When we talk about student success, business success, or just generally achieving great things in life, two things come up in conversation again and again — perspective and priorities.
These two ideas are both extremely important in their own ways, but together, they are a powerful team for success throughout a lifetime.
Perspective and Priorities
In order to understand how these two ideas can affect overall success, we need to first actually understand what each one is and why they matter.
Perspective
A perspective is simply a point of view. Merriam-Webster describes it as ‘a mental view.’ Your perspective is certainly influenced by your environment and events around you, but ultimately, it’s up to you and how you choose to see a situation or your circumstances.
This is so important to grasp because with the right perspective or ‘mental view,’ you can be absolutely unstoppable!
One situation can be viewed in two completely different ways. For example, let’s say that you get into the college of your choice, but you’re really worried about how far away it is from home.
Perspective 1 could be: I’m so worried about being far from home. This is scary and I’m nervous. This is an amazing opportunity but I’m afraid to take the leap.
Perspective 2 is the opposite: My dream school is far away, but this is going to be an incredible experience to stand on my own two feet, be independent and learn so much. I can’t wait for the challenge!
Which of these do you think would lead to success at that given school? Our perspective is everything and quite literally shapes our experiences and our ability to find success.
Priorities
A priority is something that is regarded as more important than another. We find another interesting definition from Merriam-Webster, ‘something given or meriting attention before competing alternatives.’
Simply put, your priorities are what you value the most. They are the things you choose to do before anything else and get your attention first.
So, what does this look like practically? Let’s use our “dream school” analogy again. Once you’ve gotten into the school you worked so hard for and are beginning classes, there are a lot of different priorities you’ll need to juggle like:
- Studying
- Assigned Reading
- Spending time with friends
- Exercising
- Eating right
- Working on internship opportunities
- Finding a job
And this is just to name a few. Going off to college is a huge step and will require a completely new set of priorities. It may take some time to figure out how to juggle it all and that’s ok!
The most important factor is to be aware of the priorities you have and assign merit and attention accordingly to what you want out of your future success.
There will be times you’ll need to say no to friends to study for a big test coming up. There will also be times that you need to lay down the books for a while and have some fun to clear your mind. It’s all about balance and knowing when to prioritize what.
Creating Student Success with Aligned Perspective and Priorities
In order for students to be successful throughout their high school years, into college and ultimately into their career, creating healthy perspectives and priorities early is key. In the next installment of this series, we’ll outline what this can look like at each stage of high school to give students a “roadmap” for what future success could look like. Stay tuned!
