Grades

This blog started off as an assignment for an entrepreneurial assignment, as you can see by my lack of posts for the last few months. However, I have realized that expressing yourself in alternative ways may be beneficial. Hey, you reading it may help me realize something (and comment!) that I would not have realized on my own.

This blog is about the importance of grades. In any aspect of life you get a grade. Although you get a physical letter grade in course work during school, you are graded informally (or perhaps formally in a review) in work as well. If you slack, your position may be threatened.

I wouldn't say that I'm an overachiever; however, I do need need to do very well. I'm always aiming for the A and highly disappointed in anything less than a B+. I'm not sure what your personal views on grades, but those are my personal goals.

To do well, I put certain pressure on myself. I have always been a procrastinator, but in order to make it through this semester I knew that I had to break that habit. I believe that I have broken the habit for the most part, but, with help of external factors including illness and family issues, it is still very difficult for me to keep up. This, as one can imagine, brings about a great deal of stress. But what if I'm stressing over things that don't matter in the end?

In the real-world (whatever that is), what counts as important? Do bosses see the whole picture or the end result? Do they care if I have about a 3.5 in college? Do they care what I get on my case study that I'm writing? Do they care how well I can write a business plan (I have two to write this semester)? Do the professors care how well I do? Do they care whether I write a thesis? Do they care if the thesis is published? (Yes, I am currently working on one.) Do these things that are currently giving me stress really matter in the end?

I am working in groups with many of these projects and I will always do my best, if for no one else's sake but theirs, but does it benefit me in the end?

I guess you could say yes. Writing case studies, business plans and thesis's benefit me greatly in the long-run. They contribute to my knowledge and experience in the business sector. I wish to pursue business consulting, and this could include working (and perhaps creating) business plans. By writing my own case study, I'm looking in-depth into a company and learning from them, an analytical tool that will be very useful for my business ventures. The thesis will add knowledge to the field, making me an expert in that particular subject. The literature I read will help me understand a topic better than I had previously. It will pave the way to helping me become an academic as well a business woman. I know these are all very useful things, but should I stress?

What if I don't get it done? Then its not done. Stressing about getting it done doesn't make it get done any quicker. Honestly, it is more likely a distraction, something that takes up time. It isn't productive. My professors do not assign me these projects to be evil, they assign them to challenge me as a students, as well as a person. Tasks are not impossible. I can do it. The thing I have to remember is all I can do is my best. Stressing over the grade does not help.