PIVOT

This is the last week of class for most  college and university students. You will be attending to all of those last-minute details I talked about last week. Then, after the last class, it’s time to pivot.

Many students are at a loss when it comes to managing their time, motivation and energy resources once classes end. I hear, “I know I should be studying for exams, but somehow the days go by, and . . . ”

That means it’s time to pivot. You bypass that state of fuzziness by preparing your brain to change mode, to change gears from scheduled class time to unscheduled study time and mandated exam schedule time. 

When you pivot in a race, there is that moment where your foot hits the ground and you change direction.That’s what you do on the last day of class. It works like this: Immediately at the end of class, you take a breath, and there! Self-talk, “OK! That’s done.” You might have some loose ends to clean up, but class time is done!

You congratulate yourself for finishing the term, for attending that last class. You take that reward or schedule it for the next 24 hours, or no later than the weekend. Then you look ahead. Set the time that last class day or the next for laying out your project management for the period running from last class to the last exam. Maybe you aren’t going to start studying right away, okay, take the break but schedule when that break ends. 

What is different about this period is that while the exams are rigidly scheduled by others (and check your email and the exam schedule daily), the rest of the time is not. It is either scheduled or unscheduled by you. To keep that unscheduled time from running away, I almost hate to say this, you draw up a schedule. Make it easy on yourself, both in terms of scheduling and in terms of following through, by maintaining the basic life routines that have kept you going throughout the term. Sleep, eat, exercise, meditate following your regular routine. This puts less stress on your body than going off schedule does. It also puts less stress on your mind, as you aren’t having to make moment-by-monent decisions about what to do next to get your basic life routines done. Your cognitive load can be spent on exam prep, rather than on deciding when to eat and whether to get to bed or to game or to study.

In scheduling your time, be kind to yourself. Sure, you juggle the best times to study according to your exam schedule and the difficulty anticipated on each exam. But also plan for me-time. Planning for it means that when you take me-time, you can endorse for taking it rather than feeling guilty for not studying. It also means that you have an end-time, so that me-time doesn’t take over study time.

And be flexible. Scheduling is good, as long as you remember that you are in control of your schedule, it isn’t in control of you. You will fall off. Instead of guilting yourself, you endorse yourself for spotting that you fell off, and then you get back on.

That’s it! Pivoting into the exam period keeps you in control. Next week, exam checklist!  

Connect with me to strategize term end and the exams ahead.   [email protected]