5 Ways to Prevent Burnout from an Academic Investigator

Burnout is a condition of fatigue related to stress and often contributes to feelings of isolation, poor performance, and even depression. Though research has shown for many years that burnout affects workers, we are now aware that burnout affects students too.

Shutterstock

I want to provide a few tips as a researcher specializing in recognizing methods for helping college students achieve their first year of school, to help students prevent burnout.

1. Begin with Why

Intrinsic motivation— the belief that education is inherently satisfying — is associated with lower academic burnout and higher academic achievement. To begin with, the most effective way to prevent burnout is to understand why you're in school. Develop your internal motivation by recognizing the skills you need to build and the opportunities you want in a college.

2. Visualize Your Success and Your Work

Use the textbook and other tools to get a complete picture of your tasks and their time limits. Use to-do lists, schedules, and applications to remind you of your success and celebrate small victories along the way.

3. Work a Little Every Day

High-impact preparation involves time and effort, dedication, diligent practice, and self-regulation. Moreover, the majority of new college students study at high school for less than 10 hours a week and need to learn to make a more consistent effort. Additionally, research activities that college students use most often— highlighting and highlighting notes, reading and summarizing the content of courses— are the least efficient.

Take advantage of the most effective learning techniques. Disseminate your study time over days instead of cramming. Get the content you learn using flashcards and practice tests effectively instead of reading or rereading data passively.

4. Take Breaks Regularly

As burnout linked to stress, stress management is crucial. Each aspect of a healthy coping strategy is exercise, proper nutrition, social interactions, and quality sleep. Additionally, breaks lead to maintaining your concentration on your overall objectives, improving creativity and memory development.

5. Keep the End in Mind

Parts of the university are just stressful and hard. But ultimately, college graduation is economically advantageous. However, the knowledge and skills you learn at school have long term and full benefits in your work and personal life— like living longer, making more money, and passing these benefits to your children.

Ryan Korstange is a University Assistant Professor at the State University of Middle Tennessee. This article republished under a Creative Commons license from The Conversation. Read the research in its original form here.

Pages