Sometimes, the best sources of motivation are other people who have been in your shoes. There is so much we can all gain from the power of empathy and understanding.
Today, we’re rounding up some of our favorite quotes about academic success to inspire students everywhere!
Strategies for Academic Success
1. “What we learn with pleasure, we never forget.” – Alfred Mercier
Students who struggle to understand particular subjects can easily become disillusioned with school in general. Nobody likes to feel like they aren’t good at something!
However, with the right approach, students can come to enjoy even the most difficult subjects. Signet’s subject tutors are dedicated to imparting not only their knowledge but also their passion to each student. You might be surprised to see how much your teenager ends up loving math or poetry or whatever other subject they once disliked.
2. “Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.” — Josef Albers
High school students must be encouraged to solve problems and make big decisions independently so that they build confidence to address significant matters with confidence and purpose.
One strategy our academic coaches use is asking students open-ended questions to inspire self-reflection. Providing a student with the answer should be a last resort.
3. “No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.” – Regina Brett
Showing up is half the battle, but doing so can take tremendous courage. Students suffering from anxiety or imposter syndrome may need a little extra encouragement.
Let your teen know how proud you are that they continue to show up and rise to the many challenges they face throughout high school.
4. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier
Strong routines make strong students. Why are routines so beneficial to high school students? For starters, school itself is based on routines. School is essentially a series of similar tasks that repeat on a daily, weekly, monthly, semester-long, and yearly basis.
We advise students to establish routines for the morning, school day, homework, and evening. The gradual effort they put each day will pay off over time.
5. “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Ryun
Let’s talk about study habits. Developing strong study habits has a broad range of benefits for students:
- A refined study process can reduce much of the stress that comes with preparing for exams.
- A clear study plan gives students a concrete beginning and endpoint, so they know when studying is completed.
- Improving study skills makes students more effective and efficient learners, often leading to better performance at school.
- Students are less overwhelmed when they know exactly what to target when studying.
- Implementing a study timeline prevents last-minute cramming and allows students to work in low-pressure circumstances.
- A study plan makes procrastination much more difficult because students have accountability for completing each mini-assignment.
6. “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden
The increasing expectations placed on today’s young people are contributing to a rise in perfectionism and a concurrent rise in mental health issues. In fact, anxiety in adolescents often presents as perfectionism and can, ironically, hold students back from realizing their full potential.
Take plenty of opportunities to acknowledge your student’s accomplishments—no matter how big or small—and give them positive reinforcement for doing their best.
7. “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
At Signet, we use the “plan your work, work your plan” methodology, which can be applied to everything from managing homework deadlines to preparing for college admissions.
First, we encourage students to plan their work and identify their goals. Next, we help them determine their priorities and sequence what comes next so they can work their plan.
8. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou
As students learn and grow, it’s crucial to remember that failure is part of the process. For instance, when solving a problem or making a big decision on their own for the first time, students may fail, and that’s to be expected.
Rest assured that students will learn from their failures and mistakes, and in doing so, they’ll become more confident and resilient.
Signet Drives Academic Success
At Signet, we believe education can be a powerful, transformational tool in a student’s life. Our proprietary approach to academic coaching, subject tutoring, test preparation, and admissions consulting prioritizes students’ holistic well-being.
We care deeply about the whole student—not just their academic performance. The way we see it, each student is a unique individual with goals, fears, hopes, and dreams that deserve to be heard and honored.
We work collaboratively to meet the needs of the families we work with, partnering with students and parents to achieve goals and solve problems in a way that builds lasting confidence.
If you think your student could benefit from our services, let’s have a conversation. We’d love to talk to you about how our team can help you empower your student to explore their passions, build lifelong learning skills, and find meaning in high school, college, and the rest of their life.
