College Student’s Guide to Stress Reduction

Jordan ArellanoStanford University

Context: College students live very busy lives. A lot is demanded from them both academically and socially.

As a college student myself, I’d like to reduce the stress in my life…

Do Less?

One way to reduce stress would be to do less

….. that doesn’t seem practical in most cases, especially if it means not taking all of the classes that I want to take or if it means missing out on a big party.

Solution

My solution is fundamentally about time management, but not in the traditional way people think of it.

I’m not asking you to map out every hour of your day for the next month, all that I’m asking you to do is to break down your working time in smaller more manageable chunks and to do each of these chunks in a new and different environment.

Step 1“Break down tasks into bite-size pieces”

Math assignment

~ 5 hours worth of work 1 hour of

work

1 hour of work

1 hour of work

1 hours of work

Do this with all of your assignments.

Step 2“Do something new in a new environment”

Work in Meyer Library on your Math

assignment for 1 hour

Work in the Bender Room in Green

Library on at outline for your Philosophy

paper for 1 hour

Work in a coffee shop on your Physics

problem set for 1 hour

Take a 10 minute break outside

Take a 15 minute break outside

Step 3“Track progress, find what works best for you”

Everybody is different. Each of us has a different working style. Learn what works best for you!

Personally, I get very restless if I am sitting for more than 90 minutes working on something. I like to set timers and force myself to move to a new location.

Try a new strategy

Make note of how it worked out

How it works

In general, I believe that we try to work on things for too long of a time period at once. This leads to inefficiency. Eventually we are going to feel burnt out and we are going to do whatever behaviors are associated with us feeling burnt out (often cases it includes internet distractions such as Facebook or Youtube etc).

With the strategy I outlined, you are creating a healthy, low risk, time pressure for yourself. This makes things exciting as it almost becomes a competition for yourself – “how much of this assignment can I get done in an hour!?”

One thing that I didn’t mention is that for this to work you need to start early of assignments. Let me emphasize this point, START EARLY ON ASSIGNMENTS.

If you start early on all of your assignments, then you will never be leaving things until the last minute. This will allow you to do assignments in multiple sittings which will allow you do them in less time overall. Since you are giving your brain multiple opportunities to think about the problems, you will also learn more!

How’d It Go?

Give this strategy a try if you are not already doing something similar. Let me know how it goes, and what things you did specifically that worked for you.

If you think you have a better technique, let me know. My goal is to share the best strategies for success.

Please comment below, or drop me a line at jordan88@stanford.edu

Sources: http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/wellness/stresshttp://raindeocampo.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/peace-of-mind.jpg