By: Alina Bartasheva
The 2024 Fall semester is close to coming to an end, with that comes a heightened workload. Wether that consists of studying for finals, working on final papers or projects, and having to balance a personal life and possibly even a job, it is vital to find a healthy balance that is best for your success and your mental health.
Set Goals
The easiest way to ensure your assignments are completed and submitted in a timely fashion is to split up the work, by setting goals. If you have five classes, it can be incredibly challenging to balance all of the necessary tasks for each. Thats why it is crucial to organize the seemingly daunting amount of tasks in a way that isn't overwhelming. Creating a tangible schedule and keeping it on the wall above your desk is a way to ensure you complete everything that needs to be completed, leaving nothing forgotten. Sticking to a timetable can be difficult for those who enjoy a more flexible lifestyle, but at times it can be crucial to ensure punctuality.
Prioritize
At this point in the semester it is difficult to say no to anything, since most of the things that need to get done are not optional. However, extra engagements that may be time consuming and won't carry consequences if missed shouldn't be prioritized over study sessions. Of course, that doesn't mean academics need to consume each second of every day. There is a way to balance all activities, entertaining and educational, but at a time so close to the end of the semester prioritizing school-work is very important.
Rewards
A good way to create incentive for doing assignments is promising some kind of reward to yourself. For example, something as small as going out to purchase a coffee or a pastry after submitted a paper will make the individual feel better about themselves and would even make the writing process easier. Students can motivate themselves for study sessions by splitting up their time. A healthy and time-efficient schedule can be studying for an hour and a half, followed by half an hour of free time to go for a walk, watch a tv show, or call a friend. These incentives make working hours go by quicker and even make workers more efficient. It is proven that awards used as incentives improve job performances by an average of 22%, according to a study done by the Incentive Research Foundation (https://theirf.org).
Mono-tasking
While it may seem like doing several tasks simultaneously is better, since the amount of work will decrease quicker, it actually worsens the quality of the work and negatively impacts the learning process. It is impossible to do well on an assignment if the brain is trying to focus on two different things at the same time. For the same reason, it is also important to cut out distractions. Your brain won't be able to soak up knowledge if it is not tuned into one specific subject or task. Of course, listening to music that is calming and can be faintly heard in the background is not going to have a negative impact, but loud conversations, the television, and major distractions will be a detriment to learning and efficiency.
Every student is currently working on something. Their workload might differ from one another, but everyone has tasks that need to be completed. This means many people are experiencing severe stress and might be unsure how to deal with it. Within Baruch College, there are numerous resources that can assist with managing these heavy emotions. The Counseling Center is free and confidential, and can be accessed through email, telephone, and in person sessions. Most teachers would even be willing to sit down and speak to students that are struggling, since they understand how demanding this period of time in college can be. Even though it is very overwhelming, and it is difficult to find motivation, it is always a comfort to know that many people share in these emotions, and that there are many people and resources that are more than happy to help out.
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