We are approaching the halfway mark.
For most people, the start of the semester is a breeze. Fuelled by your goal to get your qualification and make that big career move, you put together a great study plan and started going through the material.
You stuck to your schedule and were making good progress - but then life happened!
You got really busy at work with month-end, year-end, or a new project. You started to put off your studies for a week so that you can get things done, but eventually you started falling more and more behind, and now it feels as though you are never going to catch up.
It‘s okay, the 'Mid-Semester Slump' is a thing and we have some great tips to get you back on track;
1. Go Back to Your Goals
You started the semester with some great goals to achieve. You wanted to finish 1 or 2 subjects, write your exams by mid-2022, and then move onto the next 2 subjects for the second semester.
But now, you feel demotivated and your goals seem out of reach.
Take some time to review your goals for this semester. If you didn’t write them down, now is a good time to start.
2. Remember Your Why
Reflect on how you were feeling at the beginning of the year. Why did you want to study this year? What was important to you? Write that down.
Writing your goals down and remembering your reason for why you have those goals will help to focus your priorities and re-affirm why you chose to study in the first place.
3. Understand Your Obstacles
Getting a qualification takes effort and perseverance. There is never going to be a time in our lives when things are smooth and easy. There will always be outside influences that push and pull you in different directions.
Make some time to understand what is standing in your way. Is it work pressure? Too many deadlines? Is it finding time in your hectic schedule to actually sit down and study?
Once you understand your obstacles, you can then find ways to overcome them.
4. Recommit to Your Goals
Once you have reviewed your goals, remembered your ‘why’, and understood what your obstacles are, take some time to re-commit to your goals.
Make a commitment to yourself that this is what you want for YOU and commit to it. Remember to write it down so that you can hold yourself accountable.
5. Work Through Your Obstacles
Go through your list of obstacles with this question;
‘How can I make this work for me?’
For example, 'I don’t have time to study?' - Have a look at your schedule. Are there things in your schedule you can move around or remove completely? Can you negotiate with your employer to work flexi-hours 1 or 2 times a week so that you can get in an extra hour or two in the morning or evening? Can you wake up earlier and put in an hour of studying before having to go to work?
Or, ‘I am so far behind!‘ - Break the work into smaller chunks and focus only on getting through one topic at a time. Once you start getting into a routine of studying regularly and seeing progress, it won't feel like such a huge uphill battle to get back on track.
6. Re-work Your Study Plan
Take some time to review and re-work your study plan. If you have fallen behind, make a plan for how you are going to catch up. Adjust your study plan so that you can still realistically achieve your goals and write your exams at the end of this semester.
7. Knuckle Down
There is no easy way out of this one. You and only you can achieve your goals. You have to make your studies a priority. Make sure that you stick to your study plan as much as possible to get you closer to writing your exams.
No matter where you are in your study journey, there are always going to be times when we lose track and it seems like we are never going to reach our goals. The important thing to remember is that we need to recalibrate, recommit and then do the work that needs to be done.
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