To Jubilee Graduates (J-20)

This is a message to Jubilee students from the 20th class of 2016. It is always a great pleasure to connect with some of you through social media. The really odd thing is that I haven’t met anyone of you in person “yet,” but for some reason it feels like I know you guys very well. The one thing that I can think of is that, at some point in time in 2001, I was in your place.

I am not trying to lecture you guys about what you should and shouldn’t do because I know that as Jubilians of this generation, you don’t like to be told what to do. I am only taking a minute of my time to respond to two students from your class who approached me asking for advice on: time management during exams and what to study at university.

Again, I believe there is no magical recipe or one right answer to such questions. But I would like to share with you some things that I hope you find helpful during this period of mock exams, preparation for ministry exams and transitioning to the next step (university is just an option). I will write my points as numbered rules so that they are hopefully easier to comprehend.

Rule #1: Define who you are and what you want

I think this is important for you to give you a sense of direction as to where you are heading. You don’t just wake up by accident and go to school for no specific reason. There is a point from all of this and you need to be aware of it. If no one told you then you need to figure out your position in this world. The earlier you do it the better your life gets. You should really know yourself very well and then decide what you want so that you can become a better person and a positive contributor in this world.

Rule #2: Associate yourself with people who share your ideas and interests.

You will be shocked that once you define yourself and know what you want, this would put you ahead of the game among your peers and you will become a thinker, a pioneer and possibly an entrepreneur. I am not saying that you can find out who you are and what you exactly want in an hour or two, some people take a lifetime to do that. I think the journey will be interesting regardless of the results. Once you know what type of person you are, then you will start looking for people who share your values and interests. Interestingly enough, if you put yourself out there on social media outlets, then others will start reaching out for you and tell you that they share your interests as well.

Rule #3: Be transparent, positive and ignore negative people

Some people have a hard time expressing themselves. That’s fine. But once you learn to express yourself, try to explain yourself by saying exactly what you mean and mean exactly what you say. Why does anyone say something and mean something else? It is much easier to be straight to the point. Now, I believe that it is healthy to know that negative people exist and that they are a part of life. But, never listen to them or allow them to put you down. You can make negative people look bad by your achievements. Negative people don’t work as hard, and don’t take initiative and will never be massively successful. So you can let them know that they’re negative by directly telling them that, or indirectly by doing the things they couldn’t do because they were so busy complaining about life.

Rule #4: Set higher long-term goals, it will make you much less stressed out about achieving current short-term goals

No one told me how to handle such stressful period when I was in my Tawjihi year. I only learned this “stress-reduction” method when I was finishing up my thesis for my PhD. I was so stressed out and kept thinking about failing. I was so scared. I started getting these negative thoughts that I should not be an academic and that I should quit and become a businessman or even a comedian. But, I still wanted to finish what I started so I can prove to myself that I am a winner. Then, I started looking for ways to motivate myself so I started thinking about what will happen after I finish my PhD. I envisioned the future. I started feeding myself with positive thoughts. I kept telling myself that once I am done with my PhD I am going to try and change the world. Then I started thinking about how it is possible for me to change the world being a mathematics teacher. I let my mind take me places I have never been and allowed my thoughts to push me to see myself doing great things. I thought about creating funny math lessons, post them on Youtube and use comedy, art and music to make the lessons more engaging. I started thinking about the set of skills needed to implement such project until I had a headache from thinking about this dream to transform the way mathematics is taught. I basically let myself dream and ended up having greater sense of who I am and what I want to do. When I stopped dreaming and turned back to the laptop screen, it seemed that typing my dissertation was a minor obstacle to overcome to achieve bigger and greater things. This is how I managed to overcome my stress during my thesis writing for PhD. I finished my PhD and now I am making steps towards my dream.

Rule #5: Believe in yourself and know that all the things around you were made by people that are no smarter than you

When I started doing my homework on how successful people became successful I got to learn many things. I read about what kinds of experiences they went through during their journey to success. Some of them were made fun of, some where doubted, fired, kicked out and told the nastiest things in the world. They accepted their realities, took the challenge and changed their lives. I related to many of the hardships they went through. I also listened to seminars from life coaches and motivational speakers on how to develop a plan to become successful and it seemed like believing in oneself is one of the most important things. Therefore, whatever people say about you or tell you, you should always take it in, evaluate it and see if you can make use of it in order to achieve your own goals. Just remember that all laws and rules created around us were set by people that are no smarter than you. some rules are so ancient and need an update. Sometimes it is a good thing to go through hardships and resistance from people around you, it is a living proof that you are pushing to do things that were never done before. So, you should keep going forward and trust that you are on the right track.

Rule #6: Be honest with yourself first then with others and once you do that, never accept that word “NO” from anyone.

Many people do things for the wrong reasons. We were always told to study so we can get a job and make money. We were told to become doctors and engineers so we can make more money than teachers and artists. This is s scary reality that has got to change. Parents and students need to be honest with themselves and make their decisions based on knowledge of surroundings, not just because it’s nice to have” Dr.” or “Eng.” next to your names. For examples, look up how many doctors are needed in Jordan compared to linguists in Arabic language. If every smart person goes to engineering and medicine, then one can wonder why in our region Arabic language, religious studies, history and arts are not up to global standard in an era of social media and technology. So if you are honest with yourself and with others and figured out your passion, you should have no problem in expressing what you want to do to people around you. I am sure many obstacles will arise along the way and you should not accept “no” from anyone. You are your dream protector and you will live your life trying to achieve your dream, so never let anyone stand in your way.

Rule #7: Life is too short to live other people’s dreams. Live yours.

When you have figured out what you want, associated with people who are similar to you in the way of thinking, became transparent, and set high goals to achieve, then it is only natural that you will keep pressing and pushing daily to move one step closer to achieve your dreams. Once you are at that stage, you will keep feeling that you are running out of time that you can’t waste any minute trying to achieve someone else’s goals. For example, you should love your parents to death and respect them at all times, but never go to medical school just because your dad’s dream was to become a doctor and he couldn’t do it for some reason. Our parents were nice enough to give us tools to live by, but life changed and keeps changing and one must stand up and make his or her own decision. You have to choose what you love, not what others say. Life is too short and your time is limited.

To conclude, I understand that Jubilee school students are selected based on academic achievement and high scores on standardized tests and IQ exams. I believe this is an advantage and a curse at the same time. It is an advantage because there are many beautiful minds gathered in one place. It is a curse because many of us think that just because we are at Jubilee, then success will be handed to us and we won’t have to work as hard. That’s wrong. You might be surprised that if I were to choose between talent and hard work, I would choose hard work every time. A combination of both is ideal. But, talent without hard work might not take you anywhere. Hard work with less talent will take you somewhere eventually. What I am trying to say is that attending Jubilee shouldn’t be considered a privilege or a Tawjihi competition. Many students outside Jubilee score equal or higher than Jubilee students. Jubilee students should be looking at designing the next web-search algorithm to build the new search engine that will compete with Google in the Middle East the same way Baidu is doing in China. Jubilee students should be considering greater goals, which aligns with the original vision that Jubilee was founded for. I hope that J-20 would not have the highest enrollment in medical school. Don’t get me wrong, if you choose medicine and it happens to be your passion, then by all means i support you. But I want you to know that the world has changed and there are lots of ways that you can change the world by. I hope that in the next years, we have Jubilee graduates that are game changers and influencers in and outside Jordan.