Reviewer MuseThe Muse of the Thesis--The Muse on Research Papers--The Muse on Writing Projects

There are only a few weeks until it all begins again.

Yep. School is around the corner, and the shops have already started the 'Back to School' sales.

The goal has "graduation" at the end of it. The deadline means you move from where you are to somewhere else. The deadline is just a line in time. Either you pass it or you are, for all practical purposes, just where you presently stand. Or sit.

When school starts, you will get an assignment, and there might be a break involved before you turn in your masterpiece. This autumn, you might find weather and a general sense of "it will all end soon, and then my life will be my own again" will be dangling before your eyes like the Sirens tempting Odysseus.

Some call it "senior-itis". Sometimes it's a simple realization that your grades won't matter much as you already have a great job lined up. Some call it fatigue. You may even think of it as getting to the end of the "sentence", even a "release date" if you think of school as a prison where you've spent the past years learning something, anything, useful to land you a job.

But don't fall for the nonsense that you're getting to the end and grades don't matter any longer. Five or even twenty-five years down the road, you might find that you must submit a transcript to get the next job. Grades will matter then, and there will be nothing you can do about it then.

This year, it might be wise to dedicate August to a little 'thinking ahead'. You know the courses you'll be taking, and you've likely got a good idea there will be a paper or thesis due. Start reading. Start writing. Start researching. Now.

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That's right. Give the Muse a jump start.

You've got the job. You're certain of the next step, which may be more schooling or it may be a year off, or it might be going to work for "International Gizmo and Widget" (or their lawyers, bankers, or health care providers.

All that stands in your way is graduation. No worries about that research paper, or many other assignments. Or that writing project. Maybe it's a speech.

But what stands in our way in the long view is this. We need to be able to get an "A+++" every day when we're working. It's a Pass/Fail system. You do well or you fail. That's it.

So, dust off that Muse finding technique, whatever is your favorite. And just for practice, give yourself exactly 3 days to do a very complex project, equal to the most complex project you've done in school (or at work, if school is a distant memory). Science geeks might want to avoid the 'bench chemistry' on the kitchen table for safety's sake.

If you're nowhere near graduation, either too far in the future, or too long in the past, try it anyway. Challenges are good. Intellectual challenges are fun. At the end of the day, when the "new year" starts on Labor Day, you'll be ready for more challenges at work, and in life.