What to do when you're feeling STRESSED OUT!

By this point in the semester, we have all experienced stress and the unpleasant side effects it brings. When you're stressed out, you may feel like you can't sleep, you are either always hungry or never hungry, and you may even get a tight feeling in your chest. I can say from experience, I know how frustrating all of these side effects can be. But how can we avoid them?
This semester, I have found that junior year has been the most stressful year of college so far. All of my exams happen to fall on the same day, and it's hard to balance exams and homework with everything else going on in my life, like searching for an internship and participating in extra curricular activities. This leads to many stressful situations, especially when you have a busy schedule. I will admit, I have had sleepless nights and forget to eat dinner when I am feeling stressed. So how can we learn to cope?
The most important way to avoid being stressed is to have good time management. This is easier said than done. When you know you have a lot of work coming up in the next week, its hard to make yourself get a head start when you just want to enjoy the little bit of down time you have. By using some of the time management techniques I talked about in my last post, you can help relieve some of the stress you experience when you have a lot of exams in a short period of time.
There is no perfect way to avoid stress, but when it does happen (and it inevitably will), its important to know of some stress relief techniques. Taking a few minutes out of your day to exercise helps to relieve tension you may feel from stress, like that tight feeling in your chest I talked about earlier. Whether its going to the gym, or doing yoga in your room, physical activity can be a great stress reliever. I personally have found that taking a spin class is a great way to relieve stress. Whether its an early morning or late night activity, cycling is great exercise as well as a great way to take your mind off of all of your obligations. Exercising also helps to relieve tension in your muscles that may occur from being stressed, and for me spinning is a great form of exercise to help do so.
For more tips on stress relief check out these articles on Reader's Digest: http://www.rd.com/stress-relief

Good luck on the rest of the semester!
-Katie

You Can't Always "Do it Later"

Hi guys!

My name is Katie and I am a coach in the Academic Achievement Center. I also help give the Academic Success Workshops on campus. I am currently an Accounting major in the Business School, and I know what it can feel like to be overwhelmed with work and other activities. I am a member of Alpha Phi, a sorority on campus, and I am in the process of joining Beta Alpha Psi the accounting fraternity. I work on campus as well 11 hours a week, and I like to be able to make time for classes, work, and social activities everyday.

When I came to UCONN, I was so overwhelmed with how much time I had during the day, I sometimes found that I put things off because I left like I could always "do it later". Now that I have had some time to get used to UCONN, and learn how to balance all my activities, I know how important Time Management is on a large campus. For me, having a large day planner has been one of the most helpful tools in managing my time successfully. At first, I only wrote down exams and homework assignments in my planner. Over time, I realize that the best way to manage your time effectively is to make sure you write down EVERYTHING you want to accomplish that day. I have things like homework, exams, meetings, time with friends, dinner, and household chores all written in my planner. I have found that being able to visualize my day helps me to manage my time better. I also have found that To-Do lists are a huge help. Making a list of specific things you want to accomplish differs from the day planner in that it doesn't include everything you have planned for the day, but instead is a list of the things you would like to accomplish. Being able to compare your list of daily activities to a list of assignments you want to get done is a great tool to help with time management. I can look at all the assignments and chores I want to get done and compare them with the time schedule I have basically set up in my planner. This allows me to schedule my time wisely so I use every second of freed up time to accomplish my to do list. I hope you find this helpful in your Time Management journey!

To learn more time management techniques, as well as study skills and note taking ideas, stop by the Academic Achievement Center from 4 to 8 Sunday through Wednesday, or stay for an Academic Success Workshop. Workshops take place Sundays from 4-5, Monday 5-6, Tuesday 5-6, and Wednesday 530-630.

AAC Coaches' 4.0 Challenge

In addition to being a tutor at the AAC, I also work at the CUE building and have been sitting here eagerly awaiting to sign up for the AAC Coaches' 4.0 Challenge that will take place here in the CUE in room 130 at 5:00pm. There will be a brief explanation about what the Challenge is at that time and then, if you should choose to accept, you can sign up!

The basic premise is that if you are planning on "doing better" this semester, why not just go for the gold (a 4.0, that is)? Whether or not I actually get a 4.0 this semester, I think this Challenge will be a good reminder, even as the semester drags on and I start to get a little tired and a little lazy, that with a little extra effort, a 4.0 won't actually be to far out of my reach. I mean, if I go to all of my classes and do all of the homework/reading well and on time I think it will be pretty hard to do poorly. Plus the Challenge will offer workshops and events like study breaks and stress-relief seminars to help me stay on track troughout the semester. So I think it's a great opportunity and will be a good support system for me to do well this semester.

If you are interested in joinging the Coaches' Challenge, come to the CUE today at 5:00. It's pretty late notice, so if you're interested in joining but couldn't make it, email aac@uconn.edu or go to aac.uconn.edu for more information.

A's are Risky Business...

Now that I'm well into my fourth year at UConn, I often look back at how I got where I am now. Each semester I have been challenged but motivated and achieved at a level I am proud of. But, to be frank, if the student I was in high school could see me now, she wouldn't recognize herself.

In high school I sometimes felt like I was in the shadow of my very bright, very hard-working, and well-known sister. She had always done well in school and it was kind of her thing; I found my interest in other places like my art classes and extracurriculars. I never really did that poorly in high school, but I did spend a lot of time just doing enough to get by with a grade that was good enough. I did enough to get into UConn (and so did you!), but I made a lot of excuses for why I was perfectly satisfied with getting OK grades and reassured myself that if I really cared, really tried, or really studied then I would be getting straight A's.

Even though I thought I was smart enough and capable enough there was still something in the way of me really doing what it really takes to get those A's. I don't think there is anyone out there who means it when they say they don't want A's or that they want C's or B's. The reality is that A's feel really good to get and D's really don't. A's feel different than B's and a lot different than C's or D's. So the question arises, why would a student not want A's if they feel so good to get?

Grades can be tricky because it's easy to think they mean more than they do. Grades don't tell you if you're smart enough or if you deserve what you want. They don't tell you what kind of person you are. Grades aren't a value judgment about you, they are an assessment of your work. They tell you how you performed and that's all. But the problem comes if we let those grades mean more than they really do. In my mind, my sister's GPA was a measure of a lot more than the quality of the work she handed in. My B's and sometimes C's said that I was wasn't as good or as smart as she was. And when I got A's, because I got a few, they were flukes, easy classes or my teachers liked me. Because I believed I was a B average student, I didn't bother to really strive for anything else.

We can train ourselves to be happy with less than we are capable of if the risk of reaching our true potential is too great. It's a big risk to aim for A's because it means maxing out your skills, effort, and investment in the task. And when a person expends himself/herself like that, what happens if that person still doesn't get the A? Does that mean he/she wasn't really smart enough, capable enough, or deserving enough? These thoughts are very familiar to me and have a lot to do with why in high school I put off writing papers and studying for tests, why I daydreamed in classes that were challenging, and why my grade in French was never great.

I got very discouraged in high school during my junior year when the National Honor Society Inductions were taking place. I was pretty discouraged as I watched my friends, like my sister a few years before, be inducted, knowing that my grades weren't good enough to be a part of it too. With a bit more perspective now, I can look back and say that what I didn't see was that I could have been doing so much more. I could have taken the time to turn in my best work rather than work that I thought was good enough to meet the teachers expectations. I could have taken a risk and expended myself, but I rarely ever did, and didn't understand that the few times I did, I not only got better grades but I had fully and completely earned them.

Things began to change for me as I saw UConn fast approaching. I was sick of not feeling good enough and wanted to take advantage of a fresh start. My mom, who has always taken a hands off but involved approach to my schoolwork, asked me why I would set myself up for stress, incomplete assignments, and just OK grades. Something clicked for me when I began facing the challenges of being a UConn student. I decided that I wanted it (A's) and for the first time I believed not only that I could do it, but that I deserved it. This was all reinforced for me by a conversation I had with my older sister that really opened my eyes, she told me that she admired me for certain qualities that I have that she believed she didn't. The combination of opportunity, support from family, and a more realisitic look at myself that pushed me toward achieving a level of success that I never had before. I took the risk of wanting something, trying hard, and not knowing how it would turn out. The risk has paid off and with the right motivation I've risen the challenges that have been put in front of me.

Now, I want to challenge you. If you're reading this blog and you think I'm on to something. I you think my experience sounds familiar and you're ready to prove to yourself what you're capable of, then do it! Decide what you want and hold yourself accountable for going after it.

If you're reading this blog and you think I'm full of it, or you think I'm sugar coating reality, or you just plain disagree with me, then I want to ask you one thing? Are you satisfied with your academic performance? Really satisfied? Do you know that you have done everything you can to get what you want and do you know that you have followed through with your commitment to school 100%? If you can't confidently scream "Yes!" to that last question, then what's stopping you? I invite you to join me in the Coaches 4.0 Challenge and go after the success you are really capable of.

Sincerely,
Sarah M.
AAC Supervisor

For information on the Coaches' 4.0 Challenge please visit the Academic Achievement Center section of the First Year Programs website, http://aac.uconn.edu or email aac@uconn.edu

Ask Ali

Ali is a recent UConn graduate who made several videos outlining the strategies she used to be a very successful student. Although Ali has left UConn, her videos have not! You can access them on her YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/UConnAskAli alongside some helpful "favorites".

UConn students and faculty, you can access the Ask Ali pages of the First Year Programs website with your NetID and password. Click here to check it out!

July Update

Hello Huskies!

As this summer has been speeding by, we've been busy improving the Academic Achievement Center and expanding our services. At the start of the Fall semester the AAC will be offering four workshops a week that will be open to all students. The workshops will cover a wide range of topics and they'll differ from week to week. The workshops will be lead by experienced AAC coaches and successful students. The tentative fall schedule is:

Sunday 4:00pm-5:00pm
Monday 5:00-6:00pm
Tuesday 5:00pm-6:00pm
Wednesday 5:30pm-6:30pm

As the fall approaches, workshop topics will be posted and updated in the Calendar at the bottom of this page. Any changes to the times above will also be updated in the blog calendar. Student groups and classes may also schedule private workshops with the topic of their choosing. To schedule such a workshop please send an email to aac@uconn.edu.

There is also a brand new program in the works called the Coaches' 4.0 Challenge. We're working to create a pledge for students to be intentional and high achieving students. Look for more information in the coming weeks about the details of the challenge and how to sign-up.

As the beginning of the semester nears, I encourage you to visit the AAC once you're back on campus and meet with a coach to be entered into a raffle for $50 Co-op gift card. The AAC will be open Sundays through Wednesdays from 4pm to 8pm. All AAC services are free and available to all students. I also want to remind you that we've made some changes to our meeting locations to offer you more privacy and one-on-one interaction with your coach.

As always, please tell your friends about the AAC and our blog! For answers to your questions please email aac@uconn.edu

Sincerely,
Sarah M.
AAC Supervisor

The ABC's of Semester Planning

I have to begin this post with a good dose of honesty about my time management history. Before college, I was a notorious procrastinator. I'm not sure that I could even count the number of times I was surprised by a due date, cramming for a test, or sitting through a class completely lost because I hadn't done the reading.

If there is a single most valuable things I have learned at UConn, then it's definitely how to manage my time and plan realistically.

It's true, I graduated from high school with good enough grades to get into UConn, but I also put myself through unnecessary stress and anxiety as I raced against the clock to complete research papers on time and tried explaining to teachers why I hadn't completed my homework.

Managing my work and classes was a big reality check for me, and luckily for me I figured out some good planning strategies early enough in my UConn career to see the benefits of a little bit of organization.


The way I see it, there are different degrees of planning and different types of people are more comfortable at different levels, especially if they are not planners by nature. The place to begin is with the major events. For academic planning especially, just adding all of you due dates and exam dates to one calendar will help you to see those anxiety-inducing dates with a bit more perspective. I like to use the worksheet created by the office of first year programs called, Semester at a Glance to compile all these dates. Then I add them to a monthly calendar on my wall and in my planner.

The way I handle the next level or degree of planning is by filling as much information from each of my classes' syllabuses into my day planner. The image below is from a typical week during the spring Semester.

You can see that in addition to an in-class writing assignment and an upcoming paper due-date (in orange), I've also included the reading assignments on the days they are due for each of my classes. I find that putting all of my due dates and assignments in one place helps me remember what I need to get done but also helps me see how much I have to do for any given day. Seeing that some upcoming weeks or days are busier than others helps me to get started on assignments earlier, when I have less to do, to reduce my stress later.

You can also see above that I color code things, to help me stay organized. Orange is the color that I use for anything from the widest part of the pyramid (due dates, exams papers). The blocks in yellow are meetings with students that I mentor. I use purple for my work schedule, red for personal commitments (like mom's birthday), and Blue is for events for my leadership cohort. Color-coding might be a step further than you'd like to go but it helps me to glance quickly at the page and see what type of commitments and events I have coming up.

The point of the pyramid is the most in-depth and detail-specific level of academic planning. But even within this level there are options and degrees of planning to undertake. What I often do in my busiest weeks is create a prioritized to-do list. I usually make them on post-it notes and stick them to the pages of my planner. This kind of to-do list involves ranking the items in addition to listing them. Here is the ranking system I use:
(A):Must Do--These are thing that have to get done today, like tomorrow's reading assignment.
(B):Should Do--These are task I need to do eventually but I have a little more time for. Like starting an essay that's due a week from today. So I will get to these items after the (A) items.
(C):Could Do--These items can include anything I want to do, even things that won't necessarily get me closer to my academic goals. Some things to include under (C) might be watching a movie with friends or giving myself a pedicure. Working pleasurable tasks into a to-do list can make completing all of your tasks a more positive experience. It's also nice to reward yourself for working hard. (C) items should be completed after all of the (A) and most of the (B) items.

My advice to other students who are figuring out what kind of planning works best is to be realistic about how much you can do in a day and don't strive for perfection. Also pay attention to the way you usually behave a certain times of the day. If 4:30 rolls around and you usually need an hour to unwind and watch a little TV before going to dinner, that's probably going to be OK and you should plan for it. Set aside a different hour for reviewing your class notes, like the time between two classes.

A good way to better understand how you function throughout the day is to use a time monitor for at least a week. The one to the right is available on the First Year Programs website in the Ask Ali Pages (requires NetID sign-in). Spend one week just keeping track of all the ways you spend your time. Include sleep, showering, meals, exercise, entertainment, classes, and time spent studying, and any other way you spend time.

Then, come up with a plan for the following week based on what you observed. It's a mistake to strive for perfection here because it can lead to some serious discouragement. The point is not to
be a super-human task-completion machine, but to organize and prioritize the things you need to do so that you have time for all of the other things you want to.

Give yourself a chance to blow off steam and have some fun and use tools like a daily schedule, or a planner to keep you on track so that you can have that balance! Be realistic and set achievable goals each week. It never hurts to challenge yourself just a little bit. Can you accomplish more in a day if you wake up 15 minutes earlier and shave your "getting ready" time down to 30 minutes? You might surprise yourself how much less time a task like reading for class takes if you put a time limit on it.

Try these tips out and tell me what you think! Good Luck!

Sincerely,
Sarah M
AAC Student Supervisor & Coach