School’s back in session, and over the course of the year, it’s inevitable that you’ll encounter some times when you feel overwhelmed with the unending procession of deadlines and due dates. Eventually, there will come a point when stress is going to be detrimental to your productivity rather than beneficial. Here are a few tips to clean up your thoughts and give you some breathing space:
1. Write down your tasks.
As commitments start to pile up and the sheer volume of assignments becomes hard to handle, trying to cram it all into your head is going to start to be a lot less effective. Take a few moments to write down each of the things you need to remember in a notebook or planner (traditional or digital) as they come up. It might seem like a hassle to always have to record everything, but outsourcing the job of remembering and recalling a long list of tasks will save you a lot of time, a lot of energy, and make you less prone to forgetting things and making mistakes.
2. Prioritize, then stick to your game plan.
A lot of the time, a chronological order of deadlines is a good way to go when prioritizing tasks, but sometimes this isn’t the case. You might decide that you want to get a head start on a harder project that’s due later than an easier one you know you won’t have trouble with. Sometimes, enjoyability factors into the order of your tasks. No matter what you decide to do in what order, staying dedicated to that plan is extremely helpful in maximizing efficiency. Jumping from project to project wastes a lot of time, and working while worrying over whether or not you’ll meet a deadline causes unneeded stress and distraction.
3. Clean out your binder(s) regularly.
Especially true towards the end of the year, a binder that is prone to explosion is often filled to a large extent by papers, old homework assignments, and things that aren’t necessary for immediate use. Compile any notes and work you want to retain in one place, like another binder or an accordion folder, and discard whatever you no longer need to keep. A neat and tidy binder can help you find things more quickly, and it minimizes the chances of important assignments getting eaten by the rest of your papers.
4. Resolve interpersonal conflicts.
While it remains that some conflicts cannot be quickly fixed, problems with friends and family can be a huge weight on you and should be dealt with quickly. If you’re constantly worrying about a fight with your parents or if a friend is constantly needling at you, it can be very difficult to concentrate on tasks at hand, and the emotional strain can amplify your overall stress levels. Don’t let problems linger and hang over you for extended periods of time. Address any conflicts that you might be able to resolve right away, and make an effort to compromise as soon as possible.
5. Take some time off to boost your motivation!
Even when you need every last minute before a deadline, it’s a good idea to take fifteen or twenty minutes out of your busy schedule to rejuvenate your morale. A short break can do wonders for your productivity in the following hours. Go for a walk or play a few rounds of a pointless flash game. There are also some really great motivational sites out there – chibird’s Tumblr and the /r/GetMotivated subreddit are two of my favourites – so take a bit of time to explore. Here, have a motivational penguin. Happy studying!
