Handling stress as a B-school student

How do you work under pressure? Do you crack? Can you handle it? Let us know by

“Every morning in Africa, when a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up, it knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better start running”

Life of a B-school student is not a bed of roses. The above statement perfectly describes a student life at a rigorous business school. After joining the course within a few days you will be able to realize how tougher your life will be for the next two years. To get a an estimate of how much of stress it can cause, think of the most stressful day you ever had during your engineering or arts and science college, and imagine living that day for 300 out of the 365 days in a year. That would probably be it.

Doing Management degree will be hectic.  You will be loaded with a heavy course load, spending time for preparation before attending a lecture, assignments, presentations, cases and meeting submission deadlines. Not missing any classes to avoid paying a hefty fine amount, studying for internals and finals, club activities, forced to update yourself by constantly reading newspapers, intense preparation for viva voce, hunting for internships and so on.

It will require a lot of commitment, dedication and certain sacrifices, including proper sleep for successfully completing the course. Without making yourself mentally prepared for a different kind of lifestyle in an Management programme you may feel overwhelmed and completely stressed for most of the days. Draining is the word which you will experience the most at the end of your daily schedule.

However, because of the pressure that comes with the work load, it’s extremely important to not crack.  

Whenever you are explaining your situation to your professor that you’re not having enough time to prepare or study, most probably you will get the below reply from your professor. 

“We all know that you are brilliant, and if given the time to do an assignment, you certainly will do a great job of it. That is why we make sure that you do not get enough time to do an assignment and want to see how good a job you can do when you have multiple things to do, and not enough time. Time management is what we want to teach you!”

So handling stress and managing your time is especially important in a Management programme. There will be several times that you really want to scream. But in graduate school, to overcome this kind of situation you have to change the way you think of extra work. Your mindset needs to change from:

“Another work? Oh, I just can’t handle that! ” to, 

“Another one? Yes, please! More! I can Do it! 

Throughout the programme exams loom, papers hang over us, and nagging deadlines keep us awake and stressed. How will you manage it all?

Here are some tips from the experts and professor's to coping with B-school stress.

1. Start studying now: Procrastination will perpetuate feelings of helplessness -- you'll feel more stressed and out of control if you put off your work. The same holds true for papers. Begin as early as you can.

2. Don't cram: Psychological research shows that studying often is better than to study intensively over a short period of time just before an examination. -- cramming. (as completely fill to the point of overflowing). You're more likely to understand and retain the material that you've covered several times over a period of days than material crammed over a 1-2 day period.

3. Prioritize: Make a list of all that needs to be completed. Then prioritize your list, noting due dates as well as rating the overall importance of each item.

4. Sleep: Though it might seem like a good idea to study until late night to get that paper finished, you better get off for some sleep and return to it in the morning. Research shows that we need good sleep in order to function.

5. Exercise:  Exercise is one of the best stress-relievers around. When we're stressed we experience elevated levels of stress hormones that keep us wound up. We experience tightened muscles and short tempers. Exercise permits us to release the pent-up energy.

Conclusion:

A lot of stress can be reduced off with proper diet and exercise. Get out of the campus and go for a run, or visit a favorite cafe, listen to music, practice meditation. Getting sleep is one thing a lot of business school students skimp on. Lack of sleep can actually have a negative effect on studying.

No matter how overwhelmed a B-school student may feel, it’s important to remember to take a step back, enjoy and connect with your family. Once the stress is relieved, hit the books again.

In the end, it’s all about to find a balance between business school and life, that must work for a management student, who is going to be a future manager.

This post was written by Deepak.J , I year PGDM.