I had the same question about......

I had the same question about more than a decade ago when I wondered what separates the class toppers from an average student like me.

Luckily I had the chance to be around a topper and observe him and his actions.

What I learned from a class topper.

While I was in school I was an average student. I studied enough to score well but never topped the class.

However when I was in std 8th, I had a chance to sit besides a class topper.

Here is what I observed and learned from him.

1. He had a tremendous zeal to score well, the intensity with which he studied showed up on his face.
2. The amount of enthusiasm this guy had to tackle the exam was mind blowing. If you ever see him revising before an exam, you would think that he was a maniac. Compared to him I was like Meh… its just an exam, let’s write the paper and get over with it.
3. He honestly prepared till the last moment, he made sure that no answer is left unrevised. He genuinely immersed himself into books. Not like others who study before exam just to show off.
4. His enthusiasm was contagious, you wont believe that after sitting besides him for an exam even I started studying with more zeal and more passion. I became genuinely interested in studies. This is the very reason you should surround yourself with great people, we end up becoming a bit like them.
5. As soon as the exam ended, the very next moment he would start preparing for the next one. He knew the value of every minute and utilised well.
6. Most importantly he didn’t consider this as work or something he has to do but he genuinely enjoyed studying and being a class topper.
7. Was he talented and had more IQ than others? I have no idea, but I can assure you one thing that he put a lot more effort to study the same topic than others did. If he was really talented and had a god gifted photographic memory then he wouldn’t have had to put so much effort into learning/memorising things.
8. Was he lucky? He had the same set of Questions to answer as others did. Although he might have had other advantages like a favourable and conducive study environment at home, better coaching however there were plenty others who had much more advantages than him.

These were my key takeaways form him which I follow to this day:

1. It’s all about how bad you want it. If you are competing with someone else for a thing then the one who gets it is the one who wants it the most.
2. There is no substitute to hard work, even if you are super talented.
3. Enthusiasm matters a lot, if you are not enthusiastic or excited about something it will be much harder to succeed at it,
4. Being genuine always pays, always be genuine to you work and it will reward you back.
5. Enthusiasm and positive energy is contagious and it shows up in your work. So is negative energy. Hence one must do all the possible things to surround yourself with positive and energetic people and cut out all the people from your life who are inherently negative.
6. Value time, it is your most precious resource and hence put it to good use.
7. Luck is definitely a factor, however not as much as you think it is. It does have an impact but the effect of ones luck only amplifies when you put in the hard work.

-Saurav Sharma