The three C’s of academic success

Having the right mindset and taking the right action is what will eventually lead to academic excellence. However, if you waver, and continuously stray from the path, academic success will be a mere dream. The three C’s of academic success describe ways of acting and thinking that will ensure that you stay the course. The three C’s are clarity, confidence and consistency.

Clarity

This is the most important of all the C’s because it lays the foundation for all the others. There is a quote that says ‘if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there’. The first goal that you must have in order to be academically successful is clarity. You need to have a clear and vivid picture of where you want to go and why. Having a clear vision will allow you to more effectively bear the rigours of school life because you have a clear end in mind.

A clear vision and a fixed purpose will cause you to focus with laser like precision on the target at hand. You will find your self using your time more wisely and without even noticing it, most of your daily activities will be geared towards fulfilling your academic goals. This is what happens when you finally gain clarity about the direction you want your life to take. Activities that you thought were fun (but that distracted you from your work) will lose their lustre.

Confidence

Being armed with clarity and a sense of purpose will give you some amount of confidence. However, what is also needed is the belief that you can accomplish anything that you put your mind to. I always tell my students that I have never seen anyone achieve greatness who didn’t have a strong self-belief.

‘As a man thinketh, so is he’. This is a truth that has been passed down through the ages and it speaks to the importance of thinking positively about yourself and your abilities. 

In any form of performance: sports, dance, public speaking or taking an exam, one has to be confident that they will succeed. The only way to build confidence is through intense preparation.

 When we put in the work our confidence is heightened and our probability of success is significantly increased.

Consistency

Even though clarity gives you direction and confidence empowers, your journey will come to a gradual end if you are not consistent. It is not spurts of inspiration or occasional moments  of genius that will bring you the results you desire, it is only consistent effort that will do it. Consistency is like petrol in a motor vehicle, without it you will get nowhere. Having the ability to work even when you don’t feel like working is the only statistically significant variable that separates those who achieve academic success from those who don’t. You must keep your goal in sight and steadily work towards achieving it.

The three C’s of academic success are crucial. If you possess them, academic success will be well within your grasp.