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Principles for Excellent Learning

A COLLECTION OF PRINCIPLES FROM GOD’S WORD

Copyright 2022 by Louis Levi

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or

by any means,mechanical, electronic, photocopying or otherwise without
the express written consent of the publisher.
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Content

Introduction
Prologue
First Principle
We are not the only ones learning

Chapter one
Relationships, Inspiration, Guidance, Uniqueness and Collaboration

Chapter two
The prize

Chapter three
The way; Activity prioritization, Dedication, Focus, Time management

Beliefs, Beyond the natural, Strategy

Second Principle
We are not learning for ourselves alone

Chapter four
Thinking trans-generational

Third Principle
We are humans and thus have a body

Chapter five
Hormones, Environment, Retention, Tiredness
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Introduction

I have been a student all my life, I still am a student actually and I do hope to
be a student as I live my life daily. Passing through secondary school and now in
college by Gods grace I’ve experienced a bit of success and a bit of failure I’ve seen
and experienced quite a lot of problems and also I’ve seen and received quite a lot of
help from God, from friends, from teachers and even from unknown
sources(sometimes people who would claim to dislike me). Being a student especially
in this time and in my part of the world brings you to a place of doing so much to rise
to or stay at the top. From the amount of competition coming from other students, the
pressure from teachers and parents, tendency to go off track and “chill with big boys”,
the lack of a visual representation to many abstract facts discussed in class. A few
thoughts that helps me keep faith in what am doing amidst all this is the fact that I
believe God is taking me through and there are principles that have been laid down to
ensure success, my keeping to these principles would surely ensure my success in
the long run. My joy in writing this book is that I’m giving a few principles I’m sure works
well. Not to look all principled and well guarded, l fail in following some of them well
enough , but the ability to dust and pick myself up to stay on track has given me the
confidence to lay them down for you to as well learn from and find speed. I do hope
you find value in this piece.
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Prologue

Every human being remains a student of his or her environment and the people
living in it; beyond classes or lecture halls, we are always students “taking notes”
with our internal and external senses that is with our eyes we see new things, with
our ears we hear, we feel new occurrences, we observe and meditate, consciously
and subconsciously practicing the things we learn, daily.

Where most of us miss it is that, we are not sensitive enough to realize this
processes and thus we at times trivialize the powerful message or lesson passed
across.

To begin with am a person of faith and so my faith in God’s word guards me. I
would lay down a scripture from which I would show you three basic principles upon
which we would build our foundation for this book. Putting these principles to mind
as a constant learner would guard you in any learning environment you find yourself
in. Though the emphasis is on academic work you can as well apply these principles
to different sectors of your life, Spiritual, Relational, Career wise even financial, as
long as it’s a learning process they would guard you.

We are not the only ones learning

We are not learning for ourselves alone

We are humans and thus have a body

These three points would be the foundation to help us build progressively and
understand these principles.
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First Principle

WE ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES LEARNING.

Apostle Paul made a powerful statement which every student must closely
meditate on

"Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins
the prize......... Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize."

The first part of this statement most of us know by heart but still have not come to
accept this fact as true and a reality, that indeed "we are not the only ones running".
You and I know that you not the only student in your class, niche or community
seeking to be the best. Consider the amount of students that graduate out of college
yearly, a lot of people are also seeking what you seek to get but its not enough to
just be aware of this, wisdom requires that we closely study this fact and use it to our
advantage.

The realization of this fact helps you settle down to a mind check to begin with,
how well am I running and am I running on someone else's lane, what are the best
in my field doing that am not doing, what's that extra I can put in to be extraordinary.
A proper consideration of this fact will spur you to trying to find your uniqueness in
your area of learning so that out of the midst of many there's something that makes
you stand out. Let's delve deeper into this as we see some resources readily made
available for us to use.
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Chapter one

RELATIONSHIPS

“He that walks with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be
destroyed”

I was a new student in the Federal Government College located in a small village,
Idoani. I came quite late and had to begin making friends to at least have someone
to talk to, towards the end of my first year I had made six close friends, we did
almost everything together, we had fairly good traits and didn’t really engage in vices
but something was wrong with our gang; we were not excelling academically. After
seeing my first year results my parents had to sit me down and talk to me. I went
back to school with the mindset of reinventing my associations; I had my first
distinctions that term and the rest is history. Your relationships in a lot of ways
determine the results you produce. There are excellent people around you that you
can relate properly with to help you produce excellent results; to get help and advice
from on your progress in the journey of learning. They would also add value to you
so you get better, they would influence your beliefs about mediocrity and excellence.
The question now is, how well do you maintain relationships with colleagues and
friends? Overtime I have noticed that I have the tendency to be independent and
move on solo but I’ve got to be diligent in relating with people because I’ve come to
understand the positive effect of being in the right company. Most times you don’t
need to be the best to walk with the best, Solomon teaches us that “ He that walks
with the wise would be wise”; But one thing you must develop is the ability to
forbear. People that have risen in certain areas or fields tend to act very visionary
and goal propelled so that they look all serious and all that stuff. Sometimes they do
so with all sincerity and even when they don’t have it in mind or mean for such to
happen, they look as though they are proud and selfish with their time and energy,
but learn to be discerning in building and maintaining relationships. Sometimes
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you’d have to let down your ego, also if you have low self-esteem I humbly suggest
you cast it off and mingle with the wise; having in mind you would have to forbear
any bad character they seem to exhibit, after a while whatever they do would begin
to make sense to you but its never an excuse to change your values and convictions
especially when your values are right; If they willingly exhibit very bad attitudes and
are unwilling to change its good to discern and seek for a person having good
values who is also doing well academically; you’d receive help sometimes without
even asking and you’d be able to check your progress. Also while there are wise
people to follow there could also be foolish people who would want to distract you off
your goal, be aware of this and inventory your associations, be careful to check your
associations. Look out for time stealers and people who wouldn’t spur you up to
getting better and try not to be in company with them. Love them as it has been
given to us as a commandment, but you don’t have to always be among them to
express it, because eventually you exhibit the characteristics of people you stay with
all the time.

INSPIRATION

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.”

Inevitably in the journey of excellence there would be times when you feel you’ve
hit rock bottom, when time and circumstances don’t seem to favor you. Look around,
there are people around you and in the world that would continue to inspire you to
do better. Apostle Joshua Selman would always teach that while you have the
desire to attain something look up to someone who has gotten up to that point first
and let the persons story and life inspire you. If you’ve studied the lives of excellent
people you would understand that failure is sometimes a prerequisite to learning
excellently well. Before I go on I’d like to say this, you have to choose where and
when to fail: during the practical or the actual event. When you hope to achieve
something, probably trying out a few questions and you keep on failing, its good to
look out for inspiration. Have a gist with a friend about the situation and seek
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inspiration from her, ask a friend to inspire a possible method for solution. On a
broad scale with the level of unemployment around there’s always a tendency to
loose hope; but then seek inspiration from those who have dared to be different,
those that have come out with distinctions and have secured a job with big
institutions or those that have used their knowledge and understanding to establish
new institutions. The social media is a very good tool to help you follow up on people
that would positively inspire you and while you do this be careful of the enemy to
inspiration “envy”, it is written in the book of Job that “envy slays the simple”; while
the simple seeks to get better do not envy what others have achieved but be
inspired by them and grow wiser. You can eat the inspiration of their successes; at
least you can benefit from that freely if you don’t get to eat off materially from their
achievements.

GUIDANCE

Solomon was referring to this concept when he said “…in the multitude of counsel
victory can be assured”. There are students like you who have passed through the
challenge you are facing now in this course of study or new path of learning; your
relationship with the people of your level and in your niche would only go as far as
making you better but not above the limits of knowledge available to them. Try to
relate with those who have gone ahead of you as they would guide you and give you
steps to ensure your don’t beat about the bush on simple matters. This would help
you save time and also it would help you in maximizing effort when you need to pass
through a difficult path of learning. Learn to leverage on the experience of people so
you don’t pass through the same difficulty they passed through. A mentor, Apostle
Joshua Selman would say “what the old have is wisdom and what they lack is
time,but what the young have is time and what they lack is wisdom, it would be a
shame for a generation to repeat the mistake of their fathers after they had passed
through the same situation and come out of it”. Seek guidance earnestly.

UNIQUENESS AND COLLABORATION

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There’s something unique in everyone’s style of learning and it would be

resourceful if you know your strengths and weaknesses so you can collaborate
properly. In the academia unhealthy competition has been a great source of reduced
standards and the concealing of potentials to approach problems in a new way.

While collaborating it’s good to note that excellence doesn’t compare itself with
others, but with itself.

A student that seeks to be excellent doesn’t try to push every other runner off track
to be the best, but instead looks to get better than his/her former self. An excellent
person doesn’t strive to just be the first but to be the best at what he/she does and
his/her own unique gifting. Some students are good visual learners, some are good
audio learners, some are good at breaking down complex facts, some are good at
calculations, some are “night surfers” while some are more productive during the
day, find your uniqueness and build on it. Also an excellent student understands that
there are areas of strengths and weaknesses in his / her life and the best way to
maximize both is to collaborate with other runners in strengthening their own
weaknesses where possible and receiving same help. This is what Jesus talks about
when he says “The greatest…is he/she that serves the most”.

There are a lot of resources you would find available when you use wisdom to
approach the availability of people around you but as we go on we’d look more at
this area. What I want you to do is to sit back, breathe in and tell yourself “I’m not the
only one running, neither am I the first to run”, this would give you a new perspective
only if you look at this in a positive way.
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Chapter two

THE PRIZE

The second part of the statement says;

"only one wins the prize"

Now let’s take a closer look at this; what matters is what we consider our "prize" to
be, excellence or good grades. Now I’m not in any way saying its bad to get good
grades it’s just that we have been so fed with the mentality of being the "first" or
"passing" that we forget the process that leads to indeed receiving "the prize". He
that strives for mastery must strive lawfully.

Let’s consider a case scenario of two students in a university where the grade
point for a first class is between the range of 4.5 to 5.0. One graduates with a 4.5
grade point out of 5.0 grade points available and another with a full grade point of
5.0, now they both get to be in "first class" and we all see that, so on the outside
both students are in the "first position”, but here is what most students don't seem to
see; A visionary leader once tweeted " The world is not a competition of grades but
of processes" ~ Ndubuisi Ekekwe

Now let’s try to understand perfectly what he was saying. He further wrote;

"Companies do not hire you because you made good grades in school. You are
hired because you demonstrated attributes which resulted in a good outcome (good
grades).

To get good grades you managed your time, showed discipline to accomplish a
purpose....this is why I tell people with poor grades, your problem is not the poor
grades but the process that produced the poor grades."

Now back to our case scenario, I hope you would get the point now. The student
who has a Grade point of 5.0 has shown more excellence in observing the principles
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that leads winning his prize than the student with a grade point of 4.5 and he would
receive more fulfilment than the student with a grade point of 4.5. So here we are
not considering who's first or last but the fulfillment and joy that comes from
observing processes and principles to obtain that prize. In fact let your prize be what
you get on the inside than on the outside. Indeed only one person gets the prize and
that's you, the prize of fulfilment and excellence because you diligently followed
principles and processes to achieve the success you got and did not just pay it off
someone or the prize of guilt and disgrace from either being supposedly successful
the wrong way or not even being diligent to make good success. It is said it is better
to deserve honor and not receive it than to receive honor and not deserve it.

Now I'd want to ask you "what's your definition of the prize" in your academic
pursuit, career and likewise, what's that target you'd love to hit; define it, write it
down and follow the path(processes, principles)that leads to achieving it.
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Chapter three

THE WAY

Now the last part of this statement says

“ Run, then, in such a WAY as to win the prize”

Now we see that there is a way to run so as to win the prize. So here we would look
briefly at more guidelines and processes guiding the way which we can run so as to
win the prize.

I’d love to lay a foundation on these guidelines as I have experienced and seen that
failure to follow them has led to a lot of issues and the ability to follow them has made
even the dumbest student stand out in the end.

ACTIVITY PRIORITIZATION

I am an indigene of the Igbo culture of the West African country, Nigeria and I
would love to borrow a word from our own vocabulary. My culture calls a university
in its language “Máhadùm” which I would paraphrase …”A place where you come to
know all”.

Now we are well aware that there is so much to learn, there is so much
knowledge flying around, so many trends and topics to learn about, especially with
the influence of the internet on long distance and online learning. Recall that when
we started discussing on this matter we reminded ourselves that we learn through
our internal and external senses, so in other words we keep on learning, in fact I
doubt that we can stop learning literally, but the proof of what you’ve learnt and if it is
the right information, is the transformation you’ve received on the inside; your mind,
and the actions you take based on that influence. So in as much as we get to see so
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much “distraction” to our purpose around us in the form of knowledge and activities,
we have a responsibility of prioritizing our activities to suit our purpose for learning at
that period of time. This is what activity prioritization is about, doing the right thing at
that right time for the right cause or purpose. From here we see that knowing and
being convicted about your purpose for engaging in a particular exercise is key, in
fact without the knowledge of purpose you tend to misuse the resources available to
you for learning.

A law student who continues to read novels all the time that talk about matters not
concerning the constitution has not prioritized the right activity to perform as
concerning his course, An engineering student who spends all her time learning
music hasn’t prioritized the activity of doing practical works like designing and
constructing things, A leader who doesn’t spend enough time learning from other
leaders, reading leadership books or attending the right conferences and then
practicing what has been learnt isn’t prioritizing activities.

So what, know the kind of knowledge and activities that are linked with your
purpose of study in that period of time and prioritize them. Prioritization doesn’t
mean you won’t do other activities like your hobbies, volunteering, serving in God’s
house, going to conferences, making good relationships and so on, but instead
prioritizing activities help you allocate the proper time to the activities you perform.

Now there has always been this contention with students who are devoted to
serving God as to the amount of time spent in church doing one or two activities and
yet coming out with poor grades. Note that these commitments are needed for our
growth as Christians the bible lays important emphasis on this, ministering with our
gifts, praying for one another, giving ourselves to the study of the word, But then for
the fact that you have a limited period of time to learn in a school setting your
priorities should be well laid out, ensure you allocate proper timing to your service in
the work of God and your academics. Christianity is beyond a religion it’s a lifestyle
so don’t think spending so many hours in the church defines your Christian living,
but know that “In all you do your father in heaven wants you to glorify him" so when
you are studying and going for the necessary engagements you are seeking to
glorify him through it, your heart of service is shown by your motive and inspiration
for service.
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Jesus said” If one of you is planning to build…..you sit down first and work out
what it will cost, to see if you have enough…….to finish the job”

So you as a Christian student must count the cost of “time” and know how much
to devote to each task. One mistake we make at times when opting to join so many
wings and units in the church or fellowship is, we don’t “sit down” and “work out” the
cost. Realizing you have limited time would help you do the necessary work to
prioritize activities effectively and build yourself in all ramifications.

Paul said we should be “fervent in spirit and not slothful in business”

So what, sit down, work out the cost and prioritize the right activities.

DEDICATION

A popular clause goes thus, “plan your work, work your plan”. This tells you that in
as much as you have prioritized your activities, sat down to work out the needed
time allocations ( leaving space for flexibilities of course!),if you don’t dedicate
yourself to what has been written then all planning goes to waste. Jesus in the
scriptures laid so much emphasis on the “doing” aspect of the any process.

Now you must stay dedicated to reaching your set goals, following your plans and
achieving the best. Also you must stay dedicated to running towards the prize.

Ever wondered why God said “write the vision, make it plain…for the people to run
with”? He knows how distracted and forgetful we humans can be after a while. Also
he urges us to be in small groups and fellowships in order to have someone keeping
us accountable to the goals we set, this is why we discussed and laid out some
points on the people we run with. You need good company to help you stay
dedicated to your goals, remind you of some of your plans and see to it that you
come out with the prize even as you do same for them. “Bad company corrupts good
manners, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother”, these verses of scripture
also apply to helping our student experience.

I think it’s proper we get this straightened out, your personal commitment and
dedication is essential for your progress, you must determine to be excellent and be
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dedicated to following the processes that lead to excellence and only then would the
help and support coming from your peers indeed benefit you. No matter what you do
for a person, that has not set his/her mind on getting the best, you would only go a
little mile, because excellence starts from the mind and works itself out to the open,
as a person you can only advice and push someone to better for a while, It lies in
the persons hands to receive these words and allow for a transformation.

I must confess that most times your dedication to a plan can be cut off by things
beyond your control, probably a written memo from the school board on change of
time table or a strike action as I have experienced but it’s your responsibility to look
at the situations at hand and make another plan. It’s better to continue making new
plans towards achieving your goals than getting yourself frustrated by the
happenings around you. Also dedication personally can be quite difficult when you
are just starting but whenever you fail to meet up always dust yourself up and
continue, never give up.

FOCUS

Proverbs 16:20 says;

“Pay attention to what you are taught, and you will be successful…”

A speaker was talking to people in a class and he was trying to emphasize the
power of our imagination in line with focus; here is a paraphrase of what he says

“Your brain cannot think in the negative, it is what you feed to it that it thinks about
either positive or negative, to your brain it’s just an impulse. If I tell you, don’t think of
a monkey……… That’s it, your brain immediately picks the word monkey and
shows it to you”

It focuses on the picture of a monkey and not the words “Don’t think of” because
your brain thinks in pictures not words, that’s why abstract things are more
understandable when connected to pictures ( a hint you can use for mathematics, by
the way!). Have you considered ice-skating, it looks really hard but its one of the
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simplest things you can do. If you keep on seeing trees, you’d keep on bumping into
them, but if you only see the path, you brain only interprets the path you see, not the
trees you didn’t bring into the impulse.

So in essence when all you see are the obstacles you keep on bumping into
them, but when you only see the path, you keep on following it. Your brain thinks
pictures, not words, so if you speak negative words your brain interpret negative
imaginations, other wise, the imaginary world can be the best place to be.

Let’s look into a more abstract part on the power of focus. What do you see in your
mind? not necessarily with your eyes. Dr. Myles Munroe was talking about the
discipline of vision and he was trying to bring to heart this statement “a vision is seen
with the mind”, not with the eyes, because seeing with your eyes alone you keep on
seeing all the things prevention you from being an excellent student but creating the
right picture of success and seeing it with your mind while acting gives you the
needed focus to do better day by day.

Now all that was a motivational perspective, your inner inspiration to continue in
spite of difficulties, what about your interaction with the outside world.

Do you tend to get easily distracted by all the movement around you, are you easily
distracted in class, do you listen attentively during conferences, meetings or
discussions, do you remember or understand what has been said after listening to
something.

These are necessary questions you need to put into consideration, if your
answers are not so good then you have to work on this. I’d posit a few solutions to
helping you focus better in class.

Writing: when you listen and write at the same time you tend to recall about 70%
of what was said, not only is this an advantage but you see your self being more
focused since you are not writing only from a board but from what your brain gives
you as a summary of what has been said.

Pushing away distractions: it is one thing to know what the problem and it’s
another to accept that it’s a problem to you. Are gadgets distractions to you, will your
friend prevent you from listening, would the noise at the back prevent you from
getting much. Keep these gadgets aside when its time to learn, you probably can’t
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push your friend away but you can discuss with such a person telling him or her how
he/she distracts you but do this with love and not harsh words, the bible tells us that
“soft words turn away wrath“ (you would also be doing your friend good ). If staying
at the back would prevent you from getting the best why not do your best to stay at
the front.

Asking questions and contributing: when you set your mind towards asking a
question or contributing at the end, you see yourself focusing on the words spoken
to pick the right points to discuss about or lay questions.

Meditation: since we are not only students in the classroom or conferences, but
also students of our environment, culture, experiences and the word of God, we
need to meditate on the impulses (words, sounds, gestures) that we receive . This
would help us focus on the subject matter and gain more from what we are being
taught.

Here are just a few methods which could be or great help to you as a student. I
would once again state that its one thing to know your problems and it’s another
thing to accept them as problems you have to solve.

TIME MANAGEMENT

The only global currency we have is time.

Time is the only gift given to both a poor and a rich man, what they do with it
determines their outcomes.

Ask a man on his death bed what he needs, he wouldn’t ask for riches or fame or
recognition but time.

What the young has is time but lacks wisdom, what the old has is wisdom but
lacks time

Thirty minutes spent planning a daily routine would let twenty-three hours thirty
minutes productive
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Don’t underestimate the power of time management. There are so many things
to achieve but it seems we are not achieving that much because we have not
assigned time to our activities properly. One time in my life I was in a rot as to how
my time went daily without me achieving anything new even though I had so much
to do or learn. I would always go to conferences, teachings listen to messages and
so on and everyone seemed to talk about time management but I never got to really
understand its power and how it works. I spoke to a brother after fellowship one
night (Itumah Victor) and he said something different to me.

“When I plan my time, I assign specific time to each activity and I pray to God to
direct me”

I learnt two things that night.

Assign specific time.

Pray to God for direction.

Most people write down a bunch of task they would love to perform and then that’s
it, no time assigned. This causes one to spend hours on a very minute task with the
mindset that there is still time to complete the others. Such a person ends up
carrying over activities to the next day.

Some others only assign the duration, for example

Go to class – 5hours

Read – 2 hours

Programming – 3 hours

Fellowship – 2 hours

What this kind of planning does is that it only gives you a sense of magnitude of
time available to complete each task but not the proper direction as to when to begin
these task and finish them. It also diffuses focus considering the fact that you are
aware of what to do but you don’t know when to take breaks for effectiveness and
thus you take random breaks whenever the opportunity shows its self, telling your
self you still have enough time when in fact you dont.
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I believe a proper time plan should be in form of a vector; it should have both its
magnitude and its direction specified. Let us consider an example of what I call a
“time vector”

Morning devotion – 5:30 – 6:30

School/work preparation – 6:30 – 7:00

Breakfast – 7:00 – 7:30

Class / work – 8:00 – 6:00 pm

Rest – 6:00 – 7:00

Coding – 7:00 – 8:00

Bible study – 8:00 – 9:00

Now notice that even very basic activities are put into consideration as these can
use so much of your time if not well considered. This kind of planning helps you
define your activities and makes you more effective.

Have you noticed that when there’s a big day coming ,the night before you sleep
early enough so as to wake up in time for the activities of that day, and your brain
somehow works in sync as it aligns with the next day activities, reminds you of what
to do immediately you are awake.

So when you try to do this the night before and envision the next day to be a big
day to achieve goals you have set aside, your brain is ready and pumped for action
,so you are awake early and up and doing as quickly as possible. This is the kind of
training given to students who stay in the boarding house, and that is why they tend
to be sharp or disciplined. Not to downplay the discipline of day schooling but I am
talking out of experience.

This kind of timing also gives you the morale to say to a proposal “l am busy right
now please could you call in thirty minutes time” because you are well aware that at
that time you are wrapping up with whatever activity and also it makes you develop
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integrity and recognition amongst people as being faithful to your word. Time
management.

I would be lying if I say this happens automatically or once you read this or
understand this it becomes a part of you, No. It takes constant practice and
utilization. Even I sometimes become a victim of time and not a victor. But with
diligence a man would stand before kings, so diligently do that which is right.

Since we are considering management of time, planning is a part to it, self-

discipline to adhere to your plan is another. Brian Tracy defined self-discipline as

“The ability to make yourself do, what you should do, when you should do it,
whether you feel like it or not“

And this in so many ways says a lot about what we’ve been talking about,
sometimes we might feel like it or not but because its on the list of things you should
do and it would profit you, then be so self disciplined to do it. Just start, the first five
minutes might be hectic but putting your mind to it makes the rest of the time
effective.

It is worthy to note that even five minutes spent doing something effective is better
than five minutes spent doing nothing but stare into thin space. In five minutes you
could call a friend thereby strengthening relationship, you could check your day’s
progress, you could intentionally rest your head, you could stand up and do that
chore you’ve been postponing.

Try the time vector planning and watch yourself grow to be a victor of time.

BELIEFS

“….and these signs shall follow them that believe”

Everything that follows you comes in honor of what you believe. ~Apostle
Joshua Selman ~
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Remember when we talked about the prize, how students are conditioned to
believing only in the grades gotten and not the processes they take to get these
grades. Your beliefs in a lot of ways affect how you learn. Basically our beliefs are
formed by our environment, culture and the kinds of people we move about with.
Have you seen a “once a dullard” make such great advancements, the right question
to ask that person would be who did you go to or where have you been to. We
talked about relationships and their effects on your capacity to learn, when you
move with and observe the right people gradually there starts to be a change in your
belief. Dr. Ben Carson a very renowned Neuro surgeon while giving his biography
said something very interesting. He said he started to read books in the library and
began to get better in his academics, a day came in class when they were given
words to spell and there was a word the most brilliant guy in class had to spell. It
occurred to him that he could spell that word even though he was considered the
dumbest kid in class. That greatly changed his view on his abilities “… if I could spell
that word given to the brilliant student then I can spell anything “and his progress sky
rocketed. He found himself among people that challenged his belief system. His
environment at that time became right for his mind transformation and he got better
and better, only because he changed his belief.

Have you been in a class where the least score is seventy percent, that kind of
environment opens up the students to believe that it’s possible to go above average.
One of the ways to go about learning excellently is noting wrong beliefs about your
self and changing them through the people you move about with and your
environment. Read books of people who have done excellently well and see that it’s
possible to do more than you are doing now. I’d recommend you read God’s truth
about your capabilities. In his word he says he created you in his image and
likeness, and thus you have abilities that are found in him, God is omniscient, he
knows all things, while we can’t know all things we have a measure of that ability to
know many things and learn more.

When your beliefs about your ability to do excellently are wrong then the wrong
signs would follow you. People that consider mediocrity a way of life find themselves
having mediocre results. In fact when a new person enters a class people check for
the kind of group he or she would fit into, the ones that aim for excellence or the
ones that are just there for the fun of it, when they see the persons attitude towards
 - 23 -

learning (which is a function of your beliefs) the right set of people begin to gravitate
towards that person. It’s a law of nature.

BEYOND THE NATURAL

“I will send to another comforter [The Holy Spirit] ….and he will teach you all things
“

I believe the physical realm we see and walk in is controlled greatly by the spiritual
realm. The spiritual is simply the things that are invisible, beyond a humans eye
reach. The Creator, The Lord of the earth spoke things into being from the spiritual
to the physical. Elihu was speaking in the book of Job and he said “there is a spirit in
man; the breathe [inspiration] of the almighty gives understanding”. He teaches that
God’s breathe (his Holy Spirit) gives understanding.

Jesus the Christ of God in assuring his students tells them of a personality
beyond the natural that would teach them and help them remember all things they
have being thought.

The beautiful aspect of this gift is that, the Holy Spirit doesn’t help you cut
processes but he helps you amplify the effect of the processes you have followed.

Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit is only possible when you have Jesus the
Christ of God as Lord and personal savior of your life, because he reconnects you
back to the Creator who then breathes his spirit into you.

STRATEGY

A strategy is quite different from a plan. Many of the processes I have listed above
needs more than just a daily plan to achieve excellence with them. You also need a
strategy to learn smartly. In a school setting it’s good to be aware of the way
lecturers go about with their courses; are they the type that would love you to in your
answer questions as directly written in your notes or would they love you to be
 - 24 -

creative with your understanding of the concept taught. Your awareness of simple
facts like this would aid you strategize on how to effectively study for exams and
ensure that you do excellently well in your papers. Also you can ask questions about
certain courses to know their level of complexity, this would help you give
appropriate reading time to certain courses. Mathematics since it involves solving
would require your constant attention so you are able to understand and remember
the processes to follow during your exams, certain courses would require that you
engage in discussions with fellow course mates to help strengthen the theoretical
knowledge you have received in the course of a lecture.

More importantly set a goal to achieve, the grade point you would desire at the
end of the semester, thinking logically know the courses that would require extra
work and dedicate enough time to them. Your reading strategy can be studying
immediately after a lecture or sleeping and waking up refreshed to read.

A brother once shared the strategies he used to get an excellent result in his final
semester; he explained that he made sure he came early to class daily so as to
siting front and record all the teachings of his lecturers after which he would listen to
and read along with his jottings and the necessary materials given. He made sure he
finished all his assignments early enough.

A strategy is quite different from a plan.

So far we have considered a few points, laying emphasis on the fact that we are
not the only ones learning and looking at the advantages it gives to us and what it
demands of us. In the next section we would be looking at the fact that we are not
learning for ourselves alone.
 - 25 -

Second Principle

WE ARE NOT LEARNING FOR OURSELVES ALONE

“You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden……..a
lamp…….. it gives light for everyone in the house.”
 - 26 -

Chapter four

THINKING TRANS-GENERATIONAL

Of a truth, one starts to really live when his/her life is adding or giving value to
people and not just taking from people. When God created man he didn’t give him a
table, he didn’t give him clothes initially, he didn’t give him bricks or manufactured
materials. But man used the wisdom he was given to make a table from the trees.
He sewed clothes from fig trees; and today we are enjoying these benefits.

I am sure if all man did was to take what God has bestowed upon the earth
without refining and giving anything back through what has been placed in him like,
time, ideas , innovations, Our generation would come to meet an empty earth
robbed of all its resources. As a student you have been made to shine the light of
your knowledge in the world, and light shines both to good and bad, the blind and
the seer, the lost and the found. Notice that light shines brightest when in darkness;
when you as a student has learnt certain things, it’s a duty for you to pass on such
knowledge through teaching, working, creating, writing books etcetera. When we
understand that we are stewards of the knowledge that has been given to us and
that it is required of us to be good stewards of what we have been given, then we
would be more intentional about how we learn, cramming for examinations won’t
cross our minds because we are aware that someday what we have received would
be required of us by our juniors, our mates even our teachers and eventually the
world.

Let’s consider a professional setting. Say a person is employed, that person has
been employed to deliver services to other people and not just him/herself. So many
students learn with mindset of just receiving a certificate; this is a wrong mindset and
should be eradicated as soon as possible. It’s no news that many people buy their
certificates from universities ( this is illegal), also some people spend just one year
getting a certificate online , so why just spend years pursuing just a certificate and
not the knowledge itself. Most people see a course as probably a mistake or not in
 - 27 -

line with their passion, but still you can chase your passion while still studying and
also aim for the best in that field of study.

My chaplain would always point to a story when talking about issues like this, he
would talk about a boy who was given the course “Crop science” to study in Nigeria,
and this boy was laughed at and undermined for such a course, but he came to
himself and realized that “there are professors in this field” so why couldn’t he aim
for the highest; today he is a professor of crop science in a reputable university. I
believe when we let our imaginations go past the limitations of a geographical area
and envision something greater even outside and within our territories our minds
would be repositioned to get the best and deliver wherever we find ourselves.

I would admonish you to develop this mind and like Christ “for the joy that was set
before him” you would do your best to be very valuable in every field of learning you
find yourself.
 - 28 -

Third Principle

WE ARE HUMANS AND THUS HAVE A BODY

The human body is a very complex system, it has so much potential in it, much of
which we are yet to discover, some of which has been discovered but still it’s
potential and has not been utilized fully. It marvels me that God created us not just
to have distinct purposes, potentials and destinies but also he gave us biological
differences, varieties in likes and dislikes, different personalities and the list goes on.

The human brain is the like the central processing unit of a computer. Notice that
a C.P.U receives information and sends out information, operates under certain
conditions, and requires proper maintenance

We would consider a few properties of our body, both negative and positive which
would greatly help us position our bodies for effective learning.
 - 29 -

Chapter five

HORMONES

The human body is doused with varieties of hormones, each one serving its specific
purpose in the body's functioning. They are found in different glands in the body.
Examples are Adrenaline found in the Adrenal gland, Insulin, ptyalin, dopamine etc.

The body's physical functioning is highly dependent on the brain as it is part of the
central nervous system. Dopamine is one of the hormones that functions in the brain.
It is sometimes called the reward hormone because the brain releases it when you
do things you love doing or enjoy doing to give you a feeling of satisfaction. Let’s say
a cookie lover comes home from a hectic day of work, one of the first thing that
comes to mind is the fridge, because the body at that time is seeking comfort.

When you are so glued to gadgets, like your phones, laptops, game consoles
etcetera your body always longs for those things continually as long as you are
around it, as the human flesh loves comfort and the dopamine effect seems to
provide it, your body longs after doing those things that produce a high dopamine
dose to produce this constant effect.

The side effect to this pleasure is it tends to divert your concentration if your
dopamine level is not kept at a medium level. Most students are advised not to take
phones to school because when they are in school studying and phones are present
their concentration span shortens and thus they loose focus easily. But if the phone
is not present the longing for this soon looses its power to divert ones focus.

A student needs to understand the part this hormone plays in the body so as to
help one balance his/her activities and keep them fairly constant for each activity.

To help reduce this effect, know those things that tend to distract your focus and
do your best to spend quality time away from them as this helps reduce the addiction
to these things. Also try to do other activities more while incorporating these things
seldom until you are able to reach a balance.
 - 30 -

Most students come home loosing the zeal to watch television because they lack
one in school and thus it no longer draws them close.

ENVIRONMENT

Over the years as a student I've come to understand that different people have
different environmental tolerance when it comes to brainwork. Some students detest
reading in a noisy place as the slightest distraction could totally cut then off course.
Some students have been able to adapt to reading within a noise environment, some
are daytime readers, some are night readers, some people read with music while
some don't. Most students like reading corporately with other students where they
ask questions and interact for an increase in retention, some are loners; good at
reading and reviewing with themselves alone. Its good for you to study and know
your environmental factor, do you learn better when you read outside under the cool
breeze or inside where it’s humid and quiet? When you know more about your
environment it helps you define your study plan, study place, study time and whether
to study alone or with someone. Most people have friends that are night readers
while they are day readers but yet they spend the whole day talking and wasting
precious time and at the end one is doing far better than the other like they never
related. As a student reading alone and in humid places has been quite an issue for
me as i tend to doze off quickly, so I had to figure out my own environment and work
with it. To point something, at times circumstances would demand that you have to
go against your environmental comfort like studying at night due to examinations this
would require intentional training of the body and the brain to adapt to these
changes. James Clear in his book Atomic Habits teaches that the way your
environment is arranged would affect the habits that are associated with it. A school
environment is very different from a church. The tables and chairs used for learning
are designed to facilitate proper learning postures and to help reduce sleeping during
lessons. Also the way you condition your learning environment matters, stocking up
books in your learning environment would be a cue that would ignite the craving to
study. Students make the mistake of putting so many distracting factors in their study
 - 31 -

rooms for example a game console. Begin to be very intentional of the arrangement
of your surroundings for learning.

RETENTION

Remembering things that have been studied after a while can be a big issue at times
for students. I believe some factors that can affect retention are:

Some students read a topic that is totally new to them just once, they don’t solve
questions or engage in discussions that would help them meditate more on these
things learnt. The bible emphasizes on meditation as this helps you relate such new
concepts to basic building blocks, for example electricity is a very abstract
phenomenon, most people use their experience with lightning during thunder storms
to picture electron flow, most people use balls moving down a tube to picture this in
their brains, most analogies are done using water, all these are done to help build
more neural networks in the brain and help solidify the information gotten

Some students don’t spend time to make researches, read from other textbooks,
get other people ideas, but all they get from the class and their note is what they go
with. This is wrong because this gives shallow knowledge on the concept and even
though such a person passes exams well enough, the student is bound to forget the
whole thing after a while.

Some students study to cram only, they cram a lot of words and then they end up
forgetting important concepts.

Study patterns are not regular amongst student, most people read half a concept
this week and read the remaining next week (I am a victim of this and it badly slows
me down!!). But a good time table and dedication to a good length of study time
should help one cover up contents quicker.

A lot of study patterns have been established by psychologists to help students

learn better, there’s the SQ3R method, MIND MAP method etcetera it’s good to
study some of these method and find the one that suits you.
 - 32 -

SQ3R – This involves SURVEYING a passage by skimming through it to find

important things to look out for, this gives you a view of what you should be
expecting as you study, READ the concept, RECITE some of the important key
points or jot them down, REVIEW what you have read so far.

MIND MAPPING – This involves using maps to build a pictorial diagram of the
concept from its fundamental building block e.g. definition to other things linked to it.
Linking these concepts would help one pick the whole idea by just viewing the links
created between different points.

TIREDNESS

We need to understand that the human body of which the brain is a part of needs
rest. Also breaks are essential as one engage on long study stretches.

One needs to be aware of his/her concentration span so that once the limit is
reached one can be able to take a break , refresh and come back to reading. Be
careful the kind of breaks you take though, if you are easily drawn to an activity such
that it becomes hard to pull out of it, it would not be advisable to engage in such
activities. For example having a ten minutes break and using that period to go on
Instagram might be risky for you if you have not mastered control over it.

Sleep when its time for it, though sincerely there are periods when sleeping is not
an option but do well to give your body the rest it deserves even though you would
be reducing the time spent on it.
 - 33 -

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Louis Levi is a student of the Federal University of Technology [FUTO]. He is

an Undergraduate of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

He’s passionate about learning and growth especially academically, By Gods

manifold grace he is and remains a student of the scriptures and the Spirit

Feel free to reach out to him;

Linkedin : [Link]

Facebook : Levi Louis

Check out his podcast - Lead_Air