Review Your Grades

Remember getting a report card and already having some idea what was going to be on it?

Maybe you knew you had done well.

Maybe there was one class you were hoping would magically look better on paper. 😂

But by the time the grades arrived, they weren't really about potential anymore.

They reflected the work.

September has been our return to school.

We've read the syllabus.

Done the homework.

Asked for tutoring.

Used our resources.

Checked our progress.

Practiced what we know.

And now we're approaching the end of the quarter.

It's time to review the grades.

Not to judge ourselves.

Not to compare our report card to someone else's.

And definitely not to turn one disappointing grade into a statement about who we are.

Grades give us information.

That's it.

They help us compare what we intended to do with what actually happened.

That's important because intentions can be convincing.

I intended to follow up.

I meant to organize that.

I planned to make the call.

I wanted to protect that boundary.

I was going to work on the goal.

Those intentions may have been completely sincere.

But eventually, we need evidence.

Did I do it?

Did it work?

Did I improve?

Did I follow through?

Did the system make things easier?

Did the boundary protect what I intended it to protect?

Did my actions support the goal I said was important?

That's reviewing the grade.

And every subject doesn't use the same grading scale.

If the assignment was financial, we may need to look at numbers.

If the assignment was consistency, we may need to look at frequency.

If it was professional development, the question might be whether we applied what we learned.

If it was capacity, success may actually look like doing less, but doing the right things better.

If it was personal growth, the evidence may be in a decision we make differently today than we would have made three months ago.

The measurement has to match the assignment.

That's also why comparison can become so distracting.

Someone else's A might have absolutely nothing to do with our course.

They're taking a different class.

Working from a different syllabus.

Carrying different responsibilities.

Starting from a different place.

Their grade can't tell us whether we're doing our work.

Ours can.

And sometimes we're going to find something we don't like.

Good.

Not because failure feels good.

But because accurate information is useful.

Maybe the strategy didn't work.

Maybe we weren't as consistent as we thought.

Maybe we committed to too much.

Maybe we avoided something difficult.

Maybe we need more training.

Maybe the goal itself needs to be reconsidered.

A disappointing grade doesn't require us to become a disappointing student.

It tells us what needs attention.

And sometimes we'll discover the opposite.

Something that felt small was actually significant.

A behavior changed.

A system improved.

A boundary held.

A skill became easier.

A decision took less time.

We handled something differently.

We kept going.

Those are grades too.

The point isn't to give ourselves straight A's because we tried.

And it isn't to fail ourselves because everything isn't finished.

It's to look at the evidence as clearly as we can.

What worked?

What didn't?

What changed?

What needs more practice?

What am I ready for now?

September wasn't graduation.

It was a quarter.

And before we move into what's next, we owe ourselves an accurate look at what this quarter produced.

So pull out the report card.

Leave comparison out of it.

Leave shame out of it.

Bring the syllabus.

Bring the evidence.

And review your grades.