WHY STUDENTS FAIL

  

                On my last blog, I talked about 5 WAYS TO BECOME AN A STUDENT. The first point was to change your mindset and I mentioned the BE-DO-HAVE model. The issue many students have is that they think they must have the results, before they can work(do) and then be an A student. So you usually hear them say; " I wish I was a smart as this person", "If only I had a memory as good as that" and so many other victim-like stuff. When you have the goal of being an A student, definitely the results come to mind, but don't start thinking of what you need to do, rather you think " who do I need to be?". The reason that should be the first step is because you can't expect to do new things with an old mentality. If you do, eventually, you'll lapse into your former style and then begin to think-" I tried doing this, but it didn't work. Maybe I'm just not the school-type.". Of course you aren't, not with that mentality that is. You change your mentality by asking yourself who you need to be in order to achieve the results you want. 

              So, why do some students fail? Why do they get bad scores? What's in their heads?

1. They don't have a goal 

           If you don't have a goal, you can't say you've succeeded.  A+ students set the goal. They know that they want a very good result. They could want to be at the top of the class, or be part of the best students. This is a very vital step as without a goal/destination, you'll be aimless.

2. They don't have a plan

   "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride". Having a goal without a plan is simply having a mere wish. It is one thing to have a goal. It is another thing to get there. When A+ students decide what their goal is, they begin making plans on how to reach their goal. They wonder -"how do I get what I want", "what do I need to do". Asking yourself such questions would immediately set your brain to begin to search for answers to get what you want. That's what differentiates A+ students from those who fail - having a good plan. 

3. They might work 'hard' on their plans, but not 'smart'

 When some people have their plans carefully structured, they act on them by working hard. But you can't just work hard. Being smart in the way you achieve your goals is key. There's an acronym SMART.

  A+ students, consciously or unknowingly, usually follow the laws of working smart. For instance, you  might want to try covering up what you learn every week.  So you can decide to work hard by reading  everything you've learnt that week on the weekend or you can decide to work smart by spreading your reading time throughout the week, thus enabling you to take the information in little bits which aids assimilation. Note that working smart is relative and different for everyone.

        Also, to act on their on their plans efficiently, A+ students know not to live a life filled with procrastinations. If they procrastinate, they do it for the irrelevant things. It could be very difficult at times to focus on the work at hand instead of postponing it, but it is necessary you face whatever you have to do at that moment. Remember, a stitch in time saves nine, or how I like to say it - one stich on time will prevent nine. I know, same thing but you get my point. Postponing things, sometimes, make them a bit more complex and that's also what makes some people fail.

4. They don't have inner motivation

    A lot of people slouch and laze around until they hear a word of encouragement, or till they watch motivational videos. While it is refreshing to hear uplifting words, you need to know that the real source of motivation should be you- from within.  Don't depend on the external world for encouragement and fuel. that's what keeps a lot of people back. They're waiting to be pushed. They go around looking for motivational videos to watch. then they get a bit of fuel and there's that spark. Immediately they realize they've wasted so much time. So they start fixing things. But they're at a pace so fast that the fuel eventually finishes and because they don't have an inner source of motivation, they go back to square one. 

             

The moment you realize you don't need anything other than you're diligence and will, that's when you'll start to skyrocket. A+ students know this and thus they take care of their inner source. Constantly tell yourself that you can do it and that soon you'll be happy you didn't give up.

5. They don't make the best out of situations they're in

 A+ students know how to make the best out of almost everything. Their classes, projects, assignments, failures in tests. A lot of students tend to miss out on the silver linings in clouds. Not A+ students though. The thing is, there is always good in almost every challenge and that's what you should look out for. 

So, a concept that takes you nearly 2 hours to comprehend, you should know that once you eventually get it, you would hardly forget it. That question you failed, take note of the corrections so you won't make the mistake again. When, you're put in group projects, take it as an avenue for more learning from your fellow classmates (we tend to assimilate better when someone on our level works with us, than when a teacher teaches us).

Whatever situation you find yourself in, ask yourself what you can gain from that situation.

6.  They don't ask, research or overlearn

 Many people might complain that they're struggling to cover the scheme they have and thus they can't think of overreading or overlearning. That's what differentiates  A+ students from them. A+ students know that overlearning makes things easier to stick. Imagine your memory as a space with which things float in. When you learn something, a block of that information goes into that space and starts floating. After sometime, it floats farther and farther away from your reach. But when you learn more about that concept, you tend to give the block an anchor and thus you hook it, keeping it from floating away. The more you ask questions on, make research on or overlearn about a concept, the more hooks are attached to the concept's block.

For instance, being told in class that Frank Bejour was a human right activist in 1979 and that he fought for some specific things( not a real person), could somewhat stick to your memory. But then, if you're also giving a number of other important people, you could forget or mix up their information. Going deeper to study about these people and their stories will increase the chance of you remembering them. That's the power of over-learning.

7. They complain

You might think that not complaining can be very difficult. I mean, everyone will definitely get irritated when there's something unpleasant. But the difference between students who fail and A+  students is that A+ students don't let the bad situation get to them. There has to be a way around obstacles. If there isn't try to create one. Complaining only takes energy and time. Plus, most times, it doesn't solve the problem; unless they're complaining to someone who can solve the problems.

              

SUMMARY

Succeeding in whatever area of life starts from the mindset. It can be challenging to change your mindset sometimes, but with perseverance and your goal in your thoughts every hour, you're bound to overcome obstacle and climb further up your mountain.