Introduction.
We don’t fail because we aren’t smart enough. We fail because we think we ain’t smart enough. We fail because no one ever taught us how to succeed.
To succeed in education is a process. Some students are lucky enough to have figured it out earlier in their lives by themselves or with the help of someone else. For me, I was lucky to have been surrounded by hard-working sisters in my early years of college who held my hand and taught me how to study and succeed in my studies.
If you have been failing in your courses and exams for so long that you believe you are not smart enough, then it’s time to put things back into perspective and become the person you were meant to be. Those excuses you tell yourself for not succeeding in school, are just lies that make you sleep well at night.
İts time to stop and take back control of the wheel of your life.
If you want to compete as a student and be unstoppable, then by reading this post you will be on the right track to changing your story.
In today’s article, I am going to share with you techniques that if applied will drastically increase your success rate* not only in education but in life. So make sure you read to the end.
with that out of the way, let’s dive right in.
1. Thrive in the Middle.
Have you ever heard about the Marathon of the middle?
I came across this concept while reading one of the secrets of great writers by the prolific author Jerry Jenkins. He observed that most fiction and non-fiction writers lose interest and give up writing their stories somewhere in the middle of the book.
So he said, “To be a great writer you have to thrive in the middle when writing a book”
I paraphrase his statement by saying;
“To succeed in your education as a student you have to thrive in the middle of the semester term.”
Here is what always happens. At the beginning of every semester, students are fired up and filled with tremendous energy. They are ready to put in all they got. Unfortunately, that momentum rapidly dies down as the semester progresses towards the middle.
Average students tend to lose motivation, get exhausted and that makes all the difference. While the smart guys remain on track maintaining a constant velocity.
It is like running a 2000km marathon. Those who eventually win are the runners who are consistent throughout the entire race.
Hence, If you want to succeed you have to maintain your pace. At the very beginning of the semester, be conscious of the battle in the middle of the semester and save some energy for that time because you are going to need it.
Yes, it’s hard to maintain your speed and keep going steadily. It still is for me — every time. But don’t panic or do anything rash, like surrendering or losing motivation. Remember that the real fight is in the middle not at the end.
Towards the end of every semester, while everyone is fighting to cross the finish line, you will be at the other side celebrating.
Focus at the middle!!
2. Get to Know Yourself.
Let me ask you this. How well do you think you know yourself?
Let’s do a little experiment.
What do you believe is possible for you? What is your biggest self-limiting belief? How confident are you in your abilities to make decisions for yourself?
Can you with all honesty provide responses to these questions? These are just a few questions I could come up with as I was writing this piece.
There are so many questions you got to ask yourself, then find the answers by yourself. This is because knowing yourself, mastering yourself is a superpower that can set you on top of the world.
You will be surprised how much you don’t know about yourself as you grow and face new challenges in your educational career.
Trust me, there will be times you going to doubt or even worse hate yourself. You will feel like a stranger in your own body.
So if you want to succeed as a student, your primary objective is to put in a lot of effort to understand yourself. Know what you know and what you don’t. Know what you are good at and what you are terrible at.
With that knowledge, you can then focus on working on your weaknesses while bolstering your strengths.
Note that the process of getting to know yourself is a continuous journey because you will definitely encounter new challenges in your life that will push to the limit.
Remember, You are your greatest enemy. The battle is between you and yourself. It’s time to make yourself your greatest friend. One step at a time.
3. Enjoy the Process.
I remember as a kid, how we use to play under the rain tirelessly for hours. Just us and the rain. We loved it, we cherished, we enjoyed it.
Research has shown that the best lawyers, doctors, engineers, students are those who enjoy what they are doing. They have learned how to convert work into fun and it all seems like a freaking child’s play to them.
Here is what you need to do to ensure you succeed.
No matter how difficult it might feel, find ways to make your studies fun. Be creative and turn some abstract concepts into something you can enjoy.
Education has no limit. It’s like a plane that never reaches its destination. It just touches down on the next airport then takes off.
Learning is a continuous process. The earlier you realize this the sooner you can begin to grow steadily while enjoying the process.
There is fun in everything you just have to be willing to find it and when you do, everything changes. You start enjoying the lectures which you hated so badly. A new passion for learning new things is born.
Make your studies a game then win the game.
4. The power of Team Work.
The smartest guys are team players. They choose their teammates cautiously because they know that a good player in a bad team is as bad as the rest of the team.
It’s just like having Christiano Ronaldo play for some local football club.
There is no way a single person can possibly understand everything in school and that’s where the team comes to provide support.
What you didn’t understand, your friend got it with ease and will be able to break it down for you just so you can swallow.
The cycle of friends you build around will ultimately determine your fate. Go out there and chose your study team carefully. Work together with a unanimous objective of succeeding together. The failure of a teammate is the failure of the entire team.
I was lucky to have found such a team of 5 and today we are spread across the globe in 5 different countries pursuing our dreams. Teamwork got us there. No one was left behind.
Don’t be an isolated lake because you might dry out soon. Join forces with others and be a gigantic ocean.
The Takeaway.
In this article, I talked about important techniques you can incorporate in your life as a student and change F-grades to A-grades.
My hope is that you give yourself the opportunity to be better, succeed, and make yourself proud.
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Thanks for reading!
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