The Three Cs of Success: A Guide for Self Directed Learning #1

As a student, every New Year’s Eve, I tell myself, “I’m going to study more” or “I’m going to read more” or “I’m going to be way more productive this year” but guess what, never have I ever been able to accomplish even one of those three till this year. This year though, something changed. How? Let’s find out! 
Goal Setting is an essential yet burdensome task to do, and even when you set a goal, you dread going through with it. After endless research about why it makes us feel like this, I realized that it isn’t that we don’t want to accomplish more and more every day, we just look at our goals as a weight on our shoulders instead of an opportunity to progress.

Let’s break a goal into three different parts and then tackle each one of those parts individually to understand how we can comprehensively achieve our goals without fail. The three different sections would be Approach, Execution, Feedback

For example, a common goal for most students is, “to study more.”
Let’s dissect this goal into three parts.

• The approach to studying
• Studying
• Feedback to the studying: Quizzes, Tests, and so on.   

Today, I’d like to focus on the approach to studying. Most of us look at it as a burden and end up fighting with ourselves as soon as we sit at our desks. We open a textbook, and as soon as we read the 4th sentence, our brain goes, “Well, this is boring” 
And to be fair, the topic probably was boring.  

BUT that shouldn’t be the reason that blocks your goal to “study more”. Wait! What if your goal wasn’t “studying more”? Instead, your goal could be to finish a chapter or it could be reading ten pages every day! 
Not only will you be able to focus more, but at the back of your mind, you’ll also have a voice going that tells you that once you accomplish this, you’ll be done! This will motivate you even more and probably help you finish that specific task faster!
One chapter will turn into one revision, which will lead to another chapter and another revision, and before you know it, you’ve studied the whole syllabus! 
There’s a three-step approach that you can use to help yourself study better and score more marks.  

 We like to call it, “The Three C’s of Success”

Commitment

Why is your goal important to you? Why do you want to “study more”? Are you passionate about it? Or do you want to score marks?  
It’s crucial to find the right purpose before you set a goal. The more you can attach yourself to it, the more compelling it becomes.
The reason could be something grand or something petty, but what matters is that you are attached to it.   

Clarity

Clarity is of paramount importance when it comes to setting goals for studying. Clarity about what your goal is and how you can reach that goal in the shortest way possible. How does this play a role in studying?
Imagine that you want to go to a new restaurant a friend told you about. Now, if you ask your friends for directions on how to get there. You’re bound to find yourself lost in an obscure part of the city. Contrarily you could use google maps, and it will tell you how to get there, what the place looks like, and even how long it will take you to get there!

That’s what we need to do with our academic goals. We need to have clarity about what we want, why we want, and how to accomplish it before pursuing it in the first place.  

Challenge

The last C is a challenge. The best way to accomplish any goal is to put your ego in between. Set goals that will push you more and more every day. Always remember that your target needs to be challenging both materially and emotionally.   

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get to work! 
In the next article, we’ll talk about how you can set your goals more comprehensively and become a better learner without even realizing it!