The Scoop met with Asikaa Cosgrove, PhD., to talk about different ways to help overcome the feeling of burn-out while going through college. He is currently the Assistant Professor & Director of Graduate Programs for the School of Education at Drury University.
1. Be intentional about self-kindness
This might sound simple, but in fact it gives you the best chance to achieve the tasks you have to do. Praise yourself for smaller things and it will give you the confidence to do harder tasks.
2. Prioritize your sleep
Focus on the quality and duration of your sleep. It is so easy to let the demands life become more important than your sleep. However, EVERYTHING suffers when you don’t get enough rest. You can make mistakes and cause yourself more work than necessary.
3. Organize your tasks
If you keep track of your achievements, you can focus on the positive things you’ve done. This is important because people tend to procrastinate more when they feel like a failure. Eventually this leads to burn-out and creates a vicious cycle. Also, if you organize what you need to get done in a way that makes handling them easier, and you will become more successful.
4. Reward yourself
If you give yourself a small reward for completing a task, it will push you to complete it. As silly as it sounds, it does work. Make it something enjoyable and kind to yourself, then move on to the next task and its associate reward.
5. Tell someone else
If you tell someone whom you respect what you are planning to do, whether it be a project or a goal you have, this can help you feel more responsible to finish the task rather than putting it off or making excuses.
6. Be realistic and STAY organized
Your ultimate goal is to be realistic and organized about your goals in life, while feeling good about how and what you’re doing. Again, the number one thing to focus on is self-kindness.
7. Take a step back
A lot of people who are feeling burnt-out have trouble looking objectively for the problem: Instead, they get stuck using their energy to complain or continue to repeat the same process. You have to take a break so you can find the problems, what parts need to be fixed, and then find your plan of action.
