Dealing with Setbacks in Your SAT and ACT Prep

This is my third post in the discussion of non-attachment as it relates to your SAT and ACT prep.

We applied this idea to goal-setting, and then we applied it to test-taking. 

This week, let's talk about how it relates to perceived setbacks, such as not knowing the answer to a question or finding out you scored lower than you wanted to, either on a practice test or an official test.

 When I say "non-attachment" it might sound like I'm asking you to be a zen buddha who relentlessly goes with the flow. 

Didn't make it to the test room? It happens. 
Scored in the bottom 5 percent?  Someone had to.

That's not practicing mindfulness. That's practicing mindlessness.

When you have a goal, you act accordingly. You show up on time (early!). You dedicate yourself to the preparation so that you don't score in the bottom 5 percent.

But, taking this discussion out of the hyperbolic and back to the reality that you may have experienced a perceived setback, it would be really nice to deal with the situation in a really calm, peaceful, forgiving way from the beginning.

That said, we're human. We have a broad spectrum of emotions and reactions, and we certainly don't always feel in control of those reactions. Try as we may to hold a goal peacefully and without attachment, sometimes we only realize how attached to the goal we've become amidst a moment of stress: the freak-out after scoring a test with disappointing results, the panic upon encountering a math problem that we don't understand, the dismay upon receiving a official score report with lower results than anticipated.  

What are we to make of those moments when even our best intentions to take obstacles in stride are overwhelmed by a flood of emotions?

Pause, feel the feeling, and then move on. {Tweet It}

Non-attachment is not an all-or-nothing goal in which we either succeed at perfect equanimity or fail entirely.  There are incremental wins.   

For example, it could take you two weeks to return to studying after receiving a less-than-your-expectations score report, or it could take you two days, or two hours, or twenty minutes. If it used to take you two days to recover after a perceived setback, and it takes you two hours today, then you are strengthening your adaptability and capacity for success.

It isn't that you never lose your center. Rather, when you realize you've become caught up in a tailspin of stress or fear,  you more quickly and easily find your way back to center. 

Moreover, moving on does not mean avoiding the feeling. Allow yourself the time and space to feel the feeling, and then let it go .  If it comes back, feel it again, and let it go again. 

All of this is not a goal in the same sense that scoring a 2000 on the SAT is a goal. Rather, it is a practice that you return to day after day, moment after moment.

Sound exhausting?

How's being stressed out all of the time working for you?


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