7. Being Completely Mentally Prepared For Something... Until You Need To Actually Do it...
You can probably name this one examination syndrome or for the older readers among you leaving a voicemail syndrome. Basically, it works like this: youre all set to do something important, but when the moment finally comes, you suddenly become the victim of a total mindwipe. This could be sitting down to an exam youve been preparing for every night for a month. You know the subject inside and out, youve studied it for years and, if a friend asked you about it over coffee, youd wow them with a veritable cornucopia of knowledge. However, when the little piece of paper gets put in front of you, it's like your brain says Oh no, no thank you. I wont be coming to work today. I feel a little queasy and you have to make do without all of your preparation. At that point, any number of other things will come into your head. If asked at that time, you could probably recount every present you got for your first five birthdays, or the all cheat codes to Grand Theft Auto I, but youll never, in a million years, be able to remember the thing you were reading about, in preparation for the exam, that very morning for six hours. Same goes with voicemail. You know to leave your name, message and contact number, and it sounds great as you mentally rehearse it in your head, but get that beep on the other end of the line and you can guarantee that youll sound like a mental patient trying to do a jigsaw puzzle in a blizzard... This phenomenon also applies to driving tests, job interviews, marriage proposals and ordering takeaway dinners over the phone.