Written by the Susan G. Komen team: Mack Smith, Dorie Pagnano, Raelyn Martin, Rachel Harbison, Sarah Hancock, Mikaela Farasyn
Timing is everything
A major part of college is figuring out how to organize your schedule in a way that works for you. Some prefer using a classic hand-written planner to pencil in assignments as they come up, while others prefer to stay digital with Google calendar and tools like iCloud that can sync with your phone. Whatever your preferred method is, taking the time to organize your assignments, meetings, and reminders into a schedule or to-do list will help you stay on top of things.
Setting Communication Boundaries
Email can be overwhelming. Between your professors, classmates, and work, the number of emails flowing into your account can easily become dozens a day. While it can be fantastic to have constant access to email throughout phones, computers, etc., it can also make it difficult to prioritize our attention and make us feel always anxious to respond. If you are feeling overwhelmed, creating personal boundaries for when you will check and/or respond to emails can help. Chances are that email you received at 10 p.m. when you are trying to sleep can wait until normal business hours the next day.
Create separate space for life and work
Speaking of checking emails in bed, it is important to hold some spaces sacred for relaxation. Your bed probably being the most important. While it can be tempting to do homework in bed, removing yourself from a personal space to work can help your brain separate work mode from relaxation mode.
Take a break
While it can be tempting to continue working for hours on end when you’re “on a roll”, studies actually show that taking short mental breaks can improve overall performance on prolonged tasks (Science Daily). So when you’ve found yourself stuck in the library for a couple hours, make sure to get up a take a walk once in awhile, your brain will thank you for the break.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110208131529.htm
Learn to say “no”…but also “yes”
There truly is such a thing as overcommitment. Spreading yourself too thin by over-volunteering or taking on too many shifts at work can leave you burnt out and overwhelmed. This is why it is important to learn to say “no” to taking on an extra responsibility or someone’s extra shift at work if it means that your schedule go over capacity.
The other end of this spectrum is making sure to say “yes” to new experiences or opportunities, even if they fall outside your normal comfort zone. While it’s productive to always stick to your schedule, variety is what makes life exciting. So if you’re feeling stuck in a constant work cycle, consider trying out something new. Whether that’s agreeing to a sunrise hike you never thought you would do or treating yourself to a spontaneous trip, you never know where saying “yes” might lead you.
Connect with the Komen team!
Mack Smith, Account Supervisor
Dorie Pagnano, Assistant Account Supervisor
Raelyn Martin, Account Executive
Rachel Harbison, Account Executive
Sarah Hancock, Account Executive
Mikaela Farasyn, Account Executive