My Advice To Students And Fresh Graduates

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As much as I am tempted to tell you that your grade does not matter, as much as I would like to tell you that the students who graduate with first class end up working for those who graduate with third class, as much as I would like to tell you that all the years you spend in school won't prepare you for the real world, I can't because it would be a lie.

School actually prepares you for life in the real world, the problem is that most of us fail to take some of the important classes. Many people see school as just a place to fill your head with books and fill you with the fear of exams. They are missing other important aspects of school. School prepares you in developing the critical interpersonal skills you will need in the real world even though it doesn't grade your social skills. School enables you to see the world for what it is -- filled with many unreasonable people who will try to force their own ways on you, especially when they are placed higher than you. You will have to manage lecturers who are very partial and have little empathy. You will have to manage pressure from home. You will have money problems, girl/boy problems, aluta/strike problem, book problem and, biggest of all, the fear of the uncertain future. Unfortunately, too many people focus only on how well they handle their book problem.

If you are still a student, you should aim to handle well all the problems school throws at you and not just the book related ones, because life after school will grade your skill in managing all those problems. 

You should learn to find your inner balance. People will always want to put you in one extreme corner as someone with an unbalanced life. They will either say you focus too much on books or you are too social or you are too churchy or you are too not smart. If you lead your life by what people say and let their dissatisfaction with your lifestyle get at you, you'll be miserable. And it's the same in the world outside school.

Also never underestimate the amount of doors graduating with good grades can throw open for you. If you are going to be unserious with your books let it be because you've already found something greater that you are serious with. Maybe you've become a successful musician or programming whiz. Don't make life after school for yourself harder than it should be just because you didn't want to be considered as a bookie. 

And for fresh graduates. Congratulations! Your really schooling has just begun. 

If you want to survive and thrive in the real world from your own smart, you will have to keep learning and unlearning. You will have to leave all the foolish thoughts of the world owes you a job or recognition for your diligence in school. The world owes you nothing. You have to start steering the wheel of your career train. The real world is a lot more like strategy game, think chess, than a spelling bee, who can memorize the most. Being good and hardworking is not enough. You have to add strategy to all you do and never stop learning. Read wide and more than you even did in school.

In the real world, there is no calendar nor the type of predictability you enjoyed in school. People in the real world are rewarded more for taking risks and venturing into the unknown than for waiting for guidance and taking exams.

If I am going to summarize my advice into just one statement, it would be -- always take knowledge driven bold bets and only compete with yourself.