Welcome to the Academic New Year!
For myself, and many of the academics I know, September is the most magical month: new planners, new pencils, new pens, new term and, most importantly, new potential.
September feels like a new start and this time, baby, we’re gonna get it right!
We often go into a new semester with the highest of hopes. We learned from what went wrong last semester, we’ve crafted a plan, and we’re ready!
Then life happens.
Stuff gets in the way.
Other people don’t cooperate with our perfect plan.
Somehow or another we find ourselves falling short of our high expectations.
What happens next?
Once our perfect plan fails it can be hard to get back on track.
I’m a September baby which means my astrological sign is Virgo. Virgos are said to be perfectionists, and I am, although I that may be more of an academic thing than an astrological one. Most academics I know tend towards perfectionism.
In fact, it’s one of the leading causes of procrastination: as long as something exists in your head it exists perfectly. Our attempts to bring our ideas into the real world mean that they no longer get to be perfect ideas but messy realities.
What we’re going to focus on in this month’s series is letting go of perfection and getting sh*t done.
Our series will have three main components. First, why we need to let go of our white-knuckled grip on perfection. Second, how to set achievable goals and, finally, how to keep moving forward when things go wrong.
Stay tuned for more!
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