Last night I submitted my capstone project for my Master's program. It may not have been a thesis, but it was a challenge. I'm finishing my last class, which looks like it ends at the end of July, and then I'll be done. That is assuming that everything is satisfactory.
This project was really stressful for me. I had less than a month to complete it, which is a fair amount of time. The difficulty arose when I started working on one of the choices and couldn't figure out how to do it. I knew what I needed to do but just couldn't conceptualize it. I contacted my advisor after a week and a half of trying to figure it out and while I got the answers I needed, he mentioned that the time might be too short to continue that option and suggested doing the case study review. I didn't really want to do the case study review, but I conceded that it would be easier to plan.
I must have been really bad at reading instructions because I didn't see that each case study review (we had to choose three) could only be 1200 words (about two single spaced pages). My response to the first case study was over 1800 words and my second was 1600. Luckily I read the instruction again before starting on the third, so that on is closer to 1000. It didn't take long to cut the other two back to just under 1200 by chopping a couple of paragraphs and cleaning up the others. In the long run it was good. I finished up the other components of the project Monday night and spent last night just doing a final proofreading before sending it off a day early.
I will gladly and willingly acknowledge divine intervention in this case. A week and a half before the deadline I was stressed beyond breaking. At one point I was hyperventilating so bad that my fingers went numb. I just felt like I was getting pulled so many directions (I had a big project due in my class, was trying to give my family the time they needed, and was feeling pressured in my church responsibilities. Angel helped me calm down and reminded me that I had her full support. I couldn't have done this without my wife. I also took it to the Lord in prayer. I can attest that every time I started my nightly work with a prayer I was able to focus better, remember resources, and was generally vastly more productive than when I didn't. As my mother always taught me, "Pray like it's all up to the Lord than work as if it's all up to you." It works. This capstone project is proof. Ten days ago I was a wreck and was considering taking off work in order to finish it. Last night, I watched Ocean's 11 with my wife a still had time to play a game before bed after submitting it.
And the greatest blessing in regards to my Master's. No student debt. Never let it be said that God is not mindful of his children.
This project was really stressful for me. I had less than a month to complete it, which is a fair amount of time. The difficulty arose when I started working on one of the choices and couldn't figure out how to do it. I knew what I needed to do but just couldn't conceptualize it. I contacted my advisor after a week and a half of trying to figure it out and while I got the answers I needed, he mentioned that the time might be too short to continue that option and suggested doing the case study review. I didn't really want to do the case study review, but I conceded that it would be easier to plan.
I must have been really bad at reading instructions because I didn't see that each case study review (we had to choose three) could only be 1200 words (about two single spaced pages). My response to the first case study was over 1800 words and my second was 1600. Luckily I read the instruction again before starting on the third, so that on is closer to 1000. It didn't take long to cut the other two back to just under 1200 by chopping a couple of paragraphs and cleaning up the others. In the long run it was good. I finished up the other components of the project Monday night and spent last night just doing a final proofreading before sending it off a day early.
I will gladly and willingly acknowledge divine intervention in this case. A week and a half before the deadline I was stressed beyond breaking. At one point I was hyperventilating so bad that my fingers went numb. I just felt like I was getting pulled so many directions (I had a big project due in my class, was trying to give my family the time they needed, and was feeling pressured in my church responsibilities. Angel helped me calm down and reminded me that I had her full support. I couldn't have done this without my wife. I also took it to the Lord in prayer. I can attest that every time I started my nightly work with a prayer I was able to focus better, remember resources, and was generally vastly more productive than when I didn't. As my mother always taught me, "Pray like it's all up to the Lord than work as if it's all up to you." It works. This capstone project is proof. Ten days ago I was a wreck and was considering taking off work in order to finish it. Last night, I watched Ocean's 11 with my wife a still had time to play a game before bed after submitting it.
And the greatest blessing in regards to my Master's. No student debt. Never let it be said that God is not mindful of his children.
No comments:
Post a Comment