My Successful Habits

Caleb Welsh

Transitioning from high school to college creates problems for many students making it hard for students to pass their classes and graduate. Not only is the social part a hard change, but the quality of work you do is much different from that in high school. In almost every class college students are required to write a paper explaining their knowledge of the content. This comes with a lot of changes for new students, which is why in my English class, taught by the awesome professor Mrs. Deicke, we studied multiple strategies of college students. Many habits can bring people success, I believe grit, looking for patterns when revising, and having a mentor help me with deliberate practice help a student succeeded in college.

I was unaware I possessed grit, but in the winter of 2016, I was at an all-day wrestling tournament on a Saturday. I was sitting in the bleachers waiting for my weight to be called on the loudspeakers. The smell of sweat and mat funk was in the air, then I hear it, “138’s, 138’s report to staging” says a fat old guy. I proceeded to the wrestling mat and warm-up to the music of led zeppelin. I saw my opponent, a tall lengthy kid, we shook hands and started the match. We wrestled hard, but he had the upper hand. All the sudden he took me down! The referee yelled out “2 takedown red”. Then the wrestler turned me on my back and earned three points. I am now down 5–1. Dead tired and out of energy, the last period comes around and there is one-minute left on the clock. The taste of salty sweat fills my mouth. I suddenly gained energy to take the wrestler down. My grit made me roll up my sleeves and fight this guy until the end, even if I knew I would lose. Somehow, I proceeded to take him down 3 more times before the clock ran out. I had no chance in my spurt of energy to look at the clock and thought that I lost the match until I feel the rough hand of the referee lift my arm up. I had won the match 9–8!

I won first place at this tournament and I received a small trophy to symbolize the grit I displayed. My grit that I showed to everyone in that gym gave me a feeling of happiness and success. Most importantly it showed my coach what standards I hold myself to. The next year he awarded me the role to captain the team in thought of these certain moments of grit and perseverance. After this experience I showed more grit in school, relationships, and family life. I need to rely on grit in college and life. Being able to fail at an obstacle and then come back and succeed is required to exceed expectations in college.

National Highway Traffic Administration recorded in two thousand seventeen there was a car accident every minute in the United States. Personally, I could have contributed to this number of accidents if I did not intentionally practice on my driving skills. In learning the ways of driving I, at first, just went through the motions of driving. After a few weeks I realized how much is at risk when I am driving, which forced me to take the time and think about how to drive correctly. One of my biggest problems was I would go around blind corners too rough and too fast. My dad then taught me the correct technique of apexing turns, which means how to go around corners smooth and safe. When he demonstrated the skill it appeared easy, but when I did the maneuver it did not work. For two months I perpetually practiced this skill, so I would achieve my goal of getting a driver’s license. After the two months of focusing on this specific skill I finally started to get it. I proceeded to the driving test and passed without making a single mistake on turns. To this day I have not had an accident. I owe my success to the hours put into doing a specific ability, so I would master it.

Taking the time to focus on practicing this skill was a crucial part of my teenage years because I learned purposeful practice will help you achieve your goals in life. After learning how to practice correctly it had a domino effect on my life. I started having changes in my studying habits and in sport activities. Achieving the small goal of my driver’s license was just a way to unveil how deliberate practice can help me succeed as a student in college.

In the eleventh grade I was assigned to write a paper about a civil rights issue for my English class. This paper was called the Junior Research Paper; it consisted of an eight-page paper with multiple pros and cons references. I started writing the paper, as it went on I felt like I had been writing for years. I started going off on other small points that were not relevant. This caused me to have way too many “main points” and gave the impression to the reader that I did not understand the assignment well. A few weeks went by and I received my grade on the paper, I earned a C-. I was furious, I put so many long hours of preparation and hard work into this essay. This grade was received because I was all over the place in my writing, not sticking to one point impacted my grade negatively. Using some of the habits of an experienced writer could have earned me a higher grade. My biggest downfall was not looking for certain patterns for my main points. Practicing on this strategy will help me with success in college level classes.

All three of these strategies work well in succeeding, although I believe grit will help me have the most success in the future. In my American Indians Studies (AIS) class I believe grit will be useful. This course is a night class from seven p.m. to nine forty-five p.m. on Mondays. Coming into the week after a long day of school and sports I proceed to AIS. This is a perfect combination to make me fall asleep, which is why I will need to practice my grit of grinding through this hard schedule throughout the year. Grit will help me go to class, pay attention, and receive a good grade. Studying the habits of successful college students helped me mentally prepare for the hardships ahead in college and in life.

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