THE GREATEST SECRET OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE 3

Hello, how is studies? Hope you are having a good time with your friends and loved ones? we shall look at the fourth principle of academic excellence today>

PRINCIPLE FOUR

Develop quality relationships

From the first day I went to campus up till now, I had met a plethora of people who I later realized are either increasing me or decreasing me. I realized that the people closest to meet were influencing me...some positively, and others negatively. It is therefore important for you to consciously pick the crop of people you will be moving with. You should even decide those people that you won't be caught dead moving with in school, because they are negative influence in your life.

In every campus, like my own, we have cliques. The brilliant students work and walk together and also read together. The bad boys also seat together, perhaps, at the back seats in class. You will improve your academic performance by moving with the best students in class. I remember those days that I read alone. I used to believe that I am self-dependent, that I don't anybody. But the day I read with three serious students, I was forced to change my perception. Yes!, no one is an island. You know what someone does not know, and someone knows what you don't know. When you hook-up with him or her, your individual weaknesses cancel out.

There is also the place of mentorship. You need someone who is ahead of you in knowledge and experience, and even in class. Your mentor is someone who believes in you, and is ready to guide and put you through in school-related matters. Someone can take the place of mentorship in your life. It was Sir Isaac Newton that said "If I have seen any farther than my contemporaries, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants."

At a point in our life, we will come to the realization that we need other people's knowledge, experiences, resources, counsel and time. Having a mentor makes it convenient for us to succeed; it makes it easy for us to reach our destination as well as achieving our wildest dreams.

Just recently, I got someone who mentored me in learning how to create and design websites, and soon, I will be getting someone else to mentor me in the area of Computer Networking. Mentorship works!

You don't only have to get a mentor, you have to be someone's mentor, someone’s hero, someone’s giant. Somebody needs your current level of knowledge to climb to, and reach his/her destination. There is something you have that someone needs. Maybe you can mentor someone in the area of Mathematics, Accounting, English, or whatever.

PRINCIPLE FIVE
Develop yourself by acquiring knowledge

You will agree with me that your purpose for coming to school is not just to read and pass examinations, but to be educated and become knowledgeable. The word, after all, is derived from the Latin word "Educo" which means to draw out, to draw out from within. Hence, an educated person is one who has developed himself/herself from within, up to the point where he /she becomes an asset, thereby becoming indispensable.

Going to school just to get the grades alone, would make one become an educated illiterate. Please, have it on mind that companies need you to have good grade points, but they are more interested in the stuff you are made of. They need someone who is going to become an asset. Your certificate begins to become irrelevant the moment you have spent two years in your workplace. Your grade point can't solve problems for the company, but your expertise can.

As students, we owe it to ourselves to be sound both in the theoretical and practical aspect in our field. We need specialized knowledge. The later can be acquired through ones experience and education, public libraries and personal development, reading books, magazines, and all that. Specialized knowledge can also be gotten through special training courses.

The emphasis in the 21st century is not just being brilliant in class, but about being intelligent and versatile. These days, the job market needs candidates who are specialized in their field of study. One of the largest industrial companies in the world has said "We are interested primarily in finding men who can make exceptional progress in management work. For this reason, we emphasize qualities of character, intelligence and personality far more than specific educational background.....Colleges and Universities must face the practical consideration that all profession and occupations now demand specialists."



Agbolade Omowole, runs Interpersonal Skills Training for corporate organizations. He is also a financial adviser with Aims Asset Management Limited.

Contact: 08020777803/agboolaa_coach@yahoo.com
Blog: www.101youngentrepreneurs.blogspot.com


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