Hermione Granger
The first to answer any question posed in class, Hermione Granger truly knows all there is to know about every subject she takes. This level of knowledge and understanding is achieved through her myriad productive habits.
Throughout the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling, Granger is often described as having a book in hand. At one point, it is mentioned that she “learned all (the) course books by heart, of course;” her dedication to fully understanding what she’s learning is what sets her apart from her peers. Her love of learning leads her to study for hours each day, with remarkably few points at which she mentions feeling burnt out or overwhelmed.
While this level of dedication may not be achievable for most people, a strategy to derive from Granger’s study habits is to have a positive mindset when learning. She views it not as a chore, but a privilege, leading her to excel in every subject.
Even on days when staying focused is a challenge, she finds a quiet spot to help her work. “Because that’s what Hermione does … When in doubt, go to the library.”
Rory Gilmore
Rory Gilmore, the main character from the immensely popular TV show Gilmore Girls, graduated valedictorian of her highly competitive high school. She was also accepted into Harvard, Yale and Princeton University.
Throughout the series, she repeatedly expressed her love of learning. Upon beginning college, she was excited to learn that her school allowed students to spend the first bit of the year trying out classes before picking the courses they will stick with for the rest of the semester. “I picked over 50 classes I’m gonna try out, plus another 10 I’m gonna squeeze in if I have the time,” says Gilmore. “They all sound completely amazing; I stayed up all night reading the class descriptions over and over.”
While enjoying school can help, motivation comes and goes — even for the most dedicated students, Gilmore being no exception. Her success ultimately comes down to one thing: she makes a plan and sticks to it.
As Gilmore describes in a scene near the end of her senior year of high school, “I made out a schedule. Every single moment of every single day from now until graduation is accounted for.” By utilizing her time well, she was able to stay on track in her classes and extracurriculars. This strategy wasn’t just employed in her last weeks of senior year, but all throughout her time as a student at her high school, Chilton Preparatory.
Earlier on in the show, she says, “I like to get my weekend homework done and out of the way by Saturday night so then I can do extra credit stuff on Sunday.” By having specific times and deadlines set for herself to get things done, she stayed extremely organized. It seems that Gilmore simply didn’t allow herself to procrastinate. “I can go from zero to studying in less than 60 seconds,” she says.
To avoid burnout, she came up with ways to make her studies more engaging: “I’ve found that if I focus too much on one subject I start to get a little punchy. This way, when I hit Bolshevik Revolution overload, I just shift over here and, oh, hello, Anne Boleyn is going down. And then when that gets too depressing, it’s right over to calculus.” Shifting between subjects helped her stay motivated and maximize her time.
Putting in the work to figure out what works well for the individual student is the most important lesson to take away from Gilmore’s habits.
Pippa Fitz-Amobi
“I don’t know who I am when I’m not working, when I’m not focused on or totally consumed by a task. Who am I between the projects and the assignments … Maybe that’s why, for my senior capstone project this year, I decided to solve a murder.”
The main character from the “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” book series by Holly Jackson, Pippa “Pip” Fitz-Amobi, spent the better part of her senior year working on a cold case that occurred in her hometown a few years prior while simultaneously managing to stay on top of all her regular school work. She was able to do so because she’d gotten very efficient at basic academic tasks.
Fitz-Amobi is described as working best alone. “Pip found that — most of the time — other people only slowed you down. That’s why she despised group projects.” She did not hesitate to get things done, and completed assignments as quickly as she could without sacrificing quality.
To take inspiration from her, the best course of action would be to get better at the fundamentals: learning how to cite sources and structure writing well is a must; don’t wait until the last minute to learn formulas for math classes, spending most of the unit not knowing how to solve the problems; and instead of putting it off until the night before a test, memorize vocabulary early on.
Most importantly, find ways to make subjects more interesting. Though the senior capstone project, an assignment similar to a thesis, was rather open-ended, choosing to solve a murder was not what most students selected. By following Fitz-Amobi in molding flexible assignments into something more interesting, classes become much easier to stay engaged with.