Happy 2026!

/0 Comments/in /by

It’s been a while since the last blog.

In the meantime, life has been full in good ways. I’ve had the excitement—and the real reward—of coaching academic coaches, and of developing and delivering a series of workshops through the fall term for advisors at a community college. Thoughtful people, good questions, practical conversations about how students actually move through their terms. Work that reminds me, again, why this field matters.

And now here we are: first week of winter term.

At this point in the calendar, students are usually focused on the immediate horizon—syllabi, early assignments, getting back into routines. All sensible. But this week I’ve been encouraging them to do something that isn’t quite so obvious.

Look ahead to reading break.

Not in the usual way. Not “What will I do during reading break?” but rather: What do I want to have done before reading break arrives?

That small shift matters.

Reading break has a funny way of turning into a psychological dumping ground. We tell ourselves we’ll catch up then. Start big projects. Finish everything that didn’t quite get done earlier. Rest, too—somehow. The result is often an impossible pile of work squeezed into a very short window, which manages to be neither productive nor restorative.

If, instead, students plan backward from reading break—deciding what they want completed by that point—they can make more realistic choices now. They can distribute the load across the weeks where there is actually time and structure to do the work. And there’s a secondary benefit: reading break has a chance of becoming what it’s meant to be.

A break.

Maybe even one with a bit of R&R that doesn’t feel guilty.

This isn’t about perfection or getting ahead for the sake of it. It’s about avoiding the quiet trap of deferred overwhelm. It’s about being kind to your future self—especially the version of you who hits midterm season already tired.

And, oh yes—one more reminder while we’re here.

Now is the time to get funding and paperwork sorted. Applications, forms, signatures, confirmations. These things have a way of becoming urgent only after it’s too late to fix them quickly. A little attention early in the term can save a lot of stress later on.

Winter term moves fast. A bit of looking ahead—strategically, not anxiously—can make all the difference.

Good start to a term full of potential–connect with me for tips on gaining the most from that potential [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.

THE GOOD CHEATS

/in /by

This week I’m preparing a series of learning strategist workshops for student advisors at a post-secondary campus. In other words, I’ll be coaching the coaches.

If you’ve been following my blog, you will have a pretty good idea of the content of these workshops. As I’m preparing them, I’m reflecting on the college advisors I’ll be working with, and then on the many post-secondary advisors I have seen in my practice aiding students in achieving their goals.

So this is a bit of a hats off in appreciation, as well as an invitation for you to be aware of their resources that go beyond the aid you get from your instructors (which, of course, is critical and quite useful if you go to class).

It is possible to go through your entire program class-lab-seminar-study-assignments-exams rinse and repeat. This is like the gamer who never uses the cheats, or even knows about them. They miss the hidden buffs and perks, but not the hidden traps.

These are the good cheats. You can do your academic game without them, but you will do your academic game with greater ease and better results if you don’t leave them on the table.

What does your campus offer? My profession being what it is, Learning Strategy workshops come to mind—exam anxiety, exam strategy for different types of exams, academic writing, research, presentations—these are a few. Know what’s available.

Peer tutoring and tutoring groups cut the learning time in STEM courses, especially if you enrol in them before you really, really need them. 

Then there are those special people. Counsellors come to mind right away for dealing with issues, whether personal or interpersonal. Advisors come to mind for helping plan course loads and schedules to meet requirements, or for how to get off academic probation. Who doesn’t come to mind right away are librarians. Librarians know where to find information. Whoa. That is big. They even know how to help you find out what information you need. One business school librarian was offered a six-figure job in the US as a prompt engineer. She stayed with the business school because her joy was in working with students rather than training IT professionals on AI.

If you go to a librarian with a question about a topic or a paper or an organization and you don’t leave with information that you didn’t know you needed, I’ll eat that hat I always take off to them!

Data specialists can be there if your mass of data isn’t making sense, or you don’t know which approach to use, or which program. Back when p-hacking was acceptable, one campus had the queen of all p-hackers: she knew what and how to correlate to what and how to do it; her seminars were crammed with grad students. She has since moved on to more significant analytical methods as the field demands greater sophistication. Whatever your specialty, there are acceptable and preferred approaches to data analysis, and likely people on campus who can shorten your learning curve or keep you from heading down dead ends.

Office hours. Instructors who have office hours have them because they want you to succeed. See them before you really need to. Asking for review of your approach to an assignment can help you target requirements more closely. If you’re encountering difficulty, they may be able to point you to appropriate assistance, especially if you don’t wait until the week before the final.

Faculties and Departments. The handouts. The receptionists and office managers. (Bet you didn’t think of those people. They KNOW the system and the bureaucracy.)

There’s so much more! Rooms that can be booked for group meetings. Accommodations! Financial aid! Course recommendations you might not have thought of! Career assistance! Resume writing!

So know the cheats! And use them for a winning academic game!

I’m booking for the fall term. Check in with me to plan and strategize for your 2025-2026 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.

SUCCESS MINDSET WHEN YOU’RE NOT FEELING IT

/in /by

First, a shoutout to summer session students facing exams this next couple of weeks: My exam checklist is one of my most trafficked blogs, so here’s the link: https://www.stevevogel.net/exam-week-june-checklist/ Let me know how it goes!

Shifting now to summer’s end, the school supply ads are spamming your inbox and look at that–there’s only a couple of weeks of summer left! I’m thinking of any of you who had high plans and big resolutions to do this, and that, and that, but instead you did other things and are beating yourself up.

Here’s where I’m going to say, Hey, stop that! I invite you to explore a success mindset, even if you didn’t succeed in doing everything you had planned to do. Hint: There is always more to do, always something we don’t get done.

This is where you reflect on the good parts of the summer–what you really enjoyed. Relive those feelings. Store up in your mind that time with the kid at the beach, that moonlight warmth with someone special, the sun, the wind, the summer. If there were sad parts, acknowledge them. And then store away the wine of summer’s memories to take out during the stress times that will come up through next term.

Reflect on what you did get done on your list of intentions. Parts of projects count here. What went well? Note those successes.

Now, endorse yourself for pausing to look back on the summer and taking stock. Look at what you planned and didn’t get done, then quit the guilt and move to the analysis of metacognition: What did get done, what didn’t, and what was the difference? Then ask yourself what you will do differently next summer, whether that’s allowing more time for summer fun or building structure that makes it easier to get done what you had planned, while also making time for R&R. List your tips-to-self not only for next summer, but for reading week as well. 

Then, schedule your priorities for the next couple of weeks, including joys of summer as well as what is key for you to have in place for September. Almost all students have housing, registration, and supplies complete or scheduled by now: there are two others that will save you considerable stress if you make sure they’re in place now:

  • Make sure funding documentation is complete, including funding for accommodations, tutoring, extra supports, and
  • Ensure that you have met all the requirements for any accommodations you require, such as doctor’s or psychologist’s reports. 

Now, take a moment and write out the successes of the summer, big and small. Acknowledging your own successes is as important, or more important, as analyzing what fell off your to-do list: You are wiring your brain for success!

I’m booking for the fall term. Check in with me to plan and strategize for your academic success 2025-2026  [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.

HOW CAN I TRUST AI?

/in /by

How far can we trust AI?

We often just don’t know if AI is right, wrong, hallucinating, or biased. 

OK. How can we tell when to trust, when to check?

You can’t 100 per cent tell when AI is 100 per cent right–but you can reduce your risks while still gaining the tremendous benefits of the knowledge and capabilities of ChatGPT, CoPilot, or your preferred AI app.

The Risks–The Remedies

Errors in facts:

We’ve all heard about AI making up facts, whether that be court cases, research citations, biographic data about historical or current people, even answer keys–you can probably tell give me other examples.

Yet if your submitted work has AI-generated errors, you are still accountable for the accuracy of your work. 

Remedies?

  • Check citations and other information with original documents and sources.
  • Use more than one AI app and check them against each other.
  • Open declaration about where AI has been your source and what you have done to verify the information maintains your credibility even in the case of unwise reliance. 

Errors in analysis:

Errors in evaluating alternatives or critiquing opinions, analyses, and theses are trickier to check. If the AI results are based on wrong or hallucinated information, you won’t spot that possibility at first glance. This can make you look inept in the eyes of those with more experience (like your instructors), or can lead you to a less-than-ideal financial decision.

Remedies? 

  • Probe further, asking for sources and reasons for the points in the analysis, which you can check as mentioned above.
  • Again, using more than one AI reduces your risks and gives you more to think about (which is not a bad thing, what with thinking being what students do). 
  • It also helps to know the special strengths of the different apps in the subject area you are investigating.

Pandering to bias:

ChatGPT is one AI app that has been remarked as complimenting people on the brilliance of their prompts and comments, and tailoring responses to the data they have from your previous queries, as well as whatever other data it has collected on you. If you only want echo chamber responses, okay. Otherwise, seek remedies and see “Security” below.

Remedies? This is a tough one.

  • Ask for additional analysis with prompts that counter bias: “How would someone who disagrees with that analysis make a strong case?”
  • And again, use more than one app.
  • Use additional security to make it difficult for the app to “read” your biases. 

Security:

Information about your interests, your studies, your web traffic, and much else can be available to the AIs you use. One of my colleagues, questioning an invoice from a double-billing supplier, asked AI how to respond to the nth request for double payment. She is now face-palming at the response, which identifies her as a slow-pay who needs to guard her credit rating. And that comment is now in that app’s database, and who knows where else. Ouch!

Remedies?

  • Clear your history from the app after each use.
  • Use the app without signing in to your account. Use it without creating an account if you can.
  • Use the apps through virtual internet access. This is easy to set up and is often free — but watch what the provider does in terms of privacy.
  • Watch what information you are revealing to your app through your prompts. 

Seek expertise:

AI performance capabilities and tracking of your data capabilities are both increasing exponentially. Stay up-to-date on the uses, risks and remedies by regularly monitoring information sites and newsletters with up-to-date, accessible information geared to your level of technical understanding.

Mandatory: 

  • Always, always, always stay up to date on what your campus allows, forbids, and encourages on the use of AI.
  • Keep documentation that proves your virtue. 

Check in with me [email protected] to share what you have learned from using AI, and to work together designing its creative, strategic use. The goal is to use AI to effectively gain your academic goals.

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.

USING AI FOR EXAM PREP

/in /by

First, after I write a blog, I check the topic on ChatGPT to see if I missed key points. Last week, I didn’t miss key points on using AI to prep for essay questions, but I was reminded that point form makes for a better read.

This week, I’m focusing on other ways my students have used AI to cover key exam material effectively and efficiently:

Mnemonics:

For material where definitions or order are important, input the order or definition and ask AI to generate a mnemonic–that’s a sentence where the first letter of each word cues the order of what you’re going to remember. The classic example is the colours of the rainbow: Roll Off Your Great Big Inflatable Vegetable for Red, Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet.

This can be applied to any list where terminology or order is important, such as the bones of the hand, the Kings and Queens of England, the protected demographics in the Charter of Human Rights.

Flashcards:

Here you want to be able to remember precise detail. You might

Feed AI vocabulary lists for a second language or for SAT prep and cue it to prepare flashcards, save the deck, and have it present the cues to you in random order.

Feed AI technical terms with definitions, then cue it to prepare flashcards. Then have it present the definition and require you to supply the technical term. Also cue it to do the opposite, presenting the term and requiring you to supply the definition.

Multiple Choice:

Here’s what one grad student does: They feed their notes or text chapter into AI, then prompt it to generate dozens of multiple-choice questions. The student gets creative in modifying the questions, fine-tuning how close the choices are to being correct, and changing the focus of the areas covered. This is a chance to focus on the areas that are challenge areas, as challenge areas vary from student to student. 

Other:

Short-answer questions . . . Fill-in-the-blank questions . . . Sample STEM questions . . . Math questions . . . I leave it to you to use your AI to experiment, prompt, revise, and get creative.

Bonus:

As was the case last week, learning begins as you choose the material, design the prompts, and evaluate the results, not just when you answer the questions.

With AI, you’re not stuck if you don’t understand why the correct answer is correct. AI gives you the chance to explore further.

For example, if you don’t see how that integral was solved, AI is right there, and you can prompt it to walk you through, step by step. Then, it will present you with another integral and walk you through it again, rinse and repeat. Over time, you will eventually become competent and confident.

If you don’t understand a philosopher’s explanation of linguistics, you can input the explanation and ask for clarification, being careful to check out alternative explanations. 

Caveat:

Keep in mind that AI has been known to be wrong, to hallucinate, to make stuff up. Have a way of performing reality checks.  

In politics, history, and philosophy, you might prompt for alternative explanations or use different AIs, and check with your instructor during office hours. How do you know that that publication cited exists? That that is a real court case? Have alternative checks where verification might be needed.

Mandatory: Always, always, always stay up to date on what your campus allows, forbids, and encourages on the use of AI. Keep documentation that proves your virtue. 

Check in with me [email protected] to share what you have learned, and to work together designing creative, strategic use of AI. The goal is to use AI to effectively nail the material for recall and performance come exam time.

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.

AI

/in /by

Why am I doing this?

I was going to blog about using AI to reach academic goals. Then I thought, “Why would I blog about using AI when students can use AI to explore how to use AI to gain academic goals?”

Then I thought, “Hm. Is there any learning strategy I can blog on that students couldn’t use AI themselves?” 

So then I asked myself, “Why are students still working with me on gaining and maintaining their academic strategic approaches?”

And it’s about finding what works for them. It’s about keeping on keeping on—knowing when to fine-tune, when to try something new, or when to recognize that a particular tool or strategy is not for them. 

What I can share are the AI suggestions that have worked with my students.

If a blog about an AI tool prompts you to do your own exploration using AI, then it’s a benefit and bonus! We are all amateur prompt engineers in this field: I’m happy to share and happy to hear from you about what has worked well.

So AI: Shared Tip for the day

As you probably have found, AI can be great at summarizing or organizing text. You can go beyond this to use AI to prepare for essay questions that you might expect on an exam. You can prompt AI to generate essay questions based on topics, or better, on text that you provide. Next, you can ask for an outline of what should be covered in an essay response. You may wish to revise this outline. Then, you can use the revised AI outline to draft a practice essay and run it through Grammarly. What you need to remember for the exam is the key points of the outline.

Note: I am not recommending that you prompt AI to write the essay—during the exam, you will find it much easier to remember a point-form outline than to memorize a whole essay. And you won’t be flagged for AI-cheating on the exam. Play with this. How do different AI apps deal with this approach? Try different prompts and refinements?

Mandatory: Always, always, always stay up to date on what your campus allows, forbids, and encourages. Keep documentation that proves your virtue. 

Let me know how this worked for you and if you have any questions about fine-tuning your academic AI approach. 

Connect with me to further strategize to meet your academic goals: [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.

PICK UP THE EXTRAS THAT CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

/in /by

These are the weeks where summer beckons. For spring session students, classes are over, but exams are not yet finished. For high school students, classes are winding up before finals.

 It’s a time when the regular routines and structure are blurred or dissolved. It’s also the time when there are extras that can be tricky to capture, but can give you that extra boost.

Here are some extras available on most campuses. You can likely identify others at your school, but here are the ones I hear about most often:

Extra time on campus: With no classes to attend, you have extra time. I encourage you to use it. Get to campus. It’s worth the travel time to avoid distractions and gain a few hours on challenge material.

Extra time with the instructor: The instructor knows what is on the exam. Many instructors and TAs keep office hours to be available for students once classes are over. Make an appointment, and use some of your extra time to outline your questions for your meeting.

Extra opportunities to consult experts for help with challenging areas: This can include team tutorials or additional sessions in the statistics lab. It can be exam workshops. 

Extra time using AI to polish your game: Use AI to augment your own study techniques. AI can help break down STEM examples, can generate sample questions, and can generate mnemonics—more on that next week. 

Extra time for you: Do spend time on you. Deliberately get some summer in, in addition to your self-care routines. The key is enjoying summer deliberately, rather than as a distraction.

How to decide what to do with all of this extra time so it doesn’t just dribble away? First, think of your three major challenges from now until end of exams. Then, plan how the extras you have identified can be used to meet those challenges.

Connect with me to match the extras in your academic world and how you can use them to meet your main challenges: [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.

EXAM WEEK JUNE CHECKLIST

/in /by

Exams this month for high school students and spring printers: I run this checklist at the end of each term, so if it looks familiar, this could be a quick refresher, just to be sure that you don’t overlook the obvious! 

First, endorse yourself for getting this far. Endorse for each quiz, each class attended, each problem set that did get done, each piece of work handed in. 

Double check your email to make sure there are no last minute scheduling or place of writing changes.

If you have take-home exams, double check the rules about AI. For example, sometimes Grammarly is allowed, sometimes it isn’t. The rules are changing almost as quickly as AI is evolving, and are not usually consistent from department to departmen.

That done, it’s on to planning for the final exam. I’m assuming you have gone for coaching and workshops if you need them for exam anxiety—if not, then note to self to do that next term. Book any last-minute consult you need in this area with counselling and possibly your strategist.

Then down to the checklist. This is the night to map out the week!  Go over this checklist and adapt it for your circumstances. 

During Exam Weeks:

You know what I’m going to say.

Maintain your structure for sleep, meals and moderate exercise. If you’ve fallen off a bit, get back into the regular routine that works for you.

In the day or so before an exam,  plan an activity for after the exam. This helps you maintain objectivity and keep the perspective that life does go on after the exam.

Prioritize your allocation of remaining study time so that what needs the most attention gets the most attention.

Now take a sheet of paper or large file card, and make up a plan of what you need to do, and what you need to bring to the exam.

Plan your plan with a list. Your list might include

  • Gas up the car or make sure you have your bus pass.
  • Have snacks and meals handy.
  • Review study summary.
  • Complete help sheets that are allowed.
  • Make sure clothes are ready to wear.
  • Make sure last minute trips for medical, personal, and school supplies are looked after.
  • Make sure cash and credit cards are in order.

The Night Before the Exam

  • Eat a light dinner.
  • Review study summary.
  • Gather help sheets that are allowed.
  • Set out breakfast.
  • Pack snacks, lunch and hydration for tomorrow.
  • Charge phone.
  • Charge tablet/computer.
  • Charge calculator.
  • Make sure student ID is in wallet.
  • Make sure bus pass or parking pass is in wallet.
  • Make sure cash, credit cards, and license are in wallet.
  • Make sure wallet is in purse or pants you’ll be wearing.
  • Pack extra pens/pencils.
  • Pack a timepiece (that may be your phone).
  • Check weather forecast.
  • Set out clothes for tomorrow.
  • Pack backpack with everything except food and items charging.
  • Eat a light snack if that is part of your regular food plan.
  • Place packed backpack out of sight next to your door.
  • Set your charged or plugged in alarm and put it out of reach of your bed.
  • Set alternate alarm.
  • Visualize writing the exam.
  • Visualize walking out of the exam room.
  • Put away the day with your bedtime routine and calming exercises.
  • Go to bed and sleep.

The Day of the Exam 

  • Go through your morning grooming routine.
  • Eat a light breakfast.
  • Pack phone and charger into your backpack.
  • Pack tablet/computer and charger into your backpack.
  • Pack calculator and charger into your backpack.
  • Pack snacks, lunch and hydration into your backpack.
  • Check your wallet contents and ensure it is in your pants or purse.
  • Grab your keys.
  • Go to the exam site. Target to arrive 15 minutes before exam time–too early is almost as bad as too late.

At the Exam Site

  • Go to the bathroom.
  • Avoid lingering near the entrance to the exam room, picking up the chatter and fear pheromones from other students.
  • When the exam door opens, find your seat, arrange your ID, supplies, and  timepiece.
  • Breathe. Calm.

Writing the Exam

I have dealt elsewhere with techniques for writing different types of exams and different types of questions, and will be happy to discuss particulars with you. In the meantime, the basics are

  • Use every minute. Do not leave early.
  • Answer every question. If you don’t know, a best guess (or any guess) has a better chance for marks than no answer unless the question is right minus wrong.
  • Read the introduction to the exam. It may have critical instructions, such as “show your work,” “answer in complete sentences” “show your outline.”
  • For every question, read the whole question before you start to answer.
  • Quickly answer the questions that are easy for you.
  • Note which questions are worth the most points, and allow enough time to give yourself time for them.
  • Keep your eye on your timepiece. 
  • Outline essay questions before you start to write the essay–but keep your eye on your timepiece.
  • If you run into a question you have no idea how to answer, move on and come back to it later. Sometimes memory kicks in. Sometimes later questions give an idea about how to answer.
  • Check your work once you have answered everything for typos or missing words. Marks have been lost because the word “no” was intended but not entered.
  • Again, answer every question. If you don’t know, a best guess (or any guess) has a better chance for marks than no answer unless the question is right minus wrong.
  • Again, use every minute. Do not leave early.
  • And make sure your name and ID are on your exam.

After the exam

  • Leave quietly.
  • Avoid the nerve-wracking post mortem sessions with other students at the exit. 
  • Endorse yourself for preparing for and writing the exam in a professional manner.
  • Take time for a reward before heading into preparing for the next exam.

Now modify this list to make it your own.

Extra tip No. 1: What if there are questions I have no idea how to answer?

Accept that it is normal to have a quickening of the pulse and a bit of anxiety or fear. Then pause, lift up your head, and call on your rational self. You may well not get this question. A suitable response may come later. Take the secure thought that you will finish this exam, will finish the term, and you will survive. Right now, it’s just finish this exam.

Plant your feet firmly on the floor.

Skim through the rest of the exam to make sure you have time for the answers you are more sure of. Sometimes there is information in later questions that give a cue for the question you are uncertain of.

If there are several troubling questions, accept that this is not a happy time, but it is also not the last exam you are going to write in your life. Tell yourself that you are going to do as good as you can, and that will be what you do on this exam, this day.

Extra Tip No. 2: What if I have exams back to back?

Plan ahead to use the break between exams. You will want to allow for travel from venue to venue, hydration, light nourishment, bathroom breaks, and ensuring that you have all of your tools, texts, etc. in your backpack as you leave one exam and move on to the next.

Change your mental focus. If there are concerns about the earlier exam when you have finished it, jot them down on your phone, take a few deep breaths, stretch and recall your mental notes for the upcoming exam.

A special shoutout to high school grads:

The special challenge and joy of graduating with all of the celebration, angst, farewells, looking after next year’s academic administrivia: You rock! Even when it might feel overwhelming, take a breath, and celebrate how close you are to the finish line! You’re doing it, and you rock! 

Much of my work with students is helping them fine-tune their self-care and academic strategy for exam week. Connect on this form or by email [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.

THINKING AHEAD TO FINALS

/in /by

With just a few weeks or less until finals, you have time to tend to last-chance grade boosters:

  • Now is the time to ask those questions in class: What will be on the final? Is the whole term covered, or just since midterms? Will there be short-answer questions, or is it all multiple-choice?
  • Check the syllabus for course requirements and exam writing regulations.
  • Are your accommodations documented and any extras arranged, such as isolation, reader, extra time, etc.? 
  • Check to ensure you have received credit for all work handed in.
  • Check for practice sets–especially for STEM courses.
  • Check exam place and time postings.
  • Check your email for any last-minute changes to course requirements or exam scheduling.

And my standard reminder: Keep to your basic schedule for self-care, review your schedule daily, and adjust as needed!

You’re almost there! Take it part-task by part-task, and endorse for every step forward!

Connect with me to stay on track and to plan for next term [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.

THINKING SPRING!!!

/in /by

Today I’m thinking of high school students, with a shout out to college students in spring session.

Spring is a real challenge time for many high school students. Yes, you know finals are next month. Yes, you know college admissions look at the last two years of high school. Okay, okay. But the sun is warm, the air is fresh, it feels SO GOOD to be outside!!! Friends are doing things that are fun. Grad prep takes time. Ahhh the lengthening days!

It is so easy to know you should be doing xxx, but just to think about all that later.

I hope you’re still reading. There are ways to move toward your academic goals while listening to the call of the season.

Have a look at that phrase, “think about that later.” That phrase usually comes at a decision point and signals that the choice is going to be pleasure over what you feel is duty. Even writing that sentence is a downer, but stay with me.

What you want to do is to avoid making that choice in the moment when the pleasure call is strong. How to do that is to make the choice ahead of time. The time-proven tool for that is scheduling. Not scheduling that puts study-study-study twenty-four seven. Scheduling that works almost always has the pleasure activities built in, and specific rewards/reinforcers planned.

That way, you get the pleasure of sun time as well as ensuring you’re not ending up the night before finals start with the knowledge of how much you really, really wish you’d gotten done!

So take time this weekend and review what you need to do to meet your academic goals.  List what you want to do for spring pleasure as well. Roughly schedule up to finals. Then chunk the rest of the term week by week.

As you plan the week give yourself break time, downtime, R&R time. As you live the week, be prepared to adapt. 

Here’s an example of how flexible scheduling keeps you on academic track without sacrificing all other aspects of your life:

Let’s say an opportunity to hang out with an old friend again comes up and it conflicts with the time you had scheduled for memorizing history dates. Your decision now can be how to reschedule the study so you can hang out with your buddy. This is way better for your academic goal than just pushing the history off into some nebulous never-gonna-happen land. The history is rescheduled. The buddy time is enjoyed without guilt.

Maintaining motivation as you balance–that involves endorsing yourself every time you move in a goal-directed activity. Just a quick, “Hey, I made time for Harry!” or “Hey, I found time where I can reschedule history!” or “Hey, I’m opening the file with those history dates.” Motivation can also be aided by having visible reminders of the reward you are going to take when you end the term, when you write the final.

Short of finding the 36-hour day, this is the most effective antidote for spring fever rampaging through your best intentions. Schedule, be flexible, reward, and enjoy!!!

Shout-out to college spring session sprinters: This weekend is a good time to sketch out the rest of the term, to reassess how realistic your standards are for the work, and to check your balance of work, self-maintenance, and pleasure. Think of that reward at the end, and keep on endorsing!

Connect with me to plan for these last high school months, or to maximize efficiency during this short, fast, spring sprint term. [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.