Step 4: How will you get there?

“I’m stressed, how can they fail me?! I’m the scholar of my class!!!”

I was about to fail my university course practical exam.

I was stuck.

I didn’t quite grasp the nature of applying the theory we had learnt in the classroom to the real work setting. I wasn’t a slow learner? Was I?!

It was getting frustrating and I feared the worse – repeating my course again. It was expensive and embarrassing to be left behind! (Well, I felt like it was at the time).

I had three weeks to get myself sorted otherwise, “I’m goneeeee!”

I needed to succeed. I knew what I wanted, I gathered my resources BUT I needed to get organized so I could make sense of it all and in an effective manner.

First, I sacrificed my social and TV show viewing so I could free up my time and get a fresh start on my studies. Next, I reflected on my “mini wins” and reverse engineered them to understand how I was able to succeed in those case studies. Then, I sort after and studied with the best in my class (the ones who were getting “it” quicker than me).

I even reflected on my “failures” and worked on overcoming those sticking points with contingency plans. I practiced in my room, I spoke to myself in the mirror and I hustled to memorize it as best as possible. Whenever I could practice with friends and family I did. Nothing was going to let me fail!

Ironically, when it came to assessment day – I failed. Haha… yeah I failed. I had left it too late and the timeline to turn it around was too short.

But guess what?!

I knew what to do the next time round! And I practiced it more and asked for help from my mentors as well. They guided me to overcome my challenges from a perspective I never considered in the past.

What’s the morale of the story? Prepare well in advance, practice and plan out the steps!

So, where’s this leave you?

Time to get involved early!

Activity 4:

Below are some questions to help you on your way. Answer them as best you can! Hey don’t be afraid to get some help as well (it’ll save you time, money and maybe some embarrassment).

After this activity I’ll see you in step 5: How will you create and maintain energy for the journey where you’ll discover the secret to gaining energy for the long haul.

Key questions:

12. How will you get there?
13. What barriers / obstacles / challenges do you foresee in the near future?
14. How will you overcome them?

Bonus: what is a realistic timeframe to work your plan? (hint: guess a time and double it).