Keeping on top of your game and getting all your shiz done can be so difficult when you add stress into the mix.
I know what it’s like to be stressed. I’m a student, I’ve worked full time and done school at the same time, I’ve dealt with grief, depression, anxiety, money issues, self-esteem issues and all of the above at the exact same time. It ain’t easy. And when you’re that stressed, all you want to do is curl into a ball in bed and do absolutely nothing. I get it.
But even though you feel like your life may be crumbling and beating you to a pulp, the world around you keeps going. And you need to too.
When it comes to being stressed (which is most of the time, lol) I’m decently good at doing the things that absolutely have to be done – like showing up to work and completing assignments on time. What I tend to skip out on is the other stuff like taking complete care of myself, spending time with friends, or putting more effort into my hobbies (aka blogging!).
And though they may not feel like absolute necessities, they’re still important! If they’re important to you deep down, they’re important to accomplish.
I find myself making excuses as to why I need to lay down, why I can spend hours scrolling through Instagram, why I’m not accomplishing anything worthwhile. But the excuses need to stop.
How To Stay Productive When You’re Feeling Stressed
Get out of your own head.
This sounds pretty ambiguous, but what I mean is that you’ve got to stop convincing yourself you’re too stressed to do anything, so you might as well do nothing at all. I become so overwhelmed with all the tasks to accomplish, that I accomplish jack shit (pardon my language).
Convince yourself to just start your tasks instead of taking the timeouts (aka curling into a ball in bed). If you push yourself to just begin your tasks, you’ll forget that you were too stressed to do it and before you know it it will be done.
Put the damn phone down.
As I mentioned, I find myself sitting down to “break” and scrolling through my phone for embarrassingly long amounts of time.
Yes, I use my phone to communicate for school, with friends, and to work on my blog stuff, but most of the time it’s just mindless scrolling. I catch myself after spending way too long scrolling, and feel even more frustrated that I wasted all that time instead of doing something productive.
I’m still working on this, because it ain’t easy for a social media addict like me, but I’m learning to leave my phone in a different room. My battery dies so quickly nowadays (because of the infinite scrolling, lol) so I’ll put my phone on charge in my bedroom and walk away from it.
This helps tremendously! I’m finding myself doing actual productive things instead of wallowing in the ol’ comparison game of Instagram. I even forget about not having my phone on me, and really immerse myself into the task at hand.
Plan.
Planning your days and weeks help tremendously with keeping your stress level low. Knowing that your tasks have a time to be done will help you not to stress out over them. My biggest advice is not to procrastinate. Having to rush to get things done will only give you more stress.
If you really want to plan out your days, check out these awesome productivity hacks from Erica at Coming Up Roses.
I’m big into visual plans, so I have a monthly calendar whiteboard in my office, a weekly whiteboard calendar, I utilize the calendar in my phone like crazy, and have a few apps I can’t live without. Google Keep is the best for making lists of any sort (and you can share them!), and I’ve been loving Bright Todo for organizing my to-do lists categorically (and it’s got a pretty cute widget, if you have an Android!).
For all my school organizing, I use Google Day By Day to keep it separate from my regular calendar. I like how you can add tasks to certain days!
Don’t give up hope.
Though life may seem stressful right now, know that it won’t be like that forever. Things will slow down, life will change and what stresses you will change. Always know that it’s going to be okay no matter what and you will get through this stress.
I know the saying “it gets better” is way overused, but it really is the truth. Life is constantly changing (under your own power or not!) and keeping your chin up is the key to success.
As someone who constantly feels the need to be productive, feeling the burden of stress on top of that ends up in being engulfed in such an overwhelming state. Reminding myself of these tips really helps me to stay productive where it matters, and in turn ease the stress I feel.
Never forget that if you’re really feeling the effects of stress overwhelming your entire life, to talk to someone and get some help. You are number one in your life, and taking care of yourself physically and mentally is so unbelievably important. You got this.