I’ll admit, I’m one of the first people who will sign up for x number of extracurriculars on top of a 15-16 credit hour course load and a job. But, most of the time I would rather be lying in my bed, binge watching shows on Netflix and eating everything in my cabinet. I guess you could say I have a bit of an internal conflict: wanting to keep busy but also naturally being lazy. I get so overwhelmed by the work I know I have to do that I exhaust myself before I even get the chance to start. If this sounds like you, odds are you get easily stressed when you look at your to-do list and you don’t know how you’ll get any of this done. So, here are some tips I’ve gathered through my years of craving work but being too exhausted to even try.
1. Know the commitments you already have. ● A lot of students come to college with a job or start looking for one right after move-in. You know you’ll have specific hours of the week you have to dedicate to work, as well as any courses you are enrolled in. So, know ahead of time the hours you are unable to do anything else.
2. Know your limits. ● Yes, having a billion things to put on your resume is amazing and will help you look competitive for grad school or a potential job. However, you want to make sure that the activities you are going to get involved in aren’t going to physically and mentally exhaust you. Not everyone is capable of pulling off their best work when they can barely focus. Getting overly involved (while it’s not a bad thing) can take its toll. It’s best to start out small and slow and work your way up until you have reached your still productive limit.
3. Pick activities you know you enjoy. ● Working on things you know you couldn’t care less about can actually add a lot of stress into your daily life. From personal experience, I know that if I don’t like something, I tend to push it off until the last second, no matter the size of the assignment. Then, when I have to rush to get it done, I get completely overwhelmed and lose lots of sleep. But when I am a part of an activity that I know I could do every day and be happy, it’s one of the first things I want to work on, and it usually ends up being some of my better work.
4. GET. A. PLANNER. ● A planner is one of the easiest ways to stay organized, especially when you are keeping busy. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but I put every part of my educational and professional life in mine. When you have a singular place that displays all of your commitments you will be able to plan out your day with ease. This can help you stay on top of all that you’re involved in and helps you plan accordingly so everything is done well, is turned in on time, and involves less pressure.
5. Give yourself a break. ● Similar to my point on knowing your limits, when you feel like it is becoming too much, take some time at any point in the day to relax and forget the world. Knowing when to stop and take a breath is so important to a person’s success.