What is Scholarship Tunnel Vision?
Scholarship Tunnel Vision happens when your expectations for scholarship dollars are not matched by an accurate expectation of the effort and skills necessary to win those scholarship dollars. When this happens, you get obsessed with the dollars (the outcome) without doing the work (the process).
When you are outcome-focused instead of process-focused, it's easy to get discouraged. And when you don’t receive immediate results, applying for more can sometimes become a burden. This is the number one reason strong students don't win scholarships, not the availability of funds as we often think.
We’re not up against scholarship dollars or student debt. We’re up against Scholarship Tunnel Vision.
We have been there. You went through the process. You tracked your applications and planned out your calendar. Then you worked on your applications in a timely manner and submitted them, but you haven't heard back from anyone! What gives? 😔
Let's talk about motivation. Motivation comes and goes. You give yourself the best chance to be "motivated" when you are:
- well-rested
- not stressed
- well-fed
- happy
- surrounded with the things you love and enjoy
So next time you're feeling blah, first understand that it's normal. It just means that your battery is low and needs you to recharge! Practice self-care. Do something that makes you happy. Move your body, spend time with friends and family, watch a Netflix show! Essentially, just try to unwind and reset! 🤗
Now there are times when you just don't feel like doing the work! Also normal! But there are ways to ensure that you keep yourself accountable. For example, you can set aside some time to work on applications with your parents! This way, you feel committed to working on your applications because there is someone else expecting you to show up. You get to bond with someone and work on your goals!
Resilience
Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity or significant sources of stress.
Building resilience is important to find success with scholarships. All too often, students become frustrated or discouraged by the scholarship process. It's easy to get stuck with Scholarship Tunnel Vision and forget that there is a Scholarship Payoff Period. You forget that there is a game to play that has the odds in your favour. And then you stop giving effort.
Effort counts twice when it comes to achievement. It is the key to success with university, scholarships, and life.
Here at GrantMe, we're dedicated to helping our students learn this and develop strong resilience accomplished through repetition.
What is the Scholarship Payoff Period?
For about 6–9 months, you will be hearing back from university admissions and scholarship committees, which is known as the Scholarship Payoff Period, a period during which you have very high odds of scholarship success!
The key here is to understand that throughout this time, you will need to be actively applying and putting in the effort to get the returns! You might get frustrated or anxious when you spend so much time applying but aren't yet able to see the results of your actions. No need to fret! Try to remain process-focused! More effort means more achievement!
Understand that you're playing a game with great odds and that if you keep applying, you will be guaranteed success!