comprehensive study approach

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Persuasive communication
This is kind of communication that attempts to convince an audience to listen or give attention to what you are saying and agree with the communicator .

Persuasive communication uses a persuasive language which may be written, spoken or non-verbal to get others to agree with our facts, share our values, accept our arguments and even adopt our way of thinking.

In your professional activities, the ability to persuade others to agree with your ideas and believe them in writing or in speaking is a potent communication skill.

Some people are very convincing by the way they represent themselves in that they are attractive before they speak. This people understands that persuasion goes beyond words and may include:
- Looking presentable
- walk or sit in a manner that shows they are comfortable with who they are.(body posture)
- display an inviting gestures like eye contacts , smiles , open arms or other body languages that invites people to them.
- Keep a distance that is inviting instead of being aloof and repelling.
From the above points, it is clear that non-verbal language is very vital in supplementing spoken word in our effort to communicate persuasively.

We should also be able to persuade readers in our writings. This can be done by presenting good evidence that supports our arguments and conclusions, sticking to the topic of discussion, writing a well researched or useful information and eliminating grammatical and spelling mistakes by proofreading your work.

Some of the ways to persuade people in your communication includes:
- Presenting evidence
- attacking and presenting opposing views as weaker
- use of inclusive language with words like we, us, our that shows unity of purpose as opposed to words that shows individual opinions like and disconnect like i, you, them, they etc.
- use of humour
- showing cause and effect in your arguments
- using formal language
- use of specialized jargon that shows you are knowledgeable in the area you are arguing about and that you are professional.
- use of imagery and metaphors
- use of facts and expert opinions (quoting an authority in the field)
- presenting evidence with statistical data
- use of colloquial language that presents you as a down to earth and friendly person.
- use attractive voice tone
The tone of voice is a very handy tool in persuasive communication as it may attract or put off your audience.

vocabulary used to describe a persuasive tone includes:
- cheerful voice
- reasonable
- assuring
- torelant
- apologetic
- wise
- certain
- persuasive
- encouraging
- respectful
vocabulary that can be used to describe a tone that can put off your listeners includes:
- angry voice
- critical
- resentful
- judgemental
- pessimistic
- disappointed
- biting
- impatient
- authoritative
- disapproving
Being Assertive

Oxford dictionary defines assertive as an adjective of expressing opinions or desires strongly and with confidence, so that people can take notice.

Assertiveness is the quality of being self-assured and confident. It is described as the ability to stand up against adversity or opposition in a calm and positive way without being aggressive or passive in accepting other people’s opinion or views.

Assertiveness enables you express yourself in a clear, open and reasonable manner without undermining your own rights or those of others.

Assertiveness means you can get your points across without upsetting others or getting yourself upset.

Some of the characteristics of individuals who are not assertive includes:
- They always agree with opinion of others
- fear being judged and so avoid raising their voice over a matter
- cannot stand up for themselves
- find it hard to express what they feel
Indicators of assertive behavior
- Being prepared for meetings by seeking to know ahead of time the agendas and preparing on how to respond to them
- Honesty and openness in expressing one’s thoughts,wishes,feelings and defending one’s rights and letting others be able to do the same.
- Listening attentively to the views of others and responding appropriately even when you disagree with them.
- Exercising self control
- placing oneself at the safe level with others and not being authoritative
- Owning self mistakes and apologizing and allowing others to do the same
- Appreciating others regularly for their positive action
- Accepting responsibility from others and being able to delegate to them as well
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March 2, 2024
Losing a job
What experiences in life helped you grow the most?

losing my first job at 28 years was very devastating. i never saw it coming. I was happy and contented, and i never even realized that, what i was earning could not sustain me for three months if i stopped work. Before then, i was just working without caring about anything in the world. I just enjoyed what i was doing, having good time over the weekend and partying with friends whenever i was not working.

Losing a job helped to learn a few things:
- That your office colleagues are not your friends. They will do anything to get your position and opportunities.
- That salary is not something that can make you relax in life. It is madness to expect that you will live quality life with salaries.
- That social capital is very important
- That your partying friends are just partying friends. They may not come through when you are down
- Financial literacy is very important
- Be diligent in your work but have extra things that can generate income
- Invest money to have financial freedom
- Be careful when choosing a career because it will determine everything else about your life.
- Listen to your heart and examine your abilities and interests carefully before chasing a career in college
- It is stupidity to go to college to learn something that will only make you fit for employment in a certain field
- That there are women that are only attracted to you because of your job and they will go if the job goes
After i collected myself, i explored my environment and started an IT accessories from scratch. I learn the ways of businessmen. I learnt how to look for clients, i learnt how to handle clients and where to get supplies. I learnt how to survive and live outside employment. I also discovered how limiting and restricting employment life can be. I enjoyed abundance that comes from making your own money without waiting for a pay check.

I also started appreciating my former boss because i realized that being an employer requires diligence and can be headache. You have to keep thinking how to generate enough revenue to run business and pay all your current expenditures like salary

It is after loosing my job that i learnt useful technical skills like making computer hardware, software development and system administration. I shunned white color jobs and appreciated hand on skills. I realized that the real wealth is on production and not on using your salary to be a consumer.

I discovered power of saving and investing money on capital market. That is how i came out of the narrow life of staying in closed offices and went out and started growing socially, economically and politically and spiritually and discovered how little i had learnt from school. The real learning happens outside classrooms. I appreciated much the famous slogan from my grandpa;

“growth is born from adversity”

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March 2, 2024
Fate and destiny
Do you believe in fate/destiny?

What is a destiny

According to oxford dictionary,destiny is what happens to somebody or what will happen to them in future especially things that they cannot change or avoid . The dictionary also describes destiny as the power believed to control events.

When people talk about destiny, they are talking about the desired state of life. Like a point in their life where they are happy, successful, having everything they want. Mostly when people says that they are towards their destiny, it means they are chasing their dreams.

Our dreams is mainly our desires, not necessarily that the gods or super deity desired that we be in a particular place which we are now struggling to get into, mostly it is our lust, desires and longings that drives us, and it is based on what we have seen from other people.

Destiny is a creation of man, God could not have placed man on earth and then set him into an imaginary journey that will take a big percentage of their life to reach.

Destiny of a nation is the state of a nation that the citizen desires at a particular moments.

what is Fate

According to dictionary, fate is the things especially bad things that will happen or have happened to somebody. It also describes it as the power that is believed to control everything that happens and cannot be stopped or changed.

When bad things happens to people, we say it is their fate

Fate and destiny is rubbish we have accepted in our mind

The reason i punch holes on the concept of destiny and fate is because they are mostly creation of people in their mind. First, There does not exists a place in life where one should feel totally contented, fulfilled, successful and without need for anything as that is the point people refers as destiny

They are imaginations created by individuals, nation or a group of people relative to other people. Destiny as we use it daily is a comparison term, it is what we desire in relation to what we see. We talk about destiny because other people has shown us that there are better things out there than what we have right now.

Am disagreeing with this concept because most of what happens to people is a matter of choice and decisions. It is based on choices we are making today that determines tomorrow. It is not that men has no control over what happens to them, Men builds and destroys. We are what we are now because of choices of our parents, grand parents or whoever that was there before us or choices we make ourselves. We are product of people, God did His job of giving us body, blood,brain and soul, then he gave us family, society and country. It is through socialization that we are what we are. We would be different people if we were born in a different society.

It is our society that shapes our religion, philosophies, believes, our thoughts, technology and how we do things. And all this things are the one that determines how our lives gonna be. How we are directing our affairs will determine how our children will do their things and how their lives will be.

“A place is as good as people once lived there.“-unkown

We have choices

It is not like we are powerless before some powers that control events. We should only learn laws of God. Our creator is the only one that has supreme power to dictate what happens to us. However, our creator does not dictate to us anything because He gives us choices to make.

Let us refer to the Holy writings as a supporting statement:

Deuteronomy 30:15
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

From the above statements that have been uttered by God the creator of man and universe,it is obvious men have choices. If the supreme and sovereign God does not dictate anything to man, what else can be soo powerful such that it is able to dictate what happens to man without their control.

It is men that makes decisions to go to war and wound others and make other people’s lives miserable. It is people that enslave others . It is people that do crime and are sent to jail as a consequence, by other people Offcourse. It is people that oppresses other people and exploits them. If children do not succeed, it has direct connection with choices made by man and woman that gave birth to them. We make choices and face their consequences, we and other people that are within the sphere of our influences.

How things should be

The man was supposed to keep the world peaceful, clean beautiful and habitable. God left a beautiful and peaceful earth to man, and man was supposed to maintain it.

Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

The earth was perfect and the reason men keep pursuing imaginary destiny is because they are feeling guilt of the earth they have destroyed, and so they keep desiring it was like how God gave it to them. It is because their spirit saw what God gave them, and so they are always dissatisfied with what they are saying. However, it would not have been that difficult to make their life be full of joy and contentment, had they not given their souls to evil and lust of their flesh.

Man was not supposed to be in pursuit of a destiny, getting a fate in the process. He was supposed to enjoy every moment of his life by keeping the commandments of his God and creating beautiful things like God.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

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March 1, 2024
Jobs and careers
Do you enjoy your job?

Offcourse I enjoy what I do. But job and career are very different things. You could be enjoying daily routines or what you do but you don’t like your career. Career is what you were trained to do and job is what you wakes up to do daily mostly to earn a living.

Most often our jobs or careers does not match what is our innate interest and abilities and that is when we don’t enjoy our jobs. Otherwise if your job rhymes with your career and synchronizes with your abilities and natural inclinations, that is your personality and background and believes, then it becomes a heaven on earth. The way I enjoy IT and teaching. I enjoy solving people’s laptop issues and installing softwares on their computers. I value the trust my clients have for me that i can procure IT hardwares for them. Many would rather let me buy computer for them than do it themselves. It is fulfilling when people can trust you with issues of money and i like their feedbacks showing their satisfaction that they are enjoying what i bought for them, many months ago.

When in class, I enjoy the curiosity of students as they wait for my next statement. I like the inspirations i have given them that makes them want to do something worthwhile with their lives.

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February 29, 2024
My beautiful youth
Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

Youth age is the best time of one’s life time. It is where you feel like you are spoiled with options. You care very little about what is happening and all you do is follow your heart and do what is making you happy. The best part of youth age is teenage where you don’t have to look for money to pay bills, some other people are doing it for you. Great moments where I travelled wherever I want and enjoy whatever little I have without caring about tomorrow or unpaid bills. Adult life is slavery where you have to work soo hard just to pay bills that keep recurring, like moving in a circle, spending a lot of time and energy but very little progress if any.

Adulthood can be total wastage of life because all your energy today may not count tomorrow. If you paid your bills very well yesterday, they will not care if you did, if you r unable to do it today. They will disconnect your power, gas and even throw you out of your rented house. It is like you have no option.

In youth age you did not care who don’t like you, if your girlfriend disliked you, you knew soon or later, you get even a better one, now you worry soo much when your wife stop talking to you, and you have to work hard to keep a single relationship, if you talk with other women, you will be accused of cheating. Adulthood is a prison, I want to go back to my youth!

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February 28, 2024
I want to be my woman
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?

I think if i had some powers, i could change myself to be my girlfriend. This is beacuse i would like to start see things in her perspective. I would like to see why she fails to see things in my point of view. I would also like to know what is her exact feelings about me.

I would to understand what makes her soo upset, what are her exact expectations on me, and how much i have met those expectations. I would examine if she always mean what she says to me. I would like to understand whether she enjoys giving me trouble or what kind her action. I will examine if she is always attracted to other men and what kind of men that attracts her so that i can understand who are my competitors.

As a man, i can understand science, technology, philosophy, history, religion and all knowledge; but i guess understanding the woman is the greatest challenge for a man. Even the successful and prosperous men of the world had problems with their wives and girlfriends, I will understand what is in a woman. What makes man feel soo bad and miserable when rejected by a girlfriend. I will examine why the money, fame, and all the good things of life like big cars,real estates, precious stones and whatever a man desires are not able to replace the place of woman in the heart of a man.

I will examine why girls has influenced a lot of decisions by men and probably understand woman in totally. Her emotions, her thoughts, her perspective etc.

Questions i need answers
- What kinds woman decisions
- Her thought patterns
- The role of feelings versus logic in her life
- The role of society in her decisions
- her insecurity and fears
- what are her deep feelings and thoughts
But one of the most important thing i will understand and write my findings about is why are women easily influenced by their friends and they change their mind soo easily with entrance of new information. All this i will find and write a book to help men

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February 27, 2024
Student Records Desktop Application for Teachers
Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.

SYSTEM DESIGN

Various data entry forms are described and it shows how a user with generally interact with the system. The module shows how JavaFX will be used to design graphics for the user. Here we also describe how software
components interacts with each other and how database is designed.

The user login shows the first window that appears when user first loads the application to the working memory. Immediately the login form is loaded, it should invoke the MAMP server software opening the MySQL database. This is important because if the database is closed, login form will generate an error as it cannot access the user details. Before the users can access the
software features, they need to login with their username and their password given when they were registered as application users.

Home page

The home page shows the various access points for various parts of the software. It is divided into three sections; one section is a module that have all the forms that can be used to enter data in to the system. The Other module contains all the data forms that are used to update data. Data
update forms uploads the current data and allows the user to edit the information displayed before saving it again. The view Data module enables various reports generated by the system to be seen. The dashboard is designed to be attractive to the user.

Student registration form

This a form where personal details of a student is first entered. It asks for the basic information of the students like three names, birth certificate number and locations. The form is in two sections, one section which is on the left is for general information about the students whereas the right section is for gathering data specific to admission of the student in the school. In the
registration section, teacher’s number for the class in which the student is being admitted should be able to be retrieved. There is a suggestion of creating two forms by separating this form in into separate student registration form and student admission during implementation, but for
now, it will serve its purpose of bringing a conceptual framework for development.

Marks entry form

It shows a form where student marks should be entered. Besides is a table where marks should appear after marks is saved. The table is just a structure and not the real table. When entering marks, the student data should be searched by use of the button on the upper right hand side of
the form. The user enters student’s Admission number on a textbox and then press the search button. The student name should appear on the textbox labelled “Student name:”

Some results

The following paragraphs below and photos shows some transactional process of my project.

The student marks can be entered after he/she is registered from the marks entry form; Student is first searched from the student table and the details added to the marksheet by clicking the update button. The marks are entered such that whatever the marks, CAT1 is evaluated to 20% of the
total evaluation in a term, Midterm is evaluated to 20% and end term is evaluated to 60%.

After save button is placed, the student exam data is placed on a database table as shown calculating some important statistic like mean

If you would like the whole project, send your contact details on the remarks column.

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February 26, 2024
Underdogs
If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?

In Oxford dictionary, the word underdog is a noun used to mean a person, team, country or group of people thought to be in a weaker position than others and therefore not likely to be successful to win in a competitions.

First, that word I always feel like it is a discriminatory because the stronger one usually don’t refer themselves as topdogs or overdogs which is the opposite of underdogs.

Second, it is unfair to think that any one that overcame several handles from their locality to be selected to present their region in a competitions are weak. No one goes and pick the weak people to present them in a competitions, before a team or a person has come to be in a competition, they have gone through other several competitions and won.

Third, if the gathering for competitions is a gathering of human beings, why talk about dogs. Why don’t you use words like under teams or under people. Why dogs yet dogs are not participating. Are dogs aware that there are human beings being referred as underdogs?

To refer to a study case, I have observed big teams being knocked out of competition by the soo called a weaker team. There was a time, the world football giant, Brazil was eliminated in group stages in world cup competitions. Games like football are full of surprises where unexpected team wins in a competition. It happens all the time and I wonder where this word underdogs comes from.

Few days ago we observed African championships played in ivory coasts and strong teams were given hard times by the teams perceived as weak.

Sometimes I feel like it is used to intimidate some nations or regions. Why would anyone strong want to engage in a competition with a weak dog. A strong person that would enjoy a competition with a weak person is either stupid or don’t believe on themselves.

Therefore, as a matter of fact, this word should be removed from English dictionaries and it’s usage be burned. Any broadcaster for example in sports that continue using this word should be fined for every mention of the word. The English experts should find a suitable replacement of the word, but more importantly, we should stop thinking there are weak people in a competition.

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February 25, 2024
Dating
Daily writing prompt
What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?
View all responses

Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other’s suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship.
It falls into the category of courtship, consisting of social events carried out by the couple either alone or with others.

The reason dating is a challenge is because am an indoor person. I prefer spending time alone, writing or coding. I can easily forget about our dating and this will really upset my partner. Sometimes am soo tired to talk and all i want is just sleep or scroll my phone endlessly without evening seeing what is on the screen, thinking nothing. This is a state i refer as hanging. It happens when i have been teaching the whole day long or have been writing for some hours and so am mentally tired. My partner may wonder why am not calling.

During dating period, the partners presents the best of themselves to their partner, am not likely to do that because am always real, 24 hours 7 days a week. I will not be different three years later from what you saw in the first day, and so my inability to impress is likely to make me loose good people that are looking for perfection, causing me emotional pain in the process.

The idea of always going for a date is not pleasant to me because am addicted to indoor activities, hope my partner will enjoy it, otherwise i expect conflict of interests.

Otherwise i don’t expect any other difficulties in future, because i can manage every situation and everything, except another human being. I can work on computers, repair hardwares and correct softwares, but when it comes to dealing with another human beings, i find it difficult because human beings are complicated creatures. You will upset them when you intends the bests and leave without giving proper explanations. If i have to avoid difficulties, then i have to stay alone for the next six months, and everything about me will be just fine.

please tell me about what you finds difficult in the comments.

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February 24, 2024
It is okay
What advice would you give to your teenage self?

Welcomed in corrupted world

We were born in unperfected world. The whole life is full of learning, nobody gave us a manual on how to find our way around the world, and so whatever we became was highly influenced by who was our teachers and our environment. Sometimes we acted according to what we felt because we did not know better. We cannot go back to rectify what we did and start afresh because time is irreversible, therefore, keep thinking and regretting on what we did and what we failed to do is pointless, waste of time and energy, null and void.

Possibilities of goodness

Most often we dwell soo much on past that we fail to discover the much wealth of possibilities ahead. Our history trick us into believing that it has got us forever. What we did in past should not prevent us from being good people today because if the gods expects us to leave our past behind and focus on tomorrow and today, who are we to dwell on what is unnecessary.The holy scriptures states:

“Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”

We let past define us

We are usually defined by what happened in our life’s and so our behavior and thoughts are to greater extent influenced by the traumas we faced. You would be surprised to discover the number of people living a life below what they could have possibly lived because they are always running away from their past, or they are hearing voices from their past. There are people whose actions, thoughts and imaginations are always dictated by what happened rather than what should happen. some of this people are people with guilt and are not able to go beyond their past actions and behaviors. This kind of people are soo entangled on what happened such that it obscures their ability to see what can happen. They can hence let opportunities goes past them or fail to capitalize on assets they have because of their thoughts that were created from past negative experiences, hindering them from moving forward.

As an example, we make decisions out of bitterness because of those that did hurt us. We fail to create good relationships because we want to revenge on every man or woman we meet in life because of that one special person we loved that hurt us so much. We fear to walk boldly in the world because we were abused in childhood and developed self hate. We label ourselves failure because of school grades we got in exams we did many years ago. We live in pity for ourselves because of the parents we lost in your age etc…and the list is endless.

Many of us dwelling in the past

We have soo many people living in the past, there are grownups that are fathers, managers, mothers, presidents, preachers and every kind of professionals that are still stuck in their childhood issues. Leaders that have childhood issues causes suffering to their subjects because they can make decisions based on their fears and insecurity.

Last December I visited relatives and I discovered that at their 50s they are still in pain because of the rejection they received from relatives who did not like them. Their father’s abandoned them when they were still children, their father is already dead but their heart still cries in pain because of what he did over 40 years ago. I discovered this has lead them to make bad decisions, reject people and even mistreat others, some of whom could have made their lives very successful. They could not keep jobs because they have issues with interpersonal relationships. Failing to keep relationships that can help our career and professional growth is too much power to give to our past.

They repel anyone that comes close to them because of what happened beyond their control, whole 40 years ago!. It is amazing how a single incidence can decides what we do and become so many years later. But why should we give single a single occurrence soo much power over us when God of the universe who is our creator does not even expect us to dwell in the past as shown in the holy writings:

“Isaiah 42:9
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Leave the past to the past

So as we grow up, we should decide and make a strong resolve that we are leaving the past where it belongs and focus on the possibilities that can happen. Don’t focus on who rejected you, there is possibilities of people cherishing you in all other days of your life. You can leave a health life, free from mental traumas of the past; Believe me it can happen. Whatever the trauma, may it be experience of war, violence or death of people close to us, we can start telling our mind that there exists tranquility and peace and beauty of life. There are beautiful things beyond our challenges, pains and things that makes us disturbed. The best things is to start telling ourselves that better things can happen. We can succeed no matter what has happened or is happening. Even if you are in prison, there are chances of you can be free if you believe it long enough, no matter how slight are your chances.

You can let your pains torments you forever and rob you joy of life or you can decide to see the beauty in life and focus goods that can happen. It is to a great extent a matter of choice.

So to my young self, it matters a lot what will happen, it matters very little what happened, focus ahead.

Tell yourself the same things please!

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February 23, 2024