Practice positivity with these handy tips

  • Gradstar
  • February 5, 2022
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You are under pressure to find a place at university, you stay under pressure each semester to deliver good marks, and you graduate with the new pressure of launching your career. It makes you wonder – how does carrying this pressure allow you to remain in a happy and healthy state of mind? University can be a rollercoaster. One way to maintain balance is to be positive in the face of new challenges, be they looming exam times, financial setbacks or personal adversity. Here’s how:

Meet challenges by making them your goals

An impossible concept in class to learn? Is English still holding you back in class and social settings? Turn these challenges into short term and achievable goals. Spend extra time at the library or in study sessions to get your head around that difficult idea. Enrol in English classes or get that book or audiobook from the library to help you with your English grammar. Practise a little bit each day and soon the pressure on you created by those challenges will reduce.

Keep a gratitude journal

Another clear path to a MBA at a top university is a bachelor degree in business administration. Students with a business administration bachelor degree are often looked upon favourably by employers. When students add a MBA to their resume, they can become powerful additions to teams and management. If you see yourself as a future business leader, this is the field for you.

Australian universities offer bachelor degrees and graduate certificates in business through each university’s business school or department. Courses cater for students from the Asia Pacific region, helping students to develop new skills, learn business acumen and expand their professional and social networks.

Always take time out

Staying locked in 24/7 to the study world will inevitably lead to one outcome: burnout. Sure, you need to work hard to play hard. But being smart in how you study will leave you with time to unwind from the study world and grow parts of yourself that will help you to become a mature adult. Plus, doing things you enjoy and love creates energy that you can call on in your studies. So be sure to hang out with friends, join a sporting or activity club, and go on daily or weekend trips.

Happiness is everywhere

Instead of waiting for something spectacular to happen in order to feel happy, find joy in every little thing you do. Joy can be found everywhere, in the cracks between conversations, in nature, in music, in learning. You only have to have an open mind and the vision to see it. And if you can see that joy, even in the lows, you will find enough highs to keep your spirits lifted.

Be kind to others

The world around us can appear full of negative actions and words. When you are down, it is hard not to be influenced by them and stay true to yourself. One way to break the cycle is practice kindness to others and yourself. Use gentle words, offer someone help or to buy them a tea or coffee. And if you are still finding things tough, be kind to yourself. Take time out, buy yourself a nice meal, sit on on the grass for an hour and stare at the trees, or call a treasured family member of friend.

Choose your company wisely

Your positive outlook can be enhanced if the people around you are also positive in their outlook. You only need a handful of theme. A few quality friends is always better than a fleet of party friends who are not actually your friends but more like good colleagues in the business of fun. Quality friends can be a support when you are down and when study life takes its toll. They really are the best investment you can make at university.

Visualise your success

Always remember why you came to university and what you wish to get out of it – what is commonly known as keeping your eye on the prize. In quieter moments or when you find yourself forgetting, visualise what this success looks like. What it sounds and feels like. This can help make any big challenges and hurdles become small ones, and it can help you focus on the things that matter and help you achieve your ultimate objective. Everything else is noise.

Life is a learning experience

View every experience, especially the tough ones, as a learning experience. Whether positive or negative, experiences you go though in your student life teach you a lot. For example, getting a scholarship to study in Australia is a good experience but if a student doesn’t get a scholarship, that student will find a way of supporting their studies through other means. Those other means, like a part time job, will become a learning experience, and the student will find themselves benefiting from the experience in the longer term.

Ask for help

At any step of the way, do not hesitate to ask for support or guidance from the right people. Professors, seniors, friends and counsellors are all there for you when you need help with a particular topic or feeling. If they cannot help you directly, they will point you in the direction of someone who can. There is no shame in asking for help if you remember that help will aid your study and social efforts and help you grow as a person and enjoy your life abroad and back home.

Stay physically and mentally fit

Focussing on your physical health is just as important as focusing on your mental health. Mind and body should take priority, no matter what the task is in front of you. Tips for good mental health include sticking a weekly schedule, getting enough sleep, eating well, and taking time out from studies to socialise and play sports and activities. Eating well and exercising are also the pillars of good physical health. Get both right, and you are ready for anything!

Positivity is a survival skill. The sooner you learn and adopt it in your new host country, the better experience you will have. Check out our other blogs for tips around making the most of your time studying abroad, and if you want to know more about a topic, email us your topic suggestion and we will find an expert to answer it.