Career Blog
Job-hunting stress and professional burnouts are real and can seriously undermine your psychological and physical wellbeing. Often, the pressure we experience at work (or looking for employment) becomes overwhelming, leading us to feel powerless. To regain a sense of control, we need all the tools that we can get to properly manage our stress. Here is how you can make mindfulness your most powerful tool in stress management.
What is mindfulness?
First, let us examine what mindfulness is. The Oxford Mindfulness Centre defines it as a “moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience, without judgement.” It involves focusing exclusively on the present, redirecting our focus, and avoiding distractions. The state of mindfulness makes you aware of your thoughts, emotions, and actions, without getting you all caught up in them. Here are 4 key mindfulness practices for you to try that will help you manage your stress better.
-
Get comfortable!
To begin, find somewhere quiet and comfortable as you enter your mindfulness journey. Take this moment to focus on your breathing, redirect your focus, and avoid distractions. By focusing on your breathing, you are improving your mind-body connection, which will ultimately help to reduce stress levels, regulate your body’s reactions, and increase overall awareness.
-
Observe your thoughts, feelings, and environment
Once you have gotten comfortably set up, you will experience a growing sense of awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and environment. Be patient and take the time to identify your stressors (e.g., career, personal, upcoming exams, etc.). As you acknowledge these stressors, slowly redirect your attention to the present and you will come to find that there is a lot of information that can be gathered for further guidance.
-
Accept Your Feelings
As you continue your mindfulness journey, learn to accept your feelings and embrace them. Remember, a part of being mindful is to not judge yourself. These feelings do not define you, and as long as you are aware of them, you can decide how to act.
Although it may seem simple, it is important to note that it can take some time to incorporate mindfulness into your routine. With practice, you will come to achieve a number of the long-lasting benefits. Check out the following resources for more information on how you can make mindfulness your most powerful tool:
Resource:
www.mindtools.com/pages/article/mindfulness.htm
Time flies very quickly as we are heading toward the end of the winter semester and slowly getting ready for summer jobs and internships. In order to get to those joyful points we all need so badly, we must face a period of sleepless nights and hours spent in the library, reading pages of materials, and memorizing countless formulas and facts – the finals period. What can we do to reduce the stress and the pressure we are experiencing in order to finish the semester strong?
Here are some tips to overcome the final exams:
-
Get your life together: Yes, this is the first tip to finish the semester strong. If you find yourself showing up at every party, skipping classes, slacking through the semester, always doing your assignments at the last minute, or studying only for the midterms, etc., you must “Get your life together” before the storm. The final exams are not getting any easier, and they might be even harder than the midterms. You will be asked to memorize and understand the material of the entire courses. It is wise to start attending fewer parties and more classes.
- Be well organized: Try to come up with a plan, a strategy to approach the final exams, and work hard to maintain it. A well-designed plan is a plan that is tailored to your timetable, suited you in every way and designed to benefit you the most. Be wise when making a study plan.
- Do not procrastinate: I cannot stress this enough, but do not ever procrastinate, especially during the final exams. This is the time for you to study hard, dedicate hours of reviewing course materials. One day of procrastination may cost you an entire exam. Be aware of the time: the final exams are closer than you think.
- Get enough sleep and water: Staying hydrated will clear your mind and make you ready for hours of studying. Also, getting enough sleep is vital. Pulling an all-nighter is never the best option as your body will be exhausted after a long period of sleepless nights. Throughout the day, you will lose your concentration and start feeling drowsy. Sleep also promotes mental health. A lack of sleep puts more stress on your brain and that’s the last thing you want during the finals.
- Ask for help: There are numerous resources that you can reach out to: your professors (who have office hours), your mentors, teacher assistants, etc. They are here to help you succeed. Don’t be afraid to contact them for questions, concerns, and difficulties. After all, you cannot always find a relevant answer on Google.
With that being said, the finals are approaching and it is wise to be on your feet instead of waiting until the last minute to cram up the entire course in your head the night before the exam. That approach never gives pleasant results.
By the end of the academic year, students are facing many challenges, including studying for final exams, doing research projects and having to look for a summer job. As students expend a lot of energy and resources to perform, they start to experience stress. In order to manage stress better, it is important to first recognize the different signs of stress and take on good habits to alleviate it.
What does stress look like?
Stress can have multiple physiological, cognitive, emotional and behavioural effects.
- Physiological responses: In periods of stress, our body gives us signals. For example, our heart rate increases, our breathing becomes shallow and our muscles tighten.
- Cognitive responses: Stress affects our way of thinking. It can also cause memory lapses, prevent concentration, cause insomnia and hinder decision-making.
- Emotional responses: The most common emotional states experienced in response to stress are irritability, impatience and frustration.
- Behavioural responses: We witness a change in our lifestyle habits. For example, some people lose their appetite while others cannot stop themselves from snacking.
Three tips for coping with stress
- Hold yourself to your schedule
When you plan to study for a specific period of time, do everything you can to follow through on your plan. To do this, try to find a quiet place away from all forms of distractions. Above all, don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
- Do something you really enjoy
It’s important to take the time at least once or twice a week to do something that you really love. This will allow you to be happier and more attuned to yourself. For instance, you can spend some time drawing, playing sports, or cooking.
- Think positive
We must avoid being overly dramatic when we are faced with challenges. The best approach is to put things into perspective in order to handle our responsibilities.
1) Make a Plan (and stick to it)
Planning what you need to accomplish in a day during the night before can help you to put into perspective what you need to get done throughout the day. By planning a manageable amount of work to do, this will help you to relax, having a plan of what you will accomplish the following day. Doing this will help you to hit the ground running for the following day.
Split your large tasks down into smaller and more easily accomplishable tasks. Rather than allocating 5 hours to “study accounting”, break it down into smaller tasks such as “read chapter 3 accounting notes” and “do practice questions for chapter”. Doing this will make your work more manageable and having an exact plan will help to reduce your stress. Some ways to help you stick to your plan for work are to remove distractions from your environment. Turn off your phone, work in a quiet area, or use an app to block certain websites temporarily. The Google Chrome extension, “StayFocusd” will block you out from using certain websites for set amount of time, which will in turn help you to focus on getting your work done, and alleviate future stress.
2) Take care of your body
When you are stressed about school, one of the first things most students do is work non-stop and forget to take care of themselves. Stress levels and a proper diet are closely related. When we’re overwhelmed with school work, we can easily forget to cook ourselves something nutritious and instead grab an easy, sugary snack. To avoid this, plan ahead by meal prepping your food for the week when you know you have got a lot going on. Fruits, vegetables and foods with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids have proven to reduce stress.
Exercise has been proven to be directly related to stress reduction. The endorphins you gain from doing exercise, even for a few minutes, can improve your mood and your productivity almost immediately. It’s important to take a short break from your work and do something simple such as stretching, going for a walk, or doing a quick at home workout- this will relieve your stress almost immediately.
3) Take a Break
After working for a long period of time, do you ever begin getting unfocused or irritable? Do you start making mistakes and your work stops making sense? These are signs that you need to take a break! Taking a break from your work will help you to de-stress and refocus, so when you return to your task, you can look at it with a fresh mind.
Grabbing a cup of coffee with friends, watching an episode of your favourite Netflix series, or even taking a shower can give your brain the necessary break it needs and help you to de-stress. It’s important to allocate a certain amount of time for breaks and stick to it. Don’t let your 30-minute break turn into 3 hours of procrastinating work on Netflix, because you will be even more stressed out afterwards- it is all about balance.