The Biggest Career Mistake

The biggest mistake in life is to be in a state of constant self-pity. I get emails from people asking me to share their CVs but quickly reminding me that they graduated with 2.2 or 3^rd class (from undergraduate university education). For them, 2.2 or 3^rd class has become a little god, and because they finished with them, nothing can happen.

People, 2.2 or 3^rd class or even Pass is nothing but a mark/grade. The biggest grade in life is your PROCESS. How good is it? How efficient is it if it is graded?

If you made 2.2 after working hard, you would be fine in your career. But if you made 3^rd class because you did not have discipline or work hard, nothing will change in your life until you fix that process issue. Your problem is not the grade but the Process that resulted to the grade.

Until the process is changed, in your life, nothing will likely work. So, 2.2, 3^rd Class or Pass, is not your main problem. The problem is you have NOT fixed what resulted to them where you think they are bad.

In coming hours, Osun State will vote to elect a governor. One of the contestants received great victory when WAEC said he attempted WAEC exam. Yes, having WAEC attempted was a victory for a serving Senator.

In your Senate, for another serving Senator, the biggest moment came when his alma mater, ABU Zaria, confirmed that he graduated with 3^rd class. The next day, the senator wore academic gown to the Senate Plenary. By doing that he demonstrated that even though he came out with 3^rd class, it was not because he was lazy. Rather, he possibly gave his best, and he accepted the outcome and has been genuinely proud of it. Or he might have made mistakes in school to have finished with 3^rd class but along the way, he changed his Process, improving on it for better things in life.  That Process has worked for him, and he was not going to be intimidated by any 1^st class or whatever graduate. This man, under many metrics, is successful.

Do not make grade to be your god irrespective of what the banks, telcos, and oil firms will tell you when you apply for a job. The key success will come when you begin to fix systemic problems that resulted to those poor grades where you think you could have done better. But self-pity instead of focusing on fixing unproductive processes in your career will not yield anything.

Offer your best in any scenario and accept the outcome, building on it and do not dwell on self-pity if you did not hit all the goalposts. Success comes when you take action to move into new domains if one had closed. That only works if you are optimistic about the future – that the world can only get better, for you and others. But where you think 3^rd class has closed it for you, then, you can retire in a miry clay. I hope that would not be your choice.

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