Characteristics of Successful Students
| SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS | STRUGGLING STUDENTS |
|---|---|
| Accept personal responsibility, seeing themselves as the primary cause of their outcomes and experiences. | See themselves as victims, believing that what happens to them is determined primarily by external forces such as fate, luck, and powerful others. |
| Discover self-motivation, finding purpose in their lives by discovering personally meaningful goals and dreams. | Have difficulty sustaining motivation, often feeling depressed, frustrated, and/or resentful about a lack of direction in their lives. |
| Master self-management, consistently planning and taking purposeful actions in pursuit of their goals and dreams. | Seldom identify specific actions needed to accomplish a desired outcome. And when they do, they tend to procrastinate. |
| Employ interdependence, building mutually supportive relationships that help them achieve their goals and dreams (while helping others do the same). | Are solitary, seldom requesting, even rejecting, offers of assistance from those who could help. |
| Gain self-awareness, consciously employing behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes that keep them on course. | Make important choices unconsciously, being directed by selfsabotaging habits and outdated life scripts. |
| Adopt lifelong learning, finding valuable lessons and wisdom in nearly every experience they have. | Resist learning new ideas and skills, viewing learning as fearful or boring rather than as mental play. |
| Develop emotional intelligence, effectively managing their emotions in support of their goals and dreams. | Live at the mercy of strong emotions such as anger, depression, anxiety, or a need for instant gratification. |
| Believe in themselves, seeing themselves as capable, lovable, and unconditionally worthy human beings. | Doubt their competence and personal value, feeling inadequate to create their desired outcomes and experiences. |
Source: Skip Downing, On Course.