School. Work. Tests. Assignments. Stress. No sleep. Burning out…
This is the usual train that our thoughts take when we play the word association game with the term “school”. It is an unfortunate thing, considering that school takes up the majority of our young lives.
Academic burnout is a widespread epidemic these days. Symptoms may include physical exhaustion, lack of motivation, increased levels of stress, and frequent use of the term “bro, I’m so tired”. Although it is an unavoidable evil, don’t let it get the best of you! The following guidelines may be just what you need:
- Redefine your definition of success
Highly set expectations only have 2 outcomes: disappointment or destroying yourself while trying to reach them. You are the only person you have to prove yourself to. Don’t make it impossible by making your definition of success impossible to reach. My definition of success is: “doing my absolute best, while also taking care of myself”.
- Motivation is key
As the years progress, being driven by a fear of failure becomes an unsustainable method of motivation. I have tried to shift my mindset away from “learning because I have to”, to “learning because I want to grow as a person”. Find motivation in places other than fear.
- Baby steps
Take everything you do one step at a time. Break up any task into a series of singular actions. The piles of work we have become so daunting that we avoid them at all costs. Let’s turn this mountain back into a molehill by turning any piece of work into a simple string of subsequent steps.
Your marks are important, but they are not everything. They do not define your intellect, and they sure don’t define you.