Productivity: How much work is too much work?
Written by Deana Moody. Photo courtesy of Abby Chadwick.
As the end of the quarter approaches, it’s normal to want to get our work done as fast as possible. We, as students, want to prove to our professors and peers that we are talented and hardworking. It’s easy to stay up all night to complete as many assignments as possible and to stare for hours at our screens as we type whatever comes to mind just to fill the word count. By doing this, we are prone to bleeding ourselves dry. If we stop working, we are afraid that the people around us will think we’re lazy or lack organizational skills. But if we keep working, we experience burnout and produce work of lesser quality.
The concept of academic burnout is foreign in lots of professional environments. Sometimes we don’t even recognize that we’re experiencing burnout and chalk it up to feeling stuck. It’s almost like we’re trapped in glue, watching everything we could be doing pass us by. It’s crucial when episodes like this occur to take a step back, drink water, eat lunch and re-center ourselves. As much as it might feel like it, no assignment is more important than our mental health, regardless of our grade percentage.
A great way to avoid burnout is to make a plan. Look at your work and your due dates, then create time slots throughout the week for everything you need to do. Add small rewards for yourself when you follow through on your schedule, like a dessert or an episode of “New Girl.”
Some people think if you’re busy, it means you’re doing well. This isn’t always true. Some people are gifted with managing their time well – resulting in getting work done quickly. If a person like this was never busy, would they appear lazy in the eyes of the world? Everyone has their own way of doing things. We’re all unique. Most of all, we need to step back and do our best at our own pace. Rest and self-care are not equivalent to laziness.
