The way to have success at something is to develop effective skills. Athletes, musicians, managers, and learners all need to develop their skills in order to be successful. Developing skills means practicing and building good habits.

Mental self-management or metacognition is the process of planning, monitoring, and evaluating the learning process. To perform well at metacognition means you have to understand the options. Below are some of the main choices. First, identify your best learning styles such as verbal, visual, kinesthetic, deductive, or inductive. Second, evaluate and improve your learning skills such as writing, reading, listening, time-management, note-taking, and problem-solving. Third, take advantage of various learning environments such as lab, lecture, discussion, study groups, and a study partner. Fourth, attempt to complete the learning cycle. For most classes, the learning cycle would look like this: Memorize new information, rules, and concepts. Take in and organize this information. Use this information to analyze, synthesize, and problem-solve. Incorporate this information into evaluations, judgments, and predictions. A lot of students don’t get any farther than the first step. They never experience the joy of learning. Next, try to develop the habit of positive thinking. You can utilize this for increasing your confidence and self-esteem, as well as for setting goals and enjoying learning. Use positive thinking as a means of taking charge of your own education. Lastly, develop the habit of hierarchical thinking. You can utilize this for the purpose of organizing priorities and good time management.