Struggling with test preparation and overwhelm?
October 26th, 2009
I had an email this morning from a college student: “I’m having trouble with feeling overwhelmed. Midterms are coming up and I feel like I can’t catch up. I don’t know where to start. What should I do?”
This is a familiar feeling to anyone who is or has been a student. (In fact, it’s a familiar feeling to everyone. We all have too much going on and too little time to get it all done).
My advice to the student is simple: “Start somewhere. You are sitting there feeling overwhelmed, so of course you have a problem with feeling overwhelmed. Start doing something. Take out one book for one subject and read one chapter or a part of the chapter. This will put you on course for feeling like you’re doing something because… you are!”
This touches on issues of confidence, calm and focus. In my book I talk about the three legged stool– one leg each for each of the qualities. If you say “I can’t…” you are having a confidence problem. It will make you feel all nervous (lack of calm), and you will be distracted (inability to focus). The solution I am proposing is taking a step (focus), making it small and manageable (to build your confidence), and all of that will help you calm down. Try it.
