One foot in front of the other

My academic obligation to Drake University for the Fall 2006 semester is just about over. Needless to say the spring that was snuffed out by exams and projects is back in my step, the twinkle is back in my eye and I'm grinning from ear to ear. Wait! Finals week hasn't even officially started yet! Yes, that's true. Monday, December 18th officially starts finals week. I am one of the lucky few that had most of their exams and projects due the week before, thus leaving me with little to worry about for the rest of the semester.

It's easy to become freaked out and overwhelmed about finals. Heck! I've never been through a college finals week before, how am I supposed to know how it works and whether or not to freak out!? I didn't. I had to figure it out on my own. I had to study without being told to do so and I had to manage my time all by myself... I did it, too and let me just say this: IT'S NOT SO HARD.

Here's the trick, the final projects and information about when the exams are and what'll be on them will be given out well before finals week and sure, you may want to spend the next week not even looking at that stuff and it's certainly your prerogative to do so... However, I find that making a daily schedule helps TREMENDOUSLY. I'm one of those people who love "To-Do" lists so much that I'll actually put "make to-do list" on my to-do list just to check it off. If that works for you, great.

Go day-by-day making a schedule of smaller tasks that you want to get accomplished. For example, my average finals-preparation day consisted of actively reading one chapter of psychology, doing its corresponding study guide questions, doing a little bit of research for my psychology lab paper, and working on a paragraph or two on my film paper. Sometimes it was more than that, sometimes it was less. The key is to not let yourself become overwhelmed so quickly. If you keep thinking to yourself "I have a psychology exam to study for, an art project to pull off, a film study and psychology lab paper to write, an FYS presentation to pull together, a portfolio to finish, and a journalism exam to study for," yeah, you're going to freak out a little.

Also, reward yourself for those days when you get everything done. Or, if there's a particularly long or hard chapter to read, allow yourself to watch the Colbert Report after you've finished reading or some other show that you enjoy. Or just chill for a little while listening to music. You get the picture.

If you look at the grand picture, it's too easy to become overwhelmed and overwhelming yourself just wastes your energy that could be better spent focusing in on a small task that can be done today to make your tomorrow a little easier.

Oh, and one more thing: Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth and don't skip meals so you can spend that time studying. Trying to retain information on an empty stomach is just about as effective as wearing a paperclip chain to ward off cold viruses.