Whenever I’m talking to friends or classmates about how busy we are with schoolwork, I always hear expressions such as “I’m drowning in schoolwork” or “I’m actually gonna die”. I’m entirely aware that my friends aren’t actually drowning, nor are they at risk of dying, but I do wonder why we all reach this extremity of stress that causes us to express ourselves in such a morbid way. Most of the time the answer is because we don’t know how to tackle such daunting objectives.
The majority of the time when I have a massive list of tasks to do, I enter what I like to call a state of “paralysis”. Essentially, I can’t get myself to start any of the schoolwork I have to do. Most people in this circumstance would instead procrastinate by doing chores such as laundry or cleaning their room, etc. For me, I refuse to do any other chores because (by my logic) if I have the energy to do something productive it has to be school-related. As a result of this, I end up doing nothing, not even sleeping. Whenever I try to sleep my brain starts guilt-tripping me about how I should feel bad for being able to sleep when I have so much work to do. Yes, this may be entirely my undiagnosed ADHD talking, but for the purpose of this article let’s assume this happens to all of us.
During the times when I question why I chose to pursue such a difficult major, I like to tackle tasks in baby steps. This method allows me to not be as intimidated by the task if it’s broken down enough. The first thing I do is write down everything that I have to do. Then I take that list and break it into subcategories of tasks. For example, if I have a paper due I won’t just write “Write paper”. Rather, I would write many sub-tasks such as picking a topic, brainstorming ideas, etc. By giving myself an attainable task, I’m able to see all that I have to do with an optimistic mindset. It isn’t as intimidating and most of the time it seems doable.
Ever since we were little we’ve been told to start projects right away and not leave them to the last minute. Yes, I’m sure some of your best work comes out the closer to the deadline you get. However, our teachers and parents are entirely right. If I start something early I can get a bit done every day and eventually, it’ll be complete without feeling like such a burden.
This “baby steps” approach also works for chores and other life aspects. For example, my room tends to be on the messier end, or as I like to call it “organized chaos”. Because I’m very busy, it’s hard for me to keep setting aside a few hours every once in a while to clean my room. This is why I tackle it in baby steps. Whenever I walk past my pile of clean clothes, I’ll try and grab a few things to put away. This always takes no more than 5 seconds so I don’t notice the extra effort. Yet somehow as the week goes by, that intimidating pile of folded clothes on my chair magically vanishes.
Overall, as repetitive as it is to hear, a lot of issues can be resolved by manipulating your own mindset. Changing something that seems too daunting to even begin to tackle, and altering it into small do-able tasks can allow you to get the ball rolling, and most of the time all we really need is that first push of momentum.