One bad friend is too much and a hundred good friends are not enough.
Networking is the soul of success. When you study the victories of Hannibal, the invention of the airplane, the civil rights movements of America, up to the success of Microsoft, you discover how networking has helped people achieve more as a team than they could on their own. Every one is benefiting from the scientific, physical, spiritual, political, mental, material, and institutional foundations laid by others. You were taught the basics of what you know by someone else. Sustainable success needs networks. Success in every endeavour requires networking and teamwork, including academic success.
Isaac Newton said “if I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulder of giants” and the same can be said of most successful people. What network you are in? Whose shoulders are you standing on? Friends can be your greatest asset or woe in your life’s journey. You should choose friends and acquaintances that propel you further towards your academic and life goals.
Ignorance is not an excuse in law. Whether you know it or not, the law of gravity will hold until you activate the law of lift. Life teaches that we cannot break the law. We usually end up breaking ourselves against the law since we bear the consequences of our actions. I present to you The Law of Academic Networking and its application to success on campus and in life. The Law of Academic Networking says that “academic success is not achieved in isolation.” Here are its three corollaries:
Law of Dissociation:
The first step for any success-conscious student should be a deliberate action or set of actions to stop all friendships with people who do not positively contribute to your academic or life goals. When spending time with a person or group does not motivate, equip, challenge or prepare you for the life of success that you desire, the wise thing is to separate yourself. A companion of fools will always be destroyed. Don’t destroy yourself and your destiny by associating with people who have not seen the dream you carry and are not able to help you achieve it.
In your academic pursuit, dissociate from any person or group that does not add to your success quotient. Since every joint supplies something –whether good, bad or nothing–into your life, you will discover those you should dissociate from by auditing your relationships. What do you do when you’re with your friends?
Some ladies spend the bulk of their day discussing fashion: the latest wears, the latest hair styles, how much their bags and shoes cost, where to buy what and so on. Other ladies can't stop talking about relationships: about how a guy was not man enough, gorgeous enough, smart enough or rich enough. If you are going to be successful, you need to sever friendship with this caliber of ladies. What about the guys?
Some guys can talk about football with their spirit, soul and body. They refuse academic discussions and tutorials seem like a tall order. Dissociate from them or do you want to end your life at every TV game show answering quiz questions on soccer? Some other guys are simply no good: they take hard drugs, broker illegal deals, talk about illicit relationships, expose themselves to illicit materials, live larger than their means and they take academics as a secondary matter. Abandon them if you ever want to achieve remarkable success in your academics and in life. Remember the first rule of holes: if you are in the wrong hole, stop digging. The wrong company drags your life into the pit. Cut them off.
Law of Limited Association:
Limit your association with those people around you who are good company but also inconsistent and unreliable. They are those who often want to be taught one thing or the other. You fix an appointment with them and they are nowhere to be found. The next time you see them, they can't remember the last appointment you fixed.
In your pursuit of success, put people like this in your unimportant schedules. Don’t give them the ability to alter your personal time-table because of their proven unreliability. Remember that they are good company and success-conscious but not committed enough to strengthen and upgrade your academic performance.
When you discuss academics with these people it seems like a one way street. The remind you of the shark and the remora. The little they bring to the table you always have to fine-tune and correct. Good as they are, they should not be in your inner circle.
On life’s pursuits. Limit your association with people who never see the bigger picture of things and issues. Sidestep away from those who possess a ‘cup-is-half-empty’ attitude. Ignore those who claim to know it all and never hear you out. The theory of Organization Behavior states that a network is only as strong its individual parts and I have discovered that if team members are not strong on their own, they cannot be strong as a team.
To forge ahead, limit your association with people whose contribution to your life goal is not commensurate with the time you invest. These people leave you with a mental load of trivialities when they leave your presence. Consciously limit these people's association with you because continued and committed association with them leads to an average life. Why go on if you can turn back? Understand: you cannot help the poor by remaining among them, so move out!
Law of Expanded Association:
After dissociating from people who can’t see the quality of future you dream of and limiting association with those who are not ready to pay the price for success along with you, the ultimate in the Law of Academic Networking is to expand association with the crème of the pack in your school, faculty or department. Move into more rewarding relationships. Take an audit of your school life: course mates, hall mates, flat mates, and all; there are some people you should purposely choose as friends. This is how to recognize them:
C.G.P.A: Some students are more proficient in one or more courses you all take. Other students may have more classroom dexterity but the best indicator of a proficient student is her result or Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). These are the people you should deliberately include in your academic network. Move out to meet them. Get their phone numbers. Know their apartment or hostel. Do this today because “fools do at last what the wise do at once.”
Move out of your cocoon into the bright academic light that these individuals radiate, move out of your inadequacy and incompetence into the competence of these individuals. You will find that your perception of them might be wrong when you get to meet them personally.
They may be better at only a single course of study but it suffices for them to be on your network –at least for that particular course. Incorporate them into your schedules and never fail to keep appointments with such because “two success-driven heads are better than one.”
TOOLS: Another set of students you should expand association with are those students with the necessary tools for success e.g. textbooks and laptops. Don't deceive yourself: a textbook is unarguably more resourceful than those cheap and abridged handouts. If any student has a textbook in the course you are taking, be diligent enough to get access to the textbook, or your own personal copy.
Laptops will save the disappointment of PHCN and enable you meet deadlines for term papers and assignments: get yours or network with those who have. Fools gather toys. Wise students gather tools. Network with them.
WORLD VIEW: Some students know what the stock market is saying. Others do legitimate and profitable business. Few have a world-class approach to life. You should search them out. Gravitate towards them. Pay attention when you’re with them. Network with them. They’ll help you locate your place in the larger scheme of life. Remember: a frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean.
Maintain focus in your networking efforts. Let nothing dissuade the reason why you are networking with others, not religion, emotion or whatever. Understand that success will always have a converging point. Remember: one bad friend is too much and a hundred good friends are not enough. Stay focused. Start networking for success today.
Kehinde Odeniyi is a Personal Development Coach, University Lecturer and Motivational Speaker.
Networking is the soul of success. When you study the victories of Hannibal, the invention of the airplane, the civil rights movements of America, up to the success of Microsoft, you discover how networking has helped people achieve more as a team than they could on their own. Every one is benefiting from the scientific, physical, spiritual, political, mental, material, and institutional foundations laid by others. You were taught the basics of what you know by someone else. Sustainable success needs networks. Success in every endeavour requires networking and teamwork, including academic success.
Isaac Newton said “if I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulder of giants” and the same can be said of most successful people. What network you are in? Whose shoulders are you standing on? Friends can be your greatest asset or woe in your life’s journey. You should choose friends and acquaintances that propel you further towards your academic and life goals.
Ignorance is not an excuse in law. Whether you know it or not, the law of gravity will hold until you activate the law of lift. Life teaches that we cannot break the law. We usually end up breaking ourselves against the law since we bear the consequences of our actions. I present to you The Law of Academic Networking and its application to success on campus and in life. The Law of Academic Networking says that “academic success is not achieved in isolation.” Here are its three corollaries:
Law of Dissociation:
The first step for any success-conscious student should be a deliberate action or set of actions to stop all friendships with people who do not positively contribute to your academic or life goals. When spending time with a person or group does not motivate, equip, challenge or prepare you for the life of success that you desire, the wise thing is to separate yourself. A companion of fools will always be destroyed. Don’t destroy yourself and your destiny by associating with people who have not seen the dream you carry and are not able to help you achieve it.
In your academic pursuit, dissociate from any person or group that does not add to your success quotient. Since every joint supplies something –whether good, bad or nothing–into your life, you will discover those you should dissociate from by auditing your relationships. What do you do when you’re with your friends?
Some ladies spend the bulk of their day discussing fashion: the latest wears, the latest hair styles, how much their bags and shoes cost, where to buy what and so on. Other ladies can't stop talking about relationships: about how a guy was not man enough, gorgeous enough, smart enough or rich enough. If you are going to be successful, you need to sever friendship with this caliber of ladies. What about the guys?
Some guys can talk about football with their spirit, soul and body. They refuse academic discussions and tutorials seem like a tall order. Dissociate from them or do you want to end your life at every TV game show answering quiz questions on soccer? Some other guys are simply no good: they take hard drugs, broker illegal deals, talk about illicit relationships, expose themselves to illicit materials, live larger than their means and they take academics as a secondary matter. Abandon them if you ever want to achieve remarkable success in your academics and in life. Remember the first rule of holes: if you are in the wrong hole, stop digging. The wrong company drags your life into the pit. Cut them off.
Law of Limited Association:
Limit your association with those people around you who are good company but also inconsistent and unreliable. They are those who often want to be taught one thing or the other. You fix an appointment with them and they are nowhere to be found. The next time you see them, they can't remember the last appointment you fixed.
In your pursuit of success, put people like this in your unimportant schedules. Don’t give them the ability to alter your personal time-table because of their proven unreliability. Remember that they are good company and success-conscious but not committed enough to strengthen and upgrade your academic performance.
When you discuss academics with these people it seems like a one way street. The remind you of the shark and the remora. The little they bring to the table you always have to fine-tune and correct. Good as they are, they should not be in your inner circle.
On life’s pursuits. Limit your association with people who never see the bigger picture of things and issues. Sidestep away from those who possess a ‘cup-is-half-empty’ attitude. Ignore those who claim to know it all and never hear you out. The theory of Organization Behavior states that a network is only as strong its individual parts and I have discovered that if team members are not strong on their own, they cannot be strong as a team.
To forge ahead, limit your association with people whose contribution to your life goal is not commensurate with the time you invest. These people leave you with a mental load of trivialities when they leave your presence. Consciously limit these people's association with you because continued and committed association with them leads to an average life. Why go on if you can turn back? Understand: you cannot help the poor by remaining among them, so move out!
Law of Expanded Association:
After dissociating from people who can’t see the quality of future you dream of and limiting association with those who are not ready to pay the price for success along with you, the ultimate in the Law of Academic Networking is to expand association with the crème of the pack in your school, faculty or department. Move into more rewarding relationships. Take an audit of your school life: course mates, hall mates, flat mates, and all; there are some people you should purposely choose as friends. This is how to recognize them:
C.G.P.A: Some students are more proficient in one or more courses you all take. Other students may have more classroom dexterity but the best indicator of a proficient student is her result or Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). These are the people you should deliberately include in your academic network. Move out to meet them. Get their phone numbers. Know their apartment or hostel. Do this today because “fools do at last what the wise do at once.”
Move out of your cocoon into the bright academic light that these individuals radiate, move out of your inadequacy and incompetence into the competence of these individuals. You will find that your perception of them might be wrong when you get to meet them personally.
They may be better at only a single course of study but it suffices for them to be on your network –at least for that particular course. Incorporate them into your schedules and never fail to keep appointments with such because “two success-driven heads are better than one.”
TOOLS: Another set of students you should expand association with are those students with the necessary tools for success e.g. textbooks and laptops. Don't deceive yourself: a textbook is unarguably more resourceful than those cheap and abridged handouts. If any student has a textbook in the course you are taking, be diligent enough to get access to the textbook, or your own personal copy.
Laptops will save the disappointment of PHCN and enable you meet deadlines for term papers and assignments: get yours or network with those who have. Fools gather toys. Wise students gather tools. Network with them.
WORLD VIEW: Some students know what the stock market is saying. Others do legitimate and profitable business. Few have a world-class approach to life. You should search them out. Gravitate towards them. Pay attention when you’re with them. Network with them. They’ll help you locate your place in the larger scheme of life. Remember: a frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean.
Maintain focus in your networking efforts. Let nothing dissuade the reason why you are networking with others, not religion, emotion or whatever. Understand that success will always have a converging point. Remember: one bad friend is too much and a hundred good friends are not enough. Stay focused. Start networking for success today.
Kehinde Odeniyi is a Personal Development Coach, University Lecturer and Motivational Speaker.
