As this unit is rapidly drawing to a close I am fighting off feelings of alarm about the amount of work I have left to do, in the little time that is left. It is proving to be a double edged sword for my study aims.
On one hand I appreciate that discipline and working towards solid goals will help me achieve what I want to do at university; on the other hand the time factor is an important one.
Throughout my life I have been aware that my thought process is to quickly evaluate factors and make snap judgements in order to produce a result (for work). At university I hope to learn how to reflect deeply, thoroughly examine ideas and articulate these in a solid, considered way.
However this requires time – time for me to change the thought patterns of the last 20 or so years, and time to reflect. I suspect that if my mind was not so well conditioned towards its current thought process I would have sufficient time for studying the content in this unit.
It is a struggle however, and recent disruption at work has not helped. It has taken time for my mind to return to the ‘zone’ where I am reflecting on the readings instead of skimming them.
I do wish I had a couple more weeks to work on this assignment! The volume of work I have left to complete in the time remaining is overwhelming. The time management skills I’ve learned earlier in this unit suggest that macro-management is the key to retaining control over the course of one’s studies, to avoid feeling overwhelmed. However in order to ‘catch up’ from the weeks when I was totally non-productive, the time I spend on studies is becoming all consuming.
I love the challenge of study, even in the face of declining self-confidence in my thinking abilities. I believe that if I apply myself there is some benefit to be derived. In pushing myself beyond the point of exhaustion however I fear I will burn out and abandon my studies. What can I do to avoid this in the face of looming deadlines?