Anxiety and Performance: You and Your MBA

Anxiety is a problem for many students during the MBA process. Not only do you have to juggle your life and your job, you now have responsibility for your programme module assignments, exams and a dissertation. All this can seem overwhelming for many students. So, how do we deal with anxiety and what do we do about it?

A certain level of anxiety is a good thing. It is what motivates us to study and keep on top of our work. However, at a certain point anxiety can become a serious problem that stops students from achieving peak performance. Anxiety and depression can also serious concerns that disable lives. If this is the case for you, I strongly suggest that you speak to a counseling professional or physician about your concerns. This blog cannot substitute for individuals who are suffering from serious mental health problems. If you lose your appetite, the world seems black, you feel hopeless and/or you stop getting out of bed in the morning, please help yourself by talking to a competent professional such as a doctor.

Nevertheless, performance anxiety can still be somewhat unsettling. So what do you do? First and foremost, you need to be realistic with yourself about what you can achieve in a given time. If you can't get an assignment done on time because some part of your life is out-of-control, you need to speak as soon as possible to your module tutor about this problem. If the problem is going to be ongoing, you should also contact the administrators at ulsmdladmin@le.ac.uk. You can still complete your degree in spite of temporary set-backs.

If you face serious time challenges getting assignments done on time, you should think about time planning to work on the stages of the assignment one part at a time. For example, when you are working on your dissertation you should allow time for:
1. Doing research to discover your area of interest
2. Reading widely to find out how you can tie your specific interest to the existing theory on a given subject.
3. Writing up the dissertation proposal.
4. Speaking to a dissertation tutor about the proposal.

Okay, let's examine all of these things. You should know it may take you a number of weeks to get an appointment to speak to a dissertation tutor. Therefore, before beginning this process you should have already made the appointment with the dissertation tutor. When you phone the tutor, the appointment is 20 minutes long. Therefore, you need to do all of the other things I mentioned on this list before the appointment. If you don't know what you are going to write and if you waste the appointment time wandering aimlessly from topic to topic instead of discussing research interests that you have discovered in your readings and how you are planning to narrow down you research, you will cause yourself needless upset and anxiety.

When we plan adequately for our needs as students, we relieve ourselves greatly from the burden of anxiety. How else can we make ourselves feel better about our work? An answer, greatly neglected by students, is positive messaging. As we complete the activities in our time planner, we need to write down the items we have completed and give ourselves credit for those achievements. In most students' busy lives, this is never considered. We take our achievements for granted, never seeing how each step leads inevitably to a final goal. When we are working on a degree, this acknowledgment is necessary.

We can also use meditation. Note, I have suggested a breathing mediation on YouTube below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j5Z4E2wkh4

Books on relaxation and mindful meditation such as "Wherever you go, there you are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn (Piakus, 1994) are also helpful aids to understanding better ways to achieve relaxation. Of course, students should also keep in mind that balanced lives include time for friends, partners and general fun. Enjoying a concert, going to a play, spending a night with mates at the pub or contemplating the beauties of nature are all ways of relaxing as well. Whatever your choice, you need to have a life with balance and enjoyment while you are getting your MBA/MSc.

Until my next post, have a relaxing time.

KB