At the beginning of each semester I'm pumped and I'm ready. I have this insane motivation to exceed everyones expectations. I go out and buy myself overpriced notebooks and pens, a well deserved reward for my proactivity. I step forward into the new semester with a fresh pair of eyes determined to not repeat my previous failures.
The first week of school finishes and I have delved deep into the content, finished my readings and followed up on external research set by the professors. I reward myself with a Saturday night out and a youtube/facebook binge the next day. As Monday week 2 comes around I'm beginning to settle into my new classes, workloads begin to pile up and I reward myself for getting through week 2 unscathed; more Facebook more youtube.
By week 6 I'm the zombie in the library unmotivated, undeserving of the title of 'student'. I started the semester so strong and now assignments are piling up, stress levels are at an all time high and there is no escape except dreaded FAILURE.
This happened over and over again; no matter how hard I tried to keep myself accountable after week 2 or 3 I began to slip and fall behind passing by the skin of my teeth.
Reluctantly, feeling like a failure, I approached my psychology professor for help. I was shattered, beaten, and feeling like a complete idiot. Though he didn't seem surprised by my misery. Instead he explained to me that all my problems were coming from habit.
He asked me that when things got too difficult or overwhelming what I did? I replied that I perhaps would take a break for 10 minutes or so, maybe watch a youtube video or a tv show or a movie!... "well there's your problem". He instructed me that no matter what that for one hour each day for 4 weeks I must stick to a subject and attempt to complete the set tasks. Whether I finished them or not at the end of an hour didn't matter but that I had to stay on topic for an hour; no distractions.
So I did and by the fourth week a habit had taken hold; each night at approximately 7pm I sat down and studied without distraction. I no longer reached for a distraction from hard problems I began working through them. Ultimately the professor had targeted a habit that when things got difficult I would distract myself resulting in lower performance in my subjects.
The power of habit is the answer to anything you wish to achieve. By starting out to create or undo habits that will better yourself is the first step to achieving top marks. Since that day 2 years ago, when the professor had told me about the art of habit formation I have increased my WAM from a 57 to 92! I go into exams with confidence rather that trembling fear. Habits are the key to success