I love watching people do the bare fucking minimum and still do just as well, if not better than me.
Okay but real talk guys the bare fucking minimum is how I saved my sanity during law school
When I was in my last year of undergrad, I had a professor who said that the only way he got through his degrees was by doing “the least amount of work for the best grade possible” and that shit stuck with me.
Got a prof who basically recites the textbook and doesn’t cold call? Fuck it – not reading for that class.
Open book exam? Not memorizing shit for that.
Class where paper is my major grade? That’s the class I skip for mental health time.
Law school is just as much about survival as it is the grades you come out with. If you’ve burned yourself out so badly that you can’t carry yourself past the finish line, you have failed yourself no matter how many A’s you have.
Also, just like, as a practical mater, you physically at some point in your life will not be able to give 100% to everything you are doing. Learning how to “do the bare minimum” is a life skill.
To bring in another law school example, due to scheduling weirdness back in the day and a total lack of necessary research, one of my profs in law school ended up taking the MPRE two days after the he finished taking the bar exam. Understandably, he did not put much time into actually preparing for the MPRE. No studying ahead of the bar and only like a few hours across the two days after. And he scored one point above what he needed to pass the MPRE. His lesson: “I don’t recommend the timing, but I’m glad I didn’t study more. It would have been a waste of time.”
To give another example from my life, I studied PR/marketing in college. Creative types are notorious perfectionists. My prof routinely reminded us that part of what we were learning was how to allocate our limited time and resources (including mental energy, creativity, etc) amongst all of the things we had to do. Because part of being a creative professional is being able to tell the difference between a project you should only spend an hour on–like, say, an internal company flyer for a required employee information session–and a project you should spend lots of time on–like an annual public report. Sure, you could make that flyer look *stellar* but is it a good use of your time? Is that the best use of your talents and limited resource? Is all of that work “worth” anything in the long run? Probably not. The difference in impact between an adequate flyer for the event and an incredible flyer is very very low; the employees have to come regardless.
At some point in school/work/life, you will hit a point where you physically cannot do your “absolute best” on everything you have to do. At that point, your only option is to admit that the goal isn’t to do the same level of amazing work on each thing, but to figure out what level of work each practically needs to achieve what’s needed.
If two students both get a good grade in the class and get good jobs after graduation, but one had to put in 50% more work because they wanted to go above and beyond what was necessary to achieve that outcome, they don’t win any rewards at the end for having expended more effort.*And that attitude of “I have to do my absolute best” rather than “What do I need to do here to achieve my goal, and is the likely outcome of putting in more work worth the cost?” is what leads to breakdowns and burnout. Of course what’s “worth it” is highly subjective and dependent on the circumstance and person, but if you’re not asking yourself the question, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage.
What some call “doing the bare minimum,” I call assessing costs and benefits of putting in more effort on an one project compared to all the other things I need to do and then making an informed allocation of my time, energies, and resources.
*Of course, there are plenty of reasons a person might genuinely just have to work harder to get the same outcome. Lack of privilege based on background, education, race, gender, health, etc. can have a very real effect on how hard one has to work to accomplish any given goal, and I’m not diminishing that at all. My point is that, as an individual, it’s important to figure out how/when to do the “bare minimum” based on your personal abilities, circumstances, and goals.
so since i really really like history and think writing about history is fun (like… as fun as writing about anything for a grade gets, but), i thought i’d share my overall writing process with you guys to help out anyone who needs it!!
1. ask yourself: what are you even writing about? there are two main types of history essays: one where you’re examining some sort of shift, or change over time, usually a shift in how people view a certain thing/topic/issue, and one where you’re looking at the effects of one cultural/economic/social element, and how it affected/presented itself in only the time when it took place. i’m gonna call these the shift and the isolated occurrence, respectively. your first step is to identify which type of essay you’re writing.
how to approach the shift: ask yourself what changes, what stays the same, when do the changes occur, and why. you can think of this essay as a cause and effect essay. you’re going to look at the overall shift over a long period of time, and several turning points for that shift. overall, what changed and why? in those specific moments, what changed and why?
how to approach the isolated occurrence: figure out what social, political, or economic phenomenon you’re looking at. ask yourself how that occurrence manifests itself in different populations (by age groups, gender, race, region, socioeconomic class, etc). in a nutshell, your essay is going to be about what the shift meant in general for EVERYONE it affected, and what it meant for the different populations you chose to examine.
2. gather your sources. i’m gonna assume you’re writing your academic history for school, so these are gonna be “course” centric.
textbook. probably the least “respected” source, but you just want to get this essay done, and you don’t particularly care about being respected by historians, so you can use your textbook for anytime you’re talking about dates or really general, really vague background information.
extra readings. most history teachers tend to print stuff out and give it to you to read. those are fair game. use ‘em, but be careful – if they’re excerpts from another textbook, use them like you’d use your textbook. if they’re from something more specific (i.e. an entire book on the subject, instead of a paragraph on the subject from your textbook), you rely more heavily on the source.
other primary sources. your textbooks and readings are probably going to quote some people who were there. you want to quote some people who were there, too! diary entries, journals, and letters are all incredibly helpful, and you can google that sort of thing pretty easily to get great sources!
things historians have written. that thing you’re writing about? someone probably writes about that for a living. it’s always a good idea to use historians and their works.
works from the period. art, literature, prose, music – we use them to express ourselves and our ideas. if its from the period you’re writing about, it will tell you something about people/people’s feelings on things from the period, and is a primary source!
major legal writings. if the government is based on it or wrote it, it’s a solid source.
3. write your thesis. you’ve read step 1. you know what you’re talking about. so tell everyone what your talking about, and, most importantly, what it did/what it means for us now, in a broad, broad sense. for example, roe v. wade literally made abortions legal in the us. but what roe v. wade REALLydid was allow women to have greater ownership of their own bodies and choices, and greater independence. see? your thesis is where you should be broad.
4. write the essay.
introduction. add some historical context. basically, explain what events or movements led up to the thing you’re talking about. then give ‘em your thesis. then do that thing your english teacher probably doesn’t want you to do where you list how you’re going to prove your thesis. then hit enter.
body paragraphs. with shifts, it’s best to organize them chronologically. with the isolated occurrence, it’s best to organize them based on population group. in these paragraphs, you’re providing evidence that will justify your thesis, so each paragraph should work to make a point that strengthens/supports your BIG point (thesis). make sure you have some cold-hard facts or sources and interpretations of those facts and sources in each paragraph.
conclusion. restate the thesis. and LET PEOPLE KNOW WHY THE THING YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT IS RELEVANT TODAY. that’s the biggest part of your whole essay, trust me. history is essentially the study of what got us where we are. if you don’t talk about the present in your essay about the past, you’re doing it wrong. (NOTE: if you’re writing about something that you can’t make relevant to anything today, connect it to something major that happens after the times you talk about in your essay.)
my college sent out a document of advice for graduate freshers from the Oxford University Counselling Service and I thought it had some really good reminders in it.
These are all very good reminders for myself and others in the weeks to come.
good, real connections make for stronger letters-of-rec than just high grades
(but going to office hours also increases your chance of getting a good grade) because
the professor will know you worked hard and care about their class
also they’re more likely to allow you extensions/make allowances for emergencies if they’ve got a good idea of your personality and integrity
also sometimes professors have snacks
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME
please check the syllabus (or ask) how your teacher prefers to run office hours. most will allow you to just drop in; some prefer you to email about an appointment first.
I usually keep a page or two in my notebook reserved for making notes about things to bring up in office hours. these can include:
material you’re confused about
material you think you understand but you want to double-check (one really great way of checking comprehension is to ask if you can rephrase/summarize an idea to the professor and get their feedback on your understanding)
material you’re interested in and want more information about
topics you’re considering for your paper/final project
is the scale of your topic is right for the project? (can you really adequately cover the entire history of American slavery in a three-page paper?)
are you missing any obvious counter-arguments?
have you read the right sources? do they have suggestions for further reading? this can save you a lot of time poking around databases and libraries.
go after you get an essay back! if you’re not happy with your grade, ask them how to improve it; if they’ve given you feedback on the paper, ask if they have any suggestions for implementing that criticism.
other miscellaneous academic questions. this is dependent on your relationship with the professor or TA, but it can be the most rewarding use of office hours, hands down. my last two years of undergrad, I spent a lot of time in office hours (even if I wasn’t enrolled in a class with the professor) talking about graduate school, stress, the writing process, teaching, etc.
go a few times every semester, and don’t wait until the week before the exam! more students show up then, and the professor or TA will likely be busier than usual already, with the end-of-semester rush.
WHAT NOT TO DO
never ask a professor or TA to grade your essay before you turn it in. they will refuse. you can ask them for help on specifics – working out a tricky paragraph, for example, or advice on how to structure the paper. it’s helpful to send them the writing before you show up to their office.
don’t ask them to get you caught up on what you missed while you were absent (except in special circumstances). everyone gets sick or skips once in a while, but it’s not their job to re-teach an entire lesson. use your phone-a-friend option first, and then come to the professor with any specific questions.
don’t ask for exam hints. you won’t get them.
don’t go in just to complain about a bad grade. it’s irritating and disrespectful. if you’re unhappy with your mark, or think that the professor might have made a mistake (which is totally possible!) approach them about it politely and ask how you can improve it, or ask them to explain their feedback a little more.
Starting from the very beginning: a lot of profs
like to give you some space to decide on your own topic. That’s great! But what
if all you’re drawing is a massive fucking blank? Try these:
Try putting together two subjects and find the
intersection of them. Basically play matching games with different subjects
until you find an interesting thing that has to do with both. Mix and match war
history, political history, intellectual history, history of technology, gender
history, history of religion, and any others you think of until you find some
gold.
Always keep in mind what the sources allow.
Given literacy rates, destruction of sources over time, and what people
bothered to write down or didn’t, what can you squeeze from the primary sources
of your era? On the flip side, maybe there’s a really cool primary source –
book, letter, law, piece of art, whatever – that you’d love to base an essay
off of.
Before you even sit your ass in the chair to
start writing anything, you’ll
already have spent five hours (approximately) working on the project. This is research time, and it (more than any clever turn of phrase or use of the
thesaurus or midnight write-a-thon) is what’s gonna make your essay work.
Go to the library. Yes, the physical library
with bits of pressed-up tree. In disciplines like history especially, you can’t
rely solely on e-book and e-journal evidence. You gotta get in there and smell
the lovely old paper. Libraries also have lots of resources to help you,
including subject librarians who know their stuff and can help you figure out
where to go for research.
Research should go from the general to the
specific. If you have a wide topic, read some basic grounding stuff then delve
into the specificity of what’s gonna be in your essay.
Be fucking critical about it. Everyone’s afraid
of fake news now, but there’s also fake old
news. Did the writer lack certain information? What are they trying to persuade you of? Who are they? When was the book written and
what was the historiography of the topic like at that time? Are the writer’s sources good? His credentials? Was this source written as
propaganda?
Primary. Sources. Get stuff from the actual time
period and remember to read and analyse carefully. What can you squeeze from
it? What meanings did it have in the context of its time, and not ours?
First Paragraph: an introduction. This must
include a general summary of what you’re talking about. Think of the 5 Ws
(especially, what topic? When/what period?). But mostly, this paragraph must
abso-fucking-lutely include a thesis statement: a single sentence which sums up
the argument which the essay supports. Think of it as the TL;DR of the essay.
Middle Paragraphs: sources, arguments and
analysis. Remember that the whole of the essay must come back to that TL;DR
(thesis). Each of these paragraphs must be relatively self-contained; it may
build off of others but it is its own paragraph because it is a separate idea.
Get creative as to the order of these
paragraphs. Proceed logically by chronology, subjects that flow into each
other, by geographical grouping… whatever makes sense for your topic and keeps
your arguments well-organized.
How long is a paragraph? Well, how long is a
rope? As long as it needs to be. Take
as much time as you need but don’t repeat yourself.
Conclusion: the conclusion is also a TL;DR, in a
way. It’ll restate the thesis and add any last thoughts that you really fucking want your reader to remember.
The most common complaints that profs will give
include the following. You’ll thank me for this later.
I’ve seen so many students from other
disciplines get fucked over in history courses because they forget to talk
about change over time or to mention what’s particular to the time period
instead of talking in a broad way. For example, if you’re writing about the
status of women in Upper Canada, don’t mix examples from 1850 and 1950; choose
a manageable time spread and go with it. Change over time is the essence of
history.
Lack of a thesis. Remember how I said that the
thesis is what the essay is all supposed to support? Just to restate, the
thesis is literally the whole fucking point. Make sure that yours isn’t trivial (aka already really obvious) or vague. Also make sure to know the
difference between a topic and a thesis: a topic is the general subject the
essay is about, and the thesis is a very specific argument the essay makes.
For example, a topic statement could be: “the
essay will discuss the Puritan view on sexuality”. A thesis statement could be:
“Although Puritan has been used as a byword for prudishness and repression, the
positive Puritan view of sexuality within marriage and the erotic language used
to discuss the Church’s relationship with God demonstrate a nuanced social role
for sexuality within the Puritan community, in which proper sexual behaviour was
defined by a theology of marriage.” One of these things lets you know that
Puritans sometimes fucked and had thoughts about it; the other makes a
novel(-ish) argument about the Puritan view on sexuality. See the difference?
Avoid present-ism. We have a lot of assumptions
about how the world is and should be based on when we live, just as much as
where we live or who we are. History is not some sort of march towards the
glorious present or future and shouldn’t be treated that way.
Using long words or repeating yourself in order
to impress/pad the length/whatever the fuck you think you’re doing is very
transparent. Don’t bother.
I forgot a couple things:
1. No such thing as too many citations. Even if you’re paraphrasing/sourcing a date or fact/ name dropping the scholar it must be cited to avoid plagiarism and to show you didn’t make shit up. 2. You’re not in high school anymore so forget the five paragraph essay format exists. It is training wheels and you’re in the major leagues now. 3. Pros situate themselves in the historiography by getting familiar with important works on the subject and comparing/contrasting . Depending on the prof’s expectations, try to do it if you have time and know the topic fairly well.
1. You are very lucky and privileged to have access to almost unlimited knowledge and you should appreciate that.
2. Be one of those rare people who step over their insecurities and succeed.
3. Only 5 minutes. Only today. (Repeat it 5 minutes later and every day).
4. You will know what to do as soon as you start. Ideas never appear from inactivity.
5. Make yourself proud.
6. One hour every day doesn’t feel much but it’s 365 hours a year. You can’t not succeed after so much work.
7. It’s not supposed to be easy. Nothing good is easy.
8. If you had a child to look after, you’d make them study because you want them to accomplish something. Don’t you love yourself?
9. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear” George Adair
10. Every mistake increases our chance to make progress.
11. If you give up now, you’ll have to return to this later anyway but from the very beginning.
12. Let the process be your result.
13. Every moment you thought your fears would suppress you has become the time you made it.
14. Maybe you think you can never find something to use your skills and mindset for. But if you continue investing in what matters to you, it will find its way out there.
15. I allow you to think globally. You have a right to the boldest dream.
If I could add one – there exists a time in the future where you’ve already written this paper/completed this project. So you must know what you want to write. You just need to close that gap.
If you struggle with anxiety, overwhelm, or just plain feeling like a failure, I have a mantra for you that’s been really helping me out lately:
Just show up.
I used to skip class because the whole thing was so overwhelming: I had to get dressed in something clean even though I never had the energy to do laundry, walk to school, sit in class for up to three hours, plus pay attention, take notes, and participate in discussion. In reality, I was being a perfectionist, and life would have been a lot easier for me if I had Just Shown Up. By staying home because of my depression and anxiety, I wasn’t giving myself the chance to do any of that. I was such a perfectionist that being a “bad” or average student was unthinkable, so I stopped being a student at all.
If you’re having trouble getting something done, Just Show Up. You don’t have to be employee of the month. You don’t have to be valedictorian. Just Show Up.
ime it also helps to be like “you dont have to stay the whole time, you just have to go” bc most of the time once youre there it’s fine. a lot of things are like that, like… you dont have to finish the dishes, just start them. a lot of the time once you start a task it’s easier to finish than to stop, especially if you can trick yourself like “after five more minutes if i still feel bad i’ll go home” or “after washing two more dishes i can stop for today”
even if you don’t finish the task, you started it, and by completing part of it you lessened your future workload and ALSO taught your brain that things may not be as daunting as they seem
This is wisdom! Peace!
you know what years of therapy taught me – Redefine success
so what if no one else gets how the things you define as successes are victories because you have to
so you got to work – success
you used public transport – success
you went to the supermarket instead of ordering online and didn’t just buy things you dind’t want because you got scared – MASSIVE success
Redefine success, your body moved the goal posts, there is no shame in acknwoledging that
failed2be-chill 