7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

7 Habits of Highly Successful Teens

By Sean Covey

Foe teens, life is not a playground, it’s a jungle. And the parent of a teenager isn’t any walk in the park either. In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teen, author Sean Covey attempts to provide “a compass to help teens and their parents navigate the problem they encounter daily.”

How will they deal with peer pressure? Motivation?  Success or lack thereof? The life of a teenager is full of tough issues and life changing decisions. As a parent, you are responsible to help them learn the principles and ethics that will help them to reach their goals and live a successful life.

While it is well and good to tell kids how to live their lives, “teens watch what you do more than they listen to what you say,” Covet says. So practice what you preach. Your example can be very influential.

 Covey himself has done well by following a parent’s example. His dad Stephen Covey, wrote the book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People which sold over 15 million copies. Sean’s a chip off the old block, and no slacker. His own book has rung in a more that respectable 2 million copies sold. Here are his own seven habits, and some ideas for helping your teen understand and apply them:

CHOOSE THE RIGHT

Graduation

Pleasure or Pain? - Graduation
 There are some acpects of graduation that some would not like to encounter. With graduation there are fees that you must pay just to graduate. Expenses change based on how you want your graduation. You have the option to buy year books, go on school outings, have a luncheon, pay for the formal wear, the list continues. It is also a stress since you have a different mindset of what is to come. The school system, if you choose to go to college, is up to you. Students need to have a self motivation for themselves and prepare to expand their minds in the world and experience new things.
 On the flip-side the benefits to graduating, are the realizations of having completed 12 years of school. Satisfaction always follows an accomplished worker.

Successful Students 5-6

Successful Students 5-6

5. Don’t sit in the back of the room. Successful students minimize classroom distractions that interfere with learning. Students want the best seat available for their entertainment dollars, but willingly seek the worst seat for their educational dollars. Students who sit in the back cannot possibly be their professor’s teammate (see no. 4). Why do they expose themselves to the temptations of inactive classroom experiences and distractions of all the people between them and their instructor? Of course, we know they close the back of the classroom because they seek invisibility or anonymity, both of which are antithetical to efficient and effective learning. If you are trying not to be part of the class, why, then, are you wasting your time? Push your hot buttons, is there something else you should be doing with your time?

6 . . . take good notes. Successful students take notes that are understandable and organized, and review them often.

Why put something into your notes you don’t understand? Ask the questions now that are necessary to make your notes meaningful at some later time. A short review of your notes while the material is still fresh on your mind helps your learn more. The more you learn then, the less you’ll have to learn later and less time it will take because you won’t have to include some decipliering time, also. The whole purpose of taking notes is to use them, and use them often. The more you use them, the more they improve.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT!

 

 

Successsful Students 3-4

Successful Students 3-4

3. …ask questions. Successful students ask questions to provide the quickest route between ignorance and knowledge. In addition to securing knowledge you seek, asking questions has at least two other extremly important benefits. The process helps you pay attention to your professor and helps your professor pay attention to you! Think about it. If you want something, go after it. Get answers now, or fail a question later. There are no foolish questions, only foolish silence. It’s your choice.

4...learn that a student and a professor make a team. Most instructors want exactly what you want: they would like for you to learn the material in their respective classes and earn a good grade.

 Successful students reflect well on their efforts of any teacher; if you have learned your material, the instructor takes some justifiable pride in teaching. Join forces with your instructor, they are not an enemy, you share the same interests, the same goals in short, your teammates. Get to know your professor. You’re the most valuable players on the same team. Your jobs are to work together for mutual success. Neither wishes to chalk up losing a season. Be a team player!

 

CHOOSE THE RIGHT

 

Successful Students 1-2

Successful Students 1-2

 

Successful students exhibit a combination of successful attitudes and behaviors as well as intellectual capacity. Successful students…

 

1. …are responsible and active. Successful students get involved in their studies, accept responsibility for their own education, and are active participants in it! Responsibility means control. It’s the difference between leading and being led. Your own efforts control your grade, you earn the glory or deserve the blame, you make the choice. Active classroom participation improves grades without increasing study time. You can sit there, act bored, daydream, or sleep. Or, you can actively listen, think, question, and take notes like someone in charge of their learning experience. Either option costs one class period. However, the former method will require a large degree additional work outside of class to achieve the same degree of learning the latter provides at one sitting. The choice is yours.

2. … have educational goals. Successful students have legitimate goals and are motivated by what they represent in terms of career aspirations and life’s desire.

Ask yourself these questions: What am I doing here? Why have I chosen to be sitting here now? Is there some better place I could be? What does my presence here mean to me? Answers to these questions represent your “Hot buttons” and are, without a doubt, the most important factors in your success as a college student. If your educational goals are truly yours, not someone else’s, they would motivate a vital and positive academic attitude. If you are familiar with what these hot buttons represent and refer to them often, especially when you tire of being a student, nothing can stop you; if you aren’t and don’t, everything can and will!

 

                         CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!!

Success Story

Sarah’s Academic Achievement

My test study method: I have different strategies for different types of tests or subjects. For me any type of math is exceptionally difficult so I had to spend extra time on that. I would go back through the homework problems focusing on the problems focusing on the problems that I had extra difficulty on. Many times I would ask the teacher for any additional study materials they could provide. If it was a class that required memorization or applying concepts I would create a sort of study guide for myself many times focusing on what were key focal points in the class. If I knew there were going to be essays I would try to take the terms and apply them to an example or create different questions on the concepts focused on throughout the semester. My time management secret: I always, always carry a planner with me. I even use my different color highlighters to show what each event on my calendar is for. For example, pink is personal, yellow is school, orange is work, blue is for appointments, and green is for my sorority. Although I use white-out frequently, I can see in bright yellow that if I have that project for finance due on Tuesday, I need to start working on it the previous day (Wednesday) so I can just get things accomplished but that is really all I do.

Academic Success

Sarah’s Academic Success Story

Part 1

Time management became a key factor in my study skills for college. In high school, there were many times I was able to study for an hour or two the night before a test and get away with it. This was not the case in college. I made sure that meant writing out the terms for the chapter we read (Even when it isn’t required) to better understand them. That way when the midterm or test comes around I was able to understand what I was studying. I started talking excellent notes in class in college. I may have done this in high school, but in college I started typing up the notes after class. This helped me remember what I just went over in class then when I had a test one week later I was more likely to remember then as well.

My overall study method: Structured. One thing I learned was I had to adapt or change my study methods according to the class. I couldn’t study for a Religion Class the same way I studied for each class—even if it meant carrying a planner with me at all times was a big part of my success.

                CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!

Work Together 3

Work Together Part 3

 Here are my final words of wisdom for students who want to get better grades in college: a big thing that many will say is to ask for help if you needed it. It is not a bad thing to not understand, it’s a bad thing if you don’t do anything about it. Plan your time out so that you complete everything that needs to be done and leave some time to double check. Write things down and have a good time management skills. To ask for help is probably the biggest thing I can say though. If you don’t understand something, go to office hours or find a classmate that does not understand and is willing to help you. If you try hard, it will come to you. I find myself thinking that I would have to try harder to fail than I try to succeed. It is something that is within me to succeed. If that is not who you are, then hopefully things that I have done can show you that success is something that is amazing to find! Good Luck!

CHOOSE THE RIGHT

Academics 101

Academic Success Part 1

 My great academic success: In my principles of marketing class, we had to come up with a new product and sell it. My group ended up with a couple supposedly bad students according to our teachers since they were the last ones picked. In the end, they helped out more than needed since I was a team leader I assigned them certain pieces of the project that became solely their responsibility. Delegating work always helps since it allows a group member individual work without separating the group.

 English, Math, foreign language tips: Math basically just takes practice. I always tell you students to take a blank sheet of paper and write down everything you know  about what you have learned or what you’re studying for in the class. If you don’t remember everything or start drawing blanks, then you need to study more and review your notes. Note cards work really well for foreign language. Here are my final tips of wisdom for students who want to get better grades in college: Go to class, make friends with people in class just in case you’re absent, and remember that you should want to learn.

 

CHOOSE THE RIGHT