Done is good.

At Bryn Mawr, we had about a billion traditions, including several related to finals. One of my favorites was the "Done is Good" sign. Toward the end of each semester, your HA (hall advisor) would give you a sign on which you could create a checklist of every project, paper, or assignment you had left to complete. Every time you checked something off, your HA would give you candy. All of the signs featured the same headline: "Done is Good!" Over the course of four years, that slogan taught me several important lessons about managing a busy life.

As you know from previous posts, I am in the midst of one of the busiest finals seasons of my long academic career. As a result, I've been slacking on the blogging and now I have lots of updates. Here of some highlights, organized around the important lessons of the "Done is Good" sign:

Lesson #1: Don't let perfection be the enemy of the done.

Bryn Mawr is a college that attracts a very high number of type-A overachievers. The typical Bryn Mawr student has a tough time turning in work that is anything less than excellent. This leads to a real temptation around finals time: extensions. "Sure, my paper is okay now, but with a few more days, I could make it perfect!" Bad idea. More often than not, taking one extension just throws off your whole work schedule and leads you into a cascade of other extensions. Whatever you have done by the due date, just turn it in!

This lesson came into play for me last Wednesday evening. Through a cruel twist of scheduling, I had assignments due for every class on Thursday, including my final paper (and only graded assignment) for one of my classes. By the time I left work on Wednesday, I had about 15 of 20 pages written. Those pages were decent, but not great. So, the task for Wednesday night was to finish writing and then try to make the paper a bit better. I worked for awhile, broke for dinner, and then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth before getting back to work. That's when I noticed that I had acquired a HUGE swollen lump on my right eyelid.

A little freaked out, I consulted my regular physician, Dr. Google. Dr. Google had two plausible suggestions: a bacterial infection or an allergic reaction. I decided to take a Benedryl, hoping it was the latter. The problem is that Benedryl knocks me out in a flash. I took a half-dose and went back to work, hoping for the best. Within half an hour, the swelling was going down, but so was I. I knew there was no way I could stay awake and finish my paper. Thus, the temptation of the extension. Remembering the lessons of "Done is Good," I resisted the temptation to email my professor and instead set an alarm for 4:30am and went to sleep. Fortunately, I got up at 4:30 with a normal eyelid, pulled together an okay finished paper, and even made it to Boot Camp at 6am. Onward!

Lesson #2: You are only guaranteed to fail what you don't complete.

During my senior year, when I was an HA, I remember dispensing this piece of advice along with many a "Done is Good" sign. Everyone has at least one academic weak spot, and during finals, anxiety about that weak spot can become overwhelming. I have both witnessed and participated in several meltdowns that went something like this: "There is just no way I'm going to pass this class! My final exam/paper/project is so bad that I shouldn't even turn it in!" This is an even worse idea than getting extensions. I have learned from experience (thank you, AP Chem and college French) that you can do very, very poorly on just about all of your assignments and exams and still just barely pass a class. You can not, however, pass a class for which you turn nothing in. So, no matter how bad it is, you need to get it done and turn it in.

I remembered this lesson on Saturday, as I sat for the National Counselor Exam (NCE). This is an exam that one must pass in order to be licensed as a counselor. It is 200 multiple choice questions, which can cover anything you may or may not have learned in your 60 credits worth of counseling courses. For me, this means anything I learned in the past four years. Needless to say, reviewing four years' worth of material while working a full-time job and continuing to take classes is challenging. Also, the scoring of the NCE is a little wacko, so its very hard to know how well you have to do in order to pass.

I studied for the NCE off and on from January through last Friday night. I used a review book which everyone who has ever taken the test swears by, but I definitely was not able to give my test preparation the time it deserved. Friday night, I took a practice NCE and passed, but not by the margin I would have liked. So, I went into the exam Saturday with serious concern that I might not pass. Still, I would have been guaranteed not to pass had I not shown up. The test was hard, but not as hard as I had feared, so I am hopeful that I will get good news in the mail 6-8 weeks from now!

Lesson #3: Sometimes done is as good as you can do.

Bryn Mawr is a very selective school. If you get in there, you were one of the best students in your high school (if not the best) and you are used to doing very well on all things academic. Mediocrity is not your friend. Something funny happens when you get into a selective school, though. Everyone in your incoming class is used to being the best, and you can't all continue to be the best. Also, your professors know that everyone is super-smart and they assign correspondingly difficult work. Someone is going to be mediocre by selective school standards, and it could very well be you. If you want to preserve your self-esteem and sanity, its important to let go of competing with others and just push yourself to do the best you can do.

This lesson came to mind on Sunday, when I had my second bike/run practice with the tri training group. As you may recall, the first bike practice kicked my a**, so I had hoped to get in a decent amount of practice before this week's meeting. That hope was derailed by the papers and the NCE. Between the two bike practices, I went out on my bike once, and that trip got cut short when I tried to down-shift on a hill and popped a chain. So, I went to Sunday's meeting with a bike fresh from the repair shop and a lot of nerves.

Naturally, our trainers had scheduled a truly punishing workout. We went to a very hilly area with few cars and were set the following task: 5 hill repeats on the bike, 5 hill repeats running, plank series, repeat. Just like the first practice, I could not begin to keep up with my classmates on the bike. I lost sight on them during the bike ride to the hills, and they started lapping me on the hills within minutes. To add insult to injury, my chain popped off again during my first trip up the hill, so I lost time while one of our trainers fixed it, and I also lost the use of my best hill-climbing gear. Just what I needed- an extra challenge!

As they were explaining the workout, our trainers told us that we didn't have to do cycles of 5 repeats if that was too hard. We could do 4, 3- whatever worked for us. Naturally, it was tempting to take this as permission to not even attempt the 5's. Fortunately, my pride saved me from copping out. Not wanting to look even weaker than I already did, I decided that I would do my best to finish the 5's, even if I had to do them much slower than everyone else. And that's exactly what I did! I was slow, and exhausted, and a little nauseous at times, but I kept going. By the end, I felt much more comfortable on the bike and good about just finishing the workout. It didn't hurt that, as we rode back to our cars, everyone was saying that the workout had been hard and they had been tempted to quit. It really didn't hurt that I actually woke up at 5:30am the next day with no soreness and was able to go lift weights. I may be slow, but I'm not weak!

I have more updates, but I need to resume my long quest toward May 5th, otherwise known as "Done!"