Fake It Until You Make It - Right?

I am surprised I even passed my law classes last year. We are at the point where I am panicking a little about being ready for December exams. In just over one month from now, two of my three classes will be done. Unlike last year, I don’t have time to catch up at Reading Break in February. Of course, when I looked at my exam notes (CANS) from my classes last year, I realized that I never did ‘catch up.’

In an attempt to be helpful to a couple of classmates, I offered to give them my exam notes from last year. When I looked at them I thought, “Oh my! I didn’t even finish getting those ready.” And this reminds me that I had intended to do things much differently this year. I planned to do all my reading and briefing. That way when it comes time to do my CANS I will be able to just compile the information I need and then will have time to study instead of cramming as I am trying to get some semblance of notes together.

While I realize that there is about a month left, so I am not completely last minute (yet), I don’t think I am much further ahead this year from last. For example, I started working through my Torts notes/text. I am on page 36. Only another 200 pages to go. (We won’t mention how long I have spent on those first 36 pages.)

*sigh*

I know what part of my problem is - I keep lacking focus. And I am at the time of year where I don’t feel 100% anymore. I feel tired all the time. I am not sure how much of that is just the stress of life and school, and how much is my decreased kidney function. I try not to worry about what is coming up. I also try to not fall into the trap of procrastinating on everything.

I work much better with clear goals in mind. I need to do what one of my profs said last year when talking about writing the memo -- Just start writing. It doesn’t matter what crap comes out, just start getting something down on the paper. That’s what I need to do with my exam preparation, too. Just get it down on the paper and don’t worry about what it looks like.

Sometimes I hate being a perfectionist.