04 | February | 2017 | Business Lifestyle

When you come from a different country, with various expectations to a new country, how do you analyze everything? Do you assume everything to be as expected? Do you plan out your schedule? Or do you fail? Yes you do. Talking about a freshman who just comes to his or her new university life does get personal. Often these personal stories are left untold but these stories are real, genuine and can impact to shape a human mind and a person’s lifestyle.

“I am a failure”

“Failures are the key to success”, we have often heard that but does this statement always apply to us? No. University students have often failed in courses, language requirements, failed to join a friend circle, etc. These events in their life did not lead to any success, however, these students suffered from chronic stress in their first few years. When we talk about personal issues most reported topics are about stress. Some people say stress is a good thing, it keeps you focused, makes you work in a routine order. This is not always the case. Most stress reporters are unable to manage the immense pressure. This leads to the suicide attempts for most university students. Every year the rate of suicidal attempts are going high, which is mostly contributed by the students in universities.

The new generation is one standard deviation ahead of the IQ level of the previous generation. This means that the students in universities are expected to be a better on average from the previous generation. Therefore, the examinations and test basis activities are much difficult than before. Not all students can handle this pressure. I have encountered many students who are facing this problem in their life, who are constantly thinking about their future. Failures in life have caused them to be pessimistic to a great extent.

Luckily, most universities have stress management departments and counselling teams who work with students dealing with stress in their life. However, not all students have the courage to go to counselling offices, therefore, societal awareness should be spread on stress management. Personal issues are crucial for our society and it needs to be tackled everyday.

Note: here is a stress story you might want to know.

Word count: 370.

Works cited:

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm

http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/campus-crisis-why-are-suicide-rates-rising-among-university-students-1.1463654

https://mindcheck.ca/mood-and-stress/stress

Workplaces can sometimes be very dull. Every single day, you are at the same desk, doing the same job. Over and over again! But isn’t that what the company demands from you, to be doing the work you are supposed to do in a productive manner. Yes, for the progress of the company you have to do what you have to do. But workplaces can be ameliorated so that it can extract extra productiveness from the employees.

Recently, I came across an article by John Boitnott who wrote about “6 Effective Ways to Enhance Work Productivity“. There are many points which contributes to the workplace productivity issue but two major issues John discussed which highlights my thought about workplace productivity. “Get rid of motivation killers” which includes removing the abrasive personalities in an office, poor communication systems and the feel of lack of appreciation. If these issues are effectively removed, workplaces can be an improved place to work in. Moreover, employees who feel that they have a sense of home in their office environment tend to perform to a greater degree. Another issue is “Motivation through Gamification” which involves rewards such as badges, points table, rankings, leader boards, etc. These rewards can motivate an employee intrinsically. There are many debates on whether bonuses should be used as motivation for employees, however, in my point of view bonuses make intrinsic motivations turn to extrinsic ones which may cause a downfall to overall job productivity.Some environmental factors also play a major role in workplace productivity. Which includes better lighting, room colour, use of ergonomic chairs, proper room temperature, room scents, etc. These factors makes the employees focus on their work better which is useful to make sure the office has improved in overall efficiency. I believe that a manager should always be thoughtful about making the employees work efficiently, more importantly keeping them happy.