When you are an adult it is easy to focus on traits and habits that are useful for the here and now. But good habits for students to acquire are not those that will only help them become better and happier people now, but in the future as well.
The best habits to have are those that balance your life and work and leave you more flexible for anything to come. Ideally, you want your habits as a student to give you three things:
- Happiness
- Calmness
- Awareness
Regretfully, that is easier said than done. In most cases, turning a habit into a lifestyle is necessary for easy application in the future. These habits need to be trained and some effort is necessary for the beginning.
On the other side, if you are successful in acquiring these habits at an early age, your life will be objectively better. Even if hardships strike, and they will, you will have the tools you need to overcome any situation with greater ease.
Five Stages of Lifestyle
We hear about a lot about ‘having a lifestyle’ today, but it is mostly in the context of material possessions. But the true meaning of a lifestyle is something you do by default in your life, automatically, as well as effortlessly.
Some of the things you can have this way are much more valuable than any material gains. If you can have a lifestyle of learning and overcoming obstacles, everything else will come in easy.
But there are four stages you need to go through before something becomes a lifestyle. And the sooner you begin the easier it will be.
- Trial
- Effort
- Practice
- Habit
- Lifestyle
This is why practicing good habits for students will transform into a good life for them as adults.
Trying something lasts only a single day. You need to apply effort over three days to set something into practice. After 21 days of practice, the action will become a habit.
But to see good habits for students become a good lifestyle for adults there need to be three years of consistency. Once that is complete, these good habits will instinctively become a part of you.
Habits for Students in the Big World
Although good habits will make us do better in school, that is not their biggest goal. We want to gain something that will allow us to thrive in the big world. Once we exit schools and universities, there is a whole slew of difficulties that will come our way.
That is why every student should prepare flexible tools through their habits and behavior. These habits go beyond simply being able to regurgitate a textbook on demand. Rather, it is about being able to understand every type of situation and problem and approach with a solution.
Benefits of AI Assistants
Technology is a great thing, and it should be used to the fullest. Even though some professors smirk at the idea of using a smartphone to organize your life, it is a fact of life and should be seen as a good tool.
AI assistants like Siri, Bixby, and Alexa are just some of the options out there, and they can be quite useful. Let the software remind you of tasks, as well as remind you that you should relax at times.
Even if you have good friends who might serve the same purpose, leave that time for more emotional conversations. Use AI assistants to remind and motivate you to acquire good habits for students when you need it, as they will be in your pocket regardless.
#1 Hit the Ground Running
The first point is the hardest, but also the most rewarding. One of the best habits for students and future adults is that they should start their day quickly. Jump out of your bed and greet the new day with a smile.
While cozying up in your warm blanket can feel good, it leads to constant procrastination. Starting off with a proactive mindset will set the tone for the rest of the day, and you should change just that fact.
You can even start with a warm shower and a pleasant playlist. But that should be within five minutes of waking up. That way your day will start active, but not hectic.
Also, it is okay if you move slowly and calmly. That might even be better. Still, you need to move right away.
“Mens Sana in Corpore Sano”
“A healthy mind in a healthy body”
This proverb is as true today as it was two millennia ago.
And it doesn’t mean that every one of us should be in top shape as a world-class athlete. You should be in the best shape that you can and build on it as best as you can. Every morning, find effective ways to exercise.
For some, this will be an easy 5-mile jog and 200 burpees, while for others it can be a slow jog using only some parts of the body. In any case, it all counts.
Ideally, this should be done in the first hour of your day, and the best is to start seconds after you wake up.
#2 One at a Time
Make a habit of only taking a single task at a time. Don’t juggle your responsibilities and try to multi-task, but set a list and go slowly down the line. In the end, you will finish everything faster than is you were juggling.
At first, this might be hard because you don’t know what to do. This is solved by making one more task the day before. Sit at your desk and make a detailed list of what you need to do.
Additionally, you might want to separate larger tasks into multiple smaller ones.
And, when you are doing the task, only do that single task, don’t spend mental energy on what will come later. At that point, you can instruct others not to ask you to do something inside another task. Answering laconically with ”Yes, later” is more than enough.
#3 Practice Rituals
Rituals are the little helpers of habits. They allow you to switch into the mindset of the thing you want to do. Through Pavlovian conditioning, you will make yourself feel or act in a way that better establishes a routine.
Generally, this is exactly how religious rituals work, except that now you are praying to your endocrine system and not some metaphysical power.
The ritual can be something simple like singing yourself to sleep with a nursery rhyme or repeating a motivational quote. It can also take advanced forms like meditation and reflection if you are inclined to such practices.
And while meditation is often attributed to East-Asian practices and more mythical experiences, it began as a practice of students on the Greek island of Samos. It is, in fact, one of the original good habits for students and those who are learning.
#4 Clear Your Space
Many laughed at the Canadian professor Jordan Peterson when he said that the best thing to do when you want to start changing your life is to clean your room. But that advice was entirely correct.
The space you live in is the reflection of your mind and unconsciously influences your thoughts. That is why creating a habit of cleaning your space is good on multiple levels and will have a profound influence over time.
For one, it is a small victory and something that can be quickly completed. And once it is done you will have a fresh start for anything else you were doing.
Also, it will cut any type of procrastination with something useful. You are not studying; because you are cleaning your room. But when the room is clean it will be much easier to study.
#5 Hour of Improvement
Depending on when you usually go to bed, you can dedicate one hour a day to miscellaneous self-improvement. Try reading a book, or learning a skill, or even some art like painting or drawing.
When it turns into a habit, you will start accumulating various skills that will, over time, start combining.
If you just try to play an instrument for one hour every day, just for fun, you will be an avid player in less than a year.
Conclusion
Good habits for students are not something that should be focused only on academic achievement. Rather, it is a set of mental tools and practices that will make a student’s life easier and become even more valuable as they grow older.
Acquiring these habits will not only make you more productive but also happier. Even though the initial effort can be hard, after just a month they will seem like a normal thing to do.