Habits of Highly Successful Students

1. They spend the first hour of each day writing. Writing on a daily basis helps them stay ahead of deadlines, and provides opportunities to write when they are not rushed. “I don’t believe that good work is ever done in a hurry.” - C. S. Lewis. They realize that their writing is not perfect and take the time to review their writing and make changes. “There is no such thing as good technical writing; there is only good technical rewriting.” - WF Phillips. Their writing is naturally unique because they simply write the truth. “... no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” –C.S. Lewis. They regularly read the writings of those authors they wish to mimic. This helps educate and tune their vocabulary, phraseology, and writing habits. “Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.” - Ray Bradbury ”Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.” - Ray Bradbury.
2. They treat school as an 8-5 job and stick to a schedule, organizing time and prioritizing tasks. They plan how they will use their time, blocking out portions of the day to focus on specific tasks. This allows them to clear their mind and focus on the topic at hand. They work on important, non-urgent tasks rather than urgent, non-important tasks. This includes turning off distracting push-notifications, and unimportant pop-ups. Time fracturing is detrimental and one of the sad epidemics of the current technology-driven generation: NBC News article. “If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work.” - C. S. Lewis.
3. They are willing to ask dumb questions, learn, and improve. They understand that growth is painful, and that learning takes practice and time. It may sound strange, but some students do not wish to learn new things during graduate school. Some believe they “know enough” or they “know better.” Some have difficulty admitting that they don’t know something or that they are wrong or made a mistake. They are unwilling to expand their horizons and feel that their time is best served simply applying what they already know. This is one of the most dangerous attitudes to have in school and in life. Graduate school is an opportunity to continue your education. This requires humility, dedication, patience, persistence, sweat, and sometimes tears, but produces invaluable growth. If you do not feel some sense of inadequacy, you may not clearly understand your responsibility. Successful graduate students ask for feedback from their advisor and others, and implement what they learn. Rather than defending their work, they are most interested in improving it and making it the best it can be. In short, they are willing to have others find flaws or shortcomings of their work, and are eager to fix their work and make it better, rather than resisting change or improvement.
4. They see their education as an investment in the future. Sometimes this investment comes at a cost of great sacrifice in time and/or money. However, having made the sacrifice, their mind is free of immediate concerns for reward, and allows them to focus on a product that has more lasting value. This educational investment will pay dividends over time partially monetarily, but more significantly through unique future opportunities.
5. They make time to “sharpen the saw” through balance and routine. This includes personal daily renewal through exercise, meditation, prayer, etc. It also includes remaining well-rounded through social interactions and learning outside their field of study. This gives them a fresh perspective on their work, helps them keep the big picture in mind, keeps them from becoming overwhelmed, and helps them avoid rabbit holes. It also provides time to reflect on where they’ve come from, plan for what is next, make sure their work aligns with their personal goals, and check to see that they are on track. “Survey large fields and cultivate small ones.” - Harold B. Lee.
6. They take notes and write things down. Writing with pencil and paper solidifies understanding, organizes thoughts, and clears the mind. They understand that their memory is not infallible, and that taking notes improves their ability to recall conversations, assignments, insights, etc. They use paper and pencil to organize thoughts, diagram concepts, write pseudo code, outline steps, keep a list of tasks, or simply to dump their brain. “Something magical happens when pencil meets paper.” - Aaron Anderson.
7. The buck stops here: They take responsibility for their project. They recognize that they are ultimately responsible for their own work. Dr. Hunsaker provides guidance, direction, and suggestions, but they are responsible for digging deep, understanding, writing, code, and eventual scientific progress. Accomplishing this requires that they are honest with themself in how they are spending their time and focusing their efforts. They face the elephant in the room, and dig at the core of the problem. This means attacking problems straight on rather than skirting around the issue. They first do the part they least want to do.
8. They adhere to the adage, “Measure twice; cut once.” This means rigorously testing and double-checking their current work before building on it. For example, before coding, they write down the equations and solution methods they’ll be using in a neat and legible form. This helps organize their coding and thought processes, and makes it easier to write well-structured code and find bugs. It also minimizes costly debugging time in the future. Even when coding, they seek to make the building blocks of their code clean, orderly, and correct before expanding or building on them.
9. They don't compare themselves to others, or spend time worrying about the competition. They believe there is enough to discover for everyone, and that each person’s perspective is valuable. They understand that quality research is not produced by show horses. It comes from race horses and work horses. The ability to sweat out a problem is far superior to the ability to pass a class or memorize answers for a test. Therefore, the most successful graduate students are not always those with the highest undergraduate GPA.
10. They go back to the basics. Champions are made by practicing the fundamentals over and over again. This is just as true in academics as it is in sports. The best graduate students go back to the fundamentals again and again to make sure they understand the foundation of their work. They understand the theory, assumptions, and limitations of their research and acknowledge the work of those who have gone before. They believe in their ability to understand physical and mathematical principles and apply these principles to solve complex problems. It is often through this process of retracing their steps through the fundamentals that solutions to their most significant challenges are found.
11. They recognize that brick walls are an opportunity. Hitting bumps and roadblocks is a natural part of nearly every research project. If these didn’t exist, it wouldn’t be called “research”. Learning to chip away at a seemingly insurmountable wall is a valuable part of your graduate education. Patience and persistence is key. Skills learned from this process will serve you well throughout your career as you continue to come up against challenges. Those who patiently persist, when others have long since given up, make the greatest breakthroughs. By learning to overcome roadblocks, you’ll gain access to opportunities available only to those who have taken time to learn these valuable skills.

Getting the daily habits right is the single most effective way to navigate the complex world.