BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER WHEN IT’S NOT ALL TOGETHER
You’ve almost survived the November windstorm–just one week left to wrap the course up and get ready for finals. Congratulate yourself for making it this far!
I’ve blogged before about the detail in preparing final presentations, polishing term assignment -ministrivia that isn’t so trivial (see https://www.stevevogel.net/a-successful-term-end/ for a refresher).
This week I’m going to address dealing with the possibility that not everything is going to get done. How do you deal? You can freeze. You can catastrophize. Or you can pause, take stock, and outline the strategy that will optimize your academic outcome this term, and will have the better long-term outcome for your overall program.
I used the word catastrophize because unless you have looked at realistic probabilities for each course, you really are stacking the deck against yourself. So the first step is to figure out where you actually are. You can do this!
Assessing the situation:
Stop. Take a breath. For each course, review your grades on work completed. Pencil in what your grade will be if you complete the rest of the work with the same or a slightly lower grade, using the grading weights in the syllabus.
Endorse yourself for engaging constructively.
First draft schedule:
Now, schedule the time you will need to complete each assignment. Allow for contingencies. If it looks like you need more time than you actually have—and this is the case for most students at this time of the year—reschedule appointments and social or family events where possible.
Endorse yourself for taking this step.
Get creative about how you are going to complete the work:
For each remaining task, be that presentation, term paper, or portfolio, look for ways to cut the time required.
This might mean cutting the polish that you love to put on your work, or it might mean being creative. For example, this might be the time when you reassign roles in a group project. Or it might mean you are more selective in the number of references in a bibliography.
Brainstorm here. Use your strategist.
Endorse yourself for using a problem-solving approach.
Prioritize the remaining work:
This is a difficult step. Not fun, but doable.
Examine which of your courses and your program can survive a readjustment of your targeted grade goal. If you have a course or two that can’t survive a readjusted grade goal, just make a note of that for decision time later.
Now, choose the task that is most important for you to ensure you reach your newly targeted grade.
Endorse yourself–you probably went against the grain here if you readjusted a grade goal.
Reschedule the work:
Take into account your creative adaptation and prioritization, and reschedule the work.
Keep enough time for self-care: sleeping, eating, social connection, and maintaining. Get outside each day. Stretch.
Get creative about minimizing travel time, meal time, grooming, and self-care. Social connection can be as brief as a ten-minute check-in with a buddy or partner each day. Getting outside can be doing stretches on the balcony.
Schedule time off from work or trade shifts with coworkers. This is the time to call on friends and family to buy yourself time. If it is possible for them to take on some of your chores or responsibilities, ask now. Call on grandparents for childcare, and roommates for cooking–you will pay them back later. Ask now.
Endorse yourself for putting your goals ahead of false pride.
Reassess your situation:
Pencil in a realistic estimate of how you will do in each course with the adjustments you have made.
You have now put yourself in a much more solid position both for getting enough work done, and for making informed decisions.
Endorse yourself for having done that work.
Decision time:
You may wish to consult with an advisor on the objectivity of your evaluation here, but the decision is yours.
If there is a reasonable probability that you can meet these goals now, go for it!!
If it is highly probable that a course is unrecoverable, check the drop/withdraw date.
Whatever your decision is, remind yourself of the priorities: first, your wellbeing and that of others important in your life. Then, your long-range career. Then, the program. Then, the course.
Endorse yourself for this work throughout. It’s not easy.
Connect with me to explore how we might work together toward your academic success. [email protected] .
The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS, PLEASE DIAL 911.