Academic excellence is important, but it is not everything.
By Obafemi Hamzat
Being the top of your class does not necessarily guarantee that you will be at the top of life. You may graduate as the best student in Finance, but that does not mean you will make more money than everyone else.
The best graduating Law student does not automatically become the best lawyer. Life requires much more than the ability to understand a concept, memorise it, and reproduce it in an examination.
School rewards knowledge and academic performance. Life rewards imagination, courage, resilience, creativity and the ability to take action. School teaches you to follow rules; life often rewards those who dare to challenge the status quo and create new ones.
So, does this mean you shouldn’t study hard? Absolutely not. You should. But don’t sacrifice every other aspect of your development on the altar of a First Class.
Don’t limit yourself to the classroom. Do something practical. Take up a leadership position. Start a business and fail, that’s a better Entrepreneurship 101. Join or start a club. Contest an election and lose, it may teach you lessons that Political Science 101 never will. Attend seminars. Read books beyond the scope of your course. Build relationships. Develop your communication and people skills.
Do something you believe in.
Don’t focus only on becoming an excellent student; focus on becoming an excellent human being.
Make the world your classroom. Keep learning, keep growing, stay humble, and above all, have the fear of God.
Good morning, great minds.
Jumah Mubarak! 🤲🏾
