The Smallest Step Forward Still Counts

Being out of college, it’s not even a blip on my mind, but midterms are right now for a bunch of people. It’s crazy how that was my life every fall for nearly two decades. Yes, fifth grade tests sucked just as much as the ones in college. Exams, projects, homework; they all gave me annual fits and smothered the positive birds-eye view I was trying to keep on my personal direction and attitude. No matter how much I tried, I struggled during the midterm season to see the light on the other side. Even more, no matter how slow I tried to go, this season always sped me up. The fall months always made me feel like there was zero time in my day.

For anyone out there going through midterms at the moment, I just want to provide some grace and highlight how okay it is to go at a slow pace. There’s nothing wrong with finishing that homework assignment in the morning! Get it done on time, but you’ll never be ready for the rest of your week if you burn yourself out over the last problem of an otherwise perfect homework assignment. Trust yourself, but also know what you need.

Take that bath, go out and treat yourself to some ice cream. Whatever it is that makes you feel relaxed and happy for a moment within the chaos, go and do it. Your performance the rest of the week will go up, I promise.

Besides treating myself with a lovely dinner of some sort, one of the tricks I found myself constantly using to stay afloat during the weeks that I’m swamped is focusing on positive, forward movement -always. No matter how small of a step it was, no matter how tiny of an impact my action would make, when an all-nighter of homework was followed by three exams poking up just over the sunrise, I really tried to be doing something positive that would get me closer to the finish line.

In most cases, I’d even try and take a smaller step than usual. Instead of focusing on knocking out one homework assignment during a sitting, I’d focus on writing my name down on the top of the page, writing the problem out and any accompanying variables, and just setting up one homework question. Baby steps. But ones that move forward rather than backward.

I’d try to make my next task so easy to accomplish that procrastination would take more effort. My logic is that getting started is always the hardest part and that once I did begin I would have a better chance to keep going.

What always made me feel suffocated during the exam season was the sheer magnitude of work and effort needed to get through it all, with seemingly no way to go around it all. But by just putting one foot in front of the other and writing my name down on the paper, the positive momentum would build and eventually I’d wake up with the project complete and my exam over.

Also though,even outside of the actual studying and work I’d start to feel overwhelmed during these weeks. But the same idea helped me out there too!

It’s one thing to stay afloat in your studies during this time but it’s an entirely different animal to stay afloat in your life and studies at the same time. In no way am I saying it was that easy for me, but focusing on “one step in front of the other” and brushing my teeth or turning my phone off without the the pressure to fall asleep or go do something else kept me trudging along.

This one foot in front of the other is so much easier said than done, but it can help if you give it a try!

I promise, getting started is the hardest part.

I write a biweekly newsletter on moving forward when things feel overwhelming. Subscribe for free at abetterlifeco.com.