I was looking at my grades right before Christmas break.

I sat slack jawed with my face all contorted like it was trying to become a gymnast. I was utterly confused at the time. And almost instantly I started thinking about how I could pretend it never happened.

My finger just wanted to close the window on my monitor and do something else. I would check my phones for messages or something. Maybe I’d play a game. Maybe I’d…

I caught myself before I closed the window.

I’ve done that to myself too many times not to know exactly what I was trying to do…

I wanted to distract myself because I didn’t want to feel the pain of my screw up. It was embarrassing. I knew I’d probably have to talk to my parents about it. I knew if a friend were to ask then I’d be tempted to change the subject.

I didn’t want to think about it.

But if there is one thing I’ve learned over thing years, it’s this:

Think About It

It was painful (it still is) but I knew the only way I was going to solve my problem was by facing it head on and doing everything I could to learn something from the experience.

I can’t just pretend it never happened.

I can’t change the subject.

I needed to face the music because distracting myself would just open me up for making the same mistakes all over again.

It was Christmas morning. I was watching my younger siblings open their presents and my brain was wandering away to try and figure out where I went wrong.

Why Everything Went Horribly Wrong

Whenever I screw up, I can usually look back and find hundreds of dumb little mistakes I made (or I think I made.) Like in this case:

I skipped studying for my English test.

I didn’t pay much attention on the homework.

I completely forgot one paper.

I zoned out because I was daydreaming during class.

But these lists can go on forever and ever, and to be completely honest, they kind of hurt.

Thinking about the whole list makes me feel like a complete failure. It makes me feel lazy. It makes me feel dumb. It makes me feel like I totally deserve the grades and can’t except any better of myself.

But here is the thing I noticed with myself and lots of other people:

When one thing goes wrong, it can domino into many problems.

Sure… if you see the whole building collapsing you feel like you must have made a hundred little mistakes but it could come down to a single domino coming down in the wrong spot.

When I’m not careful I end up with a story suggesting I screwed up with every single domino when the reality is: one domino is the real problem.

Remember this metaphor because I’m going to come back to it.

My keystone – domino – was a relationship with a friend that wasn’t going smoothly. I had been hurt and I let it get to every aspect of my life.

It’s easy to skip studying when you’re in a terrible state of mind.

It’s easy to get caught up talking with other friends in that situation. It’s a time when I needed my friends.

Forgetting stuff? I hope I never get to a day when losing a friendship is less important to me than a paper.

Daydreaming… I was in a bad state of mind.

Here is the good news of the story though:

How To Save A Domino Structure – And Your Grades

If you’ve been following this metaphor, your grades are kind of like a domino structure.

One problem can cause another dozen little problems but the solution is the same solution as domino builders have been using forever. It’s a simple strategy that ensures your domino structures are never going to come collapsing all around you. It doesn’t prevent every little problem but it limits the damage.

Are you familiar with how people building domino structures protect their work?

All they do is create small sections of domino structure while leaving openings to prevent one little mistake from spiraling to destroy everything.

They just take a couple dominoes out of the line. If the dominoes on either side fall then that small opening isolates the problem.

Here is my good news…

My problem was isolated. I took a little hit to my grades based on a month and a half of mediocre grades BUT Christmas break stopped the damage right there.

I looked at what went wrong.

I learned my lesson. And now… I get to move on.

This new year- I’m going to get back to killing it! 🙂

And for those of you following along: Thank you so much for all your support.

Having you guys here is a huge blessing to me and I love knowing you’re always there to help. I hope this helps you learn to not make the same mistakes I make. 🙂