The Secret to Student Success

The Secret to Student Success

So what if I told you you've been lied to your whole life what if I told you that what you've been told since you

were a kid about what it takes to become successful is completely wrong what if I told you that you did not have to be so many of the things you thought you did

now you've been lied to and just for clarity you weren't lied to by your teachers by your parents by the adults in your life because they hate you

you've been lied to because they would just misguided for example what if I told you you do not have to be smart to be successful there are a bunch of

really not smart people doing very well but this is what we're told ever since we're younger we want to be in a smart class don't we have you ever

Heard a teacher say something like this too maybe you are one of your classmates Wow you finished your work really really quickly you must be really smart do you

know what's being said and implied in that statement what's being implied is if it takes you a long time to do

something then you are not smart so when we're younger if we come up to an obstacle we don't go oh this is awesome

we go well I don't want people to know I'm not smart but as adults we all know that anything worth doing takes a lot of time but we keep saying you have to be

smart now I will prove to you that being smart is not a precursor to success with a simple question how many of you know

someone you know someone who's really really smart but they're not doing anything productive with how smart they

are does anyone know something like that all of us so being smart that can't be what it is oh good news you know what else you

don't need to be talented talent completely overrated we talk about talent oh you you're gonna go so far you

have so many natural abilities you're so gifted doesn't mean anything and I'll prove it to it the same question I just

asked you a few moments ago how many of you know someone I want you to really think who is really really talented

maybe they're amazing poet or musician or artist or whatever it is but they're not doing anything to the level they

should with the natural talent that they have does anyone else someone like that so whoohoo oh this isn't a science wait a minute so we all know someone who is

smart we all know someone who's talented that's not doing anything so it can't be smart intelligence talent gifts and by

the way it's also not being born into the right family being born rich or any of those things it's one thing that

nobody can give to you it's the only thing you can give to yourself that makes the biggest difference

and that word is effort effort is everything whatever you're not good at with the right amount of effort you

become good at it now this old concept was very fascinating to me because when I grew up in the projects in Brooklyn

New York I was in the smart class in elementary school I was in the top class and you know what we all knew we were in

the top class oh and to make it evenbetter does anyone remember the days when you didn't even have to study for a

test and you got good grades I loved it and everyone kept telling me around you're so smart and I was like I am

smart until I hit junior high and then all of a sudden I became really dumb the craziest thing happened I would be in

class and the teachers will be talking and I'll be like you ever had that face where on the outside you look like

you're 100% paying attention but on the inside you have no idea what's been happening I mastered that but I couldn't

ask for help because I was the smart kid because if I asked for help it would prove I didn't grasp things quickly so

Therefore I'm not smart dr. John Medina and his work of brain roles and brain rules for babies talks about when we

connect our concept of who we are to innate abilities we have no control over we don't become successful but when we

attach them to things like hard work and effort we control those but I didn't know that there so I did like what I

thought was the right thing to do and I just shut my mouth and it went on into high school I just got WAY worse

I started failing and I was not a science person where my people science chemistry biology is just not your thing like I look at it and you just might as

well be speaking a different language where are the people math you just suck at math like it's just not going to be a

good experience right I got you I was with that okay so for me science was my hard subject and I failed and I was told

I want to be able to graduate on a side past my science classes so now I'm facing not being able to

graduate having no skills or talents that I could know of in fact I played three sports in high school and sat on

the bench on all three of them so my professional athlete goes out the window I was in a tough environment I witnessed

people get murdered I've been robbed beat up made fun of and I thought I have no future what's the point so when I was

16 I thought it'd be better to be dead than to be alive because what what's the point so when I was 16 I went to the

roof of my building I stood on the roof and I looked down I imagined what would feel like to not have to deal with the

pain that I had inside of me because what was the point not smart not talented luckily I stepped back from the ledge

that day because I heard this still voice inside of me and all they said was not yet and his voice had to come from being much greater than me because again

I'm not smart enough to think this on my own so with that thought of not yet I went back into my room and was just

depressed and I am lucky to have people care about me I have an amazing mother awesome brother fantastic father and my

father song and he said get up we gotta go for a ride looks like I jump in his car he starts driving it takes me to

this beautiful neighborhood that I never seen before it was over like 15-20 minutes from our house and he said you

see this house you see these cars he said one day if you want it you can have these things you know because as a teenager we know success is the big

house and a big car right and I was like yo there's no way I'm gonna be able to have these things and then he said something things that changed the course

of my life what he said was we were all given the problems we were supposed to be given so that we can face

them overcome them and that's where we become the person we were meant to be

you said what most people do is they face their problems and then they go oh

This is proof I don't deserve it this is proof I'm not supposed to have it look at these problems in my life so

they quit but he said when you put in effort you get to the other side and on the other side is where the magic

happens that's where success comes from so I started getting excited I said well how could I apply this in my life I was like

what better place to apply it then than with science so what's my chemistry teacher I said look I'd like to graduate

I'm not gonna graduate came past this class I'll make a deal with you if I can pass the final exam you give me a

passing grade in the class with the final grant final exam was cumulative she said deal so I started doing some

strange things during lunch I would go to tutoring and I would work with my tutor understand concepts before I went

home before I left school I would do the blue I would do more tutoring then on my way to school and from school I would

get practice problems and I would go over the practice problems every single day to and from school the craziest

thing happened after I did that for a few months I passed the class I passed the test I graduated so from there I

decided to sneak into college I like to say I snuck into college because I went to the college that my brother got

accepted to because he's smart I got in and I said listen I'm not going to be the smartest student by no means I'm not

going to be the most talented student it's impossible so how am I going to succeed here I made a decision early on

that I was just going to outwork everyone because I'm not smart I'm not smart I'm not talented so if I was in

class and I didn't understand something I would raise my hand until I got it I would go to office hours and meet with

the professor to make sure I understood the concepts not just when the tests were coming out I would meet with the

teachers assistants to go over the course curriculum to make sure I understood it from that particular

professor's perspective I never handed in a paper without a second set of eyes looking at it I met up with all the

smart kids in class and by the way you want to find a smart kids they sit in the front they got highlighters make

friends with them okay I made friends with them and I studied in groups with

them and the funniest thing happened at a 16,000 students I was named one of the top five exemplary students this is me

back in the day when I had hair I like to call it the glory days right I was an educational opportunity program student

ELP student at Binghamton University yes yes I was needed most outstanding graduating senior in my class president of for student organizations when I graduated .

It's supposed to be you're going to put in the effort to make it be there's a great quote that I love from

Thomas Edison that says-- ” opportunity is missed by most people because it's dressed in overalls and it looks like

work with effort you'll take advantage of every opportunity that's in front of you effort is everything and when you put in effort not only will you take advantage of the opportunities that's in front of you you'll take advantage and create opportunities you didn't even know existed “

---thank you

GEORGE SImpson

Email : georgesimpson009@yahoo.com

Website : TimeTuotors - Private tutors in Dubai

My intent : I love to share my knowledge and utilize what I have learned from my experience. I will be happy if you evaluate my writing and comments on that.