The secret of becoming a successful student

Regardless of the instutution they attend, successful students use five steps to set goals:

1. Make a scale of your priorities
You have a list of the things you want to achieve. This may depend on the lifestyle you already have or the one yet to be attained. Unconsciously, you have already set priorities and lived them.

You may have been a laid-back person in certain aspects of your life. Now, choose if you want a contrast from that lifestyle or do measures to be able to maintain what you really are, without sacrificing what you intend to achieve. This is the time you have to be aware and set definite goals

2. Set Specific, measurable, and realistic long-term goals
Saying that you want to "do well" is not enough. Everybody wants that. Define what is "well" or what is "great" or what is "satisfactory." You can start by setting on a grade you want to achieve. Is it 95% or 100%. Remember be realistic and reasonable. If you have never received a general grade higher than 85%, grade of 98% may be unrealistic, albeit admirable, but not impossible.

3. Set short term goals
Long-term goals are impossible to achieve without short-term goals.For example, to achieve a long term goal of a A in biology, the student needed short-term goals. They mught have included: * Completeing all assignments * Attending all classes * Finding a study partner * Completing course readings on time * Studying hard for the mid term and final exams Even though you may have trouble meeting all these short term goals, following through on most of them will help you achieve your long-term aspirations.

4. Set social, personal, and academic goals
Aside from academics, you should also set social and personal goals as well.
Some students would set social goals high on their priority list not minding that they only have four or five years preparation before they enter a lifetime of the "real world."
Some of the social ambitions may include dating, getting along with your roommate, becoming more culturally aware, and learning to feel more comfortable in social situations.

5. Continually strive to meet your goals
Think of of how few people ever achieve thei dream of becoming a CEO of a large corporation, a well respected movie director, or an Olympic champion. Obviously, no one is giving away free tickets to success. However, by prioritizing, by setting realistic long-term goals and by acheiving them through short-term goals, you'll be surprised at how much you can accomplish.

As Les Brown said, "Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner."So know what you want and go for it!