This one goes out to all of you who feel like you’re drowning and there’s no way to pick yourself back up!
Photo courtesy of: http://blog.rwbenwick.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Fotolia_2566707_M_E…
This article is going to try to help you overcome your terrible time management skills with the help of someone who has made pretty much every mistake in the book when it comes to handling the overwhelming pressure of midterms and assignments.
And honestly – why would you ask for advice from the perfect student? Chances are they’re just going to make you feel terrible about your status as a victim of procrastination, anxiety, and laziness. So calm down, take a seat, and read on while I talk about things like buying the textbook the week before the exam, skipping a class for multiple months, not keeping up with readings, watching YouTube videos all night because I was doing “research” for my assignments, creating overly optimistic study schedules, and more!
I’m going to be totally real here because I think what helps more than anything is knowing that once you’ve fallen, there’s still hope to stand back up. So in an attempt to be completely honest, I’m not feed you the same stuff everyone says – “make sure you do X, Y, Z or you’ll regret it…” – because that’s just inducing the routine of fear-mongering in the academic culture. Let’s get out of that by opening the floor to the confessions of a terrible student:
1. Buying the textbook the night before (and removing the plastic the weekend before the Monday exam).
Yes, I did it. Yes, I regret it. But it happened. And I passed – and not just passed actually; I ended up with the course average as my mark, which I think is pretty indicative of how many people took the same path as me. AND YET, all of us did relatively well considering how the odds were lined up against us. The truth is though – I have no idea how this happened.
Photo courtesy of: http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3lrxjz6M91qcm570o1_500.png
I honestly felt doomed the whole entire time, and I wish I had some kind of justification for our action to explain away this totally unlikely phenomenon. But I don’t. And it’s okay. Sometimes, you’re going to feel like you’re going to fail. And when you finally gain the courage to vocalize that fear with your family or friends, some of them (probably won’t be anyone at U of T) will brush aside your concerns because you used to say things like “OMG I’m going to FAIL!” in high school all the time, and yet you ended up with amazing marks. But this time, it’s different…
Photo courtesy of: http://media.tumblr.com/d360b0306dd59a1b7603920640c6580b/tumblr_inline_m…
You honestly don’t know if you’re going to reach that precious 50%. It’ll be okay though. Whether you pass or not, you need to know that IT WILL BE OKAY.
2. Skipping a class and/or not doing the readings to keep up for two months.
Okay, this is as straightforward as stated above. But I don’t want to make it seem like you can get away with doing this and count on passing every time – this was a fluke. In some courses you can barely show up, memorize a few key words and get away with murder. In other courses, you will always be prepared, study your ass off, and still fail – so you’ll need to prescribe yourself a new method for each course in order to do well. Bottom line though? Try as hard as you can. Maybe you’re blowing off this course for another one. But I can’t pretend with you about how terrible an idea it is: if you’re feeling anxious about it, you probably should be. Go to class – just do it. Please don’t follow my footsteps if you can help it. But if you’re already there, know: it’s not the end of the world.
3. Spending my nights watching Netflix/YouTube as “research” or ”searching for inspiration.”
So this is a very bad habit that I’ve recently learned to control a little better this last month. But maybe some of you are still clinging onto summer by reliving those nights when you’d lie in bed watching The Mindy Project or Aziz’s Buried Alive, and eating chocolate until 4 a.m.
Photo courtesy of: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bj3LJzMCAAAKh5V.jpg
#turndownforwhat
THIS is not actually as bad an offence as some of the other habits many students fall victim to. Sometimes you just need to de-stress and what is a better way of doing that than turning to the black humour of your spirit animal, Louis C.K.? This late night de-stressor can spiral out of control however, if you start to abuse this outlet as a form of procrastination and pseudo “research.” When you catch yourself thinking something like “Oh, just one more [episode/video], I’m still brainstorming points for that paper,” you know things have gone too far. Who do we think we’re kidding? Our diligent high school selves are locked up in our bodies somewhere, screaming to be let out because they’re in disbelief of the fact that their future selves could ever justify watching videos as a necessary step to the productive process. Let that kid free, and listen to its disciplined ways.
4. The overly optimistic TO-DO list
You know what I’m talking about. When you pencil in “read 2 chapters of economics, write my lab report, read that novel I was supposed to have already finished last week, write a book, compose a song, and do the Macarena in McDonalds” all under Saturday. (Face it that last one might as well be on there because it’s about as likely as you finishing everything else on that list in one day.) This is just ridiculous, and it’s the biggest self-esteem crusher when you can’t accomplish everything on the list (and you thought you were going easy on yourself).
Photo courtesy of: http://cdn.themetapicture.com/media/funny-to-do-list-items.jpg
5. I actually can’t think of any “more” here – but I’m sure there’s a bunch of other stupid stuff I’ve done to myself over the years. Let me know what you’ve done to sabotage your own productivity! I’m always interested in knowing how other people handle their weak spots and bad habits, and how it’s treated them in the past.
So that’s it! BUT BEFORE YOU GO… let me repeat with emphasis:
I wanted to be real with you here because you need to know above all else that there still is and always will be hope. Survival is NOT a one-time test, where you can forget the material you learned the night before. It’s a never-ending process of trial and error, growing into your expectations, and just simply trying to juggle things that are constantly threatening to fall over. So let them fall over – inevitably, everything will – but you don’t just walk away and quit. You pick it up, and carry on with dignity.