UNSOLICITED ADVICE

STUDENT PRODUCTIVITY

by Michael Tu

I’m going to be honest. Since the start of the school year, I’ve been operating on fumes. My work, at best, has been sub-par. I’m skimming through classes, doing the bare minimum to succeed. You’re probably doing the same thing too. We’re all unmotivated, with any notion of hard work drowned out by feelings of hopelessness. Our productivity is at an all time low, steadily decreasing as the weeks drag on. We have to fix it, we want to fix it, but how? Obviously, you can do what everyone says: eat healthy, sleep regularly, and exercise daily. Those habits help, but we’ve been doing all that already. So why do we keep feeling this way? Well, the answer is a bit more complicated than the basic Keto diets and ab workouts. To understand why we keep feeling unproductive, and how to fix it, we first have to understand the concept of “surge capacity”. When we first started having these productivity problems, it was March. Schools were shutting down and we were becoming isolated. We learned, worked, and lived completely alone. But, we still had to maintain an equal level of productivity as before. We had to learn how to do all the work, with none of the fun. So eventually, we burned out. As the pandemic dragged on, we began to lose interest in our work. Without interests and goals, Hinsdale Central students started to feel despondent and adrift. “It’s harder for high achievers,” Pauline Boss, PhD, a family therapist and professor at the University of Minnesota stated in an Elemental article on surge capacity. “The more accustomed you are to solving problems, to getting things done, to having a routine, the harder it is on you… You get feelings of hopelessness and helplessness,” But why exactly are we feeling so hopeless and helpless? Well, in the beginning months of isolation, we were operating on what is called surge capacity. Ann Masten, PhD, a fellow professor at the University of Minnesota, explains “Surge capacity is a collection of adaptive systems — mental and physical — that humans draw on for short-term survival in acutely stressful situations, such as natural disasters.”

Surge capacity allowed us to quickly adapt to the drastic changes of Covid-19, except- there’s one problem. Natural disasters occur over a short period of time, and pandemics are certainly anything but (especially in America). The emergency adaptiveness of our surge capacities have already been outstretched as the disaster it was meant to react to has become indefinite. We’re already beginning to face the consequences. 70.5% of Hinsdale Central students say they feel less productive than last year, and 85.3% say they feel burned out. Our surge capacity is depleted, and we have no idea how to renew it. So what do we do now?

“The pandemic has demonstrated both what we can do with surge capacity and the limits of surge capacity,” Masten said.

Expect less from yourself. Due to the pandemic, many of us have lost our support systems, whether that’s friends, family, teammates, or even just the reassurance of a regular schedule. We’re starting to break down, making it nearly impossible to function at full capacity. But beating yourself up for it will only make it worse. For once, we should be pushing ourselves less instead of more. “I think we’re in a period of a lot of self discovery: Where do I get my energy? What kind of down time do I need? Masten says.

Accept that life may be different right now. In order to fix something, you must accept that it’s broken. And in order to fix your work ethic during the pandemic, you must accept that things are different now then before. The harsh truth is that this year won’t look the same, and you’re not going to get all the activities you used to look forward to. But if we become resentful of our unfair situation, it’ll be more difficult to move on from it. Keep in mind that acceptance is not equivalent to surrendering though. Instead, it means forgoing a resistance to reality in order to step into a better state of mind. Things may look different, but that might not exactly be a bad thing.

Find the silver linings. After accepting that life is different than before, the next step is to make the best of it. Instead of focusing on what we lost, we should be focusing on what we can gain. Personally, I’m using this extra time at home to reconnect with my family. As a busy teenager, I often neglected my relationship with my parents, and being confined at home allowed me to spend more time with them. By finding silver linings, you can develop a habit of recognizing positive aspects of your life instead of fixating on the negatives. And then, the negatives will begin to seem less significant, and feelings of hopelessness will subside. Find solitary activities, both new and old. The frustrating irony of the pandemic is that our activities, which for many served as a coping mechanism, were taken away. Therefore, it’s important to find new activities (or uncover old ones) not just to occupy ourselves with, but also to fall in love with. As we begin to commit to these new activities, we build ourselves up with small feelings of accomplishment. These feelings add up, and we start to go back on track to productivity. For me, the new activity was journaling. For you, it could be painting, or cooking, or maybe even playing a new instrument. Find something you can enjoy, and stick with it.

70.5 % FEEL LESS PRODUCTIVE

(129 Respondents)

85.3% FEEL BURNED OUT

Perspectives | 33