| Tips and Hacks to Keep Robust and Focused Under Stressful Moments |  | ||
- Eat good food and get exercise any way you can, on a daily basis. Get sufficient sleep, especially life science students who spend all night in the lab to procure that biotech breakthrough. Add supplements as needed.
- Kill the ANTS in your life. These are the unnecessary Automatic Negative Thoughts which crowd/invade our minds from time to time. Practice gratitude daily. Begin the day with prayer to remember who you are ultimately working for, your higher purpose.
- Learn something new every day (e.g., TED talk) and give out something to another person every day, even an encouragement or word of kindness. Add to social capital. Make growing and giving a pattern or rhythm in your life. Build your vocabulary. Learn another language if that helps.
- Set boundaries on your work; take a break before you get exhausted whenever possible. This will help you manage your stress as a high achiever. There is a practical book called Boundaries by Cloud & Townsend.
- Cultivate a positive peer group, people you can laugh and cry with. Don’t journey solo. Grow in emotional intelligence while a student. Take time to be playful and have fun.
- Keep a clean workspace for psychological health. You will find your creativity increases.
- Continue to develop your stand-out skill. This will shape your future contribution.
- Take care of your brain–your personal supercomputer. Protect it with a helmet if you bike. Feed it good vitamins and fish oils.
- Have an honest conversation with your future self. Let that person tell you what patterns and disciplines they wish you had begun in grad school.
- Take some time out to think and imagine your vision of a good life, your core passion. What if? Angela Duckwirth inspires here.
- Romans 8 and many Psalms bring perspective on the daily grind.
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