As the term begins to wind down, I find my time being stretched more thinly than it has been the rest of the quarter. Final projects, exams, and gearing up for the holidays with my family have all required more of me and the time that I have throughout the day. While this part of the term has always been the most stressful, it provides unique opportunities to practice and hone some of the skills that it requires me to use.
Prioritization
The first of these skills is prioritization. Will missing out on family events be worth the extra couple of percentage points of a grade that marks the difference between a high and low A? After all, an A, even if on the lower end, still reflects a 4.0 for a course.
This is a special time of year – and time of my life – in which my children are very aware and excited for the holidays. These times are ones that, if I miss them, I won’t get them back. Knowing this has allowed me to set healthy boundaries both professionally and educationally and set aside my perfectionism to complete tasks adequately, but not necessarily perfectly. For me, my educational journey has been primarily for my family’s future and my desires have been secondary to that. I do thoroughly enjoy the field and material, but if it were not something that would help my family be more successful in the future I would not be pursuing it.
Goals
The demand by my family and my courses for my time also allows me to be introspective about what my goals truly are. I aspire to graduate Summa Cum Laude, and am on pace to do so. However, for me it is not the end of the world if I don’t. If it means missing one-time experiences with my family, I will gladly sacrifice that goal to be present with them. On the other hand, graduation has been my priority for going on five years now and I cannot sacrifice my chances of achieving that goal, even if it unfortunately means that I miss out on some small moments. I’ve got three quarters left and after those thirty weeks of classes (with plenty of time off in between them) I will be able to present for every moment. This time of year has always been a difficult one since returning to school, but also allows me to be more fluid in my goals and adjust them to what is really important to me.
Determination & Senioritis
This quarter has been especially difficult because of the fact that I can see the “light at the end of the tunnel” as it relates to finishing my degree. I’ve heard this go by a number of names, but the one that has always stuck with me was ‘Senioritis’. Knowing that I’m nearly done after having put so much hard work into completing my degree has lulled me into a state of dragging my feet and lacking motivation to finish as strongly as I have started. This was much more apparent for the first portion of the quarter, but thankfully my determination has kept me from falling into a rut. Taking a little bit of time to reflect on my goals has helped to keep me focused on what I need to do to achieve them, though I still have found myself procrastinating more than usual.
I’ve also had a hard time figuring out whether it’s actually ‘Senioritis’ or a lack of interest in some of my classes. Half of my classes this quarter are courses that I’m not particularly excited to take or have had a number of problems which have turned me off to them. However, for the other two (this course and Open Source Software) I have still felt very motivated and interested in. This would lead me to believe that maybe it’s just a quarter that I’m not excited about but am on the verge of completing and can soon look back on as a bump in the road.
Conclusion
While this time of year presents its own unique difficulties as a student, an employee, a father, and a husband, it has also provided me the opportunity to exercise some of the skills I’ve built throughout my life. Balancing special moments with my family with successfully and adequately completing my coursework has allowed me to practice my prioritization skills. Those same difficulties have allowed me to be introspective about my goals in order to make those prioritization decisions. And finally, knowing that the end of my educational journey is nearing and the lack of motivation that it has passed along has allowed me to showcase my determination towards achieving my goals.