Deadlines

In the Catholic Church we sometimes say the only true deadline is death; that's not strictly true!  Attitudes about deadlines can vary.  If we think they are just imposed on us we might object to them.  Our conditioning these days makes us likely to think that.  Computer games allow us to reset in various ways -- more lives or whatever.

Part of college or university experience and even more so in work or apprenticeships is the reality that we have to complete things without cutting corners.

Entry to Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

We've all got strengths and weaknesses when it comes to school.  Reading may be a challenge for some, mentally or even physically.  I've got poor eyes, so I can only read a couple of hours per day.  I learned some tricks.  I took a speed reading course.  I learned how to skim effectively and I developed a few methods of my own for reducing the reading burden.  Most of us will need to develop some coping skills like that.  We just don't want to end up being our own worst enemy.  Cramming is no fun and seldom effective.

In marriage prep with couples I often say:  "If you're itchy -- scratch!"  What I mean is that when we are itchy we usually scratch and in marriage I'm hoping that if there are issues between the soon-to-be spouses that they talk them out without putting it off.

If you have a problem getting an assignment, SCRATCH!  Get the input you need!  It might be talking to the prof or teacher or teaching assistant or someone in your class.  And believe it or not your parents might even have suggestions to help get you going; just make sure you are headed in the right direction before you burn too many calories.

Experience is a good teacher.  Dose it out however.  Allow the new experience to challenge you enough to benefit from it.  Like a sensible workout that builds your strength and endurance but doesn't cause you injury, healthy challenge is a good thing.

So what about that deadline?  It seems far off, but the weeks pass quickly and who knows with so much socializing you might just be sick for one of them, some unplanned down time.  Work backwards.  The deadline means your assignment is complete, has been checked over and fixed up if necessary and can be handed in.  What are the steps before that?  If you don't know the answer, look for a workshop provided by the student centre at school.  Good method will save many calories and give you a better result.  Note the steps down and think carefully about how much time you think you are going to spend on each and if you are new to school, double it to be on the safe side.  You might decide to say that you'll have to do less research or be selective in your reading.  Probably it is better to have a complete assignment that is less than ideal rather than an incomplete assignment that falls short in the end.  It is a 13-week semester and assignments are not doctoral theses and of course there will be some super student in the class who seems to do the impossible.  Just be thankful that God made them.

Sometimes appearances in this regard can be deceptive.  I encountered a super student who had assignments done long in advance of deadlines with apparently super amounts of work done.  In the end, this drive turned out to be a challenge to balanced living.  The person clearly had other kinds of challenges that people didn't see because they were dazzled by the work.  So don't be dazzled -- be yourself.

The first reality of our life is that we are loved.