Everyone has experienced burnout — or if you haven’t yet, chances are you’re about to. Although you may not know the exact term, burnout is when you’ve basically worked yourself into the ground and can’t seem to get motivated to do any work. It’s more than just “I’m tired” or “This is boring.” Burnout is pretty serious and can affect your emotional and even physical health. As finals are approaching and grind season is starting in full swing, it’s important to keep the possibility of burnout in the back of our minds and prepare for what to do when it inevitably hits us. Luckily, I’ve learned of some strategies from both talking to upperclassmen and coping with burnout myself. Hopefully you won’t hit burnout at all, but if you do, here are some tips to cope:
My first recommendation is to change location. When I’ve been working on something for a really long time, chances are I’ve been stuck in one place for hours on end. Although it may not seem like it would make a big difference, changing location can actually really help you get yourself out of a work rut. Getting some fresh air and a shift in atmosphere are good distractions from the work you’ve been doing and might make it easier to push forward.
Second, I recommend setting mini-goals with rewards. I’ve found this works well for me (especially when the rewards are chocolate-related). Set realistic goals for yourself — “realistic” is key — and then give yourself a treat. Make the reward equivalent to the goal; for example, say that if you write your CAL essay for an hour, you get an episode of Friends. But don’t set a reward like write for 15 minutes and then binge an entire season of The Office. Make sure that the amount of reward is akin to the amount of work. Otherwise, you’ll spend most of your time on your reward as opposed to getting the work done. The goal is to have your incentive be tempting enough that it’ll encourage you to finish your work completely and efficiently.
Lastly, if you can afford to, I recommend taking a break. Now, obviously, this wouldn’t be an extended break, but even just a few minutes spent taking a walk or watching a few YouTube videos can be enough to refresh your mind and bring back some of that energy that you’ve lost. Don’t overdo it, but be kind to your mind and try to take a breather if you get the chance.
The most important thing to remember when you hit burnout is that it’s not your fault. Burnout happens to everyone, and you need to be patient with yourself. Sure, it’s frustrating when you know you need to work on something and you just can’t muster up the strength to do it. But the struggle will pass and you’ll make it through. Try these tips and do your best — we Stute writers are rooting for you!
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