How to Overcome Being Burnt Out

How to Overcome Being Burnt Out

Emily Larrabee

It is that time of the year where we all consider dropping out of school because the stress is overwhelming. Spring break is over, tests are coming up, and final projects are nearing an end. With all this in mind, it is important to take care of yourself mentally. Dealing with burn out can be easy if you follow these 3 steps.

1.    Meditate

Meditation can be difficult for some of us. Trying not to think about all the other things you could be doing is no easy task. Here is my suggestion: Turn on some meditation music on Pandora and just lay on your couch, bed, or floor for just ten minutes. Set an alarm in case you fall asleep. This short about of time can give you the energy to finish the day strong and your mental abilities will not be altered.

2.    Become a Time Management Professional

Managing your time is important if you want to avoid being a procrastinator. I know I have a tendency to wait till the last minute to do something. This causes an overwhelming amount of stress that could have been avoided if I had managed my priorities better. Mark your calendars and make sure that you have a system each week to get a little bit done on your projects or to study for 30 minutes for that upcoming final. 

3.      Make Some Time for Fun

This goes along with time management. Make sure you get some work done so that you can go out and enjoy yourself while in college. There are so many fun and interesting things to do in a college town. There are festivals, coffee shops, wine tastings, and sporting events. No matter what you plan on doing, make sure you rest your brain from all of studying/working you have been doing. You will thank yourself later. 

Knowing What to Say

If you're like me during interviews, you freeze when asked a question. I get so nervous that I don't know how to answer, which sounds silly because the question is about me. Last week, I got the chance to talk to a board directer of Walgreens and she gave me some tips on how to prepare for interviews in the future.

First off, many interviewers use the "behavioral interviewing" method. These questions help the interviewer to decipher how you would react to different situations in the workplace. This is much more than just, "tell me about yourself." These are questions that, if you're not careful, will make you freeze. You need to be aware of situations that would be important to talk about in your answers.

The key here is to make a list of important events or situations that you can use for your answer. That way, you know the answers off the top of your head instead of racking your brain for them. She also mentioned that you should study these the night before so that they are fresh. Taking a bullet point list with you before the interview could be beneficial, too.

Learning all of this information from the point of view of an interviewer makes me feel a lot more comfortable and knowledgeable. I feel that I will be a little more confident during a future interview!

Blending Personal and Professional

            As a graduating senior, I have spent a decent amount of time this semester considering where I want to work next year. Unfortunately, I have not narrowed down the options for my job, but I have at least narrowed the location. I started the year with a short preference list of Nashville, Chicago, and Indianapolis (in no particular order) and an open mind to any opportunity that comes my way. While my top three cities have plenty of job options and would be fun to live in, I was not yet willing to limit my job search to specific locations. I wanted to keep my career as my top priority, rather than distance, city size, or any other personal factors. However, after thinking about this issue over the last couple of months, I’ve realized that my personal life and professional life cannot remain separate.

            The realization happened one weekend this semester when I made the journey back home to visit my family and help them with some tasks. As I pulled into the familiar South Bend, Indiana, city limits, I immediately began to smile and feel at home. As I drove through the familiar streets of my hometown, it hit me: I can’t move to Nashville next year because I love my home way too much. As I gave this feeling more thought, it made me think about all the other ways my career would shape my personal life. If I went to Nashville, it would be much more difficult to make a trip home in only a day or two. If I moved to Chicago, I would have to deal with commuter traffic every time I wanted to see my brother’s football games. If I moved to Nashville, I would only know one other person and could get lonely. If I moved to Chicago, I wouldn’t be able to drive from Point A to Point B in the winter when the wind chill is freezing. While these factors seem irrelevant to my career, they are extremely important to my happiness. I began to think of times at college when walking on campus was too cold, or I couldn’t go home to visit my family, or I missed various family events, or when I just felt lonely. These are things that make me unhappy, which can hold me back in all areas of life, especially professionally.

           By looking at all the aspects of these two towns (and many others like them) that would make me unhappy next year, I began to think of all the ways Indianapolis would be a good fit. I’d only be an hour away from my brother and sister, only an hour from family and friends at Purdue, no more than three hours from good old South Bend, and in the same city as a number of close friends. There are plenty of jobs that I have already found that would be a great starting point for my career, and there is a lot to do in all areas of the city. If I ever felt homesick or overwhelmed, good company (and comfort) wouldn’t be hard to find. If I’ve learned anything about myself over the last four years, I’ve learned that these are crucial aspects of my life that keep me going.

           With my Communications degree, there are a lot of jobs that I could do next year. However, there are not a lot of places I could go and be happy doing it. The more I thought about my personal happiness, the more I realized that I couldn’t separate my personal life and professional life. They affect each other equally, and I need to set myself up for success in both to be truly happy and start my career.

Tapping Into My Resources

            In the Liberal Arts Career Development Office, we have one of our biggest events of the year coming up: Career Week. Career Week will take place April 11^th through April 15^th, but we’ve been planning for it all semester, if not longer. Since this is a week-long event, we all have certain days or parts of the week that we are in charge of, and for me it’s Tuesday (with another intern, Lisa B.).

            The theme for the Tuesday of Career Week is Bulking Up with Core Training, and we have four workshops planned for the afternoon. We started the semester with an ideal line-up of guest speakers that we wanted to lead the workshops, but things don’t always go as planned. For one workshop in particular, I spent weeks trying to get in contact with multiple potential speakers. Eventually, we only had about a week (maybe even less) left before our information was due for our speakers and workshops, and I still had that one spot to fill.

           While I understood that cancelling the one workshop was a potential solution, I wasn’t willing to give up trying. Suddenly, everyone I met was an opportunity to fill this spot. Every time I met someone new or spoke with an old friend, I’d ask myself: “Would this person be a good speaker for this topic, or do they know someone who would be?” Sometimes the person was a great speaker, but wasn’t qualified to speak on the topic. Sometimes the person was just a fellow student, but they were in organizations that had connections to someone who would be a great fit. Sometimes the person had been there all along, and I just didn’t think of it. And sometimes, the person I met was exactly what I needed. Everyone and every interaction was suddenly an opportunity.

           Given the option, I would have preferred to save myself the stress and have the Tuesday schedule locked in as soon as possible. However, adversity is a great learning opportunity. My new outlook on my tasks was successful, and I was able to fill all four spots just in time. I found that this form of thinking that focused on my current network and tapped into resources I already had was the most successful method for getting my job done. Looking forward, I am much more aware of how I can tap into my personal life to accomplish my professional tasks, and I am more willing to speak up with the people who can help.

Pushing through to The End

By Alex Bolten

Now that we’re all well rested and back from Spring Break, it’s time to get back into the swing of things and stay focused until the end of the semester. There’s a little over one month left, and it’s important to stay strong and push through everything. You’ll be having projects and group assignments popping up, but you need to make sure you’re also taking advantage of every opportunity that you have left this semester. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you make the most of your last month:

1.     Mark your calendar!

a.     I say this quite often, but it’s something that is absolutely necessary. You’re probably about to get swamped with projects, exams, and meetings. It’s very important that you stay on top of everything so that you don’t forget about a due date and end up doing a project a few hours before it’s due.

2.     Make time for career-related events.

a.     “Career Week,” the weeklong event hosted by Career Development, is coming up in the middle of April (April 11-15). This event brings in speakers from campus and different companies to present on various topics to help advance your career. There are multiple workshops each day, all culminating in a “Reverse Career Fair,” which will be held on Friday afternoon.

3.     Attend the Reverse Career Fair

a.     This may be one extra thing to add to your list, but I can’t tell you how invaluable the experience will be. The fair will put you in the place of an employer, where you have to sell yourself to a company. There’s going to be a callout for this event on Wednesday, March 30 at 6 pm in BRNG 1284 that will give you more information. You don’t want to miss it!

4.     Be proactive

a.     I’ve already given you two different things that you can attend that are still coming up in the semester, although there are others. Check the CCO’s website or ask your advisor if they know anything about what’s going to take place in April or possibly early May. I know there will be at least one more career fair, which will be very helpful if you’re still looking for a job after graduation or an internship for the summer!

Follow these tips and I’m sure that you’ll be able to excel. It may seem daunting to add some new events to your calendar, but you’ll be glad you did once you attend and they better prepare you for life after graduation. Think of these events as “helpers” and not “hindrances,” because all that they can do is help you.

Finding Balance

As a college student I feel like I am always searching for balance in my busy life, and I know I am not alone. Many of my friends tell me about how they have to shift their schedules around because things come up that take priority over others. It is very difficult to keep that “perfectly consistent schedule” as a college student.  With so many goals and things to do all clashing at once, it becomes a challenge to keep calm and stay balanced. 

People who don’t know me quite as well say that I am pretty good with keeping my cool in pressured situations. Where as many of my closer friends tell me to calm down and quit freaking out about everything.  Slowly over the years here at Purdue, I have acquired the grand skills of multitasking and thinking quick on my feet.  Having these skills has helped me avoid stressing more than I need to, if at all.

I would have to say one of the most valuable lessons Purdue has taught me is finding my balance and getting through any challenge in a rational way. This was such a crucial lesson for me to learn as a young adult. I know it is so important in the professional world to keep a healthy balance of all priorities that arise and to handle them one by one in a methodical sense.  Purdue has made me aware of many valid realizations within society. 

When I graduate Purdue in a year, I know that the school has opened my eyes to cultural awareness as well as the many diverse majors made known to me by many good friends. This will translate into the professional world. Finding balance in life however, still remains the most important cognizance I have gained from this University thus far. 

Choosing the Right College for You.

by Paige Annee

Though the mass audience of our LACD blogs may be current college students, I want you all to envision your life just a few short years ago when you were about to complete your senior year of high school. Right around this time, you were probably making one of your biggest life choices to date: where to go to college.

Choosing where you want to go to school for the next four years is a huge deal. Picking the right (or wrong) university can help (or hinder) your academic motivation, leadership growth, and of course, your ability to land your dream job when you graduate.

For me, choosing a college was not an easy decision. In fact, it was so hard for me that I "decided twice." As a senior in college, I chose to attend Indiana University as a Journalism major. As a freshman in college, I decided to move to Purdue University as a Public Relations & Strategic Communication major for my sophomore year.

I presume that the criteria for choosing your job after college is similar to the criteria of choosing your university. Where in the country to do you want live? Do you have the financial means to attend this college or take this job? Is the opportunity for scholarships or yearly income reasonable? Will it help you get to where you want to be in your professional growth?

When I chose my college the first time, I decided based on where my family wanted me to go and where it sounded the "most fun." When I switched to Purdue, I chose based on the opportunities presented to me and how they matched with my values. It has been my best decision to date.

For high school seniors: when you choose your college, pick somewhere that you can see yourself growing the most academically, socially, and professionally. Find a place that will challenge you.

For college seniors: when you choose your career, pick something that you will enjoy and that can spur your professional growth.

If you go with your gut, you can't go wrong.