Stress is one of the major killers in the Western world, and while at the physical peak of their existence, students experience some of the most stressful situations, arguably, than any other age group. Sound familiar? Are you struggling with feelings of anxiety as you try to work towards your chosen career path?
Here are our ways of trying to reduce your stress, leaving you to excel.
Organize Finances.
Students are most likely to get hit by financial pressure, so you can easily alleviate that by having a side-hustle or a part-time job. If those aren’t working, and you have a huge expenditure coming up; remember that student loan refinances options are available, and you can plug in your details into a calculator to figure out how much you can save/payback. Then, you can make a plan to pay off your student loans early, which can save you big money on interest.
Just stay away from credit cards as they can come back to haunt you for years.
Time Management.
Do you remember when you were getting your first schedule for the first time, and it was suggested that you might want to schedule your home time to allow for study time, relaxation time and exercise, etc.? Well now that you are at college, here is where it becomes more necessary than ever, and those eye rolls at everyone who suggests coming up with a study schedule are not going to work anymore. Managing your time isn’t just a case of figuring out when you can afford extra time on which deadline, but also you can plan out your meals and relaxation times.
So that if, for example, relaxation looks like a round of tennis or another sport, you don’t over-exercise. Equally, if your version of relaxation involves a TV and cake, then taking time away from meals is more sensible. Break it down however you like — use apps, charts, and awesome colored pens. Just make sure you know when things have to be in by.
Know Your Study Style.
This is one of those things where you can do a hundred Facebook quizzes, and it will come back with approximately a hundred different answers, but you will never truly know until you find out for yourself. If you are better at just reading books, what helps you to do that? If you learn better listening to music, does it help if it’s your preferred genre, or do you have to listen to something without lyrics to make it work? There are plenty of options and don’t just discount things like associated learning techniques offhand because you don’t think it will work for you. Give them all a go and see what sticks.
Study Environment.
What is the perfect environment for you to learn in? Do you need to be in a crowded common room listening to music at full volume, or is the library more conducive to your optimal learning environment? One thing that helps a lot of people is associated learning. For example, these can be triggered by olfactory stimulation used in incense burning. This can be manipulated so that when you are studying depth subjects, you can use different smells to help trigger your memory in an exam environment. Just don’t accidentally set a book on fire.