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college student looking down sadly at her computer
college student looking down sadly at her computer
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Life > Experiences

5 Steps For Turning Burnout into a Second Wind

Hannah Hubbard
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at TAMU chapter.

As a college student, it’s easy to become distracted throughout the year and forget why you set academic goals in the first place. When the exhaustion sets in, you stop making your bed every morning. Making breakfast turns into grabbing a granola bar on the way out. And your goals are forgotten. Try remembering these five steps for turning burnout into a second wind. 

  1. Take time to relax: Remind yourself that Rome wasn’t built in a day. To avoid burnout during this semester, work in designated self-care time into your schedule. It’s completely acceptable to take well deserved breaks to recharge, talk with friends, listen to music, or watch the new episode of the Bachelor on a Monday night. In no way do these things make you a bad student and allowing yourself time to relax is not something to feel guilty about. 
  2. Apps: My two favorite apps for staying on task and accomplishing tasks are Finch and Flora. Finch is an app where you raise a “pet” bird by accomplishing daily tasks, this can be anything from making it through the day to getting a certain amount of study hours in. You can even connect with friends who can send you motivation and love throughout the day. Flora is an app where you can grow or kill a tree based on if you stay on the app for a set duration of time. You can use this timer to accomplish tasks like studying for a certain duration of time. If you accomplish the task without leaving the app, you successfully grow a tree. 
  3. Youtube “Study With Me” videos: I tend to get more distracted and unmotivated when I’ve been studying alone for a long period of time and staring at the same screen for hours on end. Putting a “study with me” Youtube video on in the background always makes me feel more productive and ready to work.
  4. Celebrate your big and small accomplishments: My roommate and I recently started printing out our good grades and having each other hang them up on our fridge. This makes us feel supported and like the grades we are making mean something, because they do! You can also reward yourself with coffee or a sweet treat for hard work. No matter what grade you receive, if you worked hard and put in the study time, that is something to celebrate.
  5. Utilize Pinterest: I recently made a vision board for the first time, and now I have a separate one for my academic goals. I filled the board with Rory Gilmore study photos, motivational quotes, and aesthetic pictures of what I want to do for a living. This reminds me of why I’ve been working so hard and what I’m working towards. When I feel a burnout coming on, I go back and scroll through my board. 
Hannah Hubbard is a Junior communications major at Texas A&M from Angleton, Texas. Reading and writing have always been a big part of her life, which was a leading factor in why she joined Her Campus during her freshman year! She is a second-year member who is a part of the events committee. In the events committee, she organizes social events for members. Hannah has also been a part of the writing and editing committee and has written thirteen articles. Beyond Her Campus, Hannah Is extremely focused on academics. She is a part of the pre-law Society at Texas A&M and hopes to use the organization's opportunities to pursue her future career. Hannah hopes to go to Law school after graduating from Texas A&M to pursue a career in public policy or something similar. She also hopes to be able to publish a book and still incorporate reading and writing into her life for fun. In her free time, Hannah enjoys listening to music, reading, karaoke, drinking matcha, and hanging out with her friends and family. Hannah loves animals and has five dogs, twenty cows, two donkeys, and a cat back home. Her comfort book is “Better Than The Movies” by Lynn Painter, and she recommends it to any fellow avid romance book reader. Hannah also enjoys traveling and hopes to experience more parts of the world one day.