Academic Excellence Is Possible You Too Can Make It. CHRISTIAN MICHAEL

Academic excellence is possible
You too can make it.
CHRISTIAN MICHAEL
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Copyright © 2018 by Christian Michael.
ISBN: 978-1-9806-7466-5
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
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Published by Impart Publishing

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Cover concept/Design by GN Foby
Scripture quotations (unless otherwise indicated) from the Holy
Bible, King James Version, marked KJV (Authorized Version). First
published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible,
Copyright ©1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.
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.................................................................... 5
You can .............................................................................. 5
................................................................. 22
Play to Win ..................................................................... 22
.............................................................. 59
Critical thinking ............................................................ 59
............................................................... 97
Go cumulatively ............................................................ 97
................................................................ 110
Understand your brain power .................................. 110
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You can
W
hen we see this or hear, the first
thing that comes to mind is the
Bible. And our first response, even
unconsciously is to begin to think about the grace
of God and all that. This kind of mindset is not a
problem in itself if not that it has the following
effects on those who has it:
 It shots down a vital part of our brain-the
logical reasoning
 It relieves us of every responsibility and
launches us into the state of complacence.
 It suggests prayer in place of hard work.
 It keeps the carrier in a perpetual state of
mediocrity.
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You can
Though we shall also be exploring the spiritual

implication if the phrase, suffice me to first review
what it means to us in the physical realm
The challenge I throw to religious folks is that, if
indeed the term 'you can't, does only exist for
spiritual folks, why do we have Muslim make it?
Why do we have Hindus excel? Why do we have
traditional guys do exploits in different fields
especially in academia?
My school had her 12th matriculation few weeks

ago, and the best graduating students, I think he is
not a believer, but he did it. So we need to first
settle that, 'you can', belongs to everyone, rich,
poor, beautiful, ugly, holy, unholy, etc.
This truth is a hard one. And sometimes a very

painful one to religious folks. They are usually
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worried when unbelievers prosper in areas where

they do not. And sometimes they begin to
fabricate excuses like, 'it's not the will of God; God
is testing me; these are all earthly things, name
them…
Worse of all is to begin to suspect that the other

folks who made it must have done so with dubious
means. When they can't lay hands on anything
tangible, they can even go ahead and fabricate
some. That is why you hear all kinds of religious
jargons
Now let's think of it
We can; you can; how true is this?
Biologically speaking...
We all are endowed with the brain, a power
system with about 6 Billion cells which can equal
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You can
and surpass the capabilities of several super

computers combined together. One of those cells
can hold as much information as we cannot
imagine possible. Statistics has shown that the
wisest man who ever lived was able to use not
more than 17% of their brain capacity. These
number include: powerful doctors, researchers,
inventors, writers, philosophers etc.
This leaves us with a heavy question mark. We

must settle down to verify what our problem is,
basically. We must come to objectively admit that
something is wrong and it might just be with us.
Like we noted earlier, a religious look at, 'you can',
does four major things to the carrier. Let's take few
moments to buttress that point.
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Christian Michael
1. It shots down a vital part of our brain-

the logical reasoning:
The brain is designed to work usage. What we do
go for, we don't get. It also means that knowledge
don't come to us automatically. We must engage
the brain for us to get profit out of it.
However, by adopting a religious mindset to

academics, we unconsciously set down the brain
power. It makes it appear as if when you use your
brain, you are sinning. So guilt is attached to the
use of the brain. And those who do are seen as
'unspiritual, imperious etc.’ These fellows,
somehow relegate the responsibility to think to
God. Of course they would use their brain in
every other areas except for the books. Some of
these areas include, while driving, eating or when
purchasing something at the grocery store, they
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You can
won't allow anyone to cheat them in terms of

change.
My question then is, if we should use our brain in

these other areas, why not in academics?
2. It relieves us of every responsibility
and launches us into the state of
complacence:
If we can only by the grace of God, meaning that
God is solely responsible for the outcome of the
events, then we need not worry or do anything.
Of course if we fail, we have God to be blamed.
This is why several believers get so made at God
when they fail. They'll mourn, 'God failed me, but
I don't know why'. As beautiful as this may sound,
one can also ask, if indeed God determines those
who pass, why do those people, some who has
publicly denounced Him still pass? The question
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could be, why must it be you that God chose to

fail?
Every natural man hates to take responsibility. We

readily avoid them whenever we can. I always
seek for whom to blame, all the time. And we
always want someone who will be accountable to
us. And if by any means that person is God, then
it's a great business. But somehow, God has never
resumed or assumed such responsibilities, thus,
most religious people fail massively.
Complacency affects our focus while

our focus dictate, direct or depletes our
actions.
Then our action predicts our result. Meanwhile

we also know that complacence results when we
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You can
lose sight of our requirements. It is the

requirement that generates the feeling of
responsibility, and responsibility, action, then
result. Therefore, whenever we think that it all
depends on God, which religion tells us, we
definitely fall into the state of the mind called,
complacence.
3. It suggests prayer in place of hard

work:
Since we already believe that everything depends
on God, what else is worth pursuing than
'connecting' with God? For example, if reading
means nothing, then praying means everything.
Then attending vigil before exams and during
exams becomes imperative. We must then pursue
everything that makes us feel more likeable by
God.
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This is why we hear exhortations like, 'no matter

what you read, if God does not help you, you'll
fail'. This is but half-truth because God had said, I
will bring you to remembrance; that's how I will
help you. If this is so of God, what becomes of
them which read not?
Somebody has said that, very prayerful people are

mostly dull students in class. If this statement is to
be considered as fact, the reason can be traced to
these orientations.
4. It keeps the carrier in a perpetual state

of mediocrity:
Mediocrity is functioning on or below average.
Mediocrity is doing less than able. It is running
low of expectation. It is a state of mind that reflects
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You can
in the outcome of our lives. To know a mediocre

person, see the results he produces. If he produces
only mediocre results, then he is a mediocre
person. Just like a good tree cannot bear corrupt
fruit, so does an excellent fellow does generate
mediocre outcomes.
Mediocrity is also a realm. It is an attitude. It is a

habit. It is a feeling of always wanting and being
comfortable with the usual, and usual meaning
little. Mediocrity is worse than demonic attack.
One way away from mediocrity is to stay away
from wrong thinkers. Wrong thinkers does not
necessarily mean, non-thinkers, nor bad thinkers.
It means thinkers chewing wrong materials. They
have fake raw materials so they must undoubtedly
come out with fake products.
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Christian Michael
Mediocrity is a situation of being

short-circuited out of success zone.
And out of success means out of God.
It's just a matter of time.
We must also note that You Can has impact and

implication for the child of God. It has a spiritual
application which does not reduce the application
but enhances it. Now we shall be looking at what
does it mean when You Can comes directly from
the mouth of God.
Perhaps we must first redefine who a Child of God

is. It is not very popular to ask, 'who is a child of
God?' But for the sake of our studies we must
review this one in a million question.
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You can
The question is, 'who is a child of God?'

Unfortunately the answer is, 'who is God?' If a
goat will give birth to a goat and a lion will give
birth to a lion, then a God will give birth to a god.
It is not in vain that the scriptures has said, we are
born of God. In fact the Word insist that we must
be born again in order to qualify to do business
with God.
The reason is, God does not work with man. And
He does not tolerate low standard material in his
kingdom. So he first change the man (convert) to
be Him (according to his likeness and semblance)
before he will begin anything tangible with him
This is the mystery that makes it true that we are
gods. It's a true saying worthy of acceptance.
Likewise, the Word says we are born of the spirit,
thus we be spirit. For God is a spirit.
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Christian Michael
What we are trying to find out is, who is a child

of God. And in my findings, and I suppose yours
too, a child of God is God.
Who then is God?
To narrow this properly, we can as well say, who

is God in the classroom? If God should be taking
your course, what will be his grade? If God should
be sitting for that test, what will be his position?
What if God fails? I know every thinking child of
God will quickly scream, 'God cannot fail'. But I
know they are just telling lies.
Today we scream in church that God cannot fail,

and tomorrow Monday we are looking for a way
to justify why a believer can fail. This is an age-
long sabotage in the church. And God is worried
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You can
When we fail, we prove God can fail. When we

scream we can't understand this or that, we equally
declared that God is not omniscience. We limit
God; we misrepresent God; we insult God. We
cannot be talking about an all-knowing God in us
and we are failing. Even the unbelievers
sometimes don't understand it.
When the test is out, they expected God above

everything to pass. If God fails, there hope is worn;
confidence eroded and determination deterred.
By failing we discourage them and disorient them.
When we carry God and fail and they fail, they
slump into a serious pit of discouragement. This is
but a little of a harm to the kingdom.
However, when we fail and they pass, we have

spoken a different gospel:
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 We have said God is dead

 God, even if is alive is not capable.
 God is not needed since He is not powerful.
 God is not dependable.
 God is not real.
Then they go out trusting the internet more than

God. And they begin to view the elects as a bunch
of deceived people running after a God that can't
help us.
Most times they are forced to speak in such a
manner as if the holy one is a liar, as if He has called
the seed of Jacob to seek Him in vain.
We betray the entire kingdom and make light the

sacred family of glory. This is an abomination.
Have we not seen the ungodly take up upon
themselves to counsel the godly, And their
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You can
counsel is usually tilted in such a way that it almost

begin to appear as if the only problem a daughter
of destiny has is church activities.
And church activities meaning God. So it will

read, God is their only problem. He is distracting
them they say. He won't let them focus on their
books; he won't even let them pass their exam
instead he will be asking them to go from one
program to another. This is blasphemy. We are the
ones who blasphemed the most High.
We blasphemed when we don't pass out exam; we

blasphemed when we don't study our books; we
blaspheme when we focus on our self alone, this
fail like men. When we act like men and function
like them, we fail like them, thus blaspheme.
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Christian Michael
What does the Holy writ say? It is written, ye are

gods...
Progress is accepting what God says
concerning you and making all the
necessary adjustments to cause it to
pass.
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Play to Win
I
f I have one thing to say to every new student,
it will be, 'don't take it easy; play to win’. If I
have the opportunity to say something to a
struggling student, it will be, 'don't take it easy;
play to win'.
Few weeks back I went to see my hostel
supervisor, while waiting for him at the common
room, we heard a lot of noise coming from
outside. Almost immediately, my supervisor, his
friends and I rushed out to check what's
happening. Lo and behold, it was a strange
Christian drama rally...
What came out from the mouth of my supervisor

kept me mute, he said:
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Christian Michael
All, these people you are seeing there are

struggling with carry-overs. They won't
read their books, they would be going here
and there with church activities
Indeed!! God is mocked when I fail in any
ramification. I can!
–Joy’s input
A wise man once said, 'our definition determines

our direction and our direction predicts our
Destination'. Everyone has a definition for
everything and situation in life. It is this definition
that determines how, why and when we respond
to it. Attitude is simply the outworking of our
definition; a physical display of our inner
perception of matter. Perception is actually a
reflection of our inner situation, where situation is
our attitude.
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Attitude according to Zig Ziglar is the reason two

persons can pass through the same thing, and one
comes out better while the other comes out bitter.
In nutshell, how we see it, is how we do it. And
how we keep seeing it, is how we keep doing it.
Look births the cook, or the crook.
Talking about definition, academics is not left out.

Permit me to be straight at you, what's your
definition for school; I mean academics? You
won't know this, but I must tell you, if you have
not consciously defined this, it means you have an
unconscious definition of it. If unconscious, then
it must be wrong.
Common definitions of school is, a place of

learning, a place of socializing, a place to have fun
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Christian Michael
and make new friends. There are some who also

see it as a place to hook up with their future
husbands. Very few, very few see it as a game
place. I will talk to you about it in few minutes.
The issue is that we plant a different seed and
expect a different harvest. Let's dive into it a little.
For example, you take school as a place of

learning, you will be rewarded with good brain.
You might even develop the appetite of reading
and researching outside the scope of your studies.
Then exam comes, you fail. Several brilliant
people are failures by school standards. They failed
not for lack of brains; not for lack of dedication;
not for lack of secondary understanding (class
room understanding). The tragedy is that more in
number in this statistics are brethren; fellow
pilgrims in the faith.
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Play to Win
And because no one knows what happened, they

put all the blame on God. The problem is when
you look at this brother, though he is committed
to Jesus, he is also brilliant. When you interact
with him just for few minutes, even the devil can
attest that this guy is good. The confusion
presented is such that no one can point a finger at
what the matter is. Even the brother himself is
confused.
The outcome for this brother, is as a result of his

definition (perception) of school. Let me in few
minutes review those who see the University as a
place to fulfil their social needs. Several persons
have need to be more social but do not have an
enabling environment to do so, so they postponed
everything to when they get into school. Now
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that they are in school, they'd do everything

possible to exercise their social life. They'd give
themselves to fashion: how to look good; ways to
match colors; how to knot ties; how to iron
trousers; where to get the best quality skirts and
blouse etc. This will also be followed closely with
the unquenchable desire for a great phone for
multiple endless selfies and maximum facebook
engagement. You understand that situation where
the only reason for subscribing is for social
media...
I cannot pose a judge over these ones as to point

out if what they're doing is wrong or not. This is
because for all I care, being social is great. In fact,
not being social can be considered as a form of
deformity. Should the school score them based on
being social, without doubts they'd be A+
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students. But unfortunately, they would be rated

on another scale.
The matter is that, what we look for, determines
how we look, when and where we look, what we
see, and how we see what we see.
Tragedy is after using all our time to engage in

planting maize, we want to reap tomatoes in time
of harvest. It doesn't work that way. I know you
are among those who are yet rationalizing, 'it
doesn't matter; grade is not the main thing'. If you
so believed what you are saying, why did you cry
or almost cried when you failed that quiz? Why
did you feel so bad when you saw your grade and
it was not shining?
You see, someone is deceiving himself/herself;

you like the grades, period. Since you do, go for
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Christian Michael
it. Now let me advice you, the earlier you stopped

talking those kind of foolish talks, 'grade is not the
main thing', the better for you. As long as we are
in this system and on earth, in school, grade is the
main thing.
Don't listen to anyone whose grade is poor and

parading as an academic counsellor with long
quotes on how about many who came out with
First Class, do well in life.
The fact is that whereas not all First Class student

do well in life, we also know that not all 'economic
class' of student do well in life. However, we must
add that being on the First Class list, places you on
an edge; you have more opportunities. What you
do with these opportunities depends on you, but
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you will have them. Do you know that even in

your NYSC, your class influences some times?
Nevertheless, there are another sect of people in

school. They're notorious but because they'd
stirred a mob or threw a stone. Something very
quiet and subtle made them popular. Lecturers
know them, and fellow students know them.
Though they move in company, they're usually
strangely few.
Most persons view them as extremists and some

consider them as annoying. Social people look at
them as a 'not-social-guys' and then always look
down on them, claiming some kind of superiority
over them. However, these 20% do not care much
as to consider adjusting their posture despite the
persecutions received from fellow students.
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One unique thing about this people is that they're

just focused, or perhaps 'too focused'. Mere
looking at them, you might want to think that
they are taking it too far. As soon as there is an
assignment, even an assignment that should take a
week to meet deadline, just the next day, theirs is
ready. They're the once that would likely remind
the lecturers of test assessment. Even when every
other student is shying away from responsibility,
they're pushing themselves forward to be the
course rep, if only that would help them be close
to the lecturers.
The other problem with these folks is that while

other students are busy face-booking, they're busy
facing their book. Everyone in class would soon
know that, they might not check their social
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media platforms as often, unless there is something

pressing (and their stay time is just very small).
While the other folks will be bombarding with

motivational quotes like, 'all works and no play,
makes Jack a dull boy', these guys are busy
arranging their grades. Then the results come, all
the active guys become dull; the news of the result
makes most of them even sleep or sick. Obviously,
too much play and no work, makes Jim a marred
guy.
I know, you know these guys. If you are in school

right now, you would have encouraged them. In
fact, as you are reading some names came to your
mind. Perhaps you have not seen them but you
have heard about them probably from a cynical
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uncle of yours. Ladies and gentlemen, it's my

honor to introduce to you, the Games players.
These people are actually strange in operation. I

bet you, if you are not among them, you have
wondered at them before. For example, if you
have just one 'A' in the entire department after a
general-course, we all know where it might be
found. They form 20% of the class. And among
them is another 20%. They don't seem to fail
anything.
There are situations that maybe by chance they

failed a course, (score lower than 80), and
somehow, one of the folks on the B quadrant
scores more than them, there will be a celebration;
all the other folks will be so happy like those who
have won a battle over the Egyptians.
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Someone would likely appoint himself as the

carrier going from one hostel to another with the
good news, 'are you aware that Jack scored a B in
that course, and the highest is Jim? And they
would both rejoice. If students that failed would
also join the celebration because for them, these
people failing is a better news than them passing.
This is because it appears as if they've held the
entire class on hostage of excellence.
Now I know what I am saying because I have

experienced the two groups. First I was among the
masses, going to school and coming back and
doing my best and of course expecting the
lecturers to understand and Mark well. My first
grade came out, and it was a shock: I have 3A, 2B
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and C. At first I was so happy, and thanked God

so much.
But I came back to school, I dared to confirm what

other people are getting, then I met a group I will
like to describe as A+ STUDENTS, they all had
straight A’s and those who had one or two B’s
among them are mourning bitterly and
considering retaking the course. Then I knew that
there were two kinds of students in the class and I
must choose where to belong.
The first thing I did was to change camp. This is

because I also found that all my gang also had
about the same thing or there about and we are
very comfortable and happy and exercising hope.
A quick one: your clique in school determine
your take home at the end of the day.
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Play to Win
With that annoyance I change my attitude; got

closer to these guys and see what they're doing and
how they're doing it. And I noticed to my
amazement that their approach differ from I and
my gang. So it became clear to me that a change
in approach could be a change in my CGPA.
Surely I was right. From the next semester,
everything changed dramatically, actually not
dramatically but intentionally.
What I did was to get on-board and play the Game
The game.
Have you played any game before? Before I started
writing on this aspect of the gist, I played a game.
It's a game my girlfriend introduced me to, 'piano
tiles', a game I have come to love. The rule of the
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game is 'make sure you touch all the tiles as they

descend without missing. When you hit the tiles,
you are indirectly playing the keyboard. The tune
of the keyboard is very pleasant to the ears making
the game even more enjoyable.
However, like every other game, and like every

other game player would think, 'I want to win'. I
love the winning part of the game. I love the
background music and the game interface, but
they could not substitute the place of winning.
Sometimes I try as hard as possible to lie to myself
that I play the game now just to win but to enjoy
the sound. But then, when I miss a tile, I would
unconsciously scream and caution myself.
Sometimes, I would go back with something that
looks like anger to play it again. Let me ask, why?
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It is to win, there are few things I want to note

about games:
Every game has a rule:

There's a way to win and there's a way not to win.
Instead of being preoccupied with the pain of
failing, every player concerns himself with finding
the way to win. Thus, Paul, a player declared, 'I
fight thus, not as one who beat the air...' He is in
business. He knows what he wants and he would
not budge for any reason. Then he reported that
no one is crowned unless he plays according to
rules. Hence,
 We cannot invent our own;

 We cannot play it our own way.
 To play the game, we must play according
to rules.
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Christian Michael
Every game has tricks:

Even businessmen understands that apart from the
conventional way of doing it, there are easier ways
of also teaching the result in short possible time.
This is what differentiates one business from
another. It is called competitive advantage. Let me
quickly let us know that in this game, we are not
playing alone. There are other players on the field.
This means, we must win the game. But we must
also win over the other players. If this is not true,
the scriptures would not have told us, concerning
Daniel and his friends that they won ten times
more than the other players. At least it showed that
there were more guys on the pitch.
A quick one: Play to win; play to win over and

you will have double win.
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Play to Win
Trick is what is referred to in warfare and

STRATEGY. Lack of strategy, usually result
in tragedy. A good strategy, saves time,
reduces risk and increases productivity.
Fortunately, every game has a secret code built
into it. You don't know, so you went manually.
Most times, you don't need to know it, but to
know someone who know it. This is mentorship.
When you activate the secret code, your result will
not be natural. Stop listening to those who keep
preaching, 'if you must go from here to there, you
must definitely pass through this road'. They are
they who say, the first time you enter school, your
grade must be bad. This is ridiculous.
Is there no more wisdom in the aged? Is there no

more understanding in Zion? Has the scriptures
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not said, 'ask, and it shall be given to you?' The

ancient path remains, but we must seek it out.
All we need to do is discover the way. All most of
us know and are familiar with is the way to fail.
Little is being drummed about how to win.
Every game has incentives:

The world is structured like a reward centered
system. You don't get anything for free. You do,
then you get. You sow first, then you reap. You
ask, then you are a given (and of course you decide
to either receive or not).
The most painful of it is when God declared that

he is a rewarder. What that means is that you don't
just get things for free from the Lord. He is not a
Santa Claus.
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Good things happen only to those who play.

When you play, you get the crown. In my game,
at some point, they clap for you. I should not, but
something in me keeps looking forward to that
clap.
1. Games are segmented in levels.

Does that remind you of the way the school
system is built? Yes. You satisfy some requirement
then you are promoted to the next level.
However, some persons go over with more life
than the others, thus having more opportunity to
reach last level.
One problem exists, you are not required to focus

on the score line as much as you are to focus on
the game itself.
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Christian Michael
Focus is one attribute every game player has. I

don't know why games have distractions and it
looked to me that every game do. At some points
some useless things will be flying in or out, just
enough to catch your attention. You'll have the
choice to either follow their trail and be lost in
their fancy and eventually lose the game or you
allow the passing things (usually they are passing)
to pass.
These passing things are there to spice up the

game. To be direct with you, games are not built
to be easy. In fact they keep you going in the game
is the adventurous feeling you get while playing
the game.
These things that appear like distractions are not

necessary distraction. They are built in side
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attractions to enhance fairness in rewards. Come

to think of it, if it were easy, everyone will
definitely win. And if this happens, two other
things might happen:
There will be loss of interest in playing the game:

A situation whereby nobody feels like playing the
game, the essence of the game has been defiled.
Let me just add this, tougher games have higher
statistics of patronage. Humans like difficult
things. This is how we are, so when we build
systems, we try to make it a little bit complex. The
idea is, the more the complex, the more interest.
2. It will be difficult to determine an efficient

reward system:
If it is very easy, everyone will succeed. So how
do we know the champion among them?
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Christian Michael
Someone may ask, must we have a champion?

The answer is, Yes! If there is no champion; if
there is no top, there will be no striving for
mastery. Where there is no striving for mastery,
they desire for personal development is
strangulated. And if there is no personal
development, the purpose of God is hampered.
(God's purpose is that we keep making
improvement to all the raw materials He created
in our space, earth).
So when Paul, an experienced player said in one
of his writings to the Corinthian folks,
'Every athlete in training submits to

strict discipline, in order to be crowned
with a wreath...'
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Play to Win
He dealing with the principle governing the

reward system of things. He is saying that, you
don't get very easily. You can't just come of the
crowd and score a goal for your favorite team and
maybe go back to your seat. You can't just come
from your vale of Hebron and become a prime
minister of Egypt the next day. He somehow has
told us that you can't just go from your village to
the university and bag a first class honors. You
have to strive; you have to compete.
What you don't gain by reward, you can sustain by

work. Whatever success you gained outside the
arena of personal development, will need magical
spells to sustain in the long run.
In order to get what you seek from this school,

you must make a submission. Hi buddy, you are
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Christian Michael
required of above all things to submit to strict

discipline that is if you want to be crowned. The
crown only fits some kind of head. Just yesterday i
went to rectify an issue with my grade at the exams
and record. The grade was released but was
reflecting. I just walked in there, knowing that I
had an A, no matter the marking scheme, and ask
the guy in charge to fix it. In few minutes the
prophecy was confirmed.
Prophecy is what religious people want to hear

about. But, I’m sorry. It is no prophecy but a
reward. When the athletes submit themselves to
strict training, could it be that they had a target?
Come to think of it, why is it that only few persons
emerge top and just one remain top? Paul also told
us the secret:
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Play to Win
And every man that striveth for the

mastery is temperate in all things.
If you want to be a master, you must be temperate

in all things. You must know what counts. You
must know what has been counted and what need
to be counted.
Masters don't do everything. (I will soon teach you

strategic playing). Masters do the things dread to
do and dread the things plead to do. This is why
they are masters. And that is why we are not
masters.
Our focus differentiates us. Our focus
births our commitment, and our
commitment our achievement.
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Christian Michael
Show me a man of great achievement, and I will

show you a man of intense focus. However, focus
is meaningless if we do not have an understanding
of the focal point. There is usually that place
where the angle of incidence is equal to the angle
of reflection... (Physics)
It's so funny how one trumpeter met

me and said, "Me, I don't rehearse, but
when I come on stage, I just get
inspirations...different scales will just be
entering my head... But when you hear the
thing he's calling inspiration, you’ll just
know that this guy will not go far
–Mich’s input (a trumpeter)
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Play to Win
Personal development can't be

substituted with spirituality.
Any man who likes giving excuses for his failures,

would not exceed the bounds of his inefficiency.
Stop spiritual excuses, and start physical
advancement.
Strategic Play
Like we had seen different rules and component of
hitting success in a game, i would like to introduce
us to a concept known as, 'Strategic playing'. It is
not enough to know that there is a how to every
game. And it is not also enough to know that there
are tricks and tactics to maximize a game. We must
also know how to implement them. We will
spend the next section pinpointing these strategies
and how to work.
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Christian Michael
A wise man once said, Vision plus Mission

minus strategy ends in tragedy. Let’s talk about
strategy:
Strategy is sphere-dependent. Physical strategies

yield physical results; spiritual strategies, gain
spiritual result. Strategies are defined. Strategies
yield result, and result is measured per depth of
strategy.
Depth in strategy refers to quality of

information. The quality of the information that
formed the strategy adequately predicts its
effectiveness. By quality we mean, it’s (veracity,
validity, verifiability). Our source is good, so we
will just proceed:
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Play to Win
Deploying Spiritual Strategies to Up-Turn

the Game
Though the game is in the physical realm, we have
found a way to play it in and from the spirit realm,
or rather influence it using spiritual strategies.
The good news is that anointing is not

malpractice. The bad news is that not deploying
grace in your academics is NOT a sin. I wish it was
a sin, perhaps we would have been compelled to
always use it.
Consider Daniel and his friends in Babylon. They

were 10 times better than their contemporaries.
That means, they had no competition, what so
ever. Then we trace the root of their success, the
Babylonians noticed that the results Daniel was
producing must be supernatural. So they
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Christian Michael
concluded, 'there is a man in this kingdom in

whom is the spirit of the Holy gods'. If your
anointing is only relevant in church walls
then it is highly underused.
My experience:
One day, I had an exam that required me to cover
about 506 pages. Not because every student did
so, but my understanding of writing exam is
finishing the text book to avoid surprises.
Now the day of the exam came, I read and read
and read. When I noticed I was not going to finish
it and even though I do, they cannot all sink in
properly, I quickly realize that I have to go
something supernatural.
Let me say this quickly, 'if you need a result that is

beyond the normal, then you have to employ
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Play to Win
something beyond the normal. So, I drop the

book aside and starting blowing in tongues. My
brothers were watching me prepare for exam in
tongues. Of course they knew the problem I have
entered into. I prayed, 5mins, nothing happened.
Then I went on to 10, then 20 and when I hit 30
minutes, my heart focused on the course,
something broke into my spirit.
Now this is happening few hours before the exam.

A normal student may think that this is risky
because I was apparently wasting time. But I
understand the secret of the ancient.
I understood that if I succeed to connect to the

other realm, time cannot be a constraint. The
realm of the spirit does not take into consideration
times, season and protocols. Something interesting
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Christian Michael
happened to me while I prayed. Like a flash of

light, I understand that the book was in linkages. I
saw as it where, a pattern in the book; that is, how
all the book are interleaved and interlaced with
each other, from chapter to chapter.
So, I paused, looked at the book again, and I saw

what the Holy Spirit has just said. So I took a sheet
of A4 paper. And sketched the entire book on a
sheet. So I read a sheet and understood the content
of 506 pages book.
Before I finished and got to exam hall, I was late.

But I didn't border much because I knew
everything from cover to cover. So where they
kept me and other late comers, I sat down to talk
a little bit in tongues while waiting for them to
bring the exam question paper. Another thing
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Play to Win
happened, my eyes opened and I saw questions 1-

5 exactly the way they are and of course I knew
the answers. And I smiled.
And at about 2 minutes later, the questions came,

and I quickly checked to confirm if my brain was
playing tricks on me. It was amazing, exactly,
nothing changed, not as much as the numbers.
Fast-forward, I had 3-digit in that course. I mean
I had 100%.
This is just one of many of such testimonies. I have

encountered God, doing my assignments,
canceling failed test, cancelling lectures where it is
not convenient (based on kingdom agenda) etc.
It is foolishness to put aside your spirituality
to pursue academics.
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Christian Michael
It is near madness to avoid program because you

claim you are preparing for exams. During exams,
you need your spirituality more than ever. It is not
a time to avoid devotion and your discipler. It is a
time to seek God.
Have ye not known, have ye not heard, that the

Spirit speaks expressly, 'IT IS NOT BY POWER,
NOT BY MIGHT BUT BY THE SPIRIT,
SAYS THE LORD?'
It is sheer pride to ignore the Holy Spirit in your

school. Build your faith and build your grade.
Pursue God and excellence will pursue you. I am
a proof. The anointing you received from Him,
will teach you all things. Just connect.
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Play to Win
One time I had 95 in exam, but my grade was

showing C. I knew I couldn't have a C, not with
my anointing. So I climbed up to pray. When
prayer goes up, grades can change. You can't
experience what you don't believe. What you
believe cannot yield result unless you practice.
Now I command you, to go and break down gates

and level mountains. By the power of the Holy
Ghost do the strange. When it gets tough, get back
into the secret place, and force the doors open by
force.
Stretch your hands toward that mountain and

break it. Lay hands on your book and command
it. Speak to the heart of lecturers and change them.
Never get worked up when your father owns the
land.
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Critical thinking
T
he brain is not block of ice to be kept
securely in a deep freezer to retain its
shape. The brain is not a coil of wax that
gives way in the face of the slightest heat.
Conversely, the brain is a warehouse that is yet to
be mined; the brain is a universe yet to be
explored. I like to think of the brain as a mass of
muscle that requires stretching. And the means to
get to the brain, to get the best out of the brain is
thinking.
Thinking does to the brain what exercise does to

the muscles. I am a slim guy with small muscles I
guess. Sometimes I wish I were bigger or
something. But then, wishes does not get the
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Understand your brain power
work done. If I am damn serious, I must hit the

gym. When I get there, I would not have a miracle
or a magic. I must put in time, weeks, and months
to get the desired result. I don’t need to worry
about the result, because it must definitely come.
Just in case I need any witness, all the big-body
guys are enough proof that it happens
So also is the brain. Those who enjoy the dividend

of a power house like the brain are the few who
have decided to reach within to find out; to dig
up; to up-turn the soil of imagination by reasoning
and to search out the things behind the scene. The
lay guy at the other end see it as both unnecessary
and a waste of time. They have asked, ‘why think,
if you can ask question?’ Some have concluded,
‘why think at all?’
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Christian Michael
I am careful not to make it sound like we think to

find something, though we do. We would not
want to replace consequence for aim, and
dividend for pay. The ancient reason for thinking
is the reason why explorers go up the sky: They
had nothing in mind; they are not in essence
looking for anything in particular. But they were
thrilled by a world of possibility. The joy these
seekers experience whenever they come in
contact with reality untold is indescribable.
Have you wondered, what the motivation of the

explorer is? Let’s look from the eyes of an
explorer:
“You are an explorer, and you represent
our species, and the greatest good you can
do is to bring back a new idea, because our
world is endangered by the absence of good
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ideas. Our world is in crisis because of the

absence of consciousness.” ― Terence
McKenna
It is usually about the new idea; the new discovery;

the new invention. When you engage in thinking
we act in a way synonymous to an explorer. And
when we engage in critical thinking, we take the
screw deeper.
Critical thinking is an advanced
thinking methodology; it is thinking to
uncover witty invention.
Critical thinking is asking question that no one is

asking; it is attempting to answer questions
nobody is asking. Critical thinking is mining; it is
exploration to find something that does not exist
or rather exist in the realm of imagination. Critical
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Christian Michael
thinking is that tiny gap between the reality

unseen and reality seen.
Critical thinking is not a burden to be endured but

a game to be enjoyed. Critical thinking is a
competitive advantage. In business, critical
thinking is an asset referred to as employability
skill. Critical thinking is a skill. One thing the
goldsmith is very sure of is, ‘every skill can be
developed by learning and practice, given a
period of consistent time’.
Before we go further to look at what critical

thinking is in an applicable details, let’s see what
critical thinking is not.
Critical thinking is NOT:

 Worry
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 Stress
 Anxiety
Typically, Africans associate worry with thinking.

If you say, I want to go take some time to think,
the entire neighborhood can gather to advise you
in order to prevent it from happening. These
sincere people, do not think and as such, have
concluded that whenever or whoever thinks is
worrying.
Worry in contrast to thinking:

Worry is focusing on the problem and
remunerating on its magnitude. The good thing
about every problem is that they all have similar
characteristics, namely:
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Christian Michael
Problems are big: No matter what they are, they're

usually big whenever we look at them. That is
why when you entered that exam, the first time
you looked at the question, they all appeared
insurmountable. What happened was that you
were looking for the problem and not the
solution. Something usually changes when you
started looking for a way to solve the problem
(solution), the same questions that stood like a
giant mountain, collapsed into a sand house.
Problems are problems: No matter how long you

look at them or how deep you look at them,
problems are simply problems. In fact, they
become problematic when you dwell on them for
long.
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Lastly: Every problem has a solution(s): Those

who worry, don't know that problems have
solutions, including the one confronting them. So
they can go up and down, jump up and down
talking, singing, praying about and enjoying the
problem instead of deploying the same time to find
the solution.
Worry is the futile exercise every individual facing

a challenge indulges in because they have failed to
see the solution by not looking for it.
Thinking on the other hand, is every attempt to

find the escape root out of the prison. Worry holds
us down; thinking keeps us up. Worry makes us
depressed; thinking makes us to be expressed. If
thinking is going west, worry is going east; if
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Christian Michael
thinking is going right, worry is going left. They

are most incompatible. They are opposites.
Stress:
Stress is the normal response signal that the brain
sends to our entire body telling them, 'we can't
take this anymore; everyone go to bed'. When
your brain does this, your body members would
begin to shut down one after the other.
Suddenly, you'll begin to feel headache. That's just

a signal from your brain demanding that you stop
and rest. Even if you didn't permit your members
they still obeyed your rebellious brain. Most
people also join the bandwagon and obey their
brain. So productivity stops.
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There are those who have found ways of re-

instructing their system for action. These include
switching to a less demanding and a more
enjoyable task. Even a good music can go a long
way to get the system in shape.
Contrasting stress and thinking

Stress is NOT thinking. Stress is inactive; thinking
is active. Stress shuts down the system, thinking
activates the system. The body repels stress, the
body accepts thinking. Stress is self-destructive,
thinking is self-motivating. Stress yield no result;
thinking yields result. Anxiety causes stress;
thinking solves stress.
Anxiety:
This is the uncontrolled natural response to
problem which sends the negative signal to the
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Christian Michael
body. When we first sight the problem, we'll

usually go, 'what's this?' If we don't manage that
feeling by replying to ourselves that this matter can
be solved, the brain will over-interpret the event,
and begin to react. Imagine yourself standing
before a panel, maybe for an interview, or sitting
in an exam and your brain goes, 'are you sure you
can do this?' Simply response yes! There must be a
way around this. This is one way to respond. The
other way is, 'boy, I'm not sure how I can come
out this...' This is what we refer to as anxiety.
Then suddenly, we are shivering and fumbling
(that's just a way the body is asking us to run away
from that scene).
Contrasting anxiety and thinking

Anxiety considers the impossibility; thinking
focuses on the possibility. Anxiety speaks negative
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of the situation; thinking speaks positive. Anxiety

looks for way out; thinking looks for way forward.
Anxiety generates loss of confidence and
inevitable failure; thinking generates confidence
that helps us find the solution.
Critical thinking is a form of observation. Critical

thinking is seeing from the other person’s point of
view; it is seeing from the stand point of the
speaker. However, critical thinking is more than
that. It emboldens seeing from both the angle of
elevation and depression. It is seeing the top and
walking your way to the bottom.
Now some persons will want to argue, ‘if I have

seen the top, what do I need the bottom for? This
is the problem. What we often fail to realize is that
nothing can be defined by itself. Everything find
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Christian Michael
their definition in reference to another thing. For

example, we won’t know light unless we see
darkness. And we measure the intensity of light
with regards to how far or how well it can displace
darkness. So, put darkness away and start studying
light, and you will find out you are doing nothing.
Understanding can now be said to be,

seeing the coin from two sides.
If you are following the gist, by now you should

have known that most of the time you claimed
you understood a matter, you actually did not.
You only saw one side of the coin and zoom off.
And somehow, you also wanted the question to
come from that part.
But unfortunately the examiner (as usual) would
want to find out what happens when the coin fall
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off an inclined plane. The right answer is, ‘when

the coin falls off the inclined plane, it would either
show the front A or B. If front A, you will see a
design of a corn and a hoe and if front B, you will
see a picture of President XYZ’. And you get your
full mark.
On the other hand, if Adams only knew about

front A because that is what he was taught in class,
how would he treat this question? What do you
think would be the response of the class if the
question is, ‘explain front B; or differentiate front
A and front B’. You could expect that kind of
response; those rumpled faces and grumbling
voices. Can you relate with what I’m talking
about?
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Christian Michael
What do you think could be the problem? Why

did you go to that exam and came out
complaining that the question were foreign? Let
me tell you the truth, if those questions were not
from your approved syllabus, they would not be
approved by the senate in the first place. That is, if
the question were higher than you level, the exam
would be cancelled and the lecturer queried. Let's
also look at it this way, ‘why was it that you and
many other were crying and someone of few
persons in your class, who took the same lectures
with you from the same lecturer, had A’s and those
who had a B angry that they did so.
I know some persons, trying to justify mediocrity

would argue this to the last point. See how they
think, ‘if the exam is difficult, it is because the
lecturer did not teach well; if I failed, it is because
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they marked me down; if it is difficult for me, then

every other person is in trouble. What a myopic
way of thinking. I had an experience on day in
school that confirmed this my assertion.
It was a computer sciences course, called data

structures and algorithm. It is not that kind of
course that you would cram everything and pass.
The nature of it and its complexity demands that
you understand what is happening for you to make
any progress with it. That day, they brought out
test scripts. You could hear that everybody is
complaining. And I was just seated at the front role
unconcerned. Of course their claim did not cover
me. Among other issues, worried that the one-
minute required was too short for the question.
And pleaded that since everyone failed the three
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Christian Michael
test, it should be cancelled and not be recorded as

assessment.
However, I and madam alone knew what all the

other class members did not know. Someone
actually in the same class had 50/50, 20/20/ and
7/10. The closest score to the highest score was
around 17/50… You see, they had no claim. For
Madame, they were talking rubbish. Could it be
that while you are busy talking nonsense, your
lecturer know what you don’t know? Somehow,
I didn’t even feel any need to tell anyone my scores
in the tests. Was it even necessary? Now, imagine
how many persons in your class are doing this do
you?
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Practical applications of critical thinking in

school:
The first thing you must know at this point is that

critical thinking is a mindset; it is a mindset that is
not satisfied with information spoon-feeding. You
want to always imagine that there is more to this
than meets the eyes. Let me explain further:
A critical thinker is not much with what is said,

because whatever is said is already said and cannot
be harmful. He wants to find out what is not said.
Usually, what is said in class is not harmful but
what is not said. All the average students always
know what is said in class; in fact they know all
that is said in class. They are the first to argue, ‘we
were not thought this; it is not part of our notes’.
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Christian Michael
Find out the rudiment:

The way to go is to first find out the rudiment.
The Word rudiment is translated, ‘kernel, origin,
embryo, seed’. To decipher an equation is to find
out where it is coming. You want to check out the
seed, the embryo, the origin. Everything has
origin. Everything has source. The source
contains the definition. Everything derive their
definition from their source. Whenever we are
able to get to the source of any matter, we would
definitely come back with resources.
You have not known a thing if you do not know

where it is coming from. You do not know a
concept if you can trace the origin. So also, you
do not understand a question if you do not know
where it was drawn from. I will dwell here a few
moment.
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When you get into an exam hall, you will find

questions. All these questions do not come from
the heavens nor from another planet. Yet they
came from somewhere, so where? It is not enough
to say they came from the books, of course they
do, but which book. You may want to say they
were taken directly from your recommended
textbook, then I would ask you, from which
topic? Which area?
Breakthrough starts as soon as you are able to

identify the rudiment; the kernel. The same is also
true; failure starts when you do not know where
the question is hailing from. How many times
have we attempted question without paying
attention to the origin, and we faltered?
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Christian Michael
One important thing about knowing or

identifying the source is that it informs your
choice of words. Every aspect of your course has
its unique register. The register is the acceptable
way of communication within that course. When
you attempt your speak in a different manner,
though your point may be right, it will be
considered alien, and therefore wrong. Students
would not like this but instead of spending time
arguing, you could use that same time to change.
Know your course, know the language of it, find
out the origin of the question and you are on your
way the top.
No cheap questions
This is a common error among students. That
moment when you begin to think that an exam is
cheap because you think that the questions are
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cheap, is the same moment you have covenanted

with error.
I had a life-changing experience one day in

school. I had written that course in mid semester
exam and had 98 out of 100. Actually, I had 100,
but the lecturer decided to keep 2 for himself and
it was not a problem with me. In my head, that
course is walk-over. You could imagine how I
walked out of his office, with my head high and
my arrogance extreme.
I even felt proud over my brother who had 78

even if he knew the course and taught some
students before the exam who because of the
lectures had 80 or 90 and above. In school we
know how to mark out some courses for A+. We
would conclude, ‘this course is an A+ course…’
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Christian Michael
That was my attitude that day, (an attitude that

would soon change forever).
Fast-forward, to the end of semester exam, I had

written so simply and hurriedly, thinking to
myself, ‘this is finishing’. Then I went over and
handed my answer booklet to the examiner and
zoomed off. It was later I truly understood that the
government does not pay any student who
finished before others in an exam and the
examiners do not also care.
The questions were familiar. And to make the

matter worse, they were a lot of repetitions from
the mid-semester question. In fact it was another
mid-semester for me with very little variation.
The speed at which I jumped on the question was
questionable.
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And the velocity with which I zoomed out was

even more dangerous and highly suspicious. If I
passed a road safety officer, I would have been
arrested. But did I go free? Not at all. Over-speed
leads to accidents; true for drivers behind the
wheels and true for students behind the exam
papers.
Needless to say, when the result came, I was

confronted with one of the greatest shocks of my
life: I had a B. And it looked to me like a narrow
escape from C. What happened? Where did I miss
it? I can’t believe this? Then the truth came out: I
had twisted the questions or rather the answers. I’ll
write answer for question 1 under question 2
because they looked a little bit similar but with
minute difference. You know that minute
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Christian Michael
difference is very expensive; some cost 5 marks

and others 10. I can only describe that exam as a
shipwreck.
I was devastated for a while. You know as a

student it is not much a struggle to fail what you
don’t know or a course you are finding difficult.
When this happens to you in a course you are
‘married’ to, you know what that means. Apart
from being devastated, something more
happened: I was delivered. I lost marks, I lost a
good grade, and most importantly I lost my pride.
The lessons gleaned from that single experience
would stay with me forever. And today I am
having the privilege to pass it on.
If I am asked to summarize the lessons I garnered

from this experience, I will state them in five ways:
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Exam is exam: From today I must treat every

exam as an examination. It is not joke. It is a test
of my intelligence by another intelligent person(s).
So they are not fools to give me something below
my standard.
Every exam is difficult: If peradventure I look

at the exam and it appears simple, it shows that I
need to slow down and watch my attitude. Every
frivolous attitude in exam is usually penalized
heavily. Cheap mean be careful.
Don’t ever hurry in or out of exam: From now

on, I must use all my time during the exam. Using
all my time is both a sign of maturity and shows
that I understand what I am doing. Writing a 30-
minutes exam in 15-minutes is both foolishness
and frivolity.
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Christian Michael
Read the question at least 2 times before

answering: I must be sure of what I’m answering.
To understand the question is the first exam. Time
spent in understanding the question is never a
waste.
Compare all the questions with the answers

you have provided before handover your
script: Common mistakes during exams include,
answering the wrong questions correctly,
answering the right questions wrongly, not
following the instructions, no answering all the
stipulated questions, and omitting some of the
sub-questions within a question.
These can all be threshed if we do final comparison

before submitting my answer booklet to the
examiners. Several times critical thinking is the
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reason why students who know so much still fail

exam. You’d be better if you do not allow much
knowledge to lead you into frivolity. I forgot to
let us know that my roommate who had 78 in the
mid-semester exam, came out with an A in the
course. I supposed he learnt his lessons during after
the mid-semester. Unfortunately for me, when he
was getting sense, I was getting into folly.
Critical thinking say think; a word most people

dread. Of course that is why they are not successful
in the first place. I want to urge you to think.
Make this a phrase: ‘think about it’. No matter the
question, always think about it first. Examiners are
naturally ‘tricky’ fellows when it comes to setting
exam questions. So, apply more caution in dealing
with their questions. As an examiner too, I can be
that tricky when it comes to setting exams. For
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Christian Michael
example, instead of asking you, ‘who are you?’

which is very simple to come by, I would make it,
‘what are you?’ And I would expect several
students to still be reading the question as, ‘who
are you?’
If you follow these principles, you would
soon upgrade your testimonial.
As we observe the concept of critical thinking, we

saw that there are factors that influence critical
thinking. These factors have been grouped into
two major categories: Internal factors and
external factors. Let’s look at what they
represent in details.
Internal factors: Internal factors as the name

implies, are those factors that are triggered
internally. The body is a system. And to maximize
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the body we must treat it as a system and every part

as a composite of a whole. This is the omission that
causes several commissions.
We mean to say that, your hand connects with

your brain, and your heart including your legs and
other parts. If you are going to write an exam and
something is wrong with your hand, it is going to
affect every part of your body and that includes
your brain. And when your brain is affected,
critical thinking becomes a mirage.
To maximize our body functions, we must know

that a pain anywhere is a pain everywhere.
When this consciousness is in us we would
maximize our body.
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As a student, it is your responsibility to preserve

your body and ensure it is in good shape because
it is in the goodness of your body that you
experience good things. Seven things to mind that
other students probably don’t mind:
When you are tired:

Tired is a state of the mind. It is a resultant feeling
when the mind no longer meets with the work
demand of the body. The body do not get tired
but the mind. The mind is the engine room that
controls all actions of the body. The body will
keep working as long as the mind is at work.
So whenever the body is tired, it is an indication
that the mind is tired. And a tired mind, like a tired
body, cannot function effectively. Of course we
know that critical thinking a hard work.
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When you are pressed:

The mind can only focus on one thing at a time.
And every impulse in the body receives a
maximum response from the mind. Distraction
therefore is a situation where the mind gives an
attention to something of less importance at the
moment.
Everyone have an illusion that we are not easily

distracted and it remains an illusion. Little things
like feeling pressed (having a feeling to ease
oneself), can put a heavy pressure on the mind that
it will immediately relegate every impending task
to the background. That is why we always want to
summarize or cut short whatever we are doing as
soon as we are feeling pressed.
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Christian Michael
When you are sick:

Whenever we are sick, our survival instinct tends
to focus on our getting better than in anything
else. This makes it difficult if not impossible for the
mind to focus on the noble task of critical
thinking.
When you are hungry

Our stomach is like a powerhouse in the body
system. It is where all the energy required for the
entire system is generated. If there is a shortage or
an obstruction in the stomach area, then the whole
system will be affected.
When you are stressed

Stress is a psychological disorder. It is a state of
mind which interprets works are trouble. In the
state of stress, more work means more trouble.
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And the mind would be more concerned with

getting out of the ‘trouble’ than anything else. And
most times it does this by literally shutting down
part(s) of the system. Stress is caused primarily by
focusing on the wrong side of issues, especially
those ones we cannot resolve.
When you are feeling sleepy

Sleep is a body reaction caused by a tired mind. It
is a situation that is more psychological than
physical. It is an effective way the mind signals
weariness. Therapists recommend that the body
would appreciate it if we sleep during sleep time
and work during work time.
Lack of sleep does not make a good student. Night

studies does not show a serious student. Prolonged
studies does not reveal a committed student.
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Christian Michael
Whereas excess sleep means laziness and by

extension, poverty, adequate means smartness and
efficiency. Sleep is God-designed way to rest our
engine. Like an engine that is used for long time
without restrain, so is a mind labored without
intermediary or scheduled sleep time.
We may not all be technicians but we can guess

what might happen to this engine. Among every
time, consistent decrease in productivity is not
wanting.
Straining the brain during exam period is the

weird strategy. And the result has been consistent,
data lose inside exam hall. Students would confirm
that as soon as they are out of the exam hall and
perhaps activated their normal mode, the flashes of
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what they had read would start coming back, and

by that time, the deed had been done.
Solution to internal factors of critical

thinking.
The good news is that internal factors can be
controlled internally. This means that we have the
power to handle them. We have to choose
between success and failure by ensuring that our
system is in good shape within and during exam
period. As much as you can avoid:
Sleepless nights: Good sleep with little reading

will do you better than much readings with little
sleep.
Avoid alcohol or other intoxicants: These things

create disturbance in your brain and distort if not
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Christian Michael
instruct your brain activities. Prepare earlier for

the exam: The place of preparation in success
cannot be overemphasized. And when you equate
that to early preparation, you are on your way to
maximum productivity.
Practice stress control: During exam, if you notice

you are tensed, take some time to watch your
breath. Enjoy counting your heart beat. Try to
count up to 50, 70 or even 100. Then mutter some
words of affirmation to yourself like, 'I can do it;
it's possible etc.'
Good exercise and regular water intake is

invaluable: Apart handling our internal
hemostasis, it improves our heartbeat and blood
circulation. A healthy body also includes a healthy
brain.
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External factors
These are factors orchestrated by/from the
environment. They are partially beyond our
personal control. Situations like, noise, poor
ventilation, poor lightening, under pressure by
invigilators, weather conditions etc.
We may not be able to handle these things but we

can mitigate them by speaking with relevant
authorities before or during the exam in case of
any concern.
Moreover, we must do all we must do on our part

to ensure we are in our best to deliver our best.
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Go cumulatively
I
t is only unfortunate that whereas we are
marked cumulatively, most students do not
engage school cumulatively. The result is
usually the last minute CGPA surprise package.
The anatomy of the academic system.

School is a system. School is a set of inter-related
and complementary activities designed in such a
way to produce a definite single result. Nothing is
for nothing in the school system. That you do not
understand the purpose of a nut in the car does not
mean that it is useless rather it only shows that you
don't understand its position. The makers of the
automobile included everything in it on purpose
so are the designers of the educational system. This
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designers are often referred to as curriculum

developers.
Curriculum developers are certain intelligent

individuals who took ample time to break the
entire academic requirement of a student into bits
referred to as courses. Initially, a student had to
read through a volume of material and sit for the
exam, once on the D-day, and if he fails, it is
finished. After experimenting on this system with
understanding of its flaws, experts decided to make
the job easier for students. This they did by
breaking all the heavy academic works into
courses.
So one work like Information Technology, is

broken into pieces like, Introduction to
information technology (IT101),
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Christian Michael
Information Technology Concepts and

Application (IT102), Information systems
(IT201), and System devices and usage
(IT202). Then by further studies they will group
the course into credit hours. This credit hours
represent the minimum amount of time required
from a student undertaking the course to invest in
order to make the best out of that course. Then
the entire work, which is divided into courses is
spread into academic segments known as
semesters, to enable periodic checks on the
progress of the students undertaking that work.
Like the example we are alluding to, the courses

can be spread across four semesters which in our
time is equivalent to 2 academic years.
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Meanwhile, along the Information Technology,

there are other academic works that also has been
broken into courses. We must also note that these
academic Works when put together are a single
requirement to produce a certain professional. So
when what should have been a lump of Work
broken into works, then works broken into
courses and entire session broken into sessions and
sessions broken into sections known as semesters.
This is the academic system. That is why our

final grade is calculated in terms of cumulative
grade point average (CGPA). This means after
every semester, our semester result (Grade point
average) is immediately compiled with the entire
course that we have taken so far, to generate our
actual grade, which is Cumulative Grade Point
Average (CGPA). To show how serious this is, a
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Christian Michael
student would not be allowed to graduate even if

he performed very well in his last semester. The
examiners are actually not interested in the
semester.
They are interested in the semesters. And this is

what several students do not know.
Following simple logic, if you are marked

cumulatively, you must endeavor to pass
Cumulatively. And if you must pass cumulatively,
you ought to school cumulatively. Is it not true
that several students view school as a disjointed
components squashed into one another and
imposed on the students to go through? You
would always hear one student or another claim
that he/she do not really need a course(s) and
wonder why he is made to go through it. All this
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student sees is the course or courses. He does not

see the big picture.
If I must redefine academic failure, I would say

that academic failure is the assumption that a
semester is superior to the entire academic
program.
Three winning attitudes to deploy per

semester:
 Think Cumulatively
 Learn Cumulatively
 Check result Cumulatively
Think Cumulatively:
Your approach to school and school works must
be in Cumulative terms. We must agree within us
that nothing is disjointed. The degree is one and
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Christian Michael
everything about it must be taken as a path to that

one destination. This is a prerequisite attitude to
academic prowess.
When this is settled, there won't be need to hate a

course, or treat a subject as inconsequential to your
relevant field of discipline. When you meet
students who complain about a course, or subject
as irrelevant to them in pursuit of their degree
program, you could immediately see that the
matter is in their mindset: they don't think
cumulatively.
Learn cumulatively:
The first handles the issue of the required
academic mindset. This will handle the correct
approach to academic activities.
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The major academic activity is learning. One

thing about learning is that, the way we learn is
not different from the way we know. This is
clearly expressed in the principle of seedtime and
harvest: 'they that sow sparingly will reap sparingly
and they that sow bountifully will reap
bountifully'. Now it depends on the kind of result
we truly desire.
This does not as much concern the school. The

system is already set and programmed to function
cumulatively. No matter how you learn and what
you score, you will be graded, cumulatively.
The difference is that some students have learnt

how to play the game cumulatively. When they
learn thus, they get their reward by maintaining a
cumulative grade point average over their mates.
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Christian Michael
Learning emboldens the following activities:
Listening + Understanding.
Understanding = Sight + insight.
Whereas Sight is concerned with the problem,
Insight views the cause of the problem in relation
to its effect.
This process is broken further into two:
 Logical reasoning and

 Comparative analysis.
Logical reasoning tackles the matter with

consideration to what can be along the path of the
solution (S) while Comparative analysis, tries to
resolve the matter, with consideration to what has
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been and how it has been. This is where

Cumulative learning falls in perfectly.
With the understanding that every course is a build

up from another, we must find the connection; we
must find the relationship; the foundation; the
rudiments.
Where we can recall what has been, it becomes a

stepping stone to what could, would and
sometimes should be, in that order.
Therefore, students that scale the heights do not

among other things learn for the semester. They
do not learn just to pass a one-time exam. They
do not learn to forget. They learn to know, and to
keep having the full Understanding that the next
semester would meet them where they left this
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Christian Michael
one. It becomes important for us to learn the act

of learning and furthermore the concept of
Cumulative learning.
There are no rules to how one should learn. What

matters most is the outcome. And the outcome of
learning is knowing.
No one would care how you got to know, but as

long you do know, you will be rewarded. We
must endeavor, therefore not to overly focus on
the process of learning as much as we focus on the
outcome. Take every means; any means, and
arrive at the destination. This is what matters. This
is what is required.
When you learn, do the following:
107
 Learn as if you don't know anything. Learn

as if that is the only thing there is to know.
 Learn thinking about what you have
known before and find the relationship.
 Learn excitedly
An excited learner is a motivated learner, and a

motivated is activated learner. If your learning
becomes active, understanding becomes the
incentive.
Lastly, we must check our result cumulatively.

A pass in a semester could be a fail in another. You
don't want to pass a semester, you want to pass.
Semester is just a piece of block in the entire
framework.
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Christian Michael
If you were given a building and a

block to choose from, you choice is
already decided. Isn't it?
Now I can say that, it is only in school that
students choose a block over a building. We do
this by always, almost always focusing on a
semester. You find student celebrating a semester,
not saying that celebration is bad, but when it's
done outside the context of the full building, it
becomes an error.
From now on, when ye check your result, be

mindful and be more concerned about the CGPA.
When you go from here, Go Cumulatively:
Think, learn and check your result
CULMULATIVELY.
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W
e are not the same. I don't like
saying, 'we are different' rather we
are unique. We learn differently.
Our uniqueness is not a weakness but our

ignorance of our uniqueness that is the weakness.
Actually, our uniqueness is strength. However,
our uniqueness must need work hand in hand with
another component, wisdom to be productive.
So we can say:
Uniqueness + wisdom = Strength
As our faces differ so do the operation of our

brains. The best news is that we are not judged by
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Christian Michael
how we got to know what we know. All that is

required is that we should know it.
To some extent, this is where I have issues with

our academics curriculum. They force everyone's
leg into the same shoes. Then what happens? All
the guys whose leg sizes the shoes rejoice and excel
freely. And the other folks are left to suffer. Do all
really suffer? I don't think so. I will show you.
Some smart guys instead of sitting there
complaining all day (no one is ready to hear
anyway), they devise other ways to weather the
weather.
What you should know is that, all that is required

is that you should wear the shoes. As for how you
wear it, no one cares. But just wear it. This makes
the entire thing more beautiful and easy. My task
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here is to show you how to wear the shoe,

smoothly and safely.
Before we proceed, I'd want us to see the various
learning patterns that exist in comparison to what
is obtainable in today's school system and how we
can maximize it.
There are basically 3 forms of learning:

 Visualizing
 Auditory
 Participatory learning.
Some persons combine more one or switch freely

among the three. Now this is an exception. The
main case is that every one of us has one that comes
to us naturally. Before we dive in to see how these
work, it is necessary to understand that these are
all skills. We can develop them.
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Christian Michael
Yes! We can learn them and by long practice,

master them.
But like every other skill, you could fail or you
could succeed. Meanwhile, the ease of rising to
the top if you are perfecting on a skill that tallies
with your talent, is not comparable. According to
the leadership legend, 'when you work on your
weakness on the scale of 1-10, you can only move
from 1-3, but when you are working on your
strength, you can go from 1-8'. If you're smart,
what should you do?
Whereas several students due to ignorance, spent

their academic year working on their weakness,
smarter guys wouldn't bulge into the pressure of
conformity. They'll insist on being self and thus,
are breaking through and breaking forth.
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The competition is not usually grievous for them

who chose to be on their strength zone. Come to
think of it, the first major matter is, 'does Kofi
understand his strength or is he just gallivanting?'
We want to be sure you know you. Several person
don't know them. They're just about anything that
comes on; as long as people are running along, it's
a good way to go.
This accounts for the myriad of failures in the

system. The situations is that of 'soldiers with guns
and farmers without hoes'. If you observe those
guys, their plight could be the same as footballers
who forgot their boots.
This is an irreconcilable tragedy.
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Christian Michael
The first major breakthrough therefore, is in

understanding the definitions and operations of
the various patterns of learnings.
Visualization learning:
The first category of learners we would be
considering are those who use their eyes. Their
eyes is their STRENGTH POINT. If anything
must get through to their brain, it has to come
through the eyes. It appears as if the traffic along
the path of their eyes is minimal compared to other
paths that lead to the brain.
For these folks, when they see; as long as they

could see, they would know. Their eyes have such
a power to capture and sustain an image for a long
time.
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Operation:
Simply put, these people learn via images. They
see the word as a graphic studio. They make
imagery patterns out of everything. It's easy for
such fellows to notice a spot on an image or a
drawing. These folks are good in analyzing a
movie. Even after several years, these folks could
still remember a movie and tell it with such
excitement they had the first day they saw it and
with such an accuracy. And Sometimes could
mimic the characters in the scene they're
narrating.
They have great power with imagination.

Painting a picture all the time of every situation is
never a problems.
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Christian Michael
Somehow, these people always consider long

speech delivery or laborious readings and research
uninteresting and boring. And sometimes consider
those who engage in those activities as boring.
Who is this guy we are describing?
The next on our list is Auditory Learners.

For this group, learning is hearing. If you write,
paint it, draw it and don't say it, then they'll have
problems.
It's not because they cannot read. Neither is it

because they cannot see. The matter that looks like
weakness is that they have trained their ears to do
the job. Their Strength point is their ears.
In this category are the street boys who school has

convinced that they're dullards. They were told
117
that their brains are not good enough to hold

science or something.
But these small boys who could not memorize

Michael Faraday's laws of electrolysis, would chew
the full track of Michael Jackson's Album. What is
the missing link? The names are not the issue here.
Of course they're all Michaels. But something is
the problem: the battles are outside his strength
zone.
He is forced to conform into a mold. Someone

named this mold the standard. And everyone who
cannot conform is allowed to step out, or rather
thrown out, if not thrown away.
So this guy after the first and second and even third
fail, decides to fall. Now his out in the street. And
no one has ever told him that a genius is dying
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Christian Michael
within him. No one has informed him that

something in him is itching for manifestation.
And obviously, no one has thought him how to

tap into and thus maximize the hidden power
within him. But this book will do that for you.
Two things are our mission:
1. Help the seeker identify the powers within.

2. And to show him how to use it efficiently.
Participatory learning.
The rule here is simple, 'unless I can touch it, and
feel it, it'll not stick'.
These group of learners want to be part of the

process before they could feel connected. It looks
like everything that's going on does not really get
119
to them unless they are part of it. To get this group

to function, they have to get involved; do a
presentation on something; do a practical; perform
an experiment; teach someone the same topic etc.
By this the whole mystery will be demystified.
Come to think of it, 'are these weaknesses?' No!

Not at all. The other day I read this quote
somewhere, 'what makes us different is what
makes us special'. Our uniqueness is what
distinguishes us.
Weakness becomes strength when it reacts

positively with understanding. But we must
have understanding. We must understand
that there is no such thing as weakness; we
must understand our uniqueness and find
out how you maximize it.
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Academic Excellence Is Possible You Too Can Make It. CHRISTIAN MICHAEL

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Academic Excellence Is Possible You Too Can Make It. CHRISTIAN MICHAEL

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Academic excellence is possible

You too can make it.

Published by Impart Publishing

Though we shall also be exploring the spiritual

My school had her 12th matriculation few weeks

This truth is a hard one. And sometimes a very

worried when unbelievers prosper in areas where

Worse of all is to begin to suspect that the other

and surpass the capabilities of several super

This leaves us with a heavy question mark. We

1. It shots down a vital part of our brain-

However, by adopting a religious mindset to

won't allow anyone to cheat them in terms of

My question then is, if we should use our brain in

could be, why must it be you that God chose to

Every natural man hates to take responsibility. We

Complacency affects our focus while

Then our action predicts our result. Meanwhile

lose sight of our requirements. It is the

3. It suggests prayer in place of hard

This is why we hear exhortations like, 'no matter

Somebody has said that, very prayerful people are

4. It keeps the carrier in a perpetual state

in the outcome of our lives. To know a mediocre

Mediocrity is also a realm. It is an attitude. It is a

Mediocrity is a situation of being

We must also note that You Can has impact and

Perhaps we must first redefine who a Child of God

The question is, 'who is a child of God?'

What we are trying to find out is, who is a child

Who then is God?

To narrow this properly, we can as well say, who

Today we scream in church that God cannot fail,

When we fail, we prove God can fail. When we

When the test is out, they expected God above

However, when we fail and they pass, we have

 We have said God is dead

Then they go out trusting the internet more than

We betray the entire kingdom and make light the

counsel is usually tilted in such a way that it almost

And church activities meaning God. So it will

We blasphemed when we don't pass out exam; we

What does the Holy writ say? It is written, ye are

What came out from the mouth of my supervisor

All, these people you are seeing there are

A wise man once said, 'our definition determines

Attitude according to Zig Ziglar is the reason two

Talking about definition, academics is not left out.

Common definitions of school is, a place of

and make new friends. There are some who also

For example, you take school as a place of

And because no one knows what happened, they

The outcome for this brother, is as a result of his

that they are in school, they'd do everything

I cannot pose a judge over these ones as to point

students. But unfortunately, they would be rated

Tragedy is after using all our time to engage in

You see, someone is deceiving himself/herself;

it. Now let me advice you, the earlier you stopped

Don't listen to anyone whose grade is poor and

The fact is that whereas not all First Class student

you will have them. Do you know that even in

Nevertheless, there are another sect of people in