Successful Students’ Secret: Lessons From The Book Maximizing Your Academic Potential

 

What drives you

Many people are victims of influence and so end up with courses or programmes in which they have little or no interest
and ability. Most of such people complete the programme, come out of school and feel very unsatisfied in their profession. They battle with life and feel indecisive as to what they really want to do. A few such people, upon completion, land related to the programme they unwillingly studied, but they work with
little or no interest and satisfaction. Authority influence, especially when it leads you away from your potential and passion, is a great killer of dreams!

Financial Background (Money)

Many students choose courses they have no passion for due to financial constraints.

Fame

We live in a world where everyone wants to do something that will make him or her topic of the day, week, month, or year. And in the educational sector, some programmes and courses are
tagged as more important than others. Everyone will agree with me that English, Mathematics, and Science are considered more relevant than Social Studies, Religious and Moral Education, and Catering. This has therefore pushed a lot of young people into programmes or courses they can’t read. Maybe you are a victim or you know someone who is. If you want to read a programme just because it is famous or it will give you fame, reconsider your decision! Fame can cause you to be on top of the world in the morning, and by the evening, you will be at the bottom. Fame doesn’t fulfil anyone. It only warms you up and leaves you. In their book, “The Power of Focus”, Jack Canfield and his coauthors admonished: “Don’t allow an unhealthy ego to override your good intentions. Individuals who have the greatest and most positive impact on society are not concerned with fame and fortune.”  True success in academics comes to those who dedicate everything to their passion. Just go for the course you can do best and don’t let fame lead you. If you stop
seeking fame, fame will seek you—when you stand for the real you. Steve Martin said, “I did stand-up comedy for 18 years.
Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality and fame fell on me as a by-product.

Talent

‘We have all been gifted with natural talents. Discovering what these are is part of the game of life. Often, our work is not aligned with what we do best. Our values and our actions may be at cross purposes. It’s these mixed messages that cause internal conflict and uncertainty’—Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Lansen, and
Les Hewitt.
There are people who are good at music. Some are good at mathematics, to the extent that they can solve any mathematics equation—and sometimes they wonder how they are able to do
it. Some are good at learning new languages. Some are very good at reading subjects. Some are good at painting and drawing. What is your talent? What are you naturally good at?
The renowned motivational speaker, Emmanuel Dei-Tumi, in his book, “Your Talents Create Your World”, pointed out that one of the questions to answer in choosing a career is “What Do I Love to Do?” So friend, what do you love to do? Today, a school can polish every talent that you have. ‘In life, you just have to succeed at one thing. And you will realize that, that one thing you succeed at begins to affect every other thing that is around you. And then, every area of your life will begin to work’–Kakra Baiden. The point is, we have different
talents but we can all arrive at the same point.

Imagine this:

-Asamoah Gyan and Lionel Messi made it through soccer;

-Michelangelo through painting;

-Shakespeare through poetry;

-Mohammed Ali and Azuma Nelson through boxing;

-Usain Bolt through athletics;

-Ama Ata Aidoo through writing;

-Nana Ama McBrown through acting;

-Diana Hamilton through music;

-And Rockson Oppong, the author of “Maximizing Your Academic Potential” got an educational scholarship to embark on tertiary education through quizzing.

THREE QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ASK YOURSELF BEFORE CHOOSING ANY COURSE OR PROGRAMME AS A STUDENT