How you see yourself is possibly the greatest determinant of not only your academic success, but success in life in general. It is extremely difficult to act contrary to your self-perception. If you view yourself as someone who will figure out stuff when you put your mind to it, then most often you will. On the other hand if you think that you lack the skills to meet life’s challenges then you will most often end up on the ‘losing end of the stick’.
It was Henry Ford who said “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right”. How we view ourselves or better yet the identities that we have formed dictate our beliefs about what is possible for us. Children are born (for the most part) a tabula rasa or blank slate. In their first few years of existence they are curious and full of confidence. However somewhere between five and ten years old many children experience a drastic shift in how they view themselves. Having gotten feedback from a few tests and quizzes that were not viewed as favourable from either their parents or teachers or both, they form the belief that school work is not their thing. They carry this belief into high school and if no effort is made to ‘shake’ them out of this false belief, then their academic future could be doomed.
You could be reading this and saying to yourself that that is me (I was there too). But thank God, I had a math and biology teacher that believed in me and encouraged me to ‘dust myself off and try again’. I want to be that individual for you. I may not know you personally, but I know that you can do much better in school than your current grades may reflect.
What you must do is seek an adult who will be willing to give you the help and guidance that you need. Whether it’s a tutor for your weakest subject or someone who can encourage you to put in your best effort in spite of your current academic situation. As you allow these individuals to speak into your life in tandem with your putting in the work, what you will find is that your grades will begin to improve, slowly at first, but then exponentially.
You will begin to see yourself as a true academic and being an academic will eventually become your identity. Once this is achieved the sky will be the limit, you will meet all your academic goals. I know this, because it has been my reality and I know that it can definitely be yours.
Form a new identity. For you can only act in accordance with how you view yourself.
You are already a genius, the world just doesn’t know it yet!
Unleashing your true academic potential 