Finals Week

I have spent years and years as a student. The regular K-12. Four years for a BS in Economics and Finance. A masters degree and most of a doctorate. I will tell you that through high school I didn't have to study. Maybe I had a good memory. But "straight A's" became harder in college.

More distractions with work and family, maybe. It just got harder. I still wanted the perfect test scores but soon settled for A's and B's. Then a professor told the class, "D equals MDiv." That's funny and true but it probably hurt me down the road.

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So all that just to say that I understand the pressures of Finals Week. That's where we are around our house this week. Riley is taking finals for his first semester of 9th grade.

My advice to Riley throughout the last few years when finals became part of the experience was to be prepared. If you are prepared then there is nothing to worry about. Anything less than good preparation and you'll likely not recognize some of the test questions.

Panic can set in and blow the whole test. And the whole semester's grade. Nothing beats preparation. If you have prepared for the test then it doesn't matter if the questions are T/F, multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank, short answer, or essay. Trick questions won't trip you up. So, as the Boy Scouts would say, "Be prepared!"

I worked for a few years leading a training department for a group of call centers. Part of my responsibility was to create training material, including the tests. Some employees complained the tests were too hard. Sure they were hard. But not too hard for those who were prepared. I worked by the motto, "If the training is hard, the job will be easy; if the training is easy, the job will be hard." I guess it worked. I recently heard from a friend that the company still uses some of my material. I've been gone nine years.

Life is like that. It doesn't matter if it's education, job training, athletic competition, or anything else. Preparation makes the difference.

What are you doing to be prepared for the next challenges in your life? Here are some tips.

• Always be learning. Learn more about what you currently do. Learn something new. Some of us know a great deal about one thing but very little about anything else. A broad knowledge base will help you when you face something new. Learners are leaders and leaders are learners.

• Read more. This can be part of learning but it's also part of protecting from the status quo. You can get into a rut regarding work, school, relationships, etc. Reading brings new ideas into your thinking process. Some ideas you will embrace. Others you'll cast away after pondering them. You may even quickly toss an idea you recognize as foolish. But if you aren't reading you aren't considering all the possibilities.

• Begin friendships with people who are different from you. You can choose the differences. And make sure the differences stretch your comfort levels. If you always surround yourself with people just like you, you'll never grow and the challenges may overwhelm you.

• Work or serve outside your area of expertise. Let your interests guide you. I am a pastor but I loved coaching youth baseball. I'm not a hunter but I love photography so I get out into nature with my camera. I'm an introvert but have volunteered to work the concession stand at busy ballgames just to work on interacting with others.

What else can you think of that will prepare you for the next challenges...many will be unexpected.