Lessons of Procrastination from an Inexperienced Procrastinator

Have you ever felt the feeling of doing everything in the last minute just to comply with the necessary requirements or just to beat the deadline? For a certified procrastinator or perfectionist, that would be nothing new for them. But how about those people who are forced into the situation due to fortuitous event or encountered a mishap along the process?

This was what I had encountered when I was about to graduate from my Master's Degree. As soon as I passed my thesis defense, I applied for graduation the following day (which is also the last day of the said application). I know that it is not typical of me to do those in last minute, but the reason I applied the day after my defense was because when I learned that the date of my defense is one day ahead of the last day of the application to graduate, I opt to apply on the last day of application instead. I just do not want to put my expectations high that time so there is that.

However, things did not go as planned and unfortunately it became a domino effect:

• First, I learned that my application to graduate did not push through for the reasons that I don't know. This would mean that should I really want to graduate, I have to wait for the reopening of the application period to apply, but this time subject to penalty and fines.
• Second, my classmates with same thesis adviser are informed that we have to figure out a way for our thesis adviser to sign our approval sheet since she was a part-time professor; and because of the late submission, we have to write a letter indicating the reason for the late submission. This is the time where we picked up some lessons from our previous classmates who already encountered that situation and actually applied it (e.g. let our mentor sign documents that required her signature); and yet, we still lagged behind the said deadline.
• Third, after we successfully let our mentor sign our approval sheet, I learned that the thesis title I placed in the approval sheet is inconsistent with the thesis title my mentor approves. This made me choose between addressing the issue immediately versus placing two different thesis title for the sake of not tampering an official document (which is the approval sheet), which of course rejected by the school as there should be consistency of the thesis title.
• Lastly, despite the chance of having another reopening of application to graduate, I end up having one last mishap which is I placed the the thesis title my mentor approved and few hours after the said application, I've been told that the school rejected the submission of my thesis due to title inconsistencies.

My peers, who also finished defending their paper during this term, were just waiting for the graduation practice and other graduation-related activities, while I on the other hand have to address these compounding issues. A part of me know that I can just give up and wait for the next graduation (which is February 2019 vs supposed October 2018) since all I need to do is to fix the necessary mishaps and just wait for the application for February 2019 graduation. By going through that route, I can dodge from necessary fines and I'm technically not in a hurry to graduate. Besides, it did not seem to be a life or death matter for me to immediately graduate and nothing is technically at stake. However, multiple opportunities from the school to extend necessary deadlines and encouragements from some of my peers graduating on October 2018 made me realize that I have to try to comply even if nothing is at stake. - and I did! So Hello October 2018 Graduation!

I, for one, admit that I am not an expert in procrastination or what some people call the pressure cooker situation. Whenever my groupmates, classmates or classmates with the same mentor are panicking at my progress while they are lagging behind, I kept on telling them that is because I am not expert in procrastinating and I am not effective whenever I am in the last minute situation. This is to inform them that they can relax and do their part where they are most productive. This also meant that whenever a deadline looms and I have not done my part yet, I start to panic and as we know, whenever someone is in panic mode, you cannot think properly and you end up having irrational decisions that you might later regret.

By going through my personal pressure cooker situation (even if nothing is technically at stake), I learned a lot of things and hopefully I would be able to apply it when I it matters.

1. Optimism - This is the one trait I think most procrastinators have. They know that they can finish things on time even if they looked exhausted with what they have been through in the last minute. They know that stressing themselves from the beginning would be useless if they might end up stressing themselves in the end too.
   
2. Never give up - This goes hand-in-hand with optimism as these people have a strong inner will to make sure that they will finish what had been asked of them to do no matter what. By never giving up, they knew that they should keep on fighting - we can say that these people can have a strong fighting spirit.
   
3. Motivation - I can say that this the primary reason why people were able to beat the deadline. One can be optimistic, but if one does not have the drive to actually think and act upon it, succeeding a task through procrastination would become useless. This does not only apply only in procrastination, but across all aspects of life, studies, etc.
   
   Like what I have mentioned, I was not motivated enough to comply because I thought that there is no way that the school would allow me to extend their imposed deadline for the submission. However, when I realized what could be the impact between marching this school year (at least I knew some of my peers despite not being close enough with them) compared with marching next school year (where there is no guarantee that my closest friends in the MBA would finally defend and pass their thesis), I decided that I should do something about it and fight through it.
   
4. Adjust your pace - There are times where it is actually okay to relax when a particular deadline is approaching as either you really have plenty of time despite the allowances you made, and  even if you rush things, you might end up giving yourself unnecessary stress.
   
5. Pause, think then act - An inexperienced procrastinator would make a lot of irrational decisions (like me) when they are in a pressure cooker situation. Meanwhile, an experience procrastinator would not do such things. They would pause for a while and think of their possible options, how to find an optimal solution to their problem, and then act on it. Most of the time, it works for them and you can see that some people are having exceptionally good results compared to their peers who finished their requirements ahead of them.
   
   In my case, since I learned that I would need to ask for the respective personnel to again sign whichever document I would choose to have as an official thesis title, I decided to pause, then think of my options where I can only disturb the least number of stakeholders involved. In this case it was a matter of asking my mentor to sign versus five personnel (mentor, three panel, and dean) where of course I chose the route of asking my mentor to re-sign the said documents and not disturb the other stakeholders. By doing this route, I was able to comply the said requirements based on their imposed deadline.
   
6. It is rewarding - Lastly, I think people who had successfully accomplished something through procrastination would feel a sense of euphoria. Whenever my peers would post something on social media about their academic life with the caption in relation with exerting their efforts by increasing caffeine intake, sleepless nights, etc. just to finish a final paper or to the extent - thesis, I think I now realized that majority of the people who said those lines are probably been through the pressure cooker situation. As the saying goes, it would not be rewarding if you did not actually worked hard for it. In their case, even if they opt to not do things ahead (as they think they are not productive), their huge sacrifices are what made them truly satisfying.
   
   I am not saying that those who are doing things ahead of time are not making an effort on it. Early doers may sacrifice time and socialization just to finish ahead of time, but it is those who undergone pressure cooker situation would be the ones that are making bigger sacrifices compared with those who do things ahead. This would not become surprising

I know that during my pressure cooking phase, it was a mixture of anxiety, nervousness and everything in between especially that I know that I don't perform well during these phase. With all these experiences, I would still want to make sure to do things early and if ever I there are abrupt situations that need immediate action, I already know how to deal with it.

For now... I will savor my upcoming graduation this month!

The Beauty of Technology in School

In every group work, there will be cases, reports or assignment that needed to be done on a weekly basis. The emergence of technology such as social media like Facebook, online messaging like Viber and most especially the Google Applications such as Drive, Sheets, etc. allowed the students to have a much easier time to communicate with each other and delegate tasks through these channels without actually physically meeting up. In a world wherein mid and night shifts are emerging coupled with a workload that demands their attention, it would really make sense to communicate via technology and work on your output via technology too.

When I entered MBA in 2015, I still know the feeling of studying again after two years of working. Also, things would be different because now I would have to re-acquaint myself again with having male classmates inside the classroom as I had been studying in St. Scholastica's College for six years. I did have some male classmates on some of our subjects (Music or Fine Arts Students), but most of the time there are no guys inside the class. Aside from this, I would also have to deal with how the students use technology now. When I was about to graduate college around 2013, smartphones were on the rise and some students would actually use the device to store documents such as PowerPoint presentations and study from there instead of the traditional printing of the slides to study.

During our Quantitative Methods in Business Class, I was fortunate enough that my professor placed me in a group where my classmates had at least one term studying in the MBA program. When the professor mentioned that we must do group work and submit it online. I struggled in two things: one is having multiple versions in a single file name, and the other is the online learning. I guess that is the drawback of not having an idea what are you entering into your first term in school. Unfortunately, I ended up choosing subjects that are both considered as a "hybrid subject" which meant that half of the time your class would be taught online and the other half would be a face-to-face session. Those are two out of three hybrid subjects that I took before I proceed with my thesis writing.

Doing a hybrid class has its pros and cons, of course depending on who you ask. One of the advantages of having this hybrid class is that even if you are so busy at work, you do not need to be physically present in the classroom to learn or submit the necessary requirements. Also, because mid and night shifts are already on the rise in the country, this would become more preferable to part-time students who would like to learn and hoping for a chance to go up in the corporate ladder. However, for me, this does not bode well since I want the traditional school set up rather than the modern set-up. But then, a hybrid class is not being offered to all subjects, and it should be noted that introducing this mode of learning indicates that we also need to address the needs of those people who would like to learn, but their existing circumstance prohibited them from doing so.

During my experience in graduate school, the one that I appreciate the most is the various Google applications. Google Docs allowed you to construct your file together without the need of having multiple versions of a single filename. This would mean that each one of you can work together so that you can finish the paper without the hassle of appointing someone to combine all the various versions together. Having this application work wonders as the positives outweigh the negatives. Aside from having the liberty to work on your pace without being the cause of bottleneck to your group (in case you are not productive enough to do your part), it also allowed you to communicate with them without even leaving the comforts of your home or work. You could brainstorm the things you need to discuss via other modes of online communication such as Viber or Facebook then translate the said output via Google Applications without even filing for leave or set a meeting just for you and your group to discuss some matters.

Overall, I really like what technology can do in school and also in other aspects of our lives. It made our lives simpler, but then, we have to make sure that we can still communicate with our peers face-to-face to ensure that we still have contact with reality - which means real people, not just seeing them through chat or messages. Such example was whenever I would inform my classmate pertaining to a particular student who also attended the same hybrid class as ours, my classmates does not have any idea about the person. She would tell me that she does not know anyone during our hybrid class except her close MBA friends. Even if there was an interaction among various class groupings during the hybrid session, you were just having a dialogue with them virtually without actually mingling with them personally.

Again, despite the benefits of the technology, one must ensure that there should be a balance between them. We still need to have personal touch with other people.

The Dreaded Live Writing

Being part of the so-called last batch to be permitted to be exempted from what majority of the students called the "live writing" in the MBA program. I was fortunate to know that even if we were delayed in terms of supposed to be defending our papers, but wasn't able to whether voluntarily or involuntarily, we were given one last chance by the department to make sure to defend and pass our thesis or else... we have to go through live writing like some of the students who just finished Strategic Management class this term.

So to further tell the story of how live writing works, of which majority of the students are said to dread at, the Integrative Action Research (IAR) of the MBA Program will be explained to further understand where the students are coming from and why doing a live writing is a dreaded thing to go through for majority of the students.

The Integrative Action Research or the IAR is the terminal paper of every student wherein he/she must pass and defend before one would be able to obtain a degree. If a student does not want to pursue doing the IAR, he/she can still graduate, but only with a certificate. When before the terminal paper for every student in the MBA program is a Strategic Management paper of a certain company; now the terminal paper is an IAR paper in which it is expected that the students (who are also employees or part of a certain organization) should be heavily involved in dealing with the organization or the company that they are currently affiliated with. Doing the said paper would mean that one should be able to solve any organizational problem by including your co-workers or stakeholders who will be affected in the outcome of the problem. This kind of thesis format has been done more or less for five years already.

The ideal trend that should be happening in our IAR is that we have to start doing our paper by the time Management Action Research (MAR) has been introduced to us as a subject. Once, you would be able to pass this subject, you can now proceed with compiling information for one's IAR paper. However, what happens in reality is that most students either had a hard time figuring out what would be their ideal terminal paper during their MAR class and instead just use any organization for the sake of finishing the paper. Come the time wherein they must present a paper for their IAR, this is where some students would scramble to find another organization in which they would consider it as their terminal paper. So this could be one reason why the department decided that live writing must be done so that students would be able to do the process of Action Research properly with the supervision of the mentor.


Below are the things live writing would require students to do:

• All the cycles or interventions that was done prior to thesis writing would be placed into context. Meaning you would have to find another intervention to further improve the issue that your organization is currently dealing with.


• Students are required to enroll at least two terms of thesis writing. This does not include whether student voluntarily delayed their defense and decided to instead continue writing.


• Mentors would monitor your intervention process. When before mentors would trust that you would be able to do the proper intervention for as long as the process is being done ethically, now the mentors would monitor your interventions before one would even implement the said intervention.

Stating the requirements of live writing, this would make a lot of students upset about it. I think the types of student who would actually prefer live writing are those who prioritize learning, money was not an issue and those who currently do not have an impending career or life role change. However for the majority of people, this is certainly a big issue. 

Below are the reasons why I think live writing is unfavorable to the students affected... or will be affected.

• It involves a lot of money. As much as mentors would not want students to speed up their pace to ensure a high quality output, it cannot be denied that one of the reasons students are increasing their pace just to finish their degree is to save money. The longer you are in school, the more expenses you are incurring. This means that more fees need to be paid, which is the reason why majority of the students are actually targeting writing and passing the defense in one term and in one attempt.


• Companies are just being nice to their employees for the sake of the students having an output - which is the IAR paper itself. If given a choice, companies would not want the name of the company to be dragged as part of research that would not give them significant incentives.
  
  Privacy is very important with these companies and involving one's mentor into the company's daily operations might cause inconvenience. It was already a form of inconvenience to disrupt employees or so-called collaborators to participate in the study even if the issues are part of the company, it would become even more inconvenient if a third party would be involved as not only it would put a threat to the company's confidentiality, there would also be trust issues between the company and the student itself even if mentors signed confidentiality forms.
  
  Usually companies will check whether the information their employee will divulge is threatening or a typical issue among corporations before fully supporting the employee in presenting the issue as his/her terminal paper in school. The reason some of these companies are permitting their student-employees to use their company as a part of the terminal paper is to not feel guilty about it as to inform the employee that they still helped them in a certain way and would not be one of the reasons why the student cannot finish his/her degree.


• All possible cycles (interventions) were exhausted. The rule stated that a student going under the live writing can still use the topic he/she used during his/her Management Action Research (MAR) class, but the interventions or cycles that were implemented before he/she undergo thesis writing would be considered part of the context (portion of the IAR paper which allows students to identify, discuss and propose solutions to certain issues).
  
  For some students, this might not be much of an issue, but for others it would be a big deal. It is true that students must ensure to keep improving the issue and should not only be limited to two interventions. However, the problem comes when one was able to solve the issue without the need to actually further improve their issue. If it was told that they must place all of the previous interventions into the context, this meant that students would either need to come up with a new solution for improvement, or discard everything and find another issue within the organization he/she currently belongs to.
  
  Another possible issue that came into play is that the MAR subject was considered as a Foundation Course. This meant that when you entered the MBA program, this is one of the subjects that you need to take before proceeding with the Core Courses. Also, professors of this subject highly encourages student to use this subject as a jumpstart so that we could prepare ourselves for the IAR. If that's the case, then probably the issue was actually addressed already by the time the student reach the IAR writing.
  
  Let's say the student is a business or accounting undergraduate and is taking two subjects per term (with the exemption of Strategic Management which is required to be taken alone). There are four foundation courses, five core courses, one elective and one strategic management for a total of 11 courses and the school is in trimester. Suppose the student took the subject at Term 2 (one of the last subjects in the foundation courses), if we add the remaining six core and elective courses divided by two subjects per term plus one strategic management, that means the student would have to take at least four more terms (Term 6) before reaching the IAR writing. Gauging on the normal pace for working students, the student would be entering the IAR writing on his/her seventh term. As one could see, the issue is probably addressed before the student would enter his/her IAR writing. By asking students to put all cycles into context would mean that their output in MAR would technically be useless especially if one really decided to use their output in MAR as their terminal paper for IAR.


• Organizations may not be in sync with the mentor's idea of the intervention. It seemed like mentors would be the ones acting as an unsolicited consultant in which whatever the intervention was decided upon by the students and collaborators involved in solving the issue, the mentors might play a hand in which he/she might be controlling the decisions of the collaborators in creating change in solving the issue. This may not sit well for all entities involved especially nobody want to receive unsolicited advises from third parties.
  
  Also, if the intervention of the student based on the collaborative decision can be done in a short period of time, why would the student need to wait for the term to finish before proceeding with the next intervention just to follow the protocol of the school? Companies or organizations cannot just make the issue idle just for the sake the students can translate it into writing (thus, the term live writing). What if after the first intervention - or cycle, the company was able to already pinpoint the flaw of the first intervention and decided to immediately discuss it to usher for the second cycle? I think this seemed to be questionable while yes it's true that interventions should not be processed quickly; however, there are instances wherein the effects of the interventions can easily be pinpointed without the need of waiting for the cycle to be finished.

In summary, I really think that the school really wants to ensure that our paper would be of high quality. However, I think because of the nature of the curriculum and the student expectations on how they are going to complete their paper. I really think if they really want to strictly enforce the so-called live writing, they should revamp the curriculum by at least allowing the students to actually take the Management Action Research (MAR) class before proceeding with their Integrative Action Research (IAR) paper. So that even if the students would be extending by at least one term, they would actually translate their MAR paper into IAR paper because they are now aware that they should actually start thinking of the paper they will be using for their IAR paper and not just submit any output for the sake of a grade.

Write at Your Own Pace

In an environment wherein everything is competitive, people would keep on wanting to get ahead at a fastest possible time. In the corporate world wherein having a graduate degree would mean that you could already leave the unsatisfactory work you currently have or you could now vie for a higher position because of your degree.

During college, everybody would aim for a one-shot passing of thesis writing and defense. It was a graded subject and counted against the number of units. Also, this means that all you need to focus upon is to finish your thesis as a full-time student. However, in graduate school, things are different. You could actually complete your MBA already by getting a certificate without going through the grueling thesis writing and defense. Of course, nothing still beats having a degree or having a title at the back of your name as to compared to just having a certificate.

As it was said, thesis writing in the MBA does not have any number of units attached to it. So if one thought that he/she is not prepared for the defense, it would be fine. It would not count against your inability to make the writing and defense in one shot. Besides, all of you are working students and not students having part-time jobs.

As of now, some of my classmates were preparing themselves for the thesis defense while people like me were either not granted to defend due to the shoddy construction of our thesis paper or backed out on our own volition thinking that we could not meet the deadline. When they learned that I would not be defending my paper, most of my former classmates were shocked about it. They may think that I became incompetent to finish what people deemed the most crucial part of the MBA program.

As for myself, the only people that I owe an explanation to in my situation are my parents, who were the ones paying for my tuition in this program. My mother does not want me to finish my graduate school yet as she is aware that once you finished your graduate school, you'll no longer have the enthusiasm to work. She also thinks that learning is more important than getting up to the ranks of the corporate world. Upon thinking about it, I realized she had a point. Before I entered the MBA program, I was quite lazy in getting up to bed and going to work since I would be doing the same thing over and over again. Also, I rarely go out to meet with my friends after work, so it was always home to work and vice versa. However, when I entered graduate school, I made a lot of new friends from different aspects of not only personally, but also professionally. By doing something different, it allowed me to become more enthusiastic in going to work again as you now always have something to look forward to - which is to go to school not only to learn but also to mingle with new found friends.

Additionally, it should be noted that the graduate school should not be treated like a sprint wherein one would attempt to finish all the courses required for a short period of time. If I got delayed in the more critical aspect of my school life - which is college due to health reasons. There is less pressure on my part to actually finish the degree on time especially if nothing is at stake on my end.

Again, one should really write at one's pace so that they would have an output that they really desire - of course, to also pass the thesis defense with flying colors.

Choose Your Group Mate When Nothing's at Stake: Talent or Effort?

How do you choose group members in graduate school when almost everyone knows that nothing is really at stake except to get a pass? Rarely do professors fail a student in graduate school, unless the student is performing very, very poorly.

During college or even high school, usually people tend to be lucky if they end up with a group mate who is not only intelligent enough, but is also running for honors or even achieving a Latin honor when they were about to graduate college. This would mean that not only you're going to have a talented group mate, but they're also the ones who will exert most effort even if it would come to a point that he/she will be the one doing everything. Additionally, this would also mean that the group mates around this person could actually afford to lax in terms of their contribution to a particular project or activity. However on the other end of the spectrum, there are students who are average or sometimes below average intelligence wise, but their effort sometimes exceed to that of the honor students.

Then comes the graduate school - where nothing is really at stake in terms of your personal, educational or even your professional career. It was not like in high school or in college wherein every grade or performance mattered. Here a graduate diploma is more of an icing on the cake. So when it comes to groupings - whether choose your own or count off, one might be hearing lots of friction among group members. Of course, since you would be label as professionals, it would be expected of you to confront things professionally and not just argue with each other like kids. Also, that would mean that professors may not care whether your group would contribute their part or not. In all the subjects I took in the MBA program, I only had three professors who actually do care about ranking group members.

Unlike college and in high school, making excuses is possible in graduate school because of work. One can constantly say that they are busy at work, they are in weird shifts etc. You cannot make those kinds of excuses during college - unless of course you are really working as part time (then, that would be a different story). Also, you cannot cite extracurricular activities as an excuse not to contribute your part (it was your choice to join there in the first place). In graduate school, you are all working and being a student is a part time.

So how do you choose your group members now knowing that some of your classmates can have a leeway of using work as an excuse not to contribute much? You may have group members who are intelligent, but does not want to make significant contribution. On the other hand, you may also have group members who are deemed incapable of contributing significantly, yet you see their initiative to find ways in contributing to the task.

For those who are aware that they are incapable to make significant contribution in terms of knowledge, they might depend on classmates who are very good at talking but does not provide the translated output. As for other students who are on the "always busy" mode, they might lean towards classmates who are very industrious when it comes to providing meaningful output, in that way they can be afforded to buy some time in finishing their work at the same time allow them to somehow provide minimal input.

Generally, I think students would choose someone who could provide the best effort in any task even if nothing was really at stake. In an environment wherein everybody is busy doing something whether it is about work, personal matters or even family, one would really need to depend on someone who is willing to put an effort rather than those who are intelligent enough yet fail to provide a meaningful output in a group.

"You'll Never, Ever Experience Doing a Book Report in Your MBA"

During the last day of our class in Investment Analysis (one of my elective class as part of completion for my specialization), we had our final exam in a multiple choice format. During this time, my core friends in MBA and my former classmates from previous subjects are done with their Strategic Management class and were participating in their Integrative Action Research workshop.

During the exam, I happened to stumble upon two questions that are Strategic Management-related concepts such as Porter's Five forces. I just took a picture of those questionnaire and did not post it on social media until all exams are done since I was planning to make a joke that we're also taking up Strategic Management - albeit during the final exam.

After the examination, I indeed post the said questionnaires with the caption "Sinong may sabi na kayo lang may Strama [Strategic Management], kami din noh? Sa final exam nga lang." Some of my former classmates took a laugh on it based on their reactions of the said post. Meanwhile one of my former classmates somewhat took a shot on it commenting on my post that nothing beats doing a Strategic Management paper. It was utterly true that nothing beats doing a Strategic Management paper as the paper was really hard to do, but I think all of those who reacted on it knew that it was just humor. Since I took up an additional electives in pursuit of my specialization in Financial Management, I replied to his comment as "True, but you'll never, ever experience doing a book report in your MBA." One of my classmates who also pursued specialization saw my comment and he was like, I did a great job replying at that post because it made sense.

While the quote seemed to be that childish as that graduate students should not supposed to be doing book reports as it was supposed to be done during elementary or at most college days. However, the book report is not just a book. We're talking about The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb and The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman. Those are quite sophisticated books - way beyond what we normally read such as novels or even articles.

Those that were ahead of us may have the bragging rights in terms of experiencing something that would make other people like us somewhat jealous of their accomplishments. However, the desire to experience everything first might fail them to miss on other things that were also worth experiencing. One could post that he/she could finish the program at a faster pace, while people who chose specialization like me can brag that at least we get to have an extension of our degrees like MBA-FIN or MBA-MKT by the time we graduate. They may never get that chance again as they chose to do things at a faster pace even if one thinks it's such an unnecessary thing to do.

Dear Friend

Dear MBA friend,

Once you came back from your trip in some part of North Asia, you would probably know that I would not make past the endorsement for our Integrative Action Research (IAR) defense on my own volition. I had made up my mind for the past few weeks, but couldn't tell it in our group chat that I plan to defer as I know that you would be quite upset about this as you all wanted our group to graduate together this coming June.

In our group, perhaps I was the second one who chose to be left behind as you all chose the typical route in the MBA program. I know that I would be left behind until three of our friends in MBA decided not to enroll thesis writing and you were the only one left going through the IAR writing alone. It was a determined way of you to do that and I admire you for it. How could I wish that I could be as determined as you despite having a lot on your plate whether it's about school, work, family, etc. Heck, you actually passed the writing and defense in one shot despite all the setbacks you've encountered during the defense.

I know that you weren't able to march with some of the students who also passed the defense during that term for personal reasons, which actually kept our hopes alive that we could march in June together. While you are waiting for us, I can join our other friends in the thesis writing as I was done with my last formal class.

But then, two weeks ago, I started to reflect back as I was doing my Chapter 2 for IAR writing around 3 to 4 in the morning thinking if pushing it through was actually worth it in exchange for my health. I am aware that I'm not the most immune of all. Lessons during my college days taught me how to actually take care of my body and not to abuse it anymore. I would not want to repeat major subjects (or in this case thesis writing or defense) just because I got hospitalized two weeks before the semester ended. I guess knowing that one of our friends in the group firmly decided to stay behind to further hone her paper made it an easier decision thinking that I can join her as we all cheer the rest of you to your June graduation.

While making this one last push would mean that I could finally get free from the school duties and finally becoming an MBA-FIN, at the same time being able to march with all of you so that we could embark on our far away travels should there be one. However, I think this is the battle that I chose not to fight thoroughly or desperately with. I know some of our classmates were quite startled that I was quite relaxed as the endorsement date approaches, but lots of factors came into play like nothing is really at stake for me in terms of planning for a career change or a change in life role. Perhaps my mentor giving me very minor feedback concerns me as I was not used to those kinds of feedback which might haunt me during IAR defense. The times that our group have gone through would be enough for me to cherish even if it would mean that I would be marching with our other friend at least one term behind.

What's more important is that we'll both make it at the end of our MBA journey- albeit not on the same pace. Again, congratulations as you're going to march this June!