There are always students (in large, this also applies to the general population) with high energy. These students are always full of energy, doing twice the amount of work twice as fast than the average students. Now, I am not referring only to academic work, but everything in general (sports, social life, extracurricular, whatever – you name it). What we think isn’t possible to accomplish in a given amount of time, these students accomplish them like there was no big deal. They seem to have infinite amount of energy (which I define as a mix of work ethics, hustle, passion, curiosity, and optimism).

These are the high fliers that do-it-all. You probably have at least one friend of a friend like this. They move faster than you and they are always active and enthusiastic. They are amazing and they are contagious. The more time you surround yourself with these students, the more energy you get and time seems to start slowing down for you.

I am amazed by these students and I strive to be like them. With a set limited time, everyone is on equal ground, including these students. So what do they do that is so different? Hack, if they can do it, of course I can do it too. I’ve tried to be more energetic and active over the past year or so and below are some of the characteristics I found among these students have, and some of the things I’ve learned to be good at along the way:

Micro-Priority: High energy students micro-prioritize. At any given time, they quickly prioritize what’s important and what’s not. And they go to the extremes of meeting their priorities. For example, if at any moment, there is something of a very high priority, they are not afraid to alienate themselves from anything else that gets in their way of accomplishing that priority. They always get shit done.

80/20: Also known as the Pareto principle, which states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes, these students live by this principle religiously. It means understanding what are the most important things you should be doing to cause the biggest impact at what you are doing. This is what allows high energy students to save immense amount of time. Find the core of the problem and tackle it. Don’t waste time doing 80% other things. They can spend less time and produce more impact.

Optimism: Not everyone can be optimistic 100% of the time. But, more than others, high energy students are enthusiastic and optimistic. These are the students, no matter how busy they are, seem to be willing to help others and stay positive. This helps them magnify their network of other optimistic and helpful people around them. They are always positive/welcoming and they have great friends to support them.

Curiosity and Boldness: Perhaps the biggest driver of high drivers is their curiosity and ability to stay bold. These students take new opportunities to learn and get involved. As they set their foot in different projects through curiosity, they soon take it much further than an average student because they are bold. They genuinely believe that they are capable of achieving goals that average students find … well … very very hard or nearly impossible. They see opportunities and fully grasp upon them.

No Idleness: Let me explain. I don’t mean to say that they are workaholics who can’t enjoy themselves on fun activities. Instead, their work itself is fun. They don’t idle because, every day, they are occupied doing things they love or find interesting. For example, some of them never spend hours playing video games. Why you ask? Have some break? You see. They are doing things much more bigger and fun. Video gaming was an example and idleness is subjective. No hate on gamers! They dont idle around. They hustle on achieving bigger and more fun stuff.

As for myself, I have so much to improve. But I have become better at all five criteria. For 80/20 rule, this is especially true in academics for me. Now, I can’t speak on behalf of everyone, but through 3 years in engineering at Waterloo, I find my final-mark / study-time ratio to be high. My take on this is posted here: http://sisunlee.com/8020-rule-in-academics-continued/