I have repeated classes twice in my life, yet I still graduated with a Ph.D. at the age of 26!
Let me show you how.
See, the first time I repeated a class was in my third year of high school.
I failed woefully and while some of my teachers advised my parents to allow me to proceed to the next class, in a way to save me from embarrassment, my parents refused.
Thank God they did! I didn't understand it at the time but it saved me from arrogance and overconfidence.
I repeated the class (the whole year) and passed excellently the following year.
The second time was my early days at the University.
I enrolled for the foundational (Pre-Degree) year of University and sat the entrance examination.
While I passed, I was not admitted due to some systemic inefficiencies and corruption.
I had to repeat the whole year. The following year I made it!
Why am I sharing this with you?
Failure has value! The value of failure is to learn from it.
My first repeat taught me that I was overvaluing myself and if I did not study, I would keep failing.
Study, I did! Failure provided me with the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
My second failure taught me that life is not always fair but I can't let that affect me. I've gotta keep pushing.
It taught me perseverance. It taught me resilience.
In the face of failure, embarrassment, and corruption, I didn't back down!
I saw my setback as a setup for my comeback.
Guess what today? You cannot trace those failures in my life.
I ended up finishing my studies way ahead of the ones that appeared to have overtaken me.
Listen, failure has value. Learn from it. Quit the crying. There is a whole lot ahead of you.
I believe in you.
- Dr. Samuel Ekundayo | The Purpose Preacher