Time Management is Stress Management

This Winter Quarter has definitely been busier than my Fall Quarter since I enrolled in more units/classes and joined more campus organizations that require huge time commitments on my part. Although I would say that this winter has been more stressful than my first quarter, I have never thought deeply about how I've managed stress during my short time here at UCLA. And that's because it takes more brainpower and time for me to really think about how I'm dealing with stress than to just deal with it.

Now, halfway through Winter Quarter and halfway through my freshman year, I don't think there's a better time for me to take a step back and put in words how I have been coping with stress from academics, stress from peer pressure, and stress from myself.

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Academic Stress

My academic stress is the stress from college and the projects, assignments, and exams that come along with college. How I have managed this stress is by staying organized. The 2 things I have consistently used since Fall Quarter to stay on top of my school work is Google Calendar and a planner.

I use Google Calendar on my phone to know when and where my classes, meetings, and events are. I use my planner to keep track of all of my assignments and organize what work I have to finish that day.

On the weekends I usually stay up on Saturdays until 3-4am on Sundays doing work. It sounds bad, I know. But this system has worked really well for me since I am more of a night owl than a morning person and I am able to finish the bulk of my work then. Sundays are usually left with one or two more assignments and time dedicated for studying.

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Peer Pressure and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

By peer pressure I don't mean being pressured into doing something that I don't want to do. I mean that there are events that I do want to attend but there's not enough time to do it, and so there is an external pressure and stress from the fear of missing out as you watch your friends go have fun. And I usually do end up attending the events that my campus clubs host or going out on Friday and Saturday with friends.

But I wouldn't call this "succumbing to the pressure" or "breaking under stress." You see, by going out and hanging with friends, I am managing the pressure and stress. And how I manage this stress is by knowing when it's the time to hang out and when it's the time to grind.

I know that I shouldn't go out on a Tuesday night because I have class the next day. I know that I shouldn't go out on a Thursday night when I have a midterm the next morning. I know, and I don't. But I have learned to manage my time and work so that on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon, I have the time to go out. And that's one of the reasons why I stay up extremely late on the weekends finishing work because I start doing work after I come back from going out with friends.

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Self-induced Stress

The last big source of where my stress comes from is self-induced. I put pressure on myself to do more, to be more, and to just be the best version of myself. And I have not yet found a way to permanently reduce this stress.

The pressure I put on myself shows when I stay up late on the weekends doing work at 3am in the lounge. I stay up late not only because I start work late, but also because I tell myself that I will not be going to bed until I have checked off all of the assignments listed in my planner for Saturday. And once I put my mind on something, I always follow through with it.

Therefore, my way of "managing" this stress is by escaping from it and taking breaks, whether it be alone or with friends. You can read more about how I escape from this stress in my article about maintaining perspective here!

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The biggest takeaway from my reflection of how I manage stress is that time management and stress management goes hand in hand. If I manage my time wisely, there is virtually no stress from school or FOMO. I'm not saying all of my stress will disappear because there will always be stress from myself since that pressure I put on myself is how I'm able to get things done, but my stress overall will significantly decrease.