Student athletes - Tips for balancing sport with your studies
The life of a student athlete is truly a busy one, so how can you balance sport with studies without burning out?
Student athletes: Tips for balancing sport with your studies
The life of a student athlete ebbs and flows. Study demands vary across the semester depending on assignments, study commitments, and exams. Sporting demands also vary across the semester and year; in addition to regular training throughout the year the intensity of training peaks for major sporting competitions. Balancing school and sport naturally triggers a need for trade-offs, and finding an optimal balance between study and sport is a process of trial and error – there is no one-size fits all approach. It takes time to work out what your responsibilities and expectations are at sport and school (and paid work too if you do that). Understanding how much you can realistically commit to ensures that your wellbeing is not negatively affected.
LEARNING TO JUGGLE THE LOAD (YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL THANK YOU!)
There are so many positives to learning to manage your load as a student athlete, and these are skills that will benefit you not only now, but well into the future. Benefits include:
Increasing your resilience by boosting your ability to bounce back from stressful experiences.
Building your toolkit of coping strategies for maintaining performance whilst not compromising wellbeing.
Developing your identity – more than just as an ‘athlete’ or ‘student’. It is possible to achieve across different areas!
Putting things in perspective - how do schoolwork and sport fit into your bigger picture?
Managing perfectionism to avoiding burnout and poor mental health.
Managing yourself and your time by learning to prioritise and follow through.
With so many benefits from learning to juggle the student and sporting loads, let’s turn now to our top tips on how to achieve this.
TIP 1: WORK OUT YOUR PRIORITIES
What matters most to you? Is it achieving an A in chemistry? Making the top team for gymnastics? Striving to get into a particular university on scholarship? Meeting with friends over the weekend? Rather than scrambling to do too many things, and feeling unable to give enough time or attention to any of them:
Start first by thinking about what your priorities are (from most to least important) - this helps you to stay focused when you start to feel overloaded.
Next, set goals that link to each of your priorities.
Then, break down these goals so that you can measure progress during the term (consider SMART goal setting).
Whether it’s for sport or studies, understanding your priorities can help you to remain laser-focused.
TIP 2: PRACTICE ACCEPTANCE
As we’ve noted earlier, balancing school and sport naturally triggers a need for trade-offs. It is a reality of life that there’s a limited number of hours in a day - by accepting this (rather than struggling to do it all and to do it all perfectly) you can keep stress levels at a manageable level:
Balancing studies with sport can be tricky, particularly when peak season for competition coincides with assignment deadlines and exams. You may feel really under the pump, but know that this time won’t last forever – there will be moments where you can step back and relax (such as holidays). Instead, learn to surf the wave of overwhelm, and tune in to how you can help your body’s response.
Accepting the juggle also means looking at your standards for performance - are they realistic given your commitments, or is unhealthy perfectionism leading you down the path to burnout?
Practising acceptance helps you disengage from feelings of unfairness (compared to other students who may be able to devote more time to their studies) and focus instead on moving forward.
TIP 3: ASSEMBLE YOUR SUPPORT TEAM
It’s a well-ingrained mindset in athletes that achieving peak performance involves the support of a team - from a coach to help you with your technique, a conditioning coach to help with fitness, a dietitian to help with nutrition, a psychologist to help with mindset, as well as your personal support team.
As a student athlete you’re doing more - and so you’ll need additional support to help with the load that you carry. Yet so many students believe that success is determined by how smart one is, rather than skill, practice, and the availability of support. Your inner voice may tell you that you should manage it all yourself, but asking for support is not a reflection of your capabilities. Who can you go to when things start to pile up? Start conversations with your family, coach, support team, psychologist, teacher and tutor about how you can work through your priorities and lower your stress. They can steer you in the right direction so that you stay on track without burning out.
TIP 4: ASSEMBLE YOUR STUDENT-ATHLETE TOOLKIT
Performing as a student-athlete draws on a range of skills, so give some thought as to the skills in your student-athlete toolkit. Consider adding (1) skills that help you to increase your efficiency at sport and school, (2) skills help you to stay balanced and avoid burnout, and (3) skills to manage your busy life. Here are some of our favourite skills for a student-athlete toolkit:
(a) Time management
Time can easily slip away when you’re a student athlete juggling school, training, competitions, studying, a social life, and paid work. To stay on top of things, set aside time each week to plan the week ahead. Diarise times to complete homework tasks or pre-session activities (e.g., 15-minutes to stretch before swimming). You can learn more in our article on how to use your planner to organise student life. Other time management tips that we love include:
Match the task with your energy levels (e.g. packing your lunch when you feel drained right after a late afternoon training session rather than jumping into difficult maths homework).
Start early - chip away on assignments and tasks as you receive them rather than waiting for deadlines Things often crop up when least expected, so rather than waiting for the last moment place yourself under more stress, why not make an earlier start?
Shift your mindset - with your busy schedule it’s helpful to shift your mindset away from waiting for a large chunk of time before you can start a task, and move towards approaching studies and sport in bite-sized chunks. For example, rather than waiting for a two-hour block of time before you start studying, think about doing 15-minute pop quizzes whilst commuting from training to school.
(b) Active self-reflection for managing mood and mindset
Staying on track with studies and training can be tricky following setbacks and an increased workload. Unhelpful (clinical) perfectionism, critical self-talk, unrelenting and unrealistic standards, can easily creep in and result in stress, anxiety, depression, and procrastination. Reflect on:
What unhelpful patterns do you notice? Understanding why you get derailed (for example, when you choose to clean your room because you’re avoiding training or procrastinating on an assignment or heading to training) means you can start to find ways to improve.
What strategies work for you when you’re stressed or overwhelmed? There are many stress management techniques around, so reflect on which ones actually work for you. For some it may be connecting with friends, for others it may be checking in with their psychologist, and some may prefer to disconnect and get into nature.
Consider dedicating 10-minutes towards journaling and recapping at the end of each week. During stressful times it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, get caught up in strong emotions, or become hyper focused on what is happening right in front of you. After the event, take time to step back and reflect – what helped and what could you change if you were to experience this event again? For example, did taking a few deep breaths help you get through the moment? Alternatively, rather than getting swept up in the larger goal, perhaps focusing on one subgoal at a time enabled you to get through your work more effectively?
(c) Effective study skills
Whilst student athletes may recognise that developing the right technique is critical to succeeding in sport, there can often be a mental block when it comes to succeeding in studies. However, just as performing well as an athlete isn’t just about ability and potential – it involves refining technique through a process of trial and error.
Similarly, performing as a student involves refining study skills through a similar process. Indeed, some students believe that they are ‘not smart enough’ when in reality they may not be studying in a way that maximises retention of what they have learned. For example, students may think that time spent on studying is what matters, but what is really helps for performance come exams studies is testing yourself. Similarly, rather than just making notes from lectures and textbooks, understanding how to structure studies and focusing on priorities of the unit are essential particularly when your time is limited as a student athlete.
Techniques that we have found helpful in our work with students include:
Understanding how memory works and using a range of memory tricks to enhance performance.
Taking effective notes. Rather than writing down what is said verbatim, try to paraphrase just the essentials so you can check your understanding of what you’re reading/hearing.
Engaging in meta-learning to remain focused on the essentials of the unit (what you should be studying according to the unit outline) rather than diving into rabbit holes of non-essential facts (what is nice to know if you have spare time to focus on them).
If study skills and time management are where you regularly fall down, check out Nimble Noodle, our online self-paced course to help you to sharpen study skills, prepare for exams, and manage your time and mood better.
(D) Truly decompress during quiet moments
Quiet moments can be few and far between when you’re juggling training with studies. However, when they do come around, it’s all too easy to just hop on social media and zone out for an hour or two. If this sounds familiar, it might help to ask yourself if you truly decompress whilst on social media, or does it trigger FOMO and other insecurities? If being on social media isn’t helpful for your wellbeing, find other ways to decompress – it may be seeing friends in real life, getting out in nature, or even chilling and listening to music.
Make the most of these quiet moments, as taking the time to restore your energy helps set you up for a good week.
Hopefully the above tips help you juggle studies and sport better! If you’d like a more tailored approach you can book in with one of our team.
REFERENCES
1. Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: Study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 150-179. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.48.1.150
2. Debois, N., Ledon, A., & Wylleman, P. (2015). A lifespan perspective on the dual career of elite male athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 21, 15-26. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2014.07.011
3. National Collegiate Athletic Association. (2014). Mind, body and sport: Understanding and supporting student-athlete mental wellness. Indianapolis, US.
4. Kimball, A., & Freysinger, V. J. (2003). Leisure, stress, and coping: The sport participation of collegiate student-athletes. Leisure Sciences, 25, 115-141. doi:10.1080/01490400306569
The Life of a Socially-Anxious Student
Living with social anxiety as a student can be challenging - speaking up in class, group assignments, public speaking, gaining work experience, making friends … the list of social situations is endless. But there’s no need to suffer further…read on to find how to go from surviving to thriving in your studies.
The life of a socially-anxious student
by Olivia Kingsley
Life as a socially-anxious student can be challenging. There are so many study-related situations that have a social component – public speaking, being called on unexpectedly in class, introducing yourself to someone new, forming friendships and working relationships, talking to teachers and lecturers, and so on.[1] These alone can cause discomfort, however for students with social anxiety, the discomfort is amplified to fear and dread. The fear of negative evaluation can be so overwhelming that they avoid situations altogether or endure them with high levels of distress. [2]. Needless to say, experiencing a constant state of anxiety can hamper your studies by affecting your ability to focus on what your teachers and lecturers are saying, on learning the topic at hand. So, let’s dive deeper into what social anxiety is, and how students with social anxiety can go from enduring and surviving, to thriving at university.
Shyness vs. social anxiety in students: What’s the difference?
Let’s first clarify the distinction between shyness and social anxiety and how they manifest in students. Being shy and having social anxiety disorder are not the same thing, and yet the two are often used interchangeably. Unfortunately, even those who suffer from social anxiety disorder may dismiss their symptoms as extreme shyness. So what are some of the key symptoms of social anxiety, and how do they differ from shyness?
According to the DSM-5, social anxiety disorder is an intense fear of social situations where one feels like they are in danger of being negatively judged by others [2]. Whilst interactions such as meeting new people, talking in meetings, going to work or school, or being seen in public can cause discomfort to someone who is shy, social anxiety features when the anxiety is disproportionate to the situation and interferes with the ability to function as a student (e.g. stops them from turning up to class or affects their marks because they won’t speak up in class) or simply the act of functioning as a student causes significant distress.
Let’s take a look at Matt and Alex’s situations:
Matt has just started university, and is nervous about attending his first tutorial and meeting new people. In the lead up to it he is concerned about not knowing what to say or how to act as he wants to make a good first impression. When it comes time for Matt’s first class, he notices his heart rate is a bit elevated and his palms feel sweaty. However, over time he notices others are like him and he feels more comfortable in class and even contributes to class discussion. He ends up having a 100% attendance rate, and fulfills his class participation requirement.
Alex has also just started university, and like Matt, is very nervous about going to tutorial classes and meeting new people. Alex has all of the same worries as Matt about knowing what to say or act, and also wants to make a good impression. However, Alex assumes that others will think negatively of him, and is constantly on the lookout for signs that others disapprove of what he says or does. Alex is also worried that because he feels anxious, others can see right through him. Due to the intense anxiety that he experiences, Alex avoids going to class and only gets 30% attendance, and fails his class participation mark.
Some of the key differences between Matt, who is shy, and Alex, who has social anxiety, are:
The ability to challenge negative thoughts and check in with what is happening in reality
The intensity of the distress/anxiety experienced
The level of avoidance
The negative impact the anxiety has on academic performance
In other words, Alex is focused on his inner experience (physical sensations, fear, thoughts) and not noticing what is actually happening around him. Both students share the same concerns about being in a new social situation, but Matt is able to evaluate the situation and manage his distress so that it does not interfere with his performance.
How is social anxiety maintained?
Social anxiety is maintained through various factors. Models of social anxiety suggest a central role for anxious cognitions, including unhelpful core beliefs and assumptions, interpretations, and thinking styles. Regarding unhelpful core beliefs and assumptions:
People with social anxiety have negative beliefs about themselves and their ability to handle social interactions. Examples include “I’m odd/weird”, “I’m different”, “I’m unattractive” or “I don’t have the skills to cope with giving a talk on my topic.”
People with social anxiety may have excessively high standards for their social performance, for example, “I must get everyone to like me”; “I must always be funny and witty”; “I must never let anyone see that I am anxious.” These unrealistic standards cause anxiety as they are often impossible to achieve, and lead to the perception of constantly failing in social situations.
Holding such core beliefs and assumptions, it’s easy to see how evaluative situations can trigger anxiety and its associated fight/flight response. The physical symptoms from the fight/flight response, in turn, can exacerbate social anxiety as the student worries their anxiety symptoms are visible (e.g. blushing, shaking voice, sweating, shaking) and that others can see they are losing control.
Unhelpful interpretations and unhelpful thinking styles may be also at play in social situations . These are inaccurate yet accepted as reality, and may include: [3][4]
Emotional reasoning wherein the student believes that because they feel embarrassed that they have embarrassed themselves (that is, believing that feelings reflect reality).
Mind reading in which the student assumes they know what others are thinking, for example, “Why did she look at me that way when I was talking about photosynthesis? She must think I’m an idiot.”
Catastrophic thinking, or assuming the worst case scenario will occur, for example, “Going to this class will be a disaster because I won’t be able to get my words out, and others will laugh at me”.
As a result of unhelpful thoughts and thinking styles, people with social anxiety can then behave in ways that maintain their anxiety about social situations. For example, they may:
Avoid social situations (and the possibility of negative evaluation). Avoidance is a key factor maintaining social anxiety. While avoidance brings immediate relief, it removes any opportunity to test if negative beliefs are real, nor to experience positive social interactions.
Engage in safety behaviours. ‘Safety behaviours’ help reduce distress temporarily during feared social situations, but the person then comes to rely on these safety behaviours to endure subsequent social situations (thereby worsening anxiety in the longer term). These may include avoiding eye contact, not speaking up, speaking quickly, wearing headphones to avoid initialling conversation, ‘hiding behind’ more sociable friends during conversations, or using alcohol to reduce anxiety.
In some instances, perfectionism may actually be a coping style used to help escape scrutiny and negative evaluation.
How social anxiety AFFECTS student life (and beyond)
Student life is full of social requirements - speaking up in classes and lectures, working with others in group projects, making small talk with other students, making new friends, and planning for the futures by organising work experience and job interviews. Given that most of these student situations involve an evaluative component, and that social anxiety is characterised by a fear of negative evaluation, social anxiety can indeed make thriving as a student extremely difficult. Here are some of the negative impacts of social anxiety on student life (and beyond):
Social anxiety and academic performance
Excessive social anxiety can negatively impact academic achievement.[5]. Being involved and engaged in social and academic activities is considered to be a key contributor to academic achievement, but this can be really challenging for someone with social anxiety [5] Ways in which social anxiety can affect academic performance include:
Not asking for help from tutors or lecturers when they don’t understand something, instead trying to figure it out for themselves
Avoiding asking someone to proofread their work
Avoiding sharing ideas in group projects
Avoiding study or peer support groups
Not contributing to class discussions (and thus missing out on participation marks) or avoiding classes entirely.
Purposefully avoiding units containing public speaking assessments or group work, despite being interested in the content.
Social anxiety, health and wellbeing
Students with social anxiety can often experience loneliness and isolation, and report lower levels of life satisfaction and wellbeing compared to those without social anxiety.[6]. Late teens/early twenties is also a time where many students may begin to experiment with alcohol, and this can be a slippery slope for those with social anxiety who might use alcohol to calm nerves. Indeed, research has shown that social anxiety is associated with problematic alcohol use.[7]
Social anxiety and life beyond your studies
Another important part of university life is setting yourself up for when you finish your studies. Establishing your career often means stepping outside of your comfort zone by attending networking events, going to job interviews, gaining work experience, and talking to people in your chosen profession. Students with social anxiety often find it difficult to take these first steps, and even if they are given the opportunity to do so, they may turn it down altogether. In fact, research has found that around 20% of people with social anxiety disorder report declining a job offer or promotion because of social fears.[8]
Tips to manage social anxiety as a student
Despite the availability of effective treatments, only about 50% of individuals with social anxiety disorder ever seek treatment, and those who do end up seeking treatment only do so after 15- 20 years. [9] Sadly, it is a very long time to live with discomfort every day, when there are effective treatments that can help. Grab our tip sheet on 7 tips for Living with Social Anxiety below, and here’s a sneak peek of what helps:
1. Seek help from a mental health professional
Treatments such a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) have been shown to be effective in the treatment of social anxiety [10] and at The Skill Collective it’s something we help students with on a regular basis. Things we can help with include:
Becoming more comfortable speaking up in class and being the focus of attention
Learning how to better manage public speaking anxiety (see also our public speaking anxiety program, Speaking Volumes)
Making small talk in a variety of situations (speaking to teachers/lecturers, other students)
Managing anxiety when it comes to job interviews
2. Challenge your avoidance
Avoiding social situations may provide temporary relief, however it actually increases anxiety in the longer term. While it may seem like the last thing you want to do, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and putting yourself in social situations that seem scary is the best way to realise these situations aren’t as daunting as you think!
What might challenging avoidance look like? It could be turning up to lectures in person instead of watching them online, leaving your camera on if meeting up online, attending study groups, or even saying hello to another student where you normally would stay silent - pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is an effective way to challenge your fears and to help you learn that you can cope with the discomfort. Remember, practice makes progress, so don’t expect to feel comfortable straight away.
3. Take Action NOW
Please don’t be a social anxiety statistic and suffer in silence for 15-20 years before taking action. [9] That is a very long time to live in fear every single day, particularly when effective treatments for are available. Get a handle on social anxiety NOW so that its impact on your studies, social life, and future career are minimised, and you can go from surviving to thriving. Your future self will thank you for it.
References
[1] Russell, G., & Topham, P. (2012). The impact of social anxiety on student learning and well-being in higher education. Journal of Mental Health, 21(4), 375-385
[2] American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
[3] National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (UK). Social Anxiety Disorder: Recognition, Assessment and Treatment. Leicester (UK): British Psychological Society; 2013. (NICE Clinical Guidelines, No. 159.) 2, SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK327674/
[4] Clark, D. M. (1995). A cognitive model. Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment, 69-73.
[5] Beck, A. T., Emery, G., & Greenberg, R. L. (2005). Anxiety disorders and phobias: A cognitive perspective. basic Books.
[6] Brook, C.A., Willoughby, T. The Social Ties That Bind: Social Anxiety and Academic Achievement Across the University Years. J Youth Adolescence 44, 1139–1152 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0262-8
[7] Mendlowicz, M. V., & Stein, M. B. (2000). Quality of life in individuals with anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157(5), 669-682.
[8] Schry, A. R., & White, S. W. (2013). Understanding the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use in college students: A meta-analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 38(11), 2690-2706.
[9] Stein, M. B., & Kean, Y. M. (2000). Disability and quality of life in social phobia: epidemiologic findings. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157(10), 1606-1613.
[10] Hofmann, S. G., & Otto, M. W. (2017). Cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder: Evidence-based and disorder-specific treatment techniques. Routledge.
Anxiety on campus: What students need to know about anxiety and how to manage it
Anxiety is on the rise amongst university students, so what do students need to know about anxiety on campus and how to manage it?
Anxiety on Campus: What students need to know about managing anxiety
by Sylvie Seguin and Joyce Chong
The start of a new academic year at university is a time of fresh starts, hope, and optimism for a good year ahead. Unfortunately, students also face a range of potential stressors –pressure to perform, adjusting to a new environment and new social networks, relationship difficulties, financial strain…it’s no wonder that anxiety and other mental health difficulties are on the rise. Indeed, research out of the US suggests that 1 in 5 college students face anxiety, and closer to home a study of tertiary students indicated that around 80% of students felt their anxiety and/or stress affected their studies.
What is anxiety and how does it affect students?
Anxiety is an evolutionary response that your brain sets off so as to protect you from danger – it’s a Fight or Flight response that helps you get to safety as it quickens your heart rate and breathing rate so that the muscles that you need to get to safety or to protect yourself are working at their peak. At its extreme, anxiety can result in a heightened state of panic.
Question is – what is your brain trying to protect you from on campus? Well, contrary to what some may think, being a student really is a challenging job, with these just being a few pressures students face:
Threats to academic performance (Study threats)
Pressure to perform, potentially to get into highly competitive postgraduate courses.
Identifying a career path and finding employment in your desired field in a competitive market.
2. interpersonal threats (social threats)
Social anxieties ranging from meeting new people, talking to lecturers and tutors, having to contribute in tutorials, group projects, public speaking, and navigating social media.
Juggling relationships (friendships, family, partners) including dealing with conflict.
Dating and building friendships, coping with rejection.
3. Threats to your way of life (STUDENt life threats)
Becoming more responsible as you ‘unlock’ the next stage of life…or, adulting!
Financial strain from finding money to make rent, pay for necessities, and also having enough for social engagements and self-care.
Looking after yourself (self-care).
Balancing all of the above
4. Threats to your sense of self (Identity threats)
Knowing who you are.
Feeling comfortable in your identity.
When faced with these challenges, it’s easy to see how anxiety can set in. As part of this reaction, anxiety triggers Fight or Flight responses that negatively impact on your studies. For example:
Feeling anxious about speaking up in class may lead you to either over-prepare a highly rehearsed speech (Fight), or avoid speaking up altogether (Flight)
Feeling anxious about money so spend an excessive amount of time in paid work (Fight), potentially to the detriment of your studies, or to avoid looking at your bank balance and go shopping instead (Flight)
Feeling anxious about your employment prospects and so focus overly on working (Fight) to the detriment of studying, or to hope for the best and tell yourself that grades alone will get you there (Flight).
Tips for managing anxiety on campus – what students need to know
Even if you recognise signs of your own Fight/Flight response, all is not lost – the fact you’re aware is the first step! Here are some more tips to help you manage your anxiety better.
1. Set yourself realistic and sustainable goals
Whether your concern is your studies, social situations, your finances…whatever they may be…making progress involves setting realistic goals that move you in the right direction. For example, having a routine where you study for 2 hours each day during the working week may be more convincing that trying to study for 8 hours each day for every single day of your degree.
2. Prioritise self-care and balance
Too often, self-care is the first thing to go when stress increases because “there’s not enough time”. However, it is one of the most important things you can do for your wellbeing – time and time again, sleep, nutrition, and exercise have all been shown to be helpful. So set limits around your work, and protect some time for play (and rest!).
3. Check your thoughts
Thoughts can fuel anxiety, or dampen it down – which direction do your thoughts drive you towards? Self-talk such as “I must pass…my entire future depends on it!” only serves to increase your anxiety, so choose alternative self-talk that decreases your anxiety (e.g. “I can pass this, and I’ll do my utmost to, but I also know plenty of people who have failed one unit and it hasn’t significantly affected their futures – this ONE unit is not the be all and end all.”
4. Talk it out with someone – seek help, and do it sooner rather than later
Anxiety is very common amongst university students, so it’s unlikely that you’re all alone in how you feel. The problem is that stigma can get in the way of getting you back on track early on, and what may end up happening is that anxiety builds to a peak when the pressure is really on – that is, during exams.
So:
Speak to a trained health professional to learn practical skills to help manage anxiety. We love working with tertiary students and have extensive practical knowledge of working with them using science-backed ways that bring real change to students’ lives when it comes to living with anxiety.
Practice your skills regularly… no matter what skills you learn, it’s critical to practice them regularly. Time and time again we see students fall down in spite of knowing what to do…they don’t actually use what they’ve already learnt! When faced with a high stress situation, then, they’re out of practice and too overwhelmed to pick it up quickly.
In short, take action on your anxiety on campus sooner rather than later, and be sure to keep up with practice!
References
[1] Headspace (2017). National tertiary student wellbeing survey 2016. https://headspace.org.au/assets/Uploads/headspace-NUS-Publication-Digital.pdf
[2] Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health (2017). Under the radar: The mental health of Australian university students. Melbourne: Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health. https://www.orygen.org.au/Policy-Advocacy/Policy-Reports/Under-the-radar/Orygen-Under_the_radar_report.aspx?ext=.
How to choose the right study techniques (Hint: Use these 5 questions)
How do you know which study techniques work? Read on to find out what's been shown to be effective.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT STUDY TECHNIQUES
by Joyce Chong (updated 28 September 2018)
Are you facing study technique fatigue? Mind maps, rote learning, mnemonics, note-taking, re-reading, skimming, cramming…the possibilities are endless, so how do you sift through all of them and choose the ones that work? Unfortunately there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to study techniques, however we can look to what research tells us works when it comes to enhancing academic performance.
Below we’ve put together five questions to help you choose the right study techniques.
1. DOES THE STUDY TECHNIQUE HELP you engage with the information?
Studies of memory show that the degree to which we engage with the to-be-remembered information impacts on our ability to recall the information at a later date. Specifically, the more we elaborate on what we learn – and in doing so, relate it to other known facts – the more we increase the chance of remembering at a later date.[1]
Say you’re trying to learn a list of words – Cat, Mat, Hat, Sat, Bat. One option is to rehearse the list as is (we call this rote learning), and rely on pure repetition to aid in remembering these down the track.
An alternative is to make a story from these words (e.g. The Cat in the Hat was holding a bat when it sat on the mat). This ‘story’ helps because it links all of the items together, and you have also spent time working on crafting a story and this process of engaging with the information helps it ‘stick’ in your mind more. In going the extra step to ‘make meaning’ of the information, it becomes more likely that you will recall the words.
TRY Techniques such as creating mind maps, coming up with mnemonics, or relating it to things you already know, help enrich your memory of the information down the track. Yes, it does take a bit more time, but you’re building richer links across concepts.
2. DoES THE STUDY TECHNIQUE REQUIRE YOU TO TEST yourself?
There’s a growing body of research showing it may not be enough to just make notes and re-read these notes, but that testing is important in improving recall.[2] In a study of exam performance, students who regularly sat multiple-choice and short-answer quizzes subsequently improved their performance.[3]
Why does this work? It’s believed that when we try to recall information we re-organise what is in our memory to produce an ‘answer-ready’ format, and also link it with a trigger to help prompt our memory down the track during exams.[4]
So, if you’re studying the planets in our solar system, a test question may be “What is the fifth planet from the sun?”. Coming up with this answer involves learning the relative positions of the planets which would then make it easier to answer an exam question such as “List the planets of our solar system in order starting from that closest to the sun.”.
TRY Start to put together questions designed to test your knowledge of the information you have read This could mean looking at test questions in the book, asking a friend or study-buddy to help set questions, or practising on past exam papers. Looking at different ways to test your knowledge will help you to consolidate different aspects of what you learn.
3. DoES THE STUDY TECHNIQUE HELP you monitor your progress?
It can be easy to fall into the trap of reading a mountain of lecture notes, reading through a hefty chapter, and then summarising notes to use down the track. However, studies have shown that learning about what you are learning is an integral part of performance.[2]
That is, those students who question their learning process (Do I understand what I’m reading? How does this fit in with what I already know?), and the content of what they learn (Why am I reading this? What are the take-home messages from this chapter?), are more likely to perform better in exams. Yes, by asking these questions you’re also taking time to elaborate on the to-be-remembered information, and as we’ve discussed earlier this is something that helps performance.
TRY Take an inquisitive approach to your learning - monitor your progress so that you can make changes when you notice things aren’t sinking into your memory. Focus also on integrating the new information with what you already know.
4. DOES THE STUDY TECHNIQUE INVOLVE REPETITION?
Repeating what you have learnt helps you to remember, and repeating via testing also improves your recall. Cramming is far less effective compared to regular recall over a longer period as it allows you to consolidate what you have previously learnt and also allows you to integrate newer information with existing knowledge. [2]
Time and time again we see students who make meticulous notes in the first few weeks of university, but then shelve the notes until it’s time to study for exams. In the meantime, the memory trace has faded and, come exam time, these students then go back to re-read and re-summarise what they learnt in those initial weeks.
TRY Incorporating revision as a regular part of your studies so you can refresh what you have learnt. This will also help you in subsequent weeks as you’re better able to integrate what you’re learning with what you already know.
5. does the study technique make you more efficient?
Efficient processes make for a smoother run… from streamlining your wardrobe so it’s easier to get ready in the morning, to setting up direct debiting for your regular bills so that it eliminates that hassle every month, processes and systems just make things that little bit easier.
So, to what extent does your study technique make for more efficient studying? Consider:
Developing systems for studying (for example, red ink for take-home points, blue ink for elaboration on the take-home points)
Organising your study space (documents filed away in the same spot on your computer, even keeping your stapler in the same place so that you don’t have to rummage for it every time you want to use it)
Minimising distractions and incompatible multitasking – trying to do two things simultaneously that tap the same mental resource pool actually harms your efficiency. [5]
TRY Setting aside a small chunk of time to think through what systems and processes you can put into place to make studying more efficient for you that you will actually stick to. Aim to set up systems and processes that are easy to use so that they’re more likely to become part of your routine.
Hopefully the guide that we’ve put together today helps you to choose study techniques that will work for you, and good luck with your studies! If you’d like more information on study skills to keep you boost your performance, why not check out our online exam anxiety and study preparation course Nimble Noodle?
REFERENCES
[1] Ellis, H.C., & Hunt, R.R. (1993). Fundamentals of cognitive psychology (5th ed.). Dubuque: Brown & Benchmark.
[2] Roediger, H.L., & Pyc, M.A. (2015). Inexpensive techniques to improve education: Applying cognitive psychology to enhance educational practice. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1, 242-248.
[3] McDermott, K.B., Agarwal, P.K., D’Antonio, L., Roediger, H.L., & McDaniel, M.A. (2014). Both multiple-choice and short-answer quizzes enhance later exam performance in middle and high school classes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 20, 3-21.
[4] Karicke, J.D. (2012). Retrieval-based learning: Active retrieval promotes meaningful learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 157-163.
[5] Koch, I., Gade, M., Schuch, S., & Philipp, A.M. (2010). The role of inhibition in task switching: A review. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 1-14.
6 sure-fire strategies to manage exam stress
With exams rapidly approaching check out our tips to help you manage exam stress and anxiety.
6 SURE-FIRE TIPS TO MANAGE EXAM STRESS
by Joyce Chong (updated 28 September 2018)
Exams can be a stressful time - it’s the culmination of months of hard work, and the stakes can be high. Thoughts about your future career ‘hanging in the balance’ can heighten stress levels and ramp up anxiety. The problem is that too much stress and anxiety actually harms your cognitive performance, yet it’s at this point in time where we see students doing things such as cramming, staying up late to study, and cutting back on exercise and adequate nutrition - behaviours that have negative outcomes for performance. With this in mind, we’ve put together six sure-fire tips to help you manage exam stress.
1. STUDY SMARTER, NOT LONGER
Come exam time it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that every waking moment should be spent studying. In reality, preparing well for exams isn’t about cramming absolutely everything in, nor is it about studying for every single moment of the day.
Instead, try the following strategies:
Understand the times of day that you’re better able to cope with more mentally-taxing tasks like digesting topics that you don’t enjoy or don't understand well. Structure your studies accordingly.
Spend time revising what you've have studied – repetition is how you consolidate things which means that they’ll be easier to recall during the exam.
Learn what you have to learn. That is, pay close attention to what types of questions typically come up in past exam papers, what lecturers emphasise, and what the core objectives of the subject are. By focusing on learning these, you’re giving yourself an excellent head start.
It may also be a good time to sharpen your study skills. Learn how to learn better by improving your reading and comprehension, improving your memory, and understanding your preferred learning style (visual versus verbal). Not sure how to? Check out this article on How to Choose the Right Study Techniques. You can also check out our online course Nimble Noodle (more details in the blue box at the bottom of this page!), which helps students perform at their peak.
2. Practise, practise, practise
You'd train your little heart out for a marathon, so why wouldn’t you do the same for exams? To help get you fit for exams you can practise:
Waking up at a time early in the morning so you’re alert for morning exams. That means keeping a steady waking time throughout the entire week, rather than late nights and late mornings on weekends.
Simulating exam conditions by sitting a practice exam at a desk, and writing complete answers as you would in a real exam. Given that we rarely write continuously for 2 or 3 hours nowadays, it’s a good opportunity to get exam-fit.
Testing your recollection of what you have learnt by setting yourself sample questions and pop quizzes.
3. Limit cramming/all-nighters/performance-enhancers
Before you scoff at our suggestion to avoid cramming or using performance-enhancers, hear us out. Keeping your energy levels up and reducing fatigue so that they don’t affect your performance (both speed and accuracy) are important. Exam periods last for over a week, and you want to be able to last the distance.
Critically, get adequate rest - research has shown that 17-19 hours without sleep leads to poorer accuracy and slower reaction times on cognitive tasks, equivalent to performing with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%! So if you wouldn’t drink alchol and sit an exam, consider if it’s time to go to bed just a bit earlier. [1]
It’s also a good idea to limit caffeine and other stimulants (including nicotine) - after all, what goes up must come down at some point in time… and hopefully not on the morning of your exam.
4. Take care of the building blocks
Diet, exercise, sleep – we’re talking about the foundations of good health to facilitate studying and minimise stress that increases during the exam period.[2] Having worked with many students over the years, we’re also realistic that these tend to be the first things to go out the window when life gets stressful, which is exactly why we’re highlighting this as an important way of managing stress.
Diet matters because you need energy so you can study for sustained periods rather than feel fatigued after a sugar- or caffeine-hit. [3] Instead, look at clever ways to sneak convenient yet healthy foods into your day that will keep your energy going. This can be as simple as doing food prep over the weekend and stocking up on healthy snacks.
Exercise helps burn up the stress that builds up during exam time. [4] If it’s hard to find time to go to the gym when you’re studying, incorporate it into your routine and multitask it with revisions if you must!
Sleep helps the body to rest and recharge, consolidate what you have learned during the day, and maintain peak cognitive abilities (see Point 3 on why sleep matters), so don’t scrimp on it.
5. LEARN TO Relax…
Exams can get pretty stressful, so apart from taking care of the building blocks of diet, sleep, and exercise, it’s also important to get some rest and relaxation.
Plan for some down-time, and schedule it at the end of a study period so that it can motivate you to get through a particularly tricky topic that you have to plough through.
Also consider breathing as a simple and easily accessible way of decreasing your stress and anxiety. It’s as simple as breathing in and out through your nose over eight seconds, and from your diaphragm rather than your chest. This is a technique that you can use right in the middle of your exams too, when you feel ‘thrown’ by a question.
6. Check your thoughts
Your thoughts can really impact on our stress levels. Say you believe that you will:
Fail this exam;
Therefore fail all of your exams;
Fail all of your subjects; and
And that will be the end of your future.
Your thoughts increase your anxiety, and unfortunately excessive levels of anxiety have a negative impact on performance.
If you find that your thoughts create a lot of stress and anxiety for you, it may help to ask yourself if catastrophising is getting in the way. What is the likelihood of failing? What are the likely consequences of failing? Has anyone ever failed a subject but ended up finishing their studies? Has anyone ever not completed their studies but went on to be successful? By getting a reality-check you can turn down the noise on the thoughts and help you to contain your anxiety.
Hopefully these tips will help you in the lead up to your exams. If you find that you want to learn more about preparing for exams, or about managing exam anxiety, contact us to make an appointment.
GOT TO GET INTO STUDY MODE? GET NIMBLE NOODLE.
Learn ways to prepare better for your exams by getting on top of your studies. In Nimble Noodle, an online course for students where you can learn to use your brain flexibly to stay focused until the end. We focus on a holistic approach to exam performance - academically, psychologically, and physically. Nimble Noodle for students covers:
GREAT TIPS ON HOW TO BOOST YOUR STUDY SKILLS
Studying is more than just opening your books and rote-learning the information contained in your textbook, nor just attending classes and summarising what the teacher covers. In Nimble Noodle we cover:
How to set yourself up for a great academic year, semester, or term by planning your studies with good time management.
Understanding how your memory works and how to work with its limitations to boost your performance.
How to read and take notes effectively rather than writing everything you read/hear. Pages and pages of notes do not automatically turn you into an excellent student. You have to engage with your notes and study strategically.
How to be effective when it comes to assignments by taking a strategic approach to planning how to tackle your assignment, how to conduct research, and planning what to write.
HOW TO STAY ON TRACK WITH STUDIES (BURNOUT AND PROCRASTINATION, WE’RE LOOKING AT YOU!)
An academic year can seem really long. A semester may seem less of a stretch, but in reality it means that you have to be able to sustain your performance to make it over many weeks. So how do you stay on track with your studies when there are multiple distractions, fun things to do instead, and not burn out before you get to the end? In Nimble Noodle we’ll look at:
How your mindset can demotivate and derail your best intentions, and how to shift your self talk to help you stay on track with your studies. Feeling motivated to approach your studies, or feeling demotivated and procrastinating on a task, all stem from your mindset and powerful self-talk. We take a deep dive into mindset and how to make it work to your advantage.
How to look after your physical health so that you don’t crash and burn. Think of the classic stressed-out student who sets aside a healthy diet, exercise, and sleep, who instead spends every waking moment studying - how effective will this student be when it comes to the crunch?
How to manage stress, intense emotions, and setbacks so that they don’t derail your studies. Feeling overwhelmed can lead you to check out of your studies, so why not learn to managing distressing emotions so that it’s easier to refocus on your studies?
How to manage your time better and to set up an environment that helps your studies. Learning about your peak times of alertness can boost your studies.
How to think critically about your study progress (meta-learning).
HOW TO PREPARE FOR EXAM DAY(S)
Finally, we cover how to prepare for exam time with specific tips covering:
How to study strategically when it comes to your exam preparation
What to do on exam day
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nimble Noodle is brought to you by our Clinical Psychologist Dr Joyce Chong, and Dr Kevin Yong, GP and blogger at eat.move.chill. They’ve worked together over the years to help students get set for their studies and exams, and have put together their best tips that work so you can access them all in the one place.
Joyce has a special interest in learning and memory, having completed her PhD on the link between anxiety and working memory. She also worked for many years with students at University Counselling and Psychological Services, helping them stay on track with their studies through a combination of developing strong study skills, managing moods that get in the way of effective studying, and also developing the right mindset for success.
Kevin is a firm believer in the benefits of a healthy body for wellbeing and the mind. His focus is on helping students look after themselves in ways that support their learning and concentration, and to ensure that they stay well and illness-free for this very significant year of their lives.
As a special thank you to our The Skill Collective readers, the first section of Nimble Noodle (covering How to study strategically, Mindset, and Study Skills) has launched! You can learn more about Nimble Noodle and ACCESS AN EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT ON NIMBLE NOODLE by clicking on this link HERE.
Want more? You can connect with The Skill Collective in the following ways:
Contact us to make an individual appointment to get started on making changes.
Get access to our FREE resource library filled with exclusive tip-sheets on Wellbeing, Mental Health, and Performance that you won't find here on the blog
Join our FREE 14-day Wellbeing Challenge. Tailored for busy lives we're talking wellbeing tips for better body, mind, and heart in just 15 minutes a day, delivered straight to your inbox.
References
[1] Williamson, A.M., & Feyer, A-M. (2000). Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication. Occupational Environmental Medicine, 649-655.
[2] Andrews, A., & Chong, J. (2011). Exploring the wellbeing of students studying at an Australian university. Journal of the Australia and New Zealand Student Services Association, 37, 9-38.
[2] http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Fatigue_fighting_tips?open
[4] Chong, J., Elliott, J., & Murray, S. (2005). Avoiding the black hole of despair: A guide to managing exam anxiety. Perth: Curtin University.
Imposter Syndrome: When the perfectionist feels like a fraud (and how to overcome it)
Ever feel like a fraud, that you'll be found out? Perfectionists often fall prey to Imposter Syndrome - read on to find out why, and learn steps to help overcome it.
IMPOSTER SYNDROME: WHEN THE PERFECTIONIST FEELS LIKE A FRAUD (AND HOW TO OVERCOME IT)
By Joyce Chong
Jessica, 29, looks like someone who is winning in life. She has a great job in her dream organisation, is the youngest person to hold the position that she does, and there’s considerable buzz surrounding her amongst senior managers and in the wider industry as being ‘one to watch’.
Yet…Jessica finds it hard to accept any of this.
She thinks she obtained her job through good fortune and timing. That people in her industry view her capabilities positively only causes her to worry more about being found out – she can’t possibly know as much as people think she does!
Sound familiar? That’s because what Jessica experiences is quite common, and around 70% of people have experienced the Imposter Syndrome at some point in time. Indeed, Imposter Syndrome has been uncovered in university students, academics, medical students, marketing managers, and physicians.[1] Heck, even Natalie Portman, actress and Harvard graduate, has alluded to experiencing the Imposter Syndrome.
WHAT IS IMPOSTER SYNDROME?
The Imposter Syndrome, or Imposter Phenomenon as it is also known, refers to when people believe themselves to be intellectual frauds due to an inability to internalise their successes. Along with this is a fear of being exposed.
There are certain transition points in life when we may expect Imposter Syndrome, for example:
- Starting a new education adventure like Natalie Portman (e.g. high school, university, postgraduate studies).
- Becoming 'qualified' in your field, leading others to treat you as if you are 'fully-fledged' yet you feel you have only just scratched the surface of the knowledge in your field.
- Being looked up to due to your years of experience (e.g. relative to junior members or people outside of the field) or to your position as an expert (e.g. teacher, lecturer, tutor).
However, there’s also suggestion that Imposter Syndrome is linked to stable personality traits such as neuroticism, conscientiousness, negative core self-evaluations across situations, and also maladaptive perfectionistic tendencies.[2]
IMPOSTER SYNDROME AND PERFECTIONISM: WHAT'S THE LINK?
Six key components of Imposter Syndrome have been identified, and show a link with perfectionism, including (1) A need to be special or the very best; (2) A desire for superhero status where there is pursuit of excellence most areas of life; (3) A fear of failure when faced with achievement-related tasks, leading to anxiety; (4) Denial of competence or discounting of praise; (5) Fear and guilt about success in instances where the imposter feels undeserving of success; and (6) The Imposter Cycle. [3]
The Imposter Cycle is a particularly important component of the Imposter Syndrome. Here, an achievement-related task triggers a fear of failure and anxiety, leading to over-preparing (or to initial procrastination followed by an intense last-minute work rate). When the goal is achieved a process of discounting may kick in, thereby diminishing the validity of the achievement.
As you can see, there is much overlap between the key components of Imposter Syndrome and perfectionism as outlined in our previous post from the pursuit of excellence, the desire to be the very best, and the discounting of achievements.
Delving deeper into the relationship between perfectionism and Imposter Syndrome, it’s been found that Imposter Syndrome is linked to perfectionistic self-presentation, a heightened concern over making mistakes, and a need for approval.[4]
With this relationship in mind, let’s look at some tips for change.
HOW TO OVERCOME THE IMPOSTER SYNDROME (AND PERFECTIONISM!)
1. Ease the unrealistic standards
Sometimes things seem daunting and unattainable because we’ve built them up in our minds so that they’re bigger than Ben Hur. The uneasiness and anxiety that goes with this is awful enough to put anyone off. Guess what? The unrealistic standards make you want to start the task even less! So ease the unrealistic standards, and consider setting a task that extends you rather than deflates you.
2. Ask THE tough question
For those who find procrastination a big stumbling block, this question may be confronting – Is it worse to go through life dominated by a fear of failure, or is it worse to have found your limit even if it's not exactly where you thought it was (and, be honest, are your perfectionistic standards likely to be met?)?
It's comforting to hide behind the possibility that you could’ve done better (“if only…”) and prop yourself up by going over the top in your efforts, but it can also be extremely tiring and never-ending.
3. Choose some, not all
Sure, you can choose some areas to focus your efforts on, but what happens when you try to be the best in all areas of your life, all at the same time?
Are your efforts diluted (and therefore, in your mind, less than perfect)? Do you have the energy to cope with applying unrealistic standards to all areas of your life, push yourself hard to achieve in every domain, and maintain performance at this level for a sustained period of time?
4. Set experiments to test your predictions
If you think your efforts will only be good enough if you put in 110% then let’s test if that is true. Let’s say you’re making lunch for friends. Maybe in your mind, your friends will only be happy if you prepare an eight-course degustation menu with matching wines.
Let’s test that. What if we served a four-course menu? Would it lessen their enjoyment?
What if you prepared one main dish, assembled a tasting platter, and bought a dessert? Would it lessen their enjoyment?
Putting your thoughts to the test is a great way to see if others really expect that of you, or if it's what you think others expect of you (see more on socially prescribed perfectionism here).
5. Be fair in weighing up the evidence
Remember Jessica from the start of this post, the ‘one to watch’ in her industry? The one who discounts her multiple achievements, instead worrying about being found out? How do you think Jessica would view criticism? Would she give it the same weight as she does praise? Or would she let one small speck of criticism cloud her judgement of her abilities?
There’s a real negative filter at play here (you can read more about the negative filter, and other unhelpful thinking styles here), where one small negative outcome overrules all positives that may apply. So, exercise fairness when it comes to weighing up the evidence.
Want more? You can connect with The Skill Collective in the following ways:
Contact us to make an individual appointment to get started on making changes.
Get access to our FREE resource library filled with exclusive tip-sheets on Wellbeing, Mental Health, and Performance that you won't find here on the blog
Join our FREE 14-day Wellbeing Challenge. Tailored for busy lives we're talking wellbeing tips for better body, mind, and heart in just 15 minutes a day, delivered straight to your inbox.
REFERENCES
[1] Sakulku, J., & Alexander. J. (2011). The imposter phenomenon. International Journal of Behavioral Science, 6, 75-97.
[2] Vergauwe, J., Wille, B., Feys, M., De Fruyt, F., & Anseel, F. (2014). Fear of being exposed: The trait-relatedness of the imposter phenomenon and its relevance in the work context. Journal of Business Psychology. DOI: 10.1007/s 10869-014-9382-5.
[3] Sakulku, J., & Alexander. J. (2011). The imposter phenomenon. International Journal of Behavioral Science, 6, 75-97.
[4] Dudau, D.P. (2014). The relation between perfectionism and imposter phenomenon. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 127, 129-133. Doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.226.
A primer on perfectionism
Here’s a quick guide on what you need to know about perfectionism.
A PRIMER ON PERFECTIONISM
By Joyce Chong
It’s easy to think of perfectionism as one overall category in which you’re driven to achieve exceedingly high standards, and attaining the standard is like climbing to the peak of a mountain. But perfectionism is so much more complex and diverse than that. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the different ways in which we can think about perfectionism.
WHERE DOES PERFECTIONISM COMES FROM?
The cause of perfectionism is thought to be varied. [1] Genes potentially make a contribution, as suggested by studies of identical twins raised together versus those raised apart, as do parental expectations. It’s also thought that we can ‘learn’ perfectionism through mechanisms such as observation, reward (e.g. getting praised for doing well), and punishment (e.g. getting punished for failing to meet others’ expectations).
ABOUT PERFECTIONISTIC STANDARDS
We often think of perfectionism as something that is driven from within, influenced by our own high standards and driving our own behaviour. However perfectionism isn’t necessarily directed at ourselves.[2]
Perfectionism can be directed at others wherein you expect others to adhere to the high standards that you expect of them. Thus, you may expect:
Your partner to do housework a particular way;
Your family to conform to your idealised vision of how family members should relate to each other
Your friends to act in a particular way
Your children to behave how they ‘should’
In each of these situations it’s easy to see that disappointment, hurt, and anger may follow when others don’t meet your expectations.
There is also something that we call socially prescribed perfectionism, wherein we believe that others hold high expectations that we must meet. Not surprisingly, it’s been shown to be linked to a fear of negative evaluation, loneliness and shyness, lower levels of social self-esteem[3]. It has also been linked to a tendency to be perfectionistic when it comes to how one presents oneself (perfectionistic self-presentation), the perception of having received social feedback that is negative in nature, to ruminate more about having (potentially) offended others, and also feelings of depression and social anxiety.[4]
HOW IS YOUR PERFECTIONISM MANIFEST?
Perfectionism can be manifest in different ways in different domains of our lives. For instance you may see perfectionism:
Within the home, with lawns meticulously manicured, the interior and exterior cleaned spotlessly, and objects arranged ‘just so’. There may be daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal cleaning routines that must be rigidly adhered to.
At work where you pore over every detail of every project, find it hard to delegate tasks, and set extremely high targets that you ‘must’ achieve at all costs. Long hours are typically involved in getting outcomes that meet your exacting standards.
At school or at university, where you aim for extremely high marks, relentlessly study or research to ensure that you have all the answers readily available and that you avoid making any mistakes. Your assignments keep getting reworked until they feel ‘just right’.
In hobbies, where there are multiple attempts are made to get something ‘just so’. If cooking is your thing, then it may be attempting to replicate a dish so that it looks exactly like it does in a magazine.
In sport/exercise, and not just at the lofty levels of competition. There may be multiple attempts to achieve a textbook yoga pose, or overtraining against a coach’s advice because of a desire to perfect techniques.
In self-presentation…how you speak, dress, your level of grooming, your lifestyle choices, your body weight and shape. Throw in the heightened scrutiny of social media to this mix and it’s easy to see how perfectionism can take over in a bid to maintain a perfect image.
HOW IS PERFECTIONISM MAINTAINED?
How do perfectionistic standards continue to persist given they are often unrealistically high and therefore at times unlikely to be met?
One factor is the thought process or interpretation – that a failure to meet these standards are not a reflection of the unrealistic nature of the standards themselves, but rather a reflection on your own failures. Or, if the standard is somehow achieved, then it may be discounted as being too easy and attainable by all.
Perfectionistic behaviours also reinforce the problem, as you increase your efforts to achieve the unrealistic standards. While it may pay off, it’s important to recognise that this level of effort is often difficult to sustain in the longer term.
Interestingly, procrastination also plays a part for some dealing with perfectionism. By ‘opting out’, or perhaps completing the work with insufficient time to do a decent job, the ‘blow’ of being unable to meet the unrealistic standard becomes far easier to handle.
THE IMPACT OF PERFECTIONISM
Critically, what is the impact of perfectionism? Is it something that motivates you, spurring you on to strive for excellence? When that excellence is achieved do you feel a sense of contentment and satisfaction?
Or, is perfectionism more like a rod of punishment, where you feel pressured to reach a particular standard, your motivation is driven by a fear of failure, or where achievements are quickly dismissed as being too easy and replaced by even loftier goals?
Give that perfectionism can have very different effects, the big question is what differentiates adaptive perfectionism from maladaptive – or clinical – perfectionism?
A key factor to look at is how much 'wiggle room' we give ourselves when it comes to our standards. When perfectionism is adaptive we tend to see the goals as guidelines to work tirelessly towards, however we can show some degree of flexibility when it comes to the goal that is set, whether the goals are realistic, and whether there is flexibility in the time frame within which it is to be achieved.
In contrast, when clinical perfectionism is at play goals are set unrealistically high (typically setting us up for failure), however in typical black and white thinking any deviation from the goal is viewed as failure. Clinical perfectionism leaves us constantly feeling that we’re not good enough, leading us to set even loftier goals that we are unlikely to meet. With this type of mindset is it any wonder that clinical perfectionism is linked with burnout, psychological distress, depression, and other mental health disorders?[5] To learn more about this, see our Tip Sheet in our FREE Resource Library on When Perfectionism Harms your Wellbeing.
When considering the effects of clinical perfectionism, the big question to ask yourself is…Is it really worth it?
REFERENCES
[1] Antony, M.M., & Swinson, R.P. (1998). When perfect isn’t good enough: Strategies for coping with perfectionism. Oakland: New Harbinger.
[2] Hewitt, P.L., Flett, G.L., Turnbull-Donovan, W., & Mikail, S.F. (1991). The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale: Reliability, validity, and psychometric properties in psychiatric samples. Psychological Assessment, 3, 464-468.
[3] Flett, G.L., Hewitt, P.L., & De Rosa, T. (1996). Dimensions of perfectionism, psychosocial adjustment, and social skills. Personality and Individual Differences, 20, 143-150.
[4] Nepon, T., Flett, G.L, Hewitt, P.L., & Molnar, D.S. (2011). Perfectionism, negative social feedback, and interpersonal rumination in depression and social anxiety. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 43, 297-308.
[5] Egan, S.J., Wade, T.D., Shafran, R., & Antony, M.M. (2014). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of perfectionism. New York: The Guilford Press.
The life of a student athlete is truly a busy one, so how can you balance sport with studies without burning out?