5 Simple Ways to Set Up For Success

I do five things that keep me ahead of my schedule and workload, both in school and at work (but the way I’ve written about them here they mostly apply to school). They keep my head clear and my hands ready to work. They remove anxiety and don’t give me reason to cram for anything. They are why I'm an A-student. And they can be your reasons too.

A small warning: All five of these have become habits for me, and that is really important to realize. You have to make them habits for you too, or you will not get the benefit that I have out of them. The idea is to make these such a part of your life that you don't think about them at all. This will give you the head-space to focus on the actual working and studying.

1 - Think and do ahead
Basically, I’m always thinking about what I’m going to do next. My to-do list has EVERYTHING on it except "eat breakfast", including floss teeth, submit programing assignment and ask my sister about her learning style. I never have to think about what I should be doing because I know that everything I should be doing is in one note in Notes, ready to look up.

2 - Make your to-do list detailed
Instead of listing the things you want to accomplish, list the things you have to do in order to accomplish those goals. Your to-do list should be full of tangible actions, always the immediate first step to fulfilling your goal in some area or another. It’s not “create blog post” it’s “list 10 ideas for next blog post”. It’s not “wash car” it’s “wash car on Thursday after school”. Be specific. Don’t give yourself any excuse to fail.

3 - Read ahead
Very simple. If you want to be ready to learn as much as possible at the next class, read up on what you’re going to learn. That way, you’ll already understand at least half of what is going to be taught, and you’ll be ready to pay special attention to the parts you know you’re having trouble with.

4 - Ask yourself questions
Think about things, reflect on yourself, your habits, your life, your goals. Write about your feelings and thoughts. When faced with a new idea, ask yourself what you think is cool about it. Document the things that excite you. Listen to podcasts and read widely. Then, when you get some assignment about a topic you've already learned a bit about (and you'd be surprised how often this happens!) you’ll already have some thought and maybe even some written material. And even if you don't, you'll still be cognitively prepared to dive into the problem.

5 - Strive for perfection
Never settle for anything less. If you aim for the top, you will always reach as high up as your current skills allow. If you don’t aim for the top, you will always hit lower than you otherwise could, and, in the long term, you can’t afford not doing your best.


For each of these five ideas, make a short list of the tangible ways you can apply them to your life, and you will be more than half-way to being confident and clear-headed about school and time-management.

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