DOES MY LIFE DEPEND ON MY GRADUATING GRADE?

In the post, The Power of Your Graduating Grades, I pointed out how powerful your graduating grade is in your life after school and why you should take it seriously now that you are in school. Looking at how I emphasized the point, it’s easy for someone to ask, “Brojid, are you saying my life depends on my graduating grade? My focus this week on Student Groove is to answer this question and by that strike a balance in what I shared with you last week.

My answer to the above question is an emphatic No! In reality your life doesn’t depend on your graduating grades. Your grade doesn’t have the final say in your life.

Now, there is no way I could have said that your life depends on your graduating grades when many of the extremely successful people we have around never went to school let alone graduating with good grades. There is more to your life than your graduation grades.

Sunny Obazu-Ojegbase never went to any university, yet he has built a multimillion naira business. From my check, Mudiaga never went to the university to be able to build his big fashion company – Mudi Africa. Steve Haris dropped out of school twice but has built a great teaching and human capacity development business – Steve Haris Company.

There are many people who never had a chance to go through the four wall of any university and yet have made impact in their world and built great organizations. That’s why I dare say that your life is not dependent on your grades!

I couldn’t have said that your life depends on your grades when people who have had the worst of grades in school turned out to be successful and influential in their chosen careers. I mean some went to school but the best grade they could earn was a Third Class. Yet, they have surmounted the possible limitation imposed on them by their grades to live their lives to the fullest.  Excellent performance in school is very good and should be pursued. However, the one who has graduated or is about to graduate with poor one is not hopeless!

Your life cannot depend on your graduating grades when there are many people who have built great businesses and careers without using their certificate let alone graduating grades. For many of them, they went to school to get educated after which they moved on with what they really wanted to do with their lives.  Some others simply started something different from their course of study when they saw that the course is not taking them where they really want to be or was a mistake. Shola Oshunkeye left the sciences he did in school to practice journalism and has grown to win international awards and is working as Editor-in-Chief/Managing Director of TheSun Ghana.

Your life cannot depend on grades when some people have despite their poor grades, got jobs that first classes candidates couldn’t get simply because God gave them the opportunity of showing what they can do; not what they have on paper.

Now that you have seen that your life is not dependent on your grades, let me tell you this simple truth: your grade matters in life. Your grade is not just a piece of paper. If it were, you wouldn’t need to go to school to get it. It’s a testament of what you know or assumed to have known. Put in your best to get the best of it.

Please, don’t bring your passion as an excuse. Even if you are not passionate about statistics or linguistic or anthropology, you can get excellent grades now that you in school, abandon it and then do what you are passionate about. It’s better than carrying the weight of the stigma that comes with poor grades.

A caveat: If you are still in school, don’t conclude that your life doesn’t depend on grades and give nonchalant attitude to your school work and exams. It takes more effort to overcome the stigma, limitation and shame that comes with poor grades than good grades in school.

Listen, people have different paths in life and those paths are not random; they are orchestrated by God to lead them to where they are created to be. Therefore, don’t drop out of school because someone told you about Bill Gates and Michael Dell that dropped out of school. Those guys dropped into Microsoft and Dell Corporation. The question is where are you dropping into? Your village? Motor Park? Please wise up!

If you are not meant to drop out of school; but you do so because of those that have succeeded greatly despite being drop outs, you will drop into oblivion! Many are like that; but you don’t hear their stories because they are not Bill Gates or Steve Haris.

My point?

Your life doesn’t depend on your grades; but your grades make a statement. Use your days as a student to empower your grade to make a strong statement wherever it is mentioned or seen.  God can elevate you despite your poor grades; but He also elevates people through their powerful grades. He gave Daniel and his friends an aptitude to learn and after proper learning, they performed 10 times better than their classmates and they were hired to work in the best place at that time. Get to work today to boost your graduating grade!

Meanwhile, if you need help on how to improve your performance in school, get in touch with us for a live or online coaching session that will help you put your time to maximum use. Do well to freely share this post with another person. It may be what someone needs to attain peak performance in his life and work.