Stress management: dealing with deadlines

1. Stress management: dealing with deadlines Stress Management University Life Cafe

2. The challenge • Deadlines are a fact of life, whether they’re formal or informal deadlines. Certain tasks need to be completed by a certain date in order to get credit. Or coordinating with others on a work team requires that work be completed at a particular point in time. • Without some sort of planning, deadlines can be over-whelming. Deadlines may swamp students who don’t plan ahead or use the resources at hand to plan their work. Stress Management

3. “Soft” or “hard” deadlines • A “soft” deadline is a flexible or negotiable one. Soft deadlines may be those set up on a whim by students, in an idealized situation. Personal deadlines may be highly effective for achieving larger external goals. • A “hard” deadline tends to be absolute and non-negotiable. Hard deadlines may be those for live presentations, final exams, or live guest presentations. Stress Management

4. Backwards planning from deadlines • Some people plan by marking hard deadlines on their calendars and working backwards to mark soft incremental deadlines that will enhance their ability to accomplish the work for the final deadline. • The important dates may be put into personal digital assistants (PDAs) or personal managers, for multiple channels of information (and reminders). • It helps to keep up with the small tasks in order to achieve the larger ones. Stress Management

5. Breaking tasks and work down for manageability • People gain a sense of self-efficacy with “small wins” or achievements. Accomplishing incremental steps towards a larger goal may help people believe more in themselves and their ability to achieve the larger goals. • This task requires identifying the larger goal (i.e. creating a short film for presentation by a certain date)…and then backtracking that work to the small tasks that need to be done: defining a subject, writing a script, finding actors, getting props, setting up the scenes, shooting the scenes, integrating music, re-dubbing sound, editing the video, and getting this ready for a public showing. Stress Management

6. Accurate assessment of needed inputs • What will it take to actually achieve the work necessary at each phase? (For example, how much time will be needed to complete a research-based term project? What resources will be needed, and when? How much time will be needed to achieve this successfully? Who are people who will need to be contacted for support or mutual work?) • It helps to have accurate assessments and then the building in of margin…so unforeseen actions may not knock a project off course. Stress Management

7. Lining up resources for success • Work needs energy, time, and resources. Making sure that the project has what is necessary will enhance the final outputs regarding the work. • This may mean finding the proper informational resources needed to actualize the work. • This may mean lining up the necessary technologies. Stress Management

8. Strategizing tasks for effectiveness • Planning the work appropriately will make the execution of that work much easier. Take notes of the processes you’re going through, and find out what works and what doesn’t. Remember these lessons as you take on new projects and achieve work under new deadlines. • Write out a step-by-step plan. • It may help to get a study group in place to maximize study times. • Be ready to communicate with others to move the work forward. Stress Management

9. A practical tool • Deadlines are practical tools that people use to coordinate actions and to move work forward. • Deadlines are not something to fear but a structure within which to work. • Practice facing deadlines with calm and focus. With preparation, deadlines can be highly manageable and can enhance productivity. Stress Management

10. Connection to counseling services • Counseling ServicesKansas State University232 English/Counseling Services BldgManhattan, KS 66506-6503785-532-6927counsel@k-state.edu Stress Management