challenge, and survived it. This strategy
is more psychological than time saving, but the effect is powerful.

4. Build Your Social Support System

- Even if we limit how much face-to-face time we spend with others on
campus, connecting with family and friends might be more important than
ever. And staying in touch with instructors, classmates, and group mates is
still important for continued classwork.
- Friends and loved ones can make you more resilient in times of stress,
setback, or loss and they can also make the good times even better.
Supportive relationships can also bolster you emotionally when you’re feeling
down or overwhelmed.

Practical Ways to Sustain Current Support System:

a. Stay in touch through phone calls, texts, and emails.
b. Be available when you’re needed
- Be a good listener and allow your friends to confide freely and without being
judged.
c. Accept Their Help
- Some people find it hard to accept support, preferring to be the one always
offering it instead. Friends and family often want to feel they have done
something for you. Let them! Accepting help can help you.
d. Keep the lines of communication open
- Open, honest communication is the lifeblood of healthy, happy relationships.

How to Build Healthy Support System:

a. Figure out who is a healthy support in your life
-The best way to find support you need is through a support group. If you need
support for a specific challenge, like managing your weight or living with a health
condition, a formal support group may be the best option.
b. Embrace shared interests
- A great way to build connections and friendships is through regular
interaction. 
c. Expand your professional connections
- These are people in and out of your field who can help you advance your
career or offer advice along the way.

Congratulations! You’re about to embark on a new and exciting chapter in your

college experience. It doesn’t matter if you agree with every piece of advice, you just
encountered; what’s important is that by making it this far, you’ve learned two crucial
insights: (1) Brute force study habits are incredibly inefficient; and (2) It is possible to
come up with techniques that work much better and require much less time.
I leave you, however, with one last request. Once you put these ideas into
practice and begin to experience their many benefits, remember what your academic
life was like before your transformation. Then, the next time you see a poor student
huddled in the library, bleary-eyed after an all-nighter, or encounter a friend near a
nervous breakdown from the sheer stress of looming deadlines, take him aside and let
him know that it doesn’t have to be this way.

Process Questions:
a. How effective are your study conditions?
b. Think about your habits and patterns: where, when, and how long do you study?
c. How well do you organize your study materials and plan your time?
d. What could you do better?