“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” -Bertrand Russell

In May, I plan on graduating from Indiana University with my degree. After five years of playing baseball, attending school, and working, I will finally be able to leave my academic career behind. But wait, May is only a month away and I have so much to do!

Two things I MUST get done before then, as required by my degree, include completing an internship and finishing an Independent Study Macroeconomics class. The internship is something that causes absolutely no worry in my life because it is simply showing up and helping with baseball; something that I love to do. Macroeconomics, on the other hand, is something quite different!

Because of the procrastination tactics that I have taken on in completing the task (something I will discuss in future articles), I am left to complete a 16 week class in a matter of 4 weeks! If you do the math, that is about a chapter a day. This is on top of my regular class, internship hours, work, and writing for this blog. All of this studying could leave a lot of people to be very stressed out, but to me, it’s just another thing to do on my task list because I have learned to excel under pressure.

I have a simple approach to stress that I believe can be used in ANY situation. Is your financial situation stressing you out? How about your health? Just follow the five simple steps in order to feel secure and confident you are heading in the right direction and going to fix the stressor.

1. Identify EXACTLY what the stressor is: Pinpoint whatever is stressing you out. Write it out, describing in detail what it is, and more importantly, why it is stressing you out. This will make the problem a reality. Until you confront the stress by bringing it out into the open, it will continue to be a burden. You will continue to push it away until the stress becomes too much and begins to take a toll on you; both physically and mentally. An example of a stressor for me is having to complete my class in a very short time.
2. Write a Detailed Plan: In this plan, describe specific details as to how you are going to get rid of the stress. If debt is your problem, research how to get out of debt, and then write out step by step what you need to do to become debt free. If your health is a problem, write out goals and steps to help you reach goals of becoming healthier. Keeping with my class example; my course is eight sections long. Each section has three chapters. My plan is as follows: For day one, I will read all of the chapters in the section; day two I will do the homework for each section; and day three I will create a study guide for the three chapters…repeating for each section until complete.
3. Implement those plans in your daily life: You need to take your plans and turn them into actions. With my economics class, I have decided every morning I will wake up, take a shower, eat, and then spend two solid hours completing my Macroeconomics before I do anything else. If I have not completed my daily Macro plan, I will finish it after I get home from work. This allows me to know when I am going to complete it and saves me from stressing to find time.
4. Reward yourself for sticking to the plan: I suggest every week, if you have worked hard and stuck to the plan, to do something nice for yourself on either Saturday or Sunday. Go out to eat, watch a movie, surf the internet, buy something nice for yourself (but don’t break your bank); whatever reward motivates you and keeps you striving for success. Personally, my reward is more intrinsically focused. At the end of each week, I take a huge breath, let it out, and now that I am that much closer to reaching my goal. I will also allow myself to spend more time researching the internet, reading books, and writing for this blog without giving myself a hard time. I earned that time, and it makes me feel good.
5. Complete your stressor and feel the weight lift off your shoulders: The amount of time taken to reach a goal can vary by what you plan to do. For my class, I know EXACTLY how long it is going to take. For other goals, you cannot predict an exact deadline. I assure you though, once you have gone through and completed the burdensome task, you will feel like a million dollars. The feeling of accomplishment is one that is matched only by few.

Throughout this process, you will feel less and less stressed with each step. If you feel overwhelmed by how daunting the task may be, just remember to live in the present. Take it one day at a time and you WILL succeed!

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