Well it is that time of year again: finals week. As you begin to sit down at your desk at the library after taking an hour or two to clean your room even though you are not going to spend your time studying there, you look for more distractions. As one distraction leads to another, you might think about who might be narrating your actions. Then you realize there is no narrator better than the king of distractions: Tracy Jordan. Here are some of the things you might envision him saying about your distractions:
Okay, focus! Focus, focus focus. You might be thinking of this for five minutes and then you look out the window and see a bird hanging out. You then start to think about what a bird does on a daily basis and there goes maybe fifteen minutes of your study time.
You’ve probably become bored scrolling through all of your social networking sites. However, you may not have checked to see what the Weather Channel has to say about what clearly is a sunny day…admittedly, you checked the forecast an hour ago before you went to the library!
All of your friends are most likely studying hard for their finals…or maybe they are distracted with their own thoughts just like you…regardless, they are not answering your texts. You cannot stand not having anyone to talk you out of writing your paper!
While writing your philosophy paper, you cannot seem to nail down a strong thesis. Then you start to think about how the issues you are discussing can be deeply explained. Distracted, you then start to think about the meaning of finals and their purpose in society. Now that is deep!
Your last assignment is due at midnight, you have not started it, and it is now 8:00pm. By now, you have already mentally checked out for the semester. Maybe it is time to get back on track and finish your semester strong. But, your brain refuses to cooperate.
Sometimes, the reading assignments you get in class do not really have any main points that stand out. However, the professor decides to put questions about these readings on the final exam. While reviewing the readings, you begin to compare the meaningless situations described in your readings to hypothetical scenarios you make up on the spot.
It is three in the morning on the day of your final. All you want to do is call it a day and go to bed, but you put off studying until the last minute. Your head tells you to keep going because you know you can ace the exam, but your heart is telling you to forget it and just pray a miracle happens when you take the exam.
As Tracy Jordan once said, “Heavy is the head that eats the crayons.” The success of your finals week is what you make of it, despite the stress and pain you may endure along the way. No matter how much you distract yourself, you still have to get the work done! Distractions are all part of the process, but once you finish finals week, there is nothing like the feeling of being done with the semester for good. Best of luck on your finals, Collegiettes…see you next semester!