Each semester it usually happens around the middle to the latter half of the semester—I see students start to drag their feet, they start looking stressed out, they have large circles under their eyes and have a look of dread. In their minds they have entered the end-of-the semester crunch—they’re madly working on papers and then preparing for the blow of final exams. They hope to emerge on the other side of this intellectual gauntlet. To me, they always look like hunted prey—winded and exhausted.
I always tell the students, “Don’t be the hunted—be the hunter!” The usual response I get is one of laughter or disbelief. But I firmly believe in this principle. Sports psychologists talk about seeing your success ahead of time before you take your shot—mentally see the golf ball go into the hole or the basketball into the hoop. They teach athletes to do this because you can psych yourself out—you can hobble your own success by having a defeatist attitude. If you think you’ll miss the shot, then you probably will, not for a lack of skill but because of a poor attitude. So, first, tell yourself you have the skill to succeed. See yourself being successful in your paper or exam.
But being the hunter isn’t just about envisioning success—you need a positive attitude and a diligent work ethic. If you wait until the last minute to write the paper or study for the exam, then yes, you will be the hunted—you are the prey. You have put yourself in the position of letting the exam or paper have the upper hand. You have come to the fight ill prepared. If, on the other hand, you prepare for your fight, then you can turn the tables. Start studying for your final exam the first day of class. Come home from class and start studying—reviewing and memorizing. If you incrementally learn, then you merely review before the final exam, not try to cram 13 weeks of material into your brain in a matter of three days. Start working on your research papers the first week of the semester. Get out your calendar, map out your reading, identify your paper topics, and start doing your research. Chances are you’ll be putting the finishing touches on your papers weeks before they’re due rather than pulling an all-nighter.
Another important dimension of being the hunter is prayer—pray that God would grant you discipline and humility. You need the discipline to accomplish the work, and you need humility so you acknowledge that you’re probably not as smart as you think you are—which means, you need to study hard!
I know of a student who used to study hard, and the night before the exam he would play the theme song to Clint Eastwood’s “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” by Ennio Morricone—the Western music for a gunfight. Anyone who’s watched a spaghetti Western knows how those gunfights always ended. Think of John Wayne’s Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit,” “Fill your hand . . .” In other words, face your exams and papers ready for the duel and prepared to eliminate the problem. You will defeat the exam; the exam will not defeat you. Prepare. Study. Work. And then smile at your exam. This applies to so many other areas in life. Be the hunter, not the hunted.