All posts by : Success Bridge

“A dream does not become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” – Colin Powell.

What is dedication, and what are the rewards for the dedicated mind? Questions like this go on and on, seeking an appropriate answer.

Dedication is the act of being committed or devoted to a task or purpose. Dedication requires a lot of enthusiasm, discipline, and self-sacrifice. A dedicated mind looks forward and imagines that he has achieved his goals and prioritizes important tasks over less important ones. For example, Ben Carson, a prominent neurosurgeon, at a tender age dedicated most of his time to reading rather than to watching television or playing like other kids. Ben climbed from the bottom of his class to the top and then to be one of the best neurosurgeons in the world today. He didn’t achieve all this feat by merely sitting idly but by being dedicated to succeeding.

One of the rewards for the steadfast mind is success. Everyone aspiring for success must be dedicated and hardworking. If you want to score high grades in your UTME, for example, you must be committed to studying harder than you have ever done because you will likely solve more problems during the exams than you have been used to previously. You are more likely to succeed if you take your studies seriously. If you choose to watch TV or hang out with friends over your personal development, you are not a candidate for success.

Another reward for a dedicated mind is that it creates different opportunities in your field of work. A reliable person is easily recognized through his hard work and dedication, therefore, having a better chance in their career. Ben mentioned above was so dedicated to what he did that he became a star neurosurgeon at John Hopkins Hospital. He became the first neurosurgeon to separate conjoined twins in 1987 successfully.

Remember that dedication is one of the most potent forces you possess to shape your life and realize your goals. So, why not get dedicated today and see yourself succeed. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sistus David is a post Secondary School student in Nigeria. He is dedicated to success in his academics and future career. He is a member of B2SL Success Hub.

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“I’ve always believed that if you put in the dedication, the results will come.” – Michael Jordan. 

There are many things to dedicate yourself to as a student, such as going to school every week, writing notes in class, or reading your books to succeed in your academics, career, and life in general, no matter the opposition. 

Michael Jordan tried out for the varsity basketball team when he was in Junior Secondary school; at 5’11” (1.80 m), he was deemed too short to play at that level. His taller friend Harvest Leroy Smith was the only one in Junior Secondary school to make the team at the time. Michael didn’t stop but worked harder even more to become a basketball player. Later on, Jordan became the star of Laney’s Junior varsity team because he never gave up on being dedicated to actualizing his dreams. 

To excel in your academics or anything in life, you need the dedication to keep pushing yourself as you move from one class and level to the other. Your commitment to academic success will always affect your approach. For instance, are you working to improve yourself, or are you comfortable with average? If you are dedicated to something or not, you will know based on your attitude. You may want to agree that if you have read and understood a topic, you will have confidence. Be rest assured that dedication brings worthwhile success, so you must fight the temptation of distraction with all your might. 

Think about when you graduate from your secondary and tertiary institutions. What responsibilities do you aspire to complete in the future? What will be the highest point in your career, and how are you committing yourself now to achieve that? Your dedication to achieving your future career dreams should start now because you can predict the future by creating it.

Dedication to general life success is all about how you hope to use your academic and career success in making the world a better place. It would be best if you started from your immediate family, community, and nation to better the world than the way you met it. You must resolve that you will not be part of those creating problems or watching on helplessly. Your goal should be among the solution providers to issues of the world. 

Are you dedicated to achieving academic, career, and general life success? I will love to hear from you and what you have learned from reading this article or your experiences or questions in the comment section below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charles Adimah is an entrepreneur and the Project Manager of B2SL INITIATIVE, where he manages the vision. He is a great believer that a prosperous Nigeria is a product of successful Nigerians. You can reach him via email at charles@b2sl.org.

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“It takes the hammer of persistence to drive the nail of success.” – John Mason.

Have you ever started a task and never finished it? Maybe started reading a book and dropped it halfway? Or resolving to exercise at least once every week, but you could not continue by the second week? We all face the problem of not following through with our plans or dreams, which can lead to frustration and failure. Sometimes when you fail, it seems like you know why; you were not dedicated enough! Maybe if you had read a few more pages? You could have succeeded in studying some extra problems, putting in some more effort at rehearsal, etc. The missing link between your dreams and their achievement is discipline.

Whenever you dedicate your mind to succeed at something, there will come a thousand reasons or excuses for not completing the task. For example, you decide to go for a workout at 6 am on a Saturday, and you wake up and find that the weather is not looking good. There could be two responses: either postpone the workout to another day or decide to continue the exercise despite the cold. Your dedication to your goal will determine your reaction. However, before you can be dedicated, you must first be disciplined.

Most people will take the easy way out. Why do you have to climb the stairs to the fifth floor when there is a lift? Or why do you have to crack your brain to multiply 17 times 35 when you can use your calculator? It takes discipline for you to go out for a workout in the cold or use the stairs to the fifth floor when there is a lift or have a go at multiplication when you have a calculator. Most people cannot dedicate a task because of indiscipline. Discipline places responsibility on you and causes discomfort in the short run, but makes you succeed in the long run.

Discipline is not a fancy word, and you cannot wish it. It is a behavior that you learn by constant practice and repetition until it becomes a part of you. For example, if you want to be a dedicated programmer, you must first understand the primary coding language and then spend time developing yourself. It would help if you had the discipline to push yourself to continue to try even when it seems that you are not getting it right. When you have done something over and over again, you become dedicated to it. You can apply this concept to any endeavor in life.

You can be dedicated to anything if you can work on your level of discipline. Challenge yourself and enjoy the reward. The world needs to hear how you disciplined yourself, dedicated to your cause, and succeeded.

I will love to hear your experiences, comments, or questions in the comments section below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Besidone 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.

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“Dedication is belief transitioned into action, which is transformed into change.” – Byron Pulsifer.

Dedication is the act of being fully devoted to something such as a task, goal, or desired outcome. Or something that you can feel yourself physically being a part of, such as a cause, academics, religion, sports teams, or another person. Dedication is caring about something to an extreme extent. When you are dedicated, you give everything you have to a cause or a task. 

Total commitment to something dramatically increases your chances of becoming an expert in it. For example, the number of hours you spend reading a particular subject, or the amount of money you spent in buying books and materials on that subject. You see, what you do daily, determines who you become permanently.

An excellent example of someone who became exceptional through dedication is the legendary basketball player Michael Jordan. Jordan made the most of the “Jordan Dome” (the name of his training facility) because he stayed there from 7 am to 10 pm six days a week. Michael also spent not less than six hours of training every day and never got to leave the dome until 10 pm after playing basketball for two and half hours more. Today Michael Jordan is so influential that many people look up to him as an inspiration. It is because he dedicated his time, energy, and resources to do just one thing repeatedly for most of his lifetime. One of his famous quotes says: “some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

I challenge you to spend just two hours a day and make the sacrifice to use some of your pocket money to buy books on a particular subject you love most, meet with people who know the subject better than you, and be doing this for one year. At the end of the one-year exercise, you must have become more knowledgeable enough that before you realize it, people from your neighbourhood or colleagues in school will be coming to you for advice and even seeking tutorials. 

If there is any way you will like us to help you to become a dedicated or a more dedicated student, I will love to hear from you in the comment section below. You can also share with us how you achieved something through dedication to become like Michael Jordan and be a source of motivation to your colleagues.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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

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“With hard work and effort, you can achieve anything”- Antoine Griezmann.

Working hard is a positive reinforcement to working smart. Hard work is the ability to take one’s work seriously by doing it well and rapidly. On the other hand, innovative work is prioritizing and planning your tasks for better results. For example, you could work hard trying to cut a tree with a blunt axe, however, it would be wise to sharpen the axe properly to make the job easier. It would help if you had a mixture of both hard and smart work to achieve success.

If you want to achieve your goals, you must brace yourself up for hard work and ensure to build yourself up by learning from others who have gone ahead of you. Then it would help if you had a plan of how you intend to achieve your goals. For instance, if you had three different subjects to study, you could break the study into one matter in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Finally, there are some soft skills that you need that will bolster your hard and smart work. 

One of the soft skills you need is integrity. Integrity is an essential skill for everyone who is working hard and smart to achieve their goals. Integrity makes every relationship and action built on trust. When you work with integrity, it helps add value to your goals and makes you valuable to those around you.

One of the ways to continue to work hard is to empower yourself. For example, you can read books and study how other people who have succeeded did so. Empowerment puts you in leadership. You can also see through your difficulties and keep pushing through regardless of your ups and downs. 

You need to nurture your goals and have faith in what you do. You also need to understand yourself and your potential and connect with those around you to succeed. Finally, you need to activate and sharpen your passion, protect and strengthen your passion and keep practicing reaching and sustaining your goals.

Let’s continue to work hard and smart to achieve our goals and make the world a better place.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Monsurat Kolawole is a secondary school student in Nigeria. She is dedicated to success in her academics and future career. She is a member of B2SL Success Hub.