All posts by : Success Bridge

“The cure for sorrow is to learn something“- Barbara Sher.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, knowledge is “the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association.” It is also the ability to collect, remember, and access information. Plato famously defined knowledge as justified true belief. Stop for a moment and think if you will be comfortable for a doctor who you don’t trust his knowledge of medicine to treat you! What you know certainly gives confidence!

Have you ever tried to solve a problem in Mathematics or any other subject but unable to? The problem was that you did not know! Knowledge destroys your frustration! What you don’t know is always a barrier to you. You were sent to school to acquire knowledge and experience on how to become/provide a solution to problems.

The Stone Age did not end because humanity ran out of stones, but because people became more knowledgeable due to new experiences. When you lack knowledge, life will be hard and frustrating. You need knowledge to survive.

Do you know who you are today and what you have now is equivalent to your knowledge depth? That means who you will become tomorrow is determined by what you are willing to know (learn) today. The process of acquiring knowledge is known as learning, and that is the business of every student. You learn both within and out of the four walls of a classroom.

As you continue to face your academic challenges and real-life situations, what guarantees your survival is the wealth of knowledge you have acquired on how you will move out of it, as a result of observations, contact with events and information (awareness).

Do you know that the grade you get from school is proof of your knowledge of the subject? That is because you were able to receive, store, recall information, and, most importantly, apply it when/where necessary to solve the examination problems set before you? Knowledge is both the ability to receive, retain, recall, and use information acquired over time to provide solutions to problems.

I encourage you always to embrace knowledge, and you will be a happier person.

I will be expecting your feedback or questions in the comments section.

About the Author

Henry Ibrahim Kwatadem is the Content Creator at B2SL. He loves working with young people to help them discover their purpose in life. You can reach him on ibrahim@b2sl.org.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

If you were born after 1997, you belong to Generation Z. Gen Zs’ are naturally competitive and individualistic. They take the initiative and love connection and interaction; naturally vibrant and ready to do anything to fit in. They embrace change and are more diversity-oriented. Technology has a significant impact on them, and they believe in possibilities. Belief is a central principle of success. However, we need to be mindful of what we believe. Here are just a few things you need to consider.

Believe in Yourself: You are your first resource for success. You must see yourself as a successful candidate and master the art of building very high self-esteem. Take a look at Jack Ma- founder of Alibaba, for example. Remember how many times he failed. When he shared his ideas, people called them nonviable and unprofitable. One thing that kept him going was his belief in himself. That belief made him strive continuously for success.

You don’t have to be Jack Ma to get the same kind of result; If you apply the principle, you will succeed like he did. If you have been failing in a particular subject or area of your life, you can turn it around for the better. Face that Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Government, English, etc. problem with the belief that you can overcome it, and you will see yourself succeeding shortly.

Believe in Education: It is only through proper education that you can gain knowledge and the right information to succeed. There is a lot of contest these days about the value of education because people can point to many in society who do not have formal training and still succeeded in their chosen field. What needs to be stressed here is that everyone who managed to achieve success got educated. Whether from school or through others or self-study. The old proverb goes, “if you say education is expensive, try ignorance.”

Many students now believe that education, especially in this part of the world, is a scam. There is even a popular song, “Last last, school na scam”. School is not a scam; neither is education. If you get deceived by such unfounded theories, you will not see any value in developing yourself, which is usually the foundation for failure.

Believe in the right attitudes and principles of success: You must always remember that not all progress is a success. For example, if you cheat to pass an examination, you have not succeeded. The test was to prove that you have understood the questions to be applied elsewhere. If you now cheat, you have not proven anything. So, even if you have the highest grades in the whole country, you have failed. You can only achieve success with the right attitudes based on the correct principles of honesty, integrity, hard work, etc. If you want to succeed, you have to imbibe these principles.

Please drop your comments or questions in the comment section below, and we will be here to answer you ASAP.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alero Babine is a writer, poet, and professional photographer. She is the Secretary of B2SL, where she works to empower teenagers to succeed.

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.” — Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.

Sometimes the difference in whether you succeed or not comes down to one thing – believing in yourself. Think about it for a minute. If you don’t think that you can do something, you will not give your full effort and, without your full effort, your chances of success are limited. So, why do you need to believe in yourself?

Believing in yourself builds your confidence: Your confidence is not the absence of fear but the conviction that success is achievable. If you have prepared for a strict examination, you might fear that you are going to fail. In such a situation, you must believe in yourself to carry you through to success because you cannot give up in the middle of an examination you have not finished.

Believing in yourself reveals your competence: If you express fear and doubt in what you do, no matter how well you know how to do it, you will be limited. Imagine if you go to a doctor that wants to give you an injection but is scared! Would you be comfortable around that kind of doctor? I am not sure. When the doctor confidently talks to you, you will believe that he is competent.

Believing in yourself makes you optimistic about the future: The aim of setting a goal is to achieve it. Believing in yourself will enable you to imagine and fantasize about the future you have planned for yourself and work on it. You remember the saying, “What you see is what you get.” If you cannot see anything, you cannot be optimistic about the future, and you need optimism to succeed.

Believing in yourself helps you focus: Once you start focusing on your life and what you want to do with it, you start spending less time thinking about what everyone else is doing. You’ll be less likely to waste time judging others or criticizing their life choices. Instead, you will direct your energy to improve yourself, which improves your chances of success.

Believing in yourself attracts other people to you: Think about the people you admire. They are very likely people who believed in themselves enough to do something extraordinary. In the same way, if you believe in yourself, other people will be attracted to you. If you don’t believe in yourself, others will not also believe in you!

You can believe in your God-given abilities irrespective of your age, class, religion, ethnicity, social status, etc. but for others to believe in you, you must start believing in yourself.

At B2SL, we teach people to believe in themselves as a prerequisite for success, and I will love to know where you are in your self-belief journey.

If you have any questions or contributions, please post them in the comment section below.

About the Author

Henry Ibrahim Kwatadem is the Content Creator at B2SL. He loves working with young people to help them discover their purpose in life. You can reach him on ibrahim@b2sl.org.

Belief is trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something. Belief in oneself is usually the difference between success and failure most times. If you do not believe in yourself or your abilities, no other person will. It is important to stress, though, that self-belief is not blind arrogance.

The story of Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, should interest you. Ma was born in Hangzhou, China, in 1964. He failed many times in both primary and middle school. He failed the university entry examination three times. He was rejected by the Police Force when he applied. Harvard university denied him a place to study 10 times! A company he tried to work for rejected him thirty times! When KFC came to his city, they employed all the other 23 applicants except Ma!

Despite his failures, Jack believed in himself. He managed to get a job as an English teacher and earned very little money, after which he started a translation service business. Although Jack did not know computers or coding, he was able to start an e-commerce website known as Alibaba. Investors criticized this idea as unprofitable and unsustainable, but Alibaba believed in himself! He did not only build the business but was able to challenge established e-commerce businesses like eBay in China and successfully chased the company out of the Chinese market. Today, Alibaba is one of the world’s largest conglomerates.

Stories like this teach us that it doesn’t matter how many times you fail, or how often people reject you or do not believe in you; If you believe in your dreams and yourself, and you are consistent, the chances of success are very high.

What are the areas of your life where you doubt your ability to succeed? Identify them and work to overcome them. We love to hear from you because we are here to help!

Please post your comments in the section below if this article has inspired you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bessy Ebule is the Project Director at B2SL, where he works to encourage personal development and build success networks. You can contact him at bessy.ebule@b2sl.org.