the encouragement lounge: How's your confidence?

Monday, March 7, 2011

How's your confidence?

This is a good time to do a mid-semester confidence check.

1. Are you confident in your ability to finish your current course(s) and program? If not, what has you concerned? And who is a good person to talk with about this -- your advisor perhaps? I encourage you to set an appointment and have a conversation, your worry and lack of confidence can slow you down and give you stress -- try to work on this with someone.

2. Are you confident when you participate in class? If not, again, I encourage you to explore this with your advisor, another trusted teacher, or even a trusted classmate.

3. Are you confident that your program is helping you head in a desired direction career-wise (if that is why you entered the program)? If not, again, I encourage you to meet with your advisor, or other trusted faculty member, or someone in your career center.

Other thoughts, questions about confidence? I'd love to hear from you!

Cheering you on,

Harriet

photo by HLS

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Working adult students, on my mind...

I hope this blog will be helpful to friends and others involved in a variety of endeavors. However, I created the blog with students in mind and continue to develop it with that specific group as my focus.

I believe that with the increase in evening, weekend, and low-residency programs, students are working more and more in isolation. If we were all full-time students on campus, we would have the informal support that comes with being able to go down the hall and talk with a colleague, etc. But instead, we are working late nights and weekends at home in front of the laptop.

With that in mind, I hope the encouragement lounge provides brief moments of respite and energizing connection. This does not at all replace valuable face-to-face contact. Many aspects of the academic journey can only be addressed via in-depth conversations with colleagues and teachers. And I would always rather sit down and talk with someone than to communicate online. Nonetheless, my aim is to give you one more channel for quick hits of support.