After a couple of very interesting and very intense weeks of learning a lot of new things, preparing and maybe even failing in certifications, the period of training is finally coming to an end and a glance of relaxation after finishing the main tasks is settling in…
According to that, it was even told, that after the weeks, in which we had to focus on the weekly work with a client, the new stuff we have to learn and preparing for certifications, the upcoming week- the dashboard week- is so easy going in comparison to that.
Yesterday this dashboard week started, but the task of the first day was everything else than easy going: We had to create an app in alteryx with an api call-even for that I would have needed the whole day and then a dashboard; So after some time it was clear, that I couldn’t do everything – so instead of explaining how to do this app in alteryx, I will write a few things about how to deal with time pressure and unsolved tasks.
When I started the work, after some time, it was clear, that it was not doable for me in the given time. As the main focus was the dashboard, I just focused on getting and preparing the data so that I could go on with working. After that, I focused on the dashboard. I set up the dashboard in a way, that- in case I could continue with a app later- everything was already set up on the dashboard. During the presentation I said exactly this, that the time was not enough for me and that I focused on the main task.
But what to do, to not feel bad about not accomplishing everything, that was asked?
After I was rather stressed in the beginning of the training because of having the feeling, I’m not fast enough and not good enough with the things we learned, I somehow became a bit more relaxed in the last couple of days. In the end, you are just able to do, what you are able to do. I believe very much-in general and for sure in the cohort I am in, that everybody is doing it’s best; so what more is there to do, then doing your best?
Of course, you are getting to know yourself more and more, that means, you will know better, in which situations/under which circumstances you can perform better- and you can and will try to adapt the circumstances and situations to your needs. But everybody has it’s boundaries also- after 8,10,12 hours of studying, at some point, the brain will not work anymore; also this is a thing to get to know about yourself: is it more effective to take more breaks and have shorter periods of studying, because then you are in the end more efficient? This knowledge about yourself and how you perform better will increase with every task you do- it’s a part of the learning process, just like learning your tools tableau and alteryx.
So how to deal with time pressure now?
Realize, what task takes how much time and prioritize and focus on the most important things first. Get a first idea, what you would have to do for the tasks that you couldn’t finish as kind of lookout. This way, you have something to present and you can at least present an lookout for the open task. And most important: Do as good as you can and then, feel good about it- knowing you did the best you could.