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Go Hard or Go Home: Using the Triple A Concept to Achieve Graduate Academic Goals

March 22, 2016
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By GradProSkills


Go hard or go home. This phrase illustrates both the demanding nature of graduate school and the need for us graduate students to give our all in achieving our set goals. It is important to set goals, and it’s also make the right effort to achieve them. That’s why I felt inspired to share the triple A concept which has helped me achieve success.

1. Ambition

It can sometimes be easy to settle for average results in our academics, but as graduate students we need to have a great sense of ambition. It is essential that we aspire for the very best and not be swayed by fear of failure. Our aspirations for success in graduate school can be exemplified by this quote: “Aim for the moon; even if you miss, you would land amongst the stars.”

Personally, I showed ambition in my own little way by deciding to switch from a course-based program to a research-based program in Quality Systems Engineering. I took a risk with my future (in the hopes it would have a positive outcome) because I knew the decision would provide me with a number of opportunities going forward in my academic pursuits.

2. Aptitude

This simply means our proficiency in a specific area.  As graduate students, it is important that we focus on learning both in and out of our classrooms. We must ensure that we make exhaustive use of the resources for learning and development provided by the university (including those offered by GradProSkills!). After I switched to a research graduate program, I faced a number of challenges in my research work. I was able to deal with those challenges after acquiring the necessary aptitude. Don’t forget that the potential to learn and excel in our academics is within us. We simply need the right amount of energy and hard work to transform that potential towards realizing our goals.

3. Attitude

In my opinion, I feel positive attitude is the most important aspect of the triple A concept because it sustains us in the direction of achieving our goals. Attitude woke me up (even on cold winter mornings) with a sense of urgency and purpose to complete my research work. Attitude kept me going even when I was lacking aptitude in the beginning of my research work. Attitude gave me confidence in my ability to achieve my goals. It never allowed me to consider giving up, even when I wasn’t getting the right results in my research.

If you are reading these words, I am excited you got to this point and I hope you learnt something new from my experience. Please feel free to drop a comment about some tips that has helped you or is currently helping you achieve your academic success.

 

Eromonsele Oboh is a second year graduate student in Quality Systems Engineering and GradProSkills Ambassador at Concordia. He is on Twitter @am_eromz. 

 

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