Managing Classes
People skills can save you 50-80% of your time and still help you get good grades if you’re serious, efficient, and organized. Since most classes are online, you don’t need to attend every one unless the lecturer checks attendance. Instead:
- Attend the ones you care about.
- Get missed info from classmates.
- If you must attend, multitask—do something else you enjoy during boring lectures.
Most materials are already in your drive, and you’ll learn faster from your mates or directly from the resources. For difficult topics, study with others. Some of us are proud and want to do everything on our own. In reality, you just need to pass the exam and move on. You’re the one who suffers if you fail or carry over.
YOUR TIME IS YOUR MOST PRECIOUS ASSET
DON’T LET UNSERIOUS LECTURERS WASTE IT
A Reality Check
Many jobs you’ll get with just your certificate may not be exciting or well-paying, especially in the first few years. Tech and people skills can get you something better & faster—even while in school.
Look at your classmates working already and ask what they do. Most lecturers will just dump a PQ at the end of the day anyway, and let’s be honest: bad lecturers waste your time. If they’re just reading from their notes, they’re not teaching—they’re killing your productivity and wasting your time.
My Experience
By 500 Level, I knew what I wanted:
- No interest in a First Class. I wanted a remote tech job.
- A 2:1 for my dad’s sake.
I still gave it my all, but I did things differently:
- I built PQ Library, summarised class notes and managed a Telegram library for my mates.
- I attended fellowships like ESCA (Fridays) and GEC (Thursdays & Sundays).
- I learnt to cook as I anticipated after-school bachelor life.
- During boring lectures, I’d bring my laptop or phone and work on things I cared about.
Doing all of that helped me meet 10x more people than I ever had. In my previous levels, I was a ghost, barely attended classes, did nothing for anyone. My new classmates in 500L had no idea who I was till Goody notes became popular. In the end, I was depressed and wanted to quit school.
I wish I’d started earlier, which is why I’m encouraging you to start now. That’s also why I created Tekky Club—to connect with amazing people like you.
Your Turn
Find every opportunity to engage and interact with others—it’ll boost your people skills and help you grow. ESCA, for instance, introduced me to people across all engineering levels and departments. Plus, it improved my spiritual life and connection with God.
Community of Problem Solvers
Remember, we want to be a community of problem solvers. As far as you’re solving problems for others, money will come eventually.
Don’t chase money. Money follows solutions to problems. If you are the provider of that solution, money will chase you instead.
Don’t believe me? Watch this or look 👇🏾
Big Problems Elon Musk Has Solved
- Space Exploration and Cost Reduction
- Problem: High costs and inefficiencies in space travel.
- Solution: SpaceX developed reusable rockets (e.g., Falcon 9) to make space travel more affordable and sustainable, paving the way for Mars colonization.
- Read more: SpaceX and its innovations.
- Transition to Sustainable Energy
- Problem: Dependency on fossil fuels and environmental degradation.
- Solution: Tesla created scalable electric vehicles and renewable energy solutions like solar panels and battery storage systems.
- Learn more: Tesla’s impact.
- Global Internet Access
- Problem: Lack of internet access in remote and underserved regions.
- Solution: Starlink, a satellite internet service by SpaceX, provides global high-speed internet connectivity.
- Details: Starlink impact.
- Futuristic Transportation
- Problem: Urban traffic congestion and inefficiencies in transportation.
- Solution: The Boring Company’s tunneling systems and concepts like the Hyperloop aim to revolutionize city travel.
- More on this: Boring Company born out of a tweet.
- AI Safety and Development
- Problem: Risks associated with unregulated AI advancements.
- Solution: Musk co-founded OpenAI to promote safe AI development and research beneficial to humanity.
- Explore more: OpenAI’s mission.
- Improved Electric Power Systems
- Problem: Energy inefficiency and poor grid reliability.
- Solution: Tesla’s Powerwall and other battery innovations help stabilize grids and store renewable energy efficiently.
- Insights: Tesla’s energy initiatives.
Others:
- Tesla Model 3: Musk used first-principles thinking to break down the cost of batteries and reimagine the design of an electric car. The result was the Tesla Model 3, which changed the electric car industry.
- PayPal payments: Musk was involved in the creation of PayPal, which is now a popular payment system.
- Solar roofs: Musk has helped make solar roofs a reality.
- Bots on X (formerly Twitter): Musk has introduced new ways to tackle the bot problem on X, including limiting replies to verified users and cracking down on spam accounts.
Musk has also used his wealth to help people, such as donating $1 million to Flint, Michigan, to improve the safety of their water.
Truth is every single company Elon Musk started was born out of a need to solve a problem he saw or personally faced.
In Nigeria, we see people starting companies just because their neighbour made money from it. Without a focus on solving real problems, growth often slows over time. Elon’s net worth keeps going up daily.
Of course, we can’t suddenly start something big. We have to start with small problems around us and learn from it. What we learn will teach us how to manage bigger and bigger companies.
The most interesting part is there are so many ways you can solve problems even as an introvert:
- Writing: Teach people like I am teaching you with this article.
- Content Creation: Teach people how to solve problems in their daily life.
- Build Software: PQ Library aims to make past questions more accessible.
- and so on…
Start small, think big, and let problem-solving guide you.
The journey to greatness begins with a single solution.
Let's Get to Work!
Honestly, I don't want you wasting time trying to learn skills from start to finish.
Let’s start working now. Here’s what we can focus on:
- Try Gambit Goody 💙
- Helping Tekky Club
- PQ Library
Do you have any idea you’d like us to pursue with you? Share it with me or within the group.
If you’d like to help out Tekky Club or PQ Library with anything, please let me know.
There’s actually some task available for anyone no matter how skilled or unskilled you are.
Accountability
I’d like us to stay accountable with each other. Let’s try to commit to doing any activity mentioned in the previous section for at least 30 minutes daily. Then do the following:
- Daily Updates: Share what you achieved on the group daily.
- Daily Check-ins: Check in on others within the group especially when they’ve missed some days.
- Share new ideas: We’ll be documenting every single one. After about a month or 2, we’ll pursue any idea with the most votes.
Ultimate Hack
Read the book How to…
If you can’t guess the full title, DM me. I’ll tell you all about it, and we’ll practice together.
No escape from talking to a human! 😌
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