Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ghana, Professor Elsie Effah Kaufmann has advised young ones to acknowledge their limitations in life and work around that for their own benefit.
According to her, setting reasonable limitations saves one from many heartaches borne out of failure to reach certain goals in life.
Speaking to YFM’s Rev. Erskine on the Y Leaderboard Series she admonished: “If you can set a limit for yourself and you are reasonably sure it’s a reasonable limit, it comes with an understanding of who you are and what your capabilities are. Sometimes it is not just you. It is somebody sitting externally. That is why it is good to have people around us who will be able to help us to reflect on ourselves and to know when we have actually reached the limit”.
Prof. Kaufmann further shared her experience when it comes to setting reasonable limits. While a student at the University of Pennsylvania, she believed that she could pursue two majors at her time in school. However, she observed that she was going beyond her limit that she had no time for herself or for sleep.
“When I got there I was in the bioengineering class. Then we were told that there was flexibility. We were told that you could do whatever you wanted. And me thinking that I could do everything decided to do a double major. So I went for my bioengineering and I added chemical engineering. I regretted it. I was not sleeping and the assignment were coming left and right. I simply could not and that had never happened to me before in terms of academics. I was struggling and I couldn’t get around. I remember going to the academic advisor and crying that I couldn’t continue. I learnt a lesson from it. That was when I learnt my limitations”, she related.
The National Science & Maths Quiz (NSMQ) Quiz Mistress noted that the important thing to do before venturing into any endeavor was to ask one’s self certain questions such as “what is the goal and what is it I am trying to achieve? Without this can I still achieve it? Is the sacrifice of health and life worth this?”.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah
