What does it mean to be a top 1% student? Statistically speaking, being in the top 1% of your class means earning a higher grade point average than the remaining 99%.
Culturally, a top student typically refers to someone who is an academic and extra-curricular all-star.
Either way you choose to define it, top students are notable high-performers: they consistently excel in their chosen endeavors.
Certain hallmarks and characteristics define these individuals and to a great extent allow them to achieve that level of excellence. In this article, I will highlight the main features of the top students so that you can learn and apply them.
1. Athlete Mentality
Whether you are consciously aware of it or not, as a student, you are a mental athlete.
Think about the top Olympic athletes. What stands out to you the most about some of them? Is it their fierce grit? Their unfathomable discipline? Their unmatched skill?
Whatever came to mind, I want you to understand that what you admire about them on the outside results from a set of ingrained, internal self-perceptions.
Top athletes know that while they may be genetically gifted, their work ethic and consistency are what drive their results. They understand that they must train and take care of their bodies down to the tiniest details to perform at such elite levels.
Similarly, you are a mental athlete. You must treat your training (studying) as the driver of your results. For the results to come about, you must be brutally consistent and dedicated. You must study like you are being paid to do it (even if in some twisted educational system, you are paying to study).
2. Embrace Failure
Top students, like top athletes, aren’t all naturally born geniuses. They don’t have perfect performances all of the time. Both experience severe hardships, rejections, poor performances, and regressions.
Top athletes, however, understand that you cannot make progress if you stop moving. In their view, failure is not a final destination, rather it is part of the journey.
Negative experiences are reshaped by top students to signify lessons. If the difficulty or struggle is out of their control, they accept it with grace and dignity. If the mistake is one they have made, they learn from it and move on.
Your perspective makes or breaks your long-term performance. Dwelling on negative or painful experiences is like carrying unnecessary weight and wondering why your pace is going down. Top performers exemplify resilience in the face of challenges. When they fall, they rise back up. More importantly, they don’t move forward with baggage from previous experiences.
3. Do Not Compete Where You Do Not Compare
This feature of elite athletes is probably one of my favorites. The vehement focus of top athletes is admirable. It is not only displayed during important performances, but it is a quality that they embody daily.
They only compete with particular opponents, with particular goals and long-envisioned feats in mind. They do not occupy their time with investigations of other athletes in their sport or steal quick glances in their opponents’ direction during competitions.
They understand 1) the importance of structured, purposeful competition, 2) the advancing power of focus on their own performance, and 3) the destructive power of comparison.
As a top student, you must adopt this same understanding. There is no need for and no purpose in comparing yourself to another student’s performance. Everyone is dealt a different deck of cards. Moreover, so many factors contribute to the making of a single data point, so comparison without authentic equality in all variables is futile.
4. Practice How You Will Play
When you observe the performance of top athletes, you quickly realize how effortless it looks. It is easy to assume that this kind of execution is indeed effortless.
Do not be misled, my friend. Effortless execution comes from effortful practice. As a top student, your practice is the way you study and prepare to understand content and take exams.
You cannot afford to waste your time engaging in ineffective and inefficient study strategies. Furthermore, you cannot practice using methods that don’t align with the format of your exam.
Elite athletes not only play to win but they first and foremost practice to win. The latter half isn’t the most appealing, yet it is where the most results come from. If you struggle to practice (study), I recommend referencing this guide: Top 5 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Study.
5. Eyes on the Prize
In his seminal book, Start with Why, author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek presents the intuitive, yet groundbreaking idea that initiating your practice and performance with your purpose is a surer road to mastery than focusing exclusively on the step-by-step process.
Additionally, Bringing back your focus to your reasons and motivations for the hard things you are undertaking protects you from distractions via ulterior motives, cushions you against setbacks, and helps you stay clear of attractive, but misaligned opportunities.
Conclusion
As you probably are tired of hearing by now, as a student, you are a mental athlete! Treat yourself as such! Take all of the details of your training and preparation seriously. Establish healthy boundaries between mindsets, habits, and people that do not ignite your passions or fuel your growth.
Remember to keep your vision and motives in mind and stay focused on your own race. Be committed to the process as much as you are to the end goal. When failure, fears, or heartbreak come knocking at your door, open with grace. You are stronger than you think- just keep moving forward no matter how slow.