As a sensitive girl, many times I have felt the so-called butterflies in my stomach when Iâve either left my work to the absolute last minute, or I havenât begun a piece of work I know I have to begin soon. Unsurprisingly, this often puts me in a situation where I am left to deal with an abundance of stress and anxiety, which unfortunately can lead to some unhelpful and, at worst, unhealthy coping strategies.
As a result, this article is being written for both you, the reader, and myself, the author, so we may remember that there are healthier strategies than a George Green all-nighter and a pack of redbulls, (this being said with no judgement- how do you think I came up with this example!).
- Make your work easy to start and easy to step away from
So youâve opened the assignment and it may as well say âjust get on with itâ, and already your hand is reaching to slam the lid of your laptop down, and return to doomscrolling combined with beating yourself up for not getting the work done.
My strategy, as someone also prone to ignoring her work for the mobile game sheâs obsessed with, is to make your work incredibly easy to start. Personally, I am a big fan of to-do lists, and when thinking about making my work easy to start I will fill the list with tasks as small as âFind the lectures that may be useful for completing this taskâ or âOrganise my Anki/Quizlet into flashcard decks (without actually making any flashcards yet)â.
These tasks may seem incredibly simple, or maybe youâre thinking that this simply sounds like procrastination, my response to that would be that, whilst yes you do need to move onto bigger tasks such as reading a paper or watching the first lecture, getting these small wins early on in your study session is important for creating momentum.
Creating this momentum, should help to kickstart you into the desirable âflow-stateâ, but even if this isnât the case you are still making progress on your work.
It is also important that your work is easy to come back to, whether this is noting which lecture/slide you got up to or making a quick list of the remaining tasks for the assignment. This has been helpful for me in lowering the barrier to restarting the work for future Leah.
2. Know your best working environment
Whilst in theory, I like to convince myself I could write an essay whilst curled up on my sofa, I donât ever let myself actually do this. The reason being that, without a desk to work at, I find writing the essay incredibly stressful and it leaves me with feelings of hopelessness about the work.
When writing essays I know I thrive at a desk, with my headphones on, and with plenty of post-it notes and paper to scribble ideas on. Itâs important to know that I donât particularly enjoy this set-up, in these cold autumn days I would much rather be curled up somewhere warm, but this set-up produces my best work.
The takeaway from this point is that in order to avoid feelings of overwhelm related to your work, you have to know which environment you work best in. And this is all just my own best working environment, maybe you do work best at home or maybe you work best in a group environment, where you can discuss ideas, itâs all very much personal!
3. Reward yourself!
Psychology shows that rewards can actually help, rather than hinder your academic progress!
Psychology describes how when we follow our desired action (e.g. reviewing your daily flashcards), by a reward (e.g. watching an episode of your favorite show), it can help us to repeat the desired action, because we want the outcome e.g. the reward! Therefore helping to not only treat ourselves for the hard work we have completed but also building up the routine of doing work, and then taking a break.
Rewards can also help you if you struggle with motivation. I often promise myself a âsweet treatâ if I finish all my work for the day, and this gets me to complete the work because Iâd like the âsweet treatâ!
You can also use rewards to lower your academic stress after completing a series of tasks in order to manage your stress, by allowing yourself to take a longer period of time to relax.
4. Rely on/ develop a support network
Academics aside for a moment, the importance of knowing who you can turn to when these feelings of academic stress arise, is fundamental for your overall wellbeing.
I am incredibly grateful for my friends, family and boyfriend, who Iâve been able to chat to when I have felt stressed and anxious about my work, or just university life in general.
Having people who we feel supported by/ who can support us is essential for our emotional wellbeing, and can even aid in our academic success!
So if those feelings of stress arise, call your friend, family member or romantic partner and talk through things with them, they may even have some practical advice they can share with you about your situation. Itâs also helpful for your friends if they are in University currently, as you can both talk through your respective academic work, after all who hasn’t felt better when they text their friend âHave you started the essay yet?â, and the answer is âNoâ!
It is important to note that if you donât want to talk to the people in your life about the stress you are experiencing, your University will have wellbeing support available for your Department that you can access.
Whilst the tips in this article are given in order to cope with feelings of academic overwhelm, if you find that you are feeling very stressed or cannot manage the stress, itâs important you reach out for more support.
The NHS provides more resources on dealing with academic stress, and where to get help for stress that is difficult to cope with:
Research: