1. Break your big goals down into smaller lower-level goals. Get specific with your plans. Stick to these smaller goals. Keep your head down and grind.
1.1. Example:
1.1.1. Big Goal/Vision: Become a doctor
1.1.2. Smaller goal: Score well on the MCAT (maybe it will get you into an IVY League Medical School).
1.1.3. Preview notes prior to the lectures the night before. Stay disciplined, budget your time Get to class early every day, sit in the front, and be prepared.
2. Be passionate about what you are doing, otherwise it will be hard to stay motivated and gritty during the more mundane periods of pursuing your vision. You are happiest when your work intersects with your personal interests, right? Remember these two things as you pick jobs along the way:
2.1. Creative-minded people don’t fully engage with desk jobs.
2.2. If you are a people person, you won’t like jobs that put you in isolation.
3. Intelligent and deliberate practice will prevent you from getting stuck on autopilot. Break your craft down into its subcomponents and really analyze your next step. Work smarter, not just harder.
3.1. Example:
3.1.1. If you have trouble discerning answer choices on a multiple-choice exam, then you need more practice with recall. Don’t just sit and passively read your notes over and over again. Put them away and force yourself to recall. Practice is the only way to improve. Use stories and examples to help chunk information together. Hopefully, these and other techniques will help solidify any blurry lines so you can distinguish between answer choices.
3.1.2. Successful runners break their craft down into details and monitor metrics that are good indicators of their success in each of these smaller components. Like keeping track of pacing, timing, and respirations.