By Megan Griffin and Aaron Smith

It goes without saying that school can be stressful at times. No matter how far along in school you are, assignments and studying can start to feel overwhelming. This is especially true if you are trying to study for a big exam, project, or paper. Everyone encounters some amount of stress and at low levels, stress can be helpful, but at higher levels, it can become debilitating. That’s where stress can spill over into overwhelming feelings, anxiety, and even panic attacks if it gets really bad. Students need to know how to manage their stress effectively and not let it get in the way of their performance. Below we will talk about how stress can get in your way academically and what you can do to get a handle on it.  

Stress Happens: Remember you’re not alone!

The first thing to realize is that you are not alone. All students experience stress and stressful situations. For instance, have you ever looked at the amount of school work you have to do and started to feel overwhelmed?  Have you ever tried to start an assignment and right then you freeze because you start thinking of all the things you have to get done? Have you ever sat down for a test or quiz and got so nervous that your mind went blank and you forgot everything you knew? Those are just a few examples that highlight how stress can impact your school performance. Stress happens. It’s normal. However, you don’t have to be paralyzed and feel powerless in the face of stress. There are six things you can do now that will help decrease your stress and increase your performance.  

1) Don’t wait until you “feel like” doing something, just get started

Emotions tend to get in the way of motivation. Whether you realize it or not, when you avoid something and put it off for later i.e. procrastinate, you are essentially letting your immediate desires to do something interesting, fun, or less tedious get in the way of doing what you need to do. Next time you put something off try to tune into your emotions. Check in with yourself and try to identify the underlying feelings. You might be surprised at all the little white lies we like to conveniently tell ourselves. These rationalizations are not true, but we go ahead and say them anyways. We say things like, “I’ll do that tomorrow,” “I do that later,” “I’ll have plenty of time this weekend to get caught up on everything,” “It will only take me an hour by the time I get around to starting it.” However, if we put off what is necessary now, in the hopes that we will feel like doing it later we are likely really just lying to ourselves. Therefore, don’t wait to feel like doing something that’s important. Expect that you will not feel like doing it and it will be hard to get started and push through that initial discomfort.  If you can push through in spite of those feelings inevitably you will make progress on the task and prevent yourself from putting things off until the last minute.  

2) Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good

There’s a saying, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” This is another thing that can increase stress. You start to think about how this has to be the “best paper” or compare yourself to others. You start thinking about making it perfect. Hold up. The problem with this type of thinking is that you are preventing yourself from just trying your best – in the moment – with the energy levels and tools you have at your disposal now. The perfect paper or project will never get completed. Lower the bar initially, tell yourself making progress and getting started is better than holding out for perfection. The goal initially is just to get to “good enough” then you can work your way up from there.

3) Stop cramming and start planning

Crammers are not planners. Have you ever experienced a time where it felt like everything is piling up, and you didn’t even see it coming? For example, it is the end of the semester and all of a sudden you have a bunch of essays due and tests coming up that you do not feel prepared for? Was it due to poor planning? Usually, when this happens it’s due to failing to plan ahead and then procrastinating on the important items, like studying for your test. Getting stuck in this cycle of procrastination, and then cramming at the last minute can be something that is hard to break, but is worth the lessened stress to get on top of your school work. One of the major ways to avoid procrastination is to become a good planner.  If you get a planner (written or digital) and effectively use it, setting to-dos for the day, blocking out times to study and get those assignments done, you are much more likely to get things done.  Research shows that if you simply put something in your schedule or planner, you are 60% more likely to remember to do it than if you try to keep it all in your head. So get planning!    

4) Break it down into action steps

Another way to help with avoiding procrastination, as well as feeling less overwhelmed when you have a lot of work coming up, is taking things step-by-step and not trying to do it all at once. The mistake that novice students make is that they allow themselves to start thinking of all the things they have to do instead of isolating out one specific task or assignment and doing it to completion. For example, not looking at your work as two essays and a test coming up, but taking things one at a time. Thinking about getting that intro and first two paragraphs of one of the essays done one day, and doing the same for the other essay the next day.  And then making a study guide for that test the day after.  This can again, be somewhere that planning comes in.  Making those plans to set aside times for certain aspects of assignments can make things seem less overwhelming.  Looking at the bigger picture is not always the best way to go.

5) Think positively and reduce test taking anxiety

Are you the kind of person that usually goes into tests feeling very confident and prepared?  Or are you the kind of person that, no matter how much you study, gets some sort of anxiety when entering a test; whether that is feeling nervous, feeling like you will not do well, feeling like you will make stupid mistakes, whatever it may be.  For many, the latter is a more common feeling going into the test. Anxiety and stress can negatively affect your performance. One way we can visualize this is the bell-shaped Stress Curve. In the middle is the optimal level of stress and performance. When it’s hard to start things we are most likely on the left side of the curve and when we procrastinate and cram we are on the right side. Waiting to the last minute increases stress, but it can easily put us over the edge and lead to sub-optimal performance. The first thing we can do to reduce anxiety during tests is to be fully prepared and make sure we study enough, as such we can not procrastinate or cram. The second thing is to use positive self-talk. If we start to worry about how we are going to do on the test, thinking, “I really need to get an A this time around, this test is really important,” it won’t be too helpful for us in the long run.  It’s really just increasing the pressure on yourself, thus increasing your anxiety. An example of positive self-talk is saying something like this, “I’m going to do fine. I studied enough, I feel prepared, and it’s just one test out of many.” This works because if we feel like we are going to do well and take the pressure off then that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The flip side is true too, if you think that you will choke when you enter a test, your brain will be tricked into thinking that it has actually happened.  Then, when going into the test, your brain is more likely to use its “muscle memory” to recreate the situation that you have been imagining.  So put an end to those negative thoughts! Getting over test-taking anxiety can take time, but it’s worth the effort. Go easy on yourself and think positively.

6) Visualizing Success

High performers from Olympic athletes to stage performers use this next technique. It’s called “visualizing success.” To do this you have to close your eyes and imagine yourself doing the stressful activity and being successful at it. Try to be as detailed as you can to really put yourself in the situation in your mind’s eye. Using the example above, it’s important to take the time to imagine yourself succeeding at the test and doing it to the best of your ability. Imagine that you will not choke and that you will be cool, calm, and collected. By doing so, you are going to be much more likely to actually accomplish this outcome. As said before, your brain is tricked into thinking that the situations you keep imagining have already happened, so when you enter the testing situation, you are going to use that “muscle memory” to be confident and do well, rather than choke under pressure. Now come up with your ideal scenarios and utilize this technique. This will include the best times of day and location to try your visualization exercise. For some, it is helpful to do this in bed the night before your big exam,  for others it’s in the hallway before the test, and some even prefer a quiet place (like the bathroom or shower). Heck, you can even do it right at your desk. The main thing to remember is to run through the scene in your mind as if you were watching it play out like a movie. Put your imagination to work and let your brain work for you instead of against you.

We hope that you found these tips and strategies useful. If you or someone you know needs extra assistance implementing strategies like the ones discussed above, then our lead ADHD Coach Aaron Smith is here to help! Please reach out to Aaron for a complimentary 30-min. Phone Consultation, or schedule it online, here.