Stress Relievers

http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/tp/toptensionacts.htm

Basic stress management techniques

http://health.propeller.com/story/2007/08/13/basic-stress-management-techniques/

Causes of stress

http://www.stressfocus.com/stress_focus_article/stress-and-its-causes.htm

It seems you need to get a handle on the source of stress or the sources of stresses in your life. In college, it seems the key sources might be (not necessarily in that order):

1) Performance anxiety: Possible sources might be lack of preparation (either from previous education or assignments, insecurity of your own capability/confidence, etc). Some courses are harder than others, and having a bunch of hard ones all in the same term doesn’t help the situation.

2) Lack of time: many people do not have a good time management plan and thus never seem to have enough time to get things done…very common in college, especially when exams are coming around.

3) Lack of sleep: everyone seems to need a different amount of sleep to be able to function well. For many college students, items #1 and #2 create situations when sleep time is “forced” to be a lower priority.

4) Poor diet: Again, in college, eating on the run with the pressure of studies, many students are not eating a well-balanced diet. That can affect your body’s ability to cope with stress.

I was a “C” average student all through college. Grades were NOT important to me. My priorities…get enough sleep, eat good meals, try to do my best in classes (realizing that without adequate sleep and nutrition I would not be in good physical condition to study). These priorities meant having a good time management plan. Well, this isn’t to say my college life was entirely stress free. Get real, mid-terms and finals all pile up about the same time, and things get frantic, so naturally everyone feels stress.

But, following my simplistic philosophy…when exams came around, I had been saving through the term and the night before exams was the time to treat myself to a good dinner, possibly a movie, and then a good night sleep. I figured if I hadn’t been studying all along through the term, there was no way I was going to be able to get all the studying done in one night. Besides, since you can only take one exam at a time, I could fail only one at a time (hahahaha). All kidding aside, because I was well-nourished and well rested, I went into every exam with a clear mind and ready to try to do my best. I may not have gotten the highest scores, but I never failed a single exam.

And my ultimate fall back plan…the grade was not as important as when I got out of the class. The school, the teacher, and the books were not the constraining limits to my education. I was the prime factor in the quality of my education. [For some reason, I had the strange idea that going to college did not mean getting a higher paying job. Going to college was to expand my mind and enlighten me. Jobs had nothing to do with it.] I did end up with 2 college degrees, though…so it worked for me.

The critical actions for success in college related to time management and effective study skills. It isn’t so important how much time you spend studying. It is more important to use whatever time you have to get results for the studying…to study effectively with the time you have available. If you are interested in this approach, get this free download on Basic Study Skills at http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/public/clubextraPDF.html?nclubid=893282700&nid=172382363

There is a self-assessment you can do in place of grades based on a checklist for job readiness (SCANS) that you can adapt to your courses to see if you are getting practical knowledge and skills that you can use on the job (so after college you can try to earn money to pay off all those school loans). The checklists are included in the free download above.

Hope this helps. Best wishes for a reduced stress level and success in your studies.