Being the text of the message on 'Excellence' delivered by Olu Ojedokun, Sunday 20th November 2016. Excellence - Daniel 6:3 The story of the man at Eatery A young man on one of his dinner dates with a lady visited a eatery and as they left with their box containing their packed take away the manager mistakenly handed to them in the box, the takings for the day. When the young man got home he discovered to his surprise what had occurred. He drove back all the way from his place to Dugbe to handover the 1.2 million naira. Of course the manager was very elated and stated I have just come across the most honest man in the city of Ibadan, one with an excellent spirit. Let me contact the Tribune newspaper so we can celebrate and publish this your excellent act! The man responded, please don’t do that, because I am married and the lady with whom I came out on the date is not my wife! The story illustrates there cannot be a dichotomy between public and private excellence or integrity. What we do in private must match what we do openly. So what exactly is excellence? 1. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident. 2. Excellence is not a skill it is an attitude. Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better. 3. “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. Up to 9 First class from the chapel? Why and how? Daniel Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. What is the secret of Daniel? Well, the Scriptures say that in verse 23, no injury was found on him, because he trusted in his God, or as the Authorized Version has it, “he believed in his God.” But the decree of Darius said, nevertheless than what his God said. So the secret of Daniel is that while he no doubt had a high regard for the sovereignty of King Darius the Mede, for Daniel the supreme standard of life is what does my God think and he will be faithful to his God regardless of what may come to him apparently physically and that is an important principle. That is an important principle, which if everyone in Believers Chapel will make that a principle of his life which he lives out, well, there is no telling what kind of assembly this might be. Daniel was excellent because he formed the habit and not because he was an actor or a performer at it. He was excellent not because he acquired the skill but rather the attitude. He was excellent because he strove on a gradual basis to better, he trained. Now I think that there are some of us who do have this spirit of Daniel. But it would be great if we all of us who had the spirit of Daniel and what concerned us was not what our friends say, not what other circumstances might suggest that we ought to do but what does the Word say. I hear that some of us cooperate and conspire with others to cheat during examinations not because we believe it but because of the pressure we face, we think what might they say? But do we consider what other might say if we get caught? Daniel The prophet Daniel worked for the government for many years. If all those who worked for the government or for business had these qualities, the world would be a better place in which to live. Today for many of us who are students if we imbibe the Daniel principles and certain and sure that Lead City University will be better and more glorious place. However, it seems some of us may have given up on Lead City for our preference is for the spirituality of the other side rather than placing our own on the map. Let me assure you that there is nothing in preaching, teaching, ministering in songs and drama that you cannot get in this place a land of excellence. Now let us explore the attributes of Daniel. DANIEL WAS A MAN OF CHARACTER - Da 6:1-3 He had an "excellent spirit". It is about character. DANIEL WAS A MAN OF CONSISTENCY - Da 6:4-9 He was faithful. There was no accusation possible against the man, unless he was accused about his God. His enemies plotted to undermine him by putting him in a position of possible compromise concerning his God. DANIEL WAS A MAN OF CONVICTION - Da 6:10-15 Daniel continued to worship his God in spite of the threat of persecution. He continued to do what was right! DANIEL WAS A MAN OF CONSCIENCE - Da 6:16-22 After being falsely accused and spending the night in the lion's den, Daniel still had a clean conscience. He could honestly say, "Oh King I have done no hurt." DANIEL WAS A MAN OF COURAGE - Da 6:23 He had believed in his God and stood firm for Him. Now lets examine how we might apply this to our stay here on Lead City University. 12 Study Skills for Exam Success Achieving excellence over mediocrity The best way to get high grades in your exam is to consider the entire length of your course as a pre-exam, preparation period. Because courses can last a few months to a whole year, you may find it difficult to make the connection between your daily homework, periodic assignments, and your final exam. To get high marks, start by recognizing that all academic work done through the semester, summer, or school year is exam studying. The strategies below can help you keep pace throughout the year. They will ensure exam success as well as mastery of the subject. 1. Set your goal: Read the course overview to understand what the course will cover and how it will be scored. Identify your goal in concrete terms and put it in writing to strengthen your resolve. 2. Manage your time: Time management skills can help you take control of your study workload, achieve more, and stress out less. There are many ways to make time work with you, instead of against you. Purchase an academic diary or study planner. Buy one which provides a week-at-a-glance or a month-at-a-glance view, so you can get a holistic view of the time you have available. Find out assignment due dates and quiz/test/exam dates and mark them in your study planner in advance. This way you will be able to avoid social commitments during pre-exam periods. Minimize distractions and keep your priorities straight. Focus on your goal of getting the highest marks possible. Schedule social activities around your study schedule and not vice-versa! Remember this is not only an academic challenge, it’s your job in life right now. Make it a successful and enjoyable year! 3. Identify your learning style: Take a learning style assessment test and find out if you are a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner. This self-knowledge can help you make more effective use of your time. Remember, your learning style may be quite different from that of family members and friends. Adapting your study method to suit your own natural style will enable you to produce powerful results in less time. See me after for help with this. • Visual learning is a style in which a learner utilizes graphs, charts, maps and diagrams. It is one of the three basic types of learning styles in the Fleming VAK/VARK model that also includes kinesthetic learning and auditory learning. • Auditory learning is a learning style in which a person learns through listening. Anauditory learner depends on hearing and speaking as a main way of learning. • Kinesthetic learning (American English), kinaesthetic learning (British English), or tactile learning is a learning style in which learning takes place by the students carrying out physical activities, rather than listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations. 4. Develop a study plan: For each course, figure out how much time you will need to spend outside of class, in order to keep up and in order to do well. Plan a study schedule that allows you to stay in control of the academic workload. 5. Keep up with reading: Particularly in college or university, staying up-to-date in terms of your reading is critical to your success. When you attend a lecture without having completed the required reading, you lose a valuable opportunity to add to your understanding. 6. Develop effective note-taking techniques: A variety of note-taking styles can help you record key information and see the bigger picture in terms of subject matter. Good note-taking strategies can help you make the most of the time spent reading from textbooks and attending classes. 7. Attend classes regularly: Be an active learner. Attend lectures regularly and participate whenever possible. The interaction will help you to remember more than if you sit passively in class, dreaming of other things. 8. Create mind maps: Mind maps are graphic organizers, developed by Tony Buzan, which can help you summarize vital information from lectures and textbooks. Each topic can be condensed onto a page; each chapter can be encapsulated onto a larger map. Eventually, you can develop a mind map to review the key sections of each course and get a broad view of how each topic relates to the others. Then, to review before an exam, see if you can reconstruct the map. In this way, you can test yourself to see if you can recall key terms, factors, reasons and examples. 9. Surround yourself with learning: Create a 24-hour learning environment by putting up review charts and points where you can see them daily on mirrors, doors, fridge, bathroom, television, or bedside table. If possible, purchase a white board and dry erase markers, so you can test your recall by reproducing the mind maps. Use bright-colored markers, include images to trigger your memory and most of all, have fun. 10. Work with concentration: It is in your interest! One hour of concentrated study is worth several hours of distracted study. If you learn how to work with concentration, you will achieve more than 95% of the population. This critical skill enables you to do more in less time and is one of the distinguishing features of super achievers around the world. 11. Apply memory techniques: Take the time to learn different memory techniques and practice applying them in a variety of academic and professional contexts. Understand the basic memory principles upon which your brain works and learn some tips for improving your memory. The more you exercise your memory muscle, the stronger it will be and the more confidence you will have in your ability to recall information when you need it most. 12. Use all your intelligences: Are you aware of the concept of multiple intelligences? Do you know it doesnt matter how smart you are but rather how you are smart? This concept was introduced by Howard Gardiner of Harvard University. It explains the number of different ways in which a human can have intelligence and how this self-knowledge can help us live, work, and study more efficiently. Here are some basic exam-taking principles and techniques: Be familiar with the structure of the exam. It’s important to know the answers to these questions: • How many sections will the exam have? • What are the differences between the sections? • Will there be multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, or both? • How many points will there be in total? Use a stopwatch. During an exam, every second counts. Using a stopwatch will help you to keep track of the time more accurately. Look through the entire exam at the beginning. When the exam starts, don’t jump straight in and start answering the questions. Instead, take a minute or two to skim all of the questions. Get a feel for how challenging the exam is overall, and take note of which questions will be especially time-consuming. Set aside more time to tackle those questions. Know how much time you should spend on each question. Based on how long the exam is and how many points there are in total, you’ll know roughly how much time to spend on each question. For example, if you have 50 minutes to complete a 50-point exam, you have one minute per point. So, for a 10-point question, you should spend approximately 10 minutes answering it. If, after 10 minutes, you’re still not done with the question, it’s time to speed up. If you get stuck, move on. If you’re unable to solve a problem, maintain your composure and go on to the next one. Time is ticking. When you’ve completed the rest of the exam, come back to the unfinished problems. In closing… We can all be a Daniel, we can be an inspiration to our generation...... Philippians 4:8