What to do when your Studies feel Overwhelming?

3 things to do the next time your studies feel overwhelming...

You're just about to sit down at your desk to study (yet again), when you get that awful feeling of overwhelm wash over you...

"How on earth am I supposed to get all of this work done?"

"What does this information even mean?"

"I'm never going to be able to learn all of this in time"

"I may as well just quit now"

... just some of the negative thoughts that accompany this horrible, overwhelming feel! Am I right?

Feeling overwhelmed when it comes to your studies, happens to every student at one time or another.

And although I can't magic away your study tasks for you, I can provide you with a little step by step plan of action I used, to help me overcome this feeling of overwhelm, organise my thoughts and avoid falling victim to (the dreaded) procrastination!!

And it goes like this...

1. Take a Step Back

Whether you've just sat down at your desk, you've been study for a some time or you haven't even made it off the sofa... if your studies are causing you to feel overwhelmed, I want you to step away from the books and take a moment to yourself.

Whether you go and make a fresh [insert your favourite beverage here], you head outside into the fresh air, or you do a little guided meditation... I want you to give yourself 15 minutes just to 'be'.

2. Prioritise your To-Do List

Now you've had a little bit of breathing room, the next thing to do is to go through your study tasks one at a time and separate your urgent priority tasks, from your non-urgent priority study tasks.

E.G. Urgent Priority Task: Revising for an exam that's in 5 days.

Low Priority Task: Completing generic classwork that's due in 2 days.

The urgent priority tasks are the ones you're going to spend the majority of your time focusing on and the rest can wait.

3. Create achievable Study Task Chunks

Focusing on just one of your urgent priority study tasks, I now want you to break this task down into bite sized, achievable chunks.

E.G. Urgent Priority Task: Revise for exam that's in 5 days.

• Chunk 1: Collate all relevant materials to the exam.

• Chunk 2: Assess my exam curriculum to identify whether I've got all the revision materials necessary.

• Chunk 3: Begin creating Q & A Flashcards from my revision notes.

• Chunk 4: Actively recall these Q & A Flashcards.

By doing this, you'll make this one study task feel a lot less overwhelming and a lot more achievable.

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And that's that. The 3 things I (and a whole bunch of Sharpen your Studies Students) have used to avoid feeling overwhelmed by their workload!!

Will you try this out? Give us a yes or no in the comments section below!!