Double challenge: Procrastination. Biased instructor.

After three intense weeks on the challenges of group projects, it’s time to focus on the upbeat of successes, sharing with you some of the challenges met by my clients: students who lack confidence, students who in the trades, students targeting a STEM degree in a top-tier school, students on probation, students with a learning disability, bright students who just can’t get the work done . . . 

This week, Colin.¹  Colin was a mature student with a keen sense of responsibility, with the result that he found it easy to come down on himself, and found it hard to stay motivated. His biggest challenge initially was procrastination.

We spent a few sessions discovering that he did indeed work well with structure. Our weekly work then involved breaking down assignments, breaking down projects, breaking down exam study, breaking down commitments, breaking down anything that he needed to get done for his course work.

Then we worked on motivation to get it done, to stick to the plan. Knowing when to get started on what helped. Weekly planning and check-ins helped. Self-talk helped too, as my reminders morphed into his own reminders that He Really Was Graduating from A Very Respected University!!

Projects started getting done on time. Exams were better prepared for.

Then–a political problem with a biased prof. Fortunately, we had built up trust, where if he needed to make a quick phone call to run an idea by on approaching the instructor, he was comfortable.

I was a sounding board as he researched alternatives, reached out where he needed to, and made decisions. 

Result: That June, Colin graduated from Simon Fraser University with a respectable GPA and a Bachelor’s degree in his targeted area–despite COVID-19!

Let’s talk about the success you are targeting in your academic career! [email protected] 

¹Names are anonymized to comply with blog privacy policy.