Hey there!
In this article, you will learn the ultimate guide to holistically achieving academic excellence. Achieving excellence is one of the most difficult things in life. Just a few people are excellent at what they do, this is because they understand and obey the rule of success. Thankfully, one of our smart colleague at SmartBukite (Rilwan Sholanke) shared his masterpiece discovery (Basic guide) on how to achieve academic excellence.
In this article:
What is academic excellence?
Excellence means different things to different people. Academic excellence is irrelativeness to whether is considered a priority or not doesn’t change the fact that we all want to be successful in our different spaces/scope.
Some aim higher and are very optimistic, while some choose pessimism. Regardless of your personality and what Excellence means to you as an individual, students strive to identify their interests, design long terms goals, and strive to achieve them.
Why academic excellence is important
Being excellent and good at whatever you do curdles the pride of the family. People love working with excellent people, as they are a means to doors of opportunities. The Government, Organization, Foundations and Institution reward student for their academic excellence by offering them scholarships, financial support, sponsorship etc. The Bayero University Kano » as a case study, award best students of each department every section by paying their school fees.
To explain things in details, a strategic masterpiece design chart was made. A balance is the implementation of the quadrants is crucial to attaining the goal in question.
Physical Health:
Once upon a time, there was this brilliant and hardworking student name Aliyu. Aliyu is a good, focused student who works very hard but fails to check and monitor his health status. One day, three days to his level 300 exams, he became very Ill and has to differ the semester (or write in bad condition).
Physical health is crucial to our very existence and is paramount amongst others. With a depilated of physical health, other goals or aspirations will be not being able to actualize on their own. Personal health can affect class attendance at school, concentration during lectures and our learning abilities. This negatively impacts our goal in achieving academic excellence.
Thoughts:
Have you considered how your current lifestyles affect your health?
Tips to optimize your physical health;
- Maintain goal personal hygiene and a balanced diet
- Listen to your body and do routine check-ups (twice a year)
- Always seek professional advice/consult when in doubts of symptoms of sickness (Do not Google your symptoms and discard myths)
- Keep personal environment and surroundings clean
- Regular de-worming, treat for malaria and other preventative diseases or illness (Visit school clinic).
- Regular exercises, work-outs and do sports
Substitute intake of alcohol, carbonated drinks, and caffeine with clean water
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver”
Mahatma Gandhi
Mental Health:
This is another crucial aspect of this discourse as it concerns how we obtain, process and apply bits of information (oral, written or body language, experience) into actions and developed personality in the long-run.
Your thoughts are what you become in life. Achieving excellence is a determination that should be set from the mental level. Our CEO, Badiru Sulaimon in one of his article titled HOW TO MOVE FROM SECOND TO FIRST CLASS, shared how he was mentally scared of his performance in level 100 » which really ended up affecting his overall academic performance.
Personalities are moulded from the bit of information we are regularly exposed to, the experiences we own regarding such subject, the norms and value we abide by dearly. They also evolve regardless of age, sex, family upbringing or other forms of exposure.
The undying rule dictates that personality can be understood, changed and managed (in cases of conflict) by emotional intelligence.
Thoughts:
Have you ever wondered why you are easily attracted to people who portray confidence and can best manage conflict between opinions or people?
Tips to optimize your mental health for excellence;
- Think positively
- Sleep regularly and consciously plan daily activities (Make a do-list)
- Believe in your strength and manage your weakness
- Manage your budget and expenses (make some savings)
- Set-out core life goals; seeking at actualized dreams and aspirations
- Improve your emotional intelligence and people skills Seek/receive/give mentorship/coaching to others (as applicable)
- Make good pen friends
- Strengthen the foundation of your support system (Family and friends)
- Keep the right influence and information source (Especially social media)
- Play brain teaser, puzzles, chess, and other board games
- Keep health relationship (Stay off toxic ones)
“True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment, and refreshment”
William Penn
Improve course-work studies:
Achieving academic excellence can be very easy but tactical. This further expatiates the essence of the discourse and it cannot independently triumph without the other three.
I have always advocated for the pull-up approach; students owing to their growth and learning, challenging theories and concepts, being adaptive and innovative at the same time.
Education in school and other learning media outside the typical classroom build skills, foster traits and enhance understanding of concepts learned theoretically.
Thoughts:
What other forms of education or learning opportunities are exposed to and how have they improve your knowledge of concepts, theories, and myths?
Tips to improve your course-work studies
- Attend lectures regularly, participate and ensure you are sited close to the class facilitator/lecturer
- Know your academic capacity and manage it
- Revise notes and past questions papers every month with students
- Read books and befriend professors/Kwaro’s (Be gender-sensitive)
- Learn how to successfully answer examination questions »
- Attend offline and online tutorials related to your course of study
- Check-in with students and lecturers for assistance in learning difficult topics or tasks/assignment (Always seek for practical explanations)
- Form a group of like-minds students to summarize topics on course outlines, make personal notes and research
- Set-up your study zone in your rooms or classes (Table, laptop, notes and study lamp) ensure is away from your bed or sofa
- Learn time management
- Visit the school library regularly or you can choose to set-up an e-library, download free textbooks and learn new topics every week »
Study with : SmartBukites Online Video Tutorials »
Career progression plan;
As students who are still learning the elements of a chosen profession, there is need for acquiring some level of work experience (in the form of internships, part-time or holiday jobs) or exposure working with people; hence developing soft skills before graduation (certification).
This also allows students to have a practical grasp of what the profession entails, seeking the right mentorship, aligning on the area of specialization and identify teams and institutions to join.
Thoughts:
Do you have a dream job?
What’s the demand and how do you intend to be unique?
Do you have the required soft skills to compete favourably in the “nation of the unemployed workforce”?
How solid is your entrepreneurial intention or education?
Tips to optimize your academic excellence
- Identify your long term goals, translate them in smart goals and start ticking the boxes. If you have one already, re-design to fit the current dynamics of your current industry
- Take up volunteer/ internship position (Paid or not paid ) to strengthen work-experience
- Participate actively in school clubs/ associations/organizations
- Make multiple CV/resumes/cover letters
- Seeking mentorship/coaching from lecturers, influential personalities and leaders of industry personal (Learn to listen)
- Improve on your networking skills and take up leadership positions to make changes in your immediate community (Think strategically)
- Learning new languages (French, Spanish, German, Arabic e.tc)
- Acquire digital skills e.g. coding, Microsoft suites, data analytics, etc
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed”
Michael Jordan
Try out: Selecting, studying and earn certificate at Udemy
Prayers
Ultimately, prayer plays a role in achieving excellence. Whatever the religion you are practising, learn to pray regularly after working hard. This helps in lifting up your effort spiritually and boosting your probability of achieving excellence.
In summary, there is no one road to achieving academic excellence, you need to be informed, spirited, determine, observant, open to new ideas and consistent. It pays to be your very best.