No Use for Excuses, Do the Work!

More often than not, I use past experiences to come up with material for this blog. I've been out of school for nearly a decade, but will be returning this upcoming semester to complete a degree in anthropology. If you're asking yourself, what you can do with an anthropology degree, you need to be reading the blog that I dedicate to everything anthropology. And to take this line of thought a little further, it was a discussion with a girlfriend of mine who happens to be an Anthropology professor at a University in Newfoundland that spawned the idea for this particular post.

Professor Bell was putting the final touches on a final exam for her students at home one evening, and when the clock struck ten, almost simultaneously and in a machine gun-like manner, her inbox began  filling up with emails from students who were subsequently taking the test the following morning. Bell sighed, exasperated before she had opened a single email, already anticipating the onslaught of nonsensical questions, but what she got instead, was a series of excuses as to why different students were unprepared for the impending exam.

The list of excuses, though comical, actually made me shake my head in utter disappointment. These students were my age. They were grown adults that were part of my generational cohort, and for the most part, were raised in family environments that were not radically dissimilar to my own. Yet the divide between my study ethic and preparedness, and this group of students is so wide, it's difficult to comprehend! Several of the students complained that they were unprepared because of a final paper that they had to submit at the end of the semester, yet they were assigned the paper three months earlier. Some complained that their work schedules were interfering with their studies, yet they knew that when they signed up for their courses months ago. And some complained of any number of medical issues that might prevent them from an exam, and for those particular excuses, sometimes there is actually some merit to them, but c'mon, people, if I can write an Economics final with a migraine and the flu, you can absolutely do it.

When you step out into the real world, there is little room for error, and most employers have no time to listen to you run the gamut of excuses, so why on earth would you think it's acceptable to pull that sort of nonsense in an adult classroom? It's time to pull your socks up, get your act together, and lose the excuses!

Don't Put it in Writing!

I can't tell you how many times I've woken up, shuffled over to iMac, switched it on and logged into Facebook only to find some less-than-flattering photo, or post someone's uploaded onto their page, or friend's page, from the night night before. I generally just have a laugh, go put on a cup of tea, and get on with my online courses. But the other morning, I logged on to shoot off a quick message to my girlfriend in London, and at the top of my notification page, another girlfriend of mine had posted photos of herself at a party, in her bra, shot-gunning a beer. The status read, "Just another night out - The Before Shot". I laughed at first, but then I remember that she worked at a prestigious law firm, was a mother of four and head of several parental committees. And I started to worry, what's the "after" going to look like?

We all know that a picture says a thousand words. But words say so much more. I'll admit it, I judged. I immediately thought, what if the wrong person got a hold of those photos, or read through her posts and came to the wrong conclusions. She could lose her job, or worse, she could lose her children. I waffled for a couple of days. A part of me said I should just mind my own business, and laugh it off, but I just couldn't shake a nagging feeling.

I swallowed hard, picked up the phone and invited her for coffee. I didn't want her to feel like I was ambushing her, but I really was concerned. I know how hard she worked to get to where she was. Law school is no walk in the park, and neither is getting hired on somewhere half decent. So, I very delicately explained my concern, and braced for impact. It was like a light bulb came on, and she agreed with me 100%. She whipped out her iPhone and deleted the photos immediately, and thanked me for watching her back.

The moral of the story, never, ever post anything that could be misconstrued as sinister or inappropriate. We are an outwardly expressive culture, but we also live in an age of spies. I know it sounds a little Cold War-ish, but it's true. It's not uncommon for employers to go trolling for background information on a prospective or current employee. Shot-gun whatever you want, but don't write about it or post photographic evidence online!

Life in the Stress Lane

I'm a University student. Well, at this very moment, I'm a university student moonlighting as a full time freelance writer until I go back in September. I've been playing the waiting game, and just received word yesterday that I have been accepted to one of the most prominent Anthropology universities in the world. Woot! Four months to save, and four months to figure out how the heck I'm going to manage my ridiculous schedule.

This isn't my first rodeo, however. I've spent the last year and a half attending a smaller university, and because I'm in my 30's, I've had to maintain a full time work schedule while managing a full-time course load. Needless to say, I've felt a bit like a circus clown, juggling my life around. I've also had the added pressure of maintaining a near perfect GPA to ensure that I got into that ivy league school. My life feels a bit like a fairytale right now, but none of it would be possible without some serious hard work, and some major stress management skills! Here are a few of the tools I have in my arsenal:

Always have a tennis ball near by
You're probably sitting there scratching your head, asking yourself, "what the heck am I going to do with a tennis ball". No, you won't be hitting the court. I use it to undo all of the tension in my neck, take the knots out of my back, and ease my sore wrists. It's cheaper than getting a massage!

Learn to meditate 
This is a relatively new venture for me. I am definitely a person who suffers from stress and anxiety and I started to recognize that it was affecting me physically. I started to get severe back pain, headaches and I felt like I couldn't catch my breath sometimes. There are a series of meditating techniques that will help you to calm your mind, get centred and feel refreshed. Sometimes you just need to hit the restart button.

Eat a balanced diet
This should come as no surprise that what you eat can have a positive or negative impact on your stress level. You don't need to go learn how to become a dietician to know that consuming high amounts of refined sugars makes your blood sugar shoot through the roof, but also increases your blood pressure. High blood pressure and stress can go hand-in-hand, and it's a combination for disaster. You know how the old adage goes, "stress kills"? Well they weren't kidding.