7 Habits Of Highly Effective Students: A Complete Guide

As a student, you’re on a journey of learning, growth, and achievement. To make the most of this exciting phase of life, it’s essential to develop habits that will not only enhance your academic performance but also contribute to your overall personal development.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a famous book written by Stephen R Covey, that is believed to be one of the best personal development books of all time.

In this blog, we will give you our take on how to use the same habits from this renowned book to become a highly effective student.

Success as a student isn’t just about intelligence; it’s about adopting the right strategies and mindsets. In this guide, we’ll explore practical habits that encompass all aspects of your student life. These habits, when integrated into your daily routine, will not only improve your academic performance but also enhance your quality of life.

Be Proactive with Your Work

Covey believes that it is important to take control of everything you can and let go of what you cannot. This can be used by students when it comes to taking full responsibility for the work and effort that you can put in, to make sure that you are reaching your goals, while also understanding that you cannot control everything around you.

This could mean that you are making sure, that you are doing your best to excel in your exams, but you shouldn’t be stressing out about whether or not someone else is doing better than you. 

You could prepare very well for your test, but if you happen to fall sick before the test, then you might not be able to perform as well as you wanted to. In this case, it is normal to feel defeated, but it is best to focus on your capabilities and what you CAN do as opposed to what you cannot.

Clearly Define your Study Goals

Defining your goals is one of the most effective ways to make sure that you know what you want to achieve by the end of the semester or academic year. 

The way Covey puts it is, to begin with an end in mind. In academic terms, this could mean clearly defining what grades you would like to achieve, or what you would like to be proficient in by the end of your course so that you can create the necessary steps to achieve the same. 

Prioritise your tasks

Another one of the 7 habits of highly effective students is to prioritise what is important and give less time to what isn’t. This could mean categorising your assignments/projects based on how important they are and how soon they need to be submitted.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by all the work you have to do and you might end up not doing anything. This is why, prioritising your tasks and breaking them into smaller tasks can make it easy to tackle them while ensuring that important tasks get more of your time compared to smaller ones. 

Collaborate with others

According to Covey, all solutions/agreements with people must be a  “win-win” situation, which is mutually beneficial to both parties.

So when you are working on a project with a group of people, while you might want to do it your way or choose an idea you suggested,  it is important to collaborate with other team members to find a solution that works for all of you.

It is natural to want to stand out when it comes to ideas, but in a team setting, it should always come down to collaborating together. Everything that you decide on, should be convenient and beneficial to everyone in the team so that each of you can learn from each other and do your best.

Listen Empathetically

Covey believes that people usually listen with the intent to respond rather than with the intent to understand what is being told. Learning to listen to people empathetically and genuinely making an effort to see where they are coming from can broaden your horizons when it comes to learning more and connecting with people.

This could be students, professors or professionals, always take the extra effort to listen carefully because this is how you can learn a lot from all the people you meet.

Work with others to learn more

An important habit that we believe is part of the 7 habits of highly effective students is to work together with other students a lot more.

Due to the competitive nature of the university, it might seem easy to hold back from working together with people so you perform best. But by working with people, you will be able to get new perspectives while learning new concepts and you can help them get the same as well. 

 Take the time to work on yourself 

As students, it is important to focus on different aspects of your life to make sure that you are not only being a good student but also becoming a well-rounded person. 

This includes your physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being. Try to regularly stay active in ways that you find enjoyable, work through any difficult emotions you feel and make an effort to keep in touch with your loved one regardless of how busy you get.

This will be different for different people but regardless, it is equally important for every student to make sure that they are focussing on improving all different aspects of your life which will eventually make them a better and more effective student.

This concludes our list of 7 habits of highly effective students. Remember that becoming a highly effective student is not about perfection but continuous improvement. It’s about developing a mindset that values growth, resilience, and balance. So, as you embark on your educational path, keep these habits in mind, and watch as they transform your student experience into a rewarding and fulfilling one.