10 Life Lessons from a Spectacular Friend named “Jadams”

by | Jun 24, 2017 | Editor's Muse, Inspire, Self Development, Unfettered | 0 comments

Jadams is the short form for Joshua Adama, he is not the average kind of guy. I hardly remember all the events that made me admire him but the most important thing were the life savers he threw around without knowing. Today is his birthday and I feel it’s the appropriate time to pick out some of the lessons I learnt from his life. Joshua was once the Speaker for the Student Union Government in Obafemi Awolowo University, the first lesson I learnt is about this important role he played.

  1. As a man thinketh:

    We were waiting in a classroom at the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, I was timid. every one of us had put on the freshman attitude of fear and apprehension. Jadams sauntered in with not the least sense of fear or caution, he wowed us with tales of his exploits in the Nigeria Defense Academy. Before we left that hall, he declared that he would be SUG President before graduation. He eventually was Speaker of the House and proved to be a great leader.

  2. Fear is a Killer:

    I found it difficult to approach my lecturers but one day, Jadams said something “these people are humans like you and me, the worst they can do is to send you out or shout you down”. I gained some confidence by watching him interact with lecturers without any iota of fear.

  3. Respect is reciprocal:

    Jadams was never a people pleaser and I have never seen him cower when disrespected. This made him stand out.

  4. Generosity:

    I shared his bed space recently while I enrolled for my Masters, I had to flunk out eventually. Jadams was still as accommodating as he always was while we were undergraduates, his room was always open to students; undergrads and postgrads.

  5. Women:

    He has this grace with which he handles women, I will not be surprised if his wife has to ban him from talking to them. He always has ladies thinking and talking about him, I wonder how they don’t get jealous of each other. He is the typical case of “peaceful polygamy”, I pray he chooses monogamy.

  6. In our fourth and fifth year in school

    Joshua told me not to overthink the answers for my examinations. He would walk into the examination area a few minutes to the test. The revisions he did just outside the door plus other times he managed to be in class seemed to always be sufficient. He taught me to realize that “I am sufficient”.

  7. Jadams understood the power of leverage

    He gives generously and so he has an army to respond when he is in need. he is never shy to ask for help and this lesson is one that is born out of humility even though it could look like Pride. Most of us find it easy to keep helping others without asking for help in return, but my friend would not blink twice because he believes you are as loyal to him as he is loyal to you.

  8. The Spiritual Man:

    As much as he loved women, my friend was given to service. He used to be a major part of ECU Fellowship on campus and I always wondered how he had the vigor to push the outreach to secondary schools and other activities like I have mentioned. He was the definition of a multi-tasking student.

  9. Leadership:

    The major conference we had for students of Estate Management all over Nigeria, turned out to become something really huge. He paved the way for this event to become more than just an OAU thing, we had students from all over Nigeria. The fundraisers we had were always pushed by Joshua, he just had this way with stakeholders and could probably persuade God to come for a conference.

  10. Joshua is an all rounder.

    While a lot of us had to pick niches in school, he was busy doing everything that would position him properly for his planned future. I would say we had to have Joshua in that class, or else it would have been just the Church boys, the bookworms, the Girl cliques, the Backbenchers, and no one who could fit properly into every clique that existed.

I wish Joshua a happy birthday and hope his lifestyle from my eyes would help some students out there prepare for University, understand who they are and how to tackle challenges in school.

I have written a book on Academic Writing for students, it’s also in my shop. Get a copy and if you would like to share any issue about life in school please contact me via email on [email protected] or just drop a comment.

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