It’s finally January, the first semester flew by! Now, it’s time for the dreaded big and scary second semester grind. Your winter arc, your generational lock in; whatever you call it, we all know it gets hard to stay persistent and motivated in these few months. But I’m here to help you keep your new year’s flow-state drive until June!
So first of all, why do you actually get burnt-out? As much as some of us like to think we are superman, we are not. And humans can’t actually function at 100% for extended periods of time (like 5 month long semesters), they need breaks. Neurologically, everyday stressors like school, sports practice, and other responsibilities keep your cortisol constantly elevated. Because of this, your prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain that helps you focus and keeps you mentally sane, gets overwhelmed. When it gets overwhelmed for too long, it switches to primal instinct, survival mode, and depriortizes long-term goals and focuses on what you need at that moment. This means that your brain will stop caring about bigger picture things like grades and focus on purely keeping your body functioning.
Here are a couple ways to not outsmart, but work with your burnout. First, is a strategy called “lowering your activation energy”. At times like this your brain will avoid anything that seems too daunting, so break up your tasks. The hardest part to push through neurologically is starting a task. If you can convince yourself to begin working on an assignment, dopamine will kick in after you’ve started and keep your body motivated to do the rest. Second, fake the urgency, make what you’re doing seem important to your brain. Give yourself deadlines, work in environments that keep you locked in, and create a routine. Finally, you need to genuinely take care of your body even if that means sacrificing studying. Sleep is non-negotiable; its brain-maintenance. Keeping a healthy sleep routine will help your brain function faster and better while you’re awake.
Burnout is easier to deal with when you don’t fight your brain and start cooperating with it. It is not something you can avoid, so stop running away from it. Find a healthy way to cope.
Leave a Reply