It’s a common problem: You have goals and plan how to achieve them. But when it comes time to implement your plan, somehow things go wrong. What happened? Bad habits, interruptions, competing priorities, or any number of other obstacles can derail the best-laid plans. Luckily, recent psychological research has revealed insights that can be helpful …
Over the years, I have been a student in different circumstances — full or part-time, online or on-campus, undergraduate and graduate. Along the way, professors, advisors, and mentors have always shared a common piece of advice with me as a key to managing stress, to achievement, and to success: it always boiled down to time …
Ahhh, sleep. Did you know the most enjoyable, relaxing, and positively delicious way to spend eight hours also happens to be one of the best ways to improve your studies? Here’s why: Sleep Enhances Learning and Memory Although the specifics of how memory and sleep are precisely connected are still being studied, research has found that different …
Sleep: The Ultimate Academic Performance Enhancer Read More »
You’ve got chapters to read, dinner to fix, that report to prepare for work; then the cat just threw up on the carpet, and now your kid is saying he isn’t feeling well. ACK! Whatever your combination of stressors may be, we all know the terrible feeling of too many demands and not enough time, energy, …
3 Techniques for Coping With Stress During the Semester Read More »
Playing basketball. Hiking. Going for a run. Lifting weights. Breaking a sweat. Increasing your heart rate. How does that sound? Enjoyable? Torturous? What if I told exercise was one of the best ways to improve your success as a student? Everyone knows that exercise is great for your physical health, but there are plenty of …
Exercise: A Prescription for Being a Better Student Read More »
In my last post, we looked at the growing body of evidence that suggests being mindful, or paying attention to the present moment, has many benefits. Mindfulness is a powerful, yet simple antidote to habitual multitasking, helping us be more effective as students and professionals. It is also a great way to improve the quality …
Six Mindfulness Tips to Improve Your Studies and Work Read More »
With the demands of school, work, and the rest of life creeping up all at once, multitasking can easily become a way of life. However, in an earlier post, we looked at research that tells us multitasking harms our learning, memory, and productivity. So how can we retrain our brains to stay more focused in …
Texting while reading, studying with the TV on, eating in front of the computer…sound familiar? Intentionally focusing attention on only one task at a time may seem inefficient, if not impossible. It can feel as though you have no choice, particularly when juggling school or work with the rest of life. But is multitasking really helping …
Four Reasons to Stop Multitasking Now (and What You Can Do Instead) Read More »
