Eguh - Yes i can

In 2010, I had an intellectual burden from my class andcourse-mates; the big question then was why a majority of the classstruggled to excel academically? Being in an environment with anenabling eco-system to excel academically without stress it was abig concern for me especially as I was leading the classacademically at the time. With empathy I asked myself certainquestions like what was I doing that was made it easy for me. Iquestioned my strategies as well; embarking on a personal researchand observation of myself and course mates, I noted my observationsand findings which eventually culminated into the book Yes I Canfirst published in 2011 and revised in 2012.

Yes I Can! Is a book on academic success,lots of students struggle to find their bearing academicallybecause they have inculcated certain mindsets and mentallimitations in their approach to education/ academic. To some itwould always be an insurmountable task and the question that isasked are what do those that succeed do to achieve it? Whats thesecret formula of the smart guys in a class? From my observationsand research I discovered there wasnt exactly any secret formula;success actually begins and ends in the mind and its no differentfrom achieving academic success. Achieving success bringsself-satisfaction and fulfillment. The number of persons thatrejoice with you cannot be compared to the boost in yourself-esteem. The reverse is the case when you do not attain thatheight. There is a sort of dissatisfaction; there is a feeling ofun-fulfillment which also has an effect on your self-esteem. Thisreflects in your academics.

We have always been told that the only way toachieve academic success is to read your books but with 17 years ofsitting at desks, listening to teachers, receiving lectures,writing notes, doing assignments, and writing examinations I havefallen and risen several times climbing the ladder to academicsuccess and realized that there is much more to academic successthan just reading your books. On this route I discovered thatlasting success starts with knowing yourself, this put me on thepath of self-discovery. I also learnt several life changingprinciples that helped me achieve academic success as a student.Academic excellence is not for one, but for all who desire it. Manystudents desire it but do not get it because they do not know howto. Knowledge is the strongest key to living up to a desiredstandard. A man of knowledge is stronger than the strongest of menand an ant wiser than a sluggard because it perceives the times andthe seasons.

This book is about to reveal to you truth inrelation to academics. A friend once wrote to me saying Success isthe summation of all the small efforts repeated day in and dayout. Thus, excellence is not achieved overnight! It is an everydayprocess; never see any contribution as too little because at theend everything counts. This book is going to show you effectivesteps to take to attain academic success, how to inspire yourself,build academic confidence, the challenges you would face, how toovercome them and the ultimate help you need.

Inside this book are inspiring words anddeclarations for your meditation

It wasthe beginning of a new semester, strolling into the lecture hall wesaid our hellos and HIs reminiscing on the just concluded summerbreak. The weather was bright, my course mates and I wereenthusiastic about the prospects of the semester as we giggled onour seats. In the midst of our chatting, our lecturer for thatmorning walked into the lecture hall with a stern face. We allsettled down uttering a sharp good morning.

You are welcome to a new semester, Thesemester will only be well for those who prepare for it, butremember in this course if you do not buckle up! F is real. Hecontinued his speech your set is one of the laziest I have comeacross in this department. As he spoke my gaze shifted from him tomy course mates and I could see the rapid change on theirfaces.

The initial air of joy and gladness had beensuppressed and taken over by an air of uncertainty because ourcapacity to deliver accurately for our CGPAs sake was beingquestioned. Our self-esteem had been crumbled by those words andall we could do was stay put and say nothing. Surely time wouldtell if we could pick up the pieces of our self-esteem and debunkhis words but something on the faces of my class mates and in myheart told me we may not. The semester went on and in thatparticular course we did hit rock bottom, the test and assignmentscores looked bad. We took the easy way out and blamed it on thelecturer. He had already set the standard that no one could passhis course or so we thought.

Was the problem the lecturer who spoke thosewords? No! We were the propagators of our low academic performance.We lacked confidence in ourselves and allowed those words to defineour mind-set for that particular course. We settled for crumbsrather than enjoying the loaf of bread. I mean thats all we couldget! We did put in our best, maybe our best efforts were not backedup by enough faith. Did our lack of belief cause no one to haveabove average in that course? Yes! Maybe we failed to realize thetruth in the words below:

Many people (Like my classmates and I) livebelow their God given standard because they are ignorant of whothey really are and what they possess. This ignorance has killedpeople of all ages and calibres. This is not any different with astudent in pursuit of academic success.

You ask yourself if you could possibly makean A in that subject, if you could actually have the result youdesire. You say to yourself I am not just smart enough, Bode isbetter than I am. You often hear people say that the person at thetop of your class does not have two heads. This is true! But youare satisfied with the status quo; average feels good, so yousettle for less than you are can achieve.

Weve been created the same but havesomething special, something great and unique deposited in each ofus. So realize that you are very different from the next person.The thing is you do not know what is on your inside. The Scripturesays in Colossians 1:27b Christ in me the hope of glory.

The key word here is Glory. Glory meansgreat beauty. This verse of scripture simply means that you carrygreat beauty on your inside that the world in all its ugliness iswaiting to receive.

What is Within You?

Within you lies a treasure. You are brilliant. You are intelligent.You can do anything you want to because you have a brain, a mind.You are not a function of what the society calls you, neither areyou defined by what others call you, you are unique and there isnone like you and because this is the case As are not for only aparticular person in your class, they are also for you. But youmust come out of mediocrity and walk in the understanding of whoyou are.

Over time I observed that several personsdoubt their ability to succeed academically but have so much faiththat they can actually succeed in other endeavours in life such asmusic, comedy and so on. With this belief they put so much effortinto chasing these dreams and they actually do succeed but suchsuccess is usually at the detriment of their books. A popular lingoused as an excuse for failure is education is not foreveryone.