PAPER XVIII: SOFT SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

UNIT IV: CAST SKILLS

Sec 01: Conflict Management: Meaning, Causes, Types, Management styles

What is Conflict?

  • Conflict refers to some form of friction, or discord arising within a group when the beliefs or actions of one or more members of the group are either resisted by or unacceptable to one or more members of another group.
  • Conflict is serious disagreement and argument about something important. If two people or groups are in conflict, they have had a serious disagreement or argument and have not yet reached agreement.
  • A conflict is a serious difference between two or more beliefs, ideas, or interests. If two beliefs, ideas, or interests are in conflict, they are very different.
  • It can be described as a disagreement among groups or individuals characterized by antagonism and hostility.

What is conflict management?

  • Conflict management is the process of limiting the negative aspects of conflict while increasing the positive aspects of conflict. The aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes, including effectiveness or performance in an organizational setting.
  • Conflict management is the practice of being able to identify and handle conflicts sensibly, fairly, and efficiently.

Conflict in the workplace could be the result of: Poor management, unfair treatment, unclear job roles, Inadequate training, Poor Communication, poor work environment, lack of equal opportunities, bullying and harassment.

Conflict is classified into the following four types:

Interpersonal conflict refers to a conflict between two individuals. This occurs typically due to how people are different from one another. We have varied personalities which usually results to incompatible choices and opinions. In addition, coming up with adjustments is necessary for managing this type of conflict. However, when interpersonal conflict gets too destructive, calling in a mediator would help so as to have it resolved.

Intrapersonal conflict occurs within an individual. The experience takes place in the person’s mind. Hence, it is a type of conflict that is psychological involving the individual’s thoughts, values, principles and emotions. It leads to restlessness and uneasiness, or can even cause depression.

Intragroup conflict is a type of conflict that happens among individuals within a team. The incompatibilities and misunderstandings among these individuals lead to an intragroup conflict. It is arises from interpersonal disagreements (e.g. team members have different personalities which may lead to tension) or differences in views and ideas (e.g. in a presentation, members of the team might find the notions presented by the one presiding to be erroneous due to their differences in opinion).

Intergroup conflict takes place when a misunderstanding arises among different teams within an organization. For instance, the sales department of an organization can come in conflict with the customer support department. This is due to the varied sets of goals and interests of these different groups.

Conflict may seem to be a problem to some, but this isn’t how conflict should be perceived. On the other hand, it is an opportunity for growth and can be an effective means of opening up among groups or individuals. However, when conflict begins to draws back productivity and gives way to more conflicts, then conflict management would be needed to come up with a resolution.

Conflict Management Styles

  • Conflicts happen. How an employee responds and resolves conflict will limit or enable that employee’s success. Here are five conflict styles that a manager will follow according to Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann:
  • An accommodating manager is one who cooperates to a high degree. This may be at the manager’s own expense and actually work against that manager’s own goals, objectives, and desired outcomes. This approach is effective when the other person is the expert or has a better solution.
  • Avoiding an issue is one way a manager might attempt to resolve conflict. This type of conflict style does not help the other staff members reach their goals and does not help the manager who is avoiding the issue and cannot assertively pursue his or her own goals. However, this works well when the issue is trivial or when the manager has no chance of winning.
  • Collaborating managers become partners or pair up with each other to achieve both of their goals in this style. This is how managers break free of the win-lose paradigm and seek the win-win. This can be effective for complex scenarios where managers need to find a novel solution.
  • Competing: This is the win-lose approach. A manager is acting in a very assertive way to achieve his or her own goals without seeking to cooperate with other employees, and it may be at the expense of those other employees. This approach may be appropriate for emergencies when time is of the essence.
  • Compromising: This is the lose-lose scenario where neither person nor manager really achieves what they want. This requires a moderate level of assertiveness and cooperation. It may be appropriate for scenarios where you need a temporary solution or where both sides have equally important goals.
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Sec 02: Assertive Skill: meaning, nature, being passive, aggressive,

What is Assertive skill?

  • Being assertive means being able to stand up for your own or other people’s rights in a calm and positive way, without being either aggressive, or passively accepting ‘wrong’.
  • The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines assertiveness as: “Forthright, positive, insistence on the recognition of one’s rights”.
  • Being assertive involves taking into consideration your own and other people’s rights, wishes, wants, needs and desires.
  • Assertiveness means encouraging others to be open and honest about their views, wishes and feelings, so that both parties act appropriately.
  • Passive, Aggressive and Assertive : Assertiveness is often seen as the balance point between passive and aggressive behaviour, but it’s probably easier to think of the three as points of a triangle.

Assertive behaviour includes:

  • Being open in expressing wishes, thoughts and feelings and encouraging others to do likewise.
  • Listening to the views of others and responding appropriately, whether in agreement with those views or not.
  • Accepting responsibilities and being able to delegate to others.
  • Regularly expressing appreciation of others for what they have done or are doing.
  • Being able to admit to mistakes and apologize.
  • Maintaining self-control. Behaving as an equal to others.
  • Some people may struggle to behave assertively for a number of reasons, and find that they behave either aggressively or passively instead.

Being Passive:

  • Responding in a passive or non-assertive way tends to mean compliance with the wishes of others and can undermine individual rights and self-confidence.
  • Many people adopt a passive response because they have a strong need to be liked by others.  Such people do not regard themselves as equals because they place greater weight on the rights, wishes and feelings of others.
  •  Being passive results in failure to communicate thoughts or feelings and results in people doing things they really do not want to do in the hope that they might please others. This also means that they allow others to take responsibility, to lead and make decisions for them.
  • You may find that you respond differently — whether passively, assertively or aggressively — when you are communicating in different situations.
  • It is important to remember that any interaction is always a two-way process and therefore your reactions may differ, depending upon your relationship with the other person in the communication.
  • You may for example find it easier to be assertive to your partner than to your boss or vice versa. However, whether it is easy or not, an assertive response is always going to be better for you and for your relationship with the other person.

Dealing with Passive Behavior

  • People often behave in a passive way because of low self-esteem or confidence. By behaving assertively, you should aim to make clear that the other person’s contributions are valued, and therefore improve their confidence and self-esteem.
  • Encourage their contribution through open questioning, by asking their opinions, and by drawing people into the discussion in group situations.
  • Listen closely to what someone has to say before continuing the conversation. If necessary, use questioning techniques to clarify their opinion before responding with your own.
  • Show that you are interested in what someone has to say through appropriate questioning, reflecting, clarification and summarising skills.
  • Show that you value the other person’s contribution through the use of appropriate verbal and non-verbal communications such as nodding, smiling, good eye contact and encouraging language.
  • Encourage people to be more open in voicing their feelings, wishes and ideas.
  • Do not allow yourself to take responsibility for decisions that should be made jointly. Instead, support others to make their contribution to the discussion.

Being Aggressive

  • By being aggressive towards someone else, their rights and self-esteem are undermined.
  • Aggressive behaviour fails to consider the views or feelings of other individuals. Those behaving aggressively will rarely show praise or appreciation of others and an aggressive response tends to put others down. Aggressive responses encourage the other person to respond in a non-assertive way, either aggressively or passively.

Dealing with aggressive behaviour:

  • Maintain self-control. Although anger can sometimes be a positive force, responding in a similarly angry manner will do little to discourage aggression.  If appropriate, be prepared to take time to think over issues before entering into discussion. It might be helpful to say something like, “I need time to think about that” or “Can we talk about this tomorrow when we have more time?”
  • Remember that other people have a right to their emotions, including anger. Acknowledge their anger, for example, by saying ‘I can see that this has really upset you, and you’re very angry about it’.
  • Pausing, or counting to ten, before responding to an outburst can help to avoid answering in an automatic, defensive or aggressive way.
  • Avoid argument and defensiveness and try to maintain calm.
  • Try to find areas of agreement with the other person, rather than focusing on the disagreements.
  • Find and demonstrate ways in which decisions and solutions can be shared, e.g. “How can we find a solution to this?”
  • Try to show some empathy with the other person; how do you feel when you are angry with others?
  • Often it is difficult for a person behaving aggressively to calm down and see things from a broader point of view, since anger can be an expression of personal frustration.

Sec 03: Stress Management for Teachers : Meaning, Types, sources, how to manage

Introduction:

A quick perusal of newspapers or magazines would portray different dimensions of the present social conditions of our society; even our own life experiences in our homes, work places like educational institutions, common interactive domains such as travel, shopping, entertainment, transactions in common offices, etc. have always presented the human beings in need of support, searching for some relaxation, peace, guidance etc. Everyone is on the fast track, running for life, feels his or her own life is compressed so much that he or she seeks solitude to breath a bit without any problem.

Ex: fast food at homes instead of family get-together, an old advertisement (ennachu?) on poison for a child to be without problem;

Is it possible to be away from the problem? Can we have peaceful situations? Somewhere in our life we have to face the problems…in our homes, common places including our classrooms. How are we going to face it? How to manage the discomfort or stressful situations?

What is basically a stress?

Stress is what you feel when you have to handle more than you are used to; there is a pressure to do some extra work and spend some energy. There is an anxiety created whether I will be able to complete the work within the stipulated time or not (17th Jan is a holiday?); there is a tension …which is to be prioritized? Which work to be completed? Children often use two terms: one is torture and next is tension….leads to lack of focus and distracted with too many pulls and pushes. We also get into a trap of trauma…a kind of shock or become upset when it is a failure of unexpected event and not able to bear the pain and the distress. Stress is also out a constant worry about something; for example, worrying about daughter/son, weaker students on their success in the public exams, minor problems in your body etc.

What is stressor?

A stressor is any event, experience, or environmental stimulus that causes stress in an individual. These events or experiences are perceived as threats or challenges to the individual and can be either physical or psychological.

When you are stressed, your body responds as though you are in danger. It makes hormones that speed up your heart, make you breathe faster, and give you a burst of energy. This is called the fight-or-flight stress response.

What are Good Stress(Eustress) and Bad Stress(Distress)?

Stress is different for everyone. What stresses you out may not even bother your best friend and vice versa. Still, your bodies react the same to stressors. That’s because the stress response is your body’s way of dealing with tough or demanding situations.

It causes hormonal, respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous system changes. For example, stress can make your heart beat faster, make you breathe rapidly, sweat, and tense up. It can also give you a burst of energy. This is known as the body’s “fight-or-flight response.” It’s this chemical reaction that prepares your body for a physical reaction because it thinks it’s under attack. This type of stress helped our human ancestors survive in nature.

Sometimes you can feel stressed for a short period of time. Usually it’s nothing to worry about. Like when you need to hand in a project or you have to talk in front of a group of people. Maybe you feel “butterflies” in your stomach and the palms of your hands get sweaty. These types of positive stressors are short-lived, and your body’s way of helping you get through what could be a tough situation. You may feel stress when you go on a job interview, take a test, or run a race. These kinds of short-term/severe/acute stress are normal and useful; Stress can help if you need to work hard or react quickly. For example, it can help you win a race or finish an important job on time.

Sometimes, however, negative feelings can be very stressful. Maybe you’re worried, angry, scared, or frustrated. This kind of stress isn’t good for you, and over the long-term can cause serious problems. Long-term (chronic) stress is caused by stressful situations or events that last over a long period of time, like problems at work or conflicts in your family. Over time, chronic stress can lead to severe health problems.

What are the Factors that cause stress?

While stress affects everyone differently, there are many causes of stress: Personal problems that can cause stress such as Being bullied, Working too hard, Losing a job, Marriage or relationship problems, Recent break up or divorce, Death in the family; Difficulty in school; Family problems; Busy schedule; Recent move; Insecurity—financial or otherwise; A demanding routine; Interpersonal conflicts; A traumatic experience;

Health Problems, especially if you have a chronic illness such as heart disease, diabetes, or arthritis.

Emotional problems, such as anger you can’t express, depression, grief, guilt, or low self-esteem.

Your relationships, such as having problems with your relationships or feeling a lack of friendships or support in your life.

Major life changes, such as dealing with the death of a parent or spouse, losing your job, getting married, or moving to a new city.

Stress in your family, such as having a child, teen, or other family member who is under stress, or being a caregiver to a family member who is elderly or who has health problems.

Conflicts with your beliefs and values. For example, you may value family life, but you may not be able to spend as much time with your family as you want.

Stress in our institutions as we deal with adolescents and beginning of adulthood; it is a vulnerable period of development and this rapid developmental changes causes stress; as Erickson would say, during this period, he or she would like to have their own identity in terms of opinions, actions, behaviour and expressions. What they need is a proper affirmation & direction and when it is missing, it would end up in disaster and stressful situations.

How does stress affect you?

Health disorders; Emotional exhaustion; Sleep problems; Depression; deteriorating relationships

Emotional signs of Stress

Depression or general unhappiness, Anxiety and agitation, Moodiness, irritability, or anger, Feeling overwhelmed Loneliness and isolation, other mental or emotional health problems.

Stress produces the same feelings as anxiety, but is usually linked to a specific person, situation or experience that one fears. Tension, on the other hand, refers to mental strain or excitement, a strained state or relationship. If the symptoms are experienced acutely, it’s referred to as a panic attack.

In psychology, frustration is a common emotional response to opposition. Related to anger, annoyance and disappointment, frustration arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of an individual’s will or goal and is likely to increase when a will or goal is denied or blocked.

Stress Management – Ways to Avoid Stress

Stress in itself is not necessarily harmful. The American Psychological Association has noted: “Stress is to the human condition what tension is to the violin string: too little and the music is dull and raspy; too much and the music is shrill or the string snaps. Stress can be the kiss of death or the spice of life. The issue, really, is how to manage it.”

Stress activates an amazing system in your body—your emergency response system. Hormones are released to increase your breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. In addition, reserves of blood cells and glucose flood into your bloodstream. This cascade of reactions prepares you to deal with the stressor, the stimulus causing the stress. After the stressor has passed, your body may return to normal. But when a stressor remains, it can leave you chronically anxious or tense, like a motor that stays revved up. So learning how to deal with stress is important to both your physical and your mental well-being.

The primary goal of coping is to manage stress by counteracting a stressor. Effective stress coping reduce stress either by removing or modifying the stressor or by managing our reaction to it; ineffective or insufficient coping does not reduce stress. Managing stress is all about taking charge of our thoughts, emotions, schedule, environment, and the way approach the problems. The ultimate goal is a balanced life, with time for work, relationships, relaxations, and the resilience to hold up under pressure and meet challenges head-on.

1.            Identify the sources of stress

•             Follow closely your habits, attitude and excuses: How do you look at the stress? Temporary or permanent or integral part of your life? Blaming others for the same? Are you ready to accept responsibility for your actions?

•             Track the past record or daily log or stress journal: Stress is a part of life, and you can’t always avoid it. But you can try to avoid situations that can cause it, and you can control how you respond to it. The first step is to know your own coping strategies. Try tracking your stress to record stressful events, identify stressors, your response to them, and how you coped. After you know what is causing your stress, try making some changes in your life that will help you avoid stressful situations.

•             Evaluate the current ways of coping with stress; is it healthy or unhealthy?

•             Unhealthy ways of coping with stress: smoking, drinking, over-eating or under- eating, clued with TV or computer, taking pills, procrastination, over sleep, displacement of stress on others through anger, violence etc.

2.            Stress Management: Managing Your Time

Time management is a way to find the time for more of the things you want and need to do. It helps you decide which things are urgent and which can wait. Managing your time can make your life easier, less stressful, and more meaningful.

3.            Look at your lifestyle

The choices you make about the way you live affect your stress level. Your lifestyle may not cause stress on its own, but it can prevent your body from recovering from it.

4.            Balancing

Find a balance between personal, work, and family needs. This isn’t easy. Start by looking at how you spend your time. Maybe there are things that you don’t need to do at all. Finding a balance can be especially hard during the holidays.

5.            Reducing Holiday Stress

Have a sense of purpose in life. Many people find meaning through connections with family or friends, jobs, their spirituality, or volunteer work.

6.            Get enough sleep. Your body recovers from the stresses of the day while you are sleeping. If your worries keep you from sleeping, keep a notepad or your cell phone by your bed to record what you are worried about-to help you let it go while you sleep. For example, if you are worried you might forget to run an errand the next day, make a note so that you can stop worrying about forgetting.

7.            Improving Your Sleep

Adopt healthy habits. Eat a healthy diet, limit how much alcohol you drink, and     don’t smoke. Staying healthy is your best defense against stress.

8.            Exercise: Even moderate exercise, such as taking a daily walk, can reduce stress.

9.            Reading Scriptures: To help them “cope” with chronic stress, some people turn to alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. Others begin abnormal eating patterns or sit passively in front of a TV or computer—habits that do not address the underlying problem but may in fact, exacerbate(aggravate) it. Many people have been able to manage life’s stresses by applying the practical advice found in the Bible or Bhagavat Gita or Quran.

10.          Healthy strategies: Four A’s – Avoid, Alter, Adapt and Accept the stressor.

A.            Avoid unnecessary stress: Not possible to avoid but sometimes some stress need to be addressed or faced.

•             Learn how to say ‘No’ to certain jobs when you are entrusted; know your limits and refuse to take up more responsibilities.

•             Avoid persons who stress you out: spend minimum time with that person or break that relationship who regularly behaves in stressful manner.

•             Take control of your environment: change the channel if it doesn’t satisfy; if tensed due to traffic, change the route with less traffic though it takes more time; marketing is difficult, then do it online.

•             Avoid hot & current topics if it makes you hot, upset or disturbed; get excuse and leave the place when topic which is not agreeable to you.

•             Prepare a to-do list everyday: If there is too much to do, choose the ‘must’ and ‘should’; pare/cut/drop which are not essential.

B.            Alter the stressor/situations: When it is not possible to avoid, try to alter the stressful situation so that it does not occur in the future.

•             Express your feelings instead of bottling them up: If something or someone is disturbing your work or peace of mind, say it out to the person concerned in a polite and open manner; retaining the grudges within would amount into greater resentment and take away your remaining peace.

•             Be ready for compromise: When we expect others to change their behaviour, we must be also ready to change ourselves in our behaviour and thinking. This would give some more chance for peace and happiness.

•             Be more assertive: Deal with the problems head on ; never take a backseat rather do your best and affirm your needs and plan. If you have any job to be finished, just tell your superiors that your priority lies with urgent one.

•             Manage your time better: It is the time management that causes more stress; see to it that you don’t extend ourselves too much but stick on to your timing.

C.            Adapt to the stressor: When you can’t change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful situations and regain your control by changing your expectations and attitude.

•             Reframe your problems: try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective; instead of fuming about a traffic jam, try to look at the people around or enjoy some song or look at the advertisement.

•             Look at the big picture: Find out how much it is important and serious in the long run; will it last for a year or a month? Is it really worth getting worried about? If not, focus your mind and energy on something else.

•             Adjust your standard: Do not have perfect or higher expectations; set reasonable expectations and learn to be satisfied with moderate; otherwise failures may lead to deeper stress.

•             Focus on positive: when you feel your stress is pulling you down, take a few minutes; think about all the positive qualities and achievements; that will you some energy to cope with.

D.            Accept the things you can’t change: Some sources of stress may be unavoidable like stubbornness of superiors, death, serious illness, etc. in such cases, simply accept the event/person as they are. It may be difficult in the beginning but that is the best solution than unnecessarily riding on unchangeable situations.

•             Don’t try to control the uncontrollable: the behaviour of other persons are not in your control; therefore forget about it and proceed further rather focus on how you can react to them.

•             Challenges as opportunities: Look at them as opportunities for your personal growth; even failures, reflect on them and learn from your mistakes.

•             Share your feelings with others: best way to overcome the stressful situation will be to share your feelings with your trusted friend;

•             Learn to forgive: This is the practical wisdom that would give more relief from stress; nobody is perfect and hence let go of anger, resentments and mistakes; free yourself from negative energy by forgiving and go forward.

E.            Find time for fun and relaxation: Creating some time and space for fun and relaxing, would place you in a better position to handle the stressors; nurture yourself and reduce your stress.

•             Set aside some relaxation time: Add some rest time in your daily schedule; do not allow other activity to encroach. Take a break and recharge your batteries.

•             Connect with others: Try to spend some time with some great people of positive and higher experienced people; this will boost up your image and negative thoughts will disappear.

•             Spend time in doing something which you enjoy: Identify that activity which enjoy most and spend time on the same; it may be riding, singing, watching nature, music, etc.

•             Develop you sense of humour: Nothing like laughing which will energise you after hectic activity; sit before the TV and watch some fun and humourous videos; this strengthens your body to fight the stress.

F.            Adopt a healthy lifestyle: Physical health is more important to stand against the stress; along with mental energy, the physical strength is to be taken care of.

•             Exercise regularly: Physical activity reduces and prevents the effects of stress; thirty minutes of walk or exercise three days a week will help you release the pent-up stress and tension.

•             Eat a healthy diet: Mind is to be supported with sound body which needs proper, nutritious and balanced meals.

•             Reduce caffeine and sugar: High caffeine and sugar will crash your mind, fall in mood and energy.

•             Avoid alcohol, cigarettes and drugs: Use of these may give temporary and illusionary relief but in reality it is not rather vitiates; always look at the issues straight and face the problems with clear mind and body.

•             Try for long or enough sleep: Adequate sleep fuels your mind and body; tiredness will increase your stress as the former distracts you with irrational thinking.

Chinese Proverb Says: You may not stop the bird flying above your heads but certainly you can stop the bird making its nest on your head. Yes…It is me…everything depends upon me.

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Sec 04: Time Management(TM): Meaning, secrets of TM, Steps of TM, Overcoming Procrastination,

Introduction

It is rightly said “Time and Tide wait for none”. An individual should understand the value of time for him to succeed in all aspects of life. People who waste time are the ones who fail to create an identity of their own.

 Meaning of TM

  • “Time management” is the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time between specific activities.
  • Time Management refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity.
  • Effective time management allows individuals to assign specific time slots to activities as per their importance.
  • Time Management refers to making the best use of time as time is always limited.

Time Management includes:

  • Effective Planning; Setting goals and objectives; Setting deadlines; Delegation of responsibilities; Prioritizing activities as per their importance; Spending the right time on the right activity.

Benefits of TM

  • Time Management makes an individual punctual and disciplined.
  • One becomes more organized as a result of effective Time Management.
  • Effective Time Management boosts an individual’s morale and makes him confident.
  • Individuals who stick to a time plan are the ones who realize their goals and objectives within the shortest possible time span.
  • Better Time Management helps in better planning and eventually better forecasting.
  • Research says that individuals who accomplish tasks on time are less prone to stress and anxiety.
  • Time Management enables an individual to prioritize tasks and activities at workplace.
  • Time Management helps an individual to adopt a planned approach in life.

Secrets of Time Management (Michelle. S)

  • Make room for your important and urgent tasks first.
  • Make a schedule.
  • Turn off your social media accounts.
  • Remove yourself from time-suckers.
  • Learn how to say “No.”
  • Allow others to help you.
  • Don’t multi-task if you waste more time doing so.

Time Management tips for Students:

Set a goal for yourself. Know what you want to achieve in life. Take a pen and paper and write down where you want to see yourself five years from now. Setting an objective for yourself gives you a sense of direction.

Organize your study space. Arrange books and study material properly at their respective places. Stationery items must not be scattered on the table.

Plan your studies. Understand what all subjects are important and need to be done first. Go through your syllabus carefully. Find out the weightage of each subject and prepare a Task plan accordingly. Jot down what all subjects you think should be covered in a single day against specific time slots. Make sure you cover important topics first and then come to relatively easier ones. Beginning your day with something which is not that important is a sheer waste of time.

Tick off subjects you have already completed. Give yourself a pat on your back.Remember self-motivation is one of the greatest tools for success.

Avoid munching while studying. Prefer fruits, salads rather than calorie laden burgers, wafers, pizza etc. They make you feel sleepy and also add to your weight.

Do a SWOT Analysis of yourself. There is no harm in writing your weaknesses. Understand in which all areas you need to work hard. Ignoring difficult subjects is of no use. You have to do them anyways. Assign extra time to critical subjects. Be logical.

Remove all sources of distractions from your study zone. Prefer not to keep magazines, comics, novels, CDs, video games in your study room. Studying and watching television simultaneously is nothing but a waste of time.

Do include some time for relaxation as well. No individual can study continuously at a stretch. One needs time to relax and unwind.

Assign some time for revision as well. Revision is essential and it makes you perfect.

Do not go for long calls during study time. One needs to set his /her priorities. Understand what is more important for you? Remember you will have ample time to catch up with all your friends once you clear your entrance exams and get into one of your dream business schools.

Make sure your study space is well lit and ventilated. Dark corners make you feel sleepy and one finds it difficult to concentrate in studies and eventually wastes half of his/her time.

It is essential to choose the right time for studies. MBA preparation is no joke and requires focus, concentration and planning. Prefer studying in the morning hours with less or no disturbance.

How do you get rid of procrastination?

  • After all, we all have the same amount of hours in the day.
  • Create a To-Do List with Specific Deadlines. …
  • Break Bigger Projects into Manageable Chunks. …
  • Set Aside Time and Space for Work. …
  • Remove Distractions. …
  • Tackle the Hard Stuff First. …
  • Do One Thing At a Time. …
  • Reward Yourself with Breaks. …
  • Try the 2 Minute Rule. What is two minutes rule?: Part 1 — if it takes less than two minutes, then do it now. Part 2 — when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do. Want to make reading a habit? Just read the first page of a new book (2–Minute Rule), and before you know it, the first three chapters have flown by.

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