The 5 Essential Ingredients To Achieve Academic Success

Academic Success is something that everyone should strive for, if for no other reason than just to see how far you can go in your life. With that being said, however, there are some keys to success that everyone should have, and I have dubbed them your spices. They are: Sugar, Cayenne Pepper, Flour, Basil, and Eggs. Let’s start with Sugar.

Sugar is what I like to call an Academic’s Creativity. Their capacity for thinking outside the box in order to add their own unique flair to a project or assignment. In the world of academics, it’s believed that there is nothing new under the sun, meaning that for the most part everything that we know is going to be or has already been achieved. It’s because of this reasoning that one must go the extra mile in making their ideas have that little something extra to catch the eyes of many. Sugar is very similar. It’s that little surprise in your hot chocolate that gives it a feeling of warmth and joy. It’s that extra sweetness that makes you think just a bit longer about your project, and suddenly add something as subtle as a pop of color or as outlandish as Space Pirates. Sugar is the Creativity, and it is one of the most important spices needed for Academic success.

Next is Cayenne Pepper, or Perseverance. Everyone knows just how hard academic success actually is to achieve, and Perseverance is the most important piece of a person when it comes to maintaining it. Through all the ups and downs of student life, you have to be able to roll with the punches while also not allowing yourself to fly too close to the sun. Regardless of an outcome, you are the only one who can change what happens in the future, and as such that little kick of Cayenne Pepper is what’s gonna get you through it all.

After that, we have Consistency, and for that I must call on Flour. See, Academic Success is very similar to a kitchen. You can have your fun, exotic spices for some outlandish recipes all you want, but if you don’t have the essentials you can only do so much. Flour is a staple in any kitchen, and consistency must be a staple for anyone looking to achieve long term success. All throughout time, flour has stood as a necessity simply because of how versatile it is. There might be times where you’re unsure of how to handle a subject, or where you should begin with a specific topic. But you know that as long as long as you’re consistent in your preparation and your approach that you’ll always have the capability of success. No matter what you’re covering, consistency is always key. Because no matter whose kitchen you are in, flour is always an option.

Fourth on the list is Basil, an Academic’s Moderation. Somewhat at odds with creativity in theory, Moderation is all about never adding too much of too many things, and never spreading yourself too thin over too many different topics. In this same way, one can only add so much basil to a recipe before it becomes overpowering, taking away from the true flavor of the dish, or the true expertise of a person. As much as creativity is a necessity, so is the ability to not over do it. Moderation isn’t to say that there are no cases where going a little overboard in adding some flair isn’t warranted, but if that’s what you do every time, then you’re going to have more negative outcomes than positive ones. In academics you need to moderate your creativity, just as in cooking you need to moderate your herb usage.

And finally, we’re left with Understanding, which I have dubbed as Eggs. See, in order to make an omelette, you have to know how to crack a few eggs. Out of all these “spices”, eggs are the only one that really require a skill in order to add them to your dish. One cannot simply put a whole egg, shell and all, in a casserole dish and expect anything other than hard, gritty, and probably atrocious flavoring. Understanding just what to do and how to do it is a cornerstone of academic success, as it allows you to be able to act in a way that positively helps you, without having to worry about a potential issue at hand. Understanding yourself and what is needed is the final key to academic success, just as understanding how to break an egg is key to not having shells in your tuna fish.

It’s safe to say that these aren’t the only spices that one can or should have. But it’s also safe to say that, without these, well let’s just say your kitchen is gonna need some updating.