Being unprepared and behind in school, work, or home life produces unnecessary, preventable stress.

School is back in full swing and so is the homework, occupational, and life stress! This is a big challenge for families because their summer routine is interrupted by a new routine and new routines are always stressful at first. Let’s review how to overcome the challenge of everyday life stressors!

Just like fighting a main boss with a group of other people, you must do these 4 steps to be successful!

Here are the four steps:
1)      Prep (the what)
2)      Plan (the when)
3)      Execute (the doing)
4)      Review/Debrief (analyze)

Let’s break down the concept so you can really get a feel for how this works.

1. Prepping is identifying WHAT is expected of you, WHEN it’s expected of you, and RECORDING those things on a calendar.  During prepping, you also get the TOOLS you need to be successful.

School Example:  September 1st, Spanish Test ß MARK ON CALENDAR (calendar is the tool)

Video Game Example:  Before fighting a boss, you prep by identifying who is in your group, what their skill level is, what’s in their inventory, which spells they have available to use.  Perhaps you run by a store to get TOOLS you need to be more successful against this boss.

Life Example:  Getting your paper and pen > making a list of groceries before going to the grocery store

2. Planning is the ability to encompass all aspects of your life and time to identify how you can get the most for your effort, time, energy, money – etc.

School Example: You see on your calendar that you have a Spanish Test on Friday, September 1st.  But you also see a test on Thursday and Project due on Wednesday.  You know that you do better working on school work at a coffee shop, so you ask your parents to take you to pick up supplies for your project on Tuesday and go to a coffee shop from 6pm to 8pm.

Video Game Example:  You discuss strategies with your group on how best to defeat this boss using everyone’s inventory, spells, and abilities.  People with experience share their experience with the group on when to use each ability and an agreement is made with everyone on when to execute these abilities.

Life Example:  You ask your family members if they would like something from the grocery store to be added to the list.  Is there a special meal they would like this week?  Is there a sale happening at the store that would be a better use of money?  You choose the best store and time to go to based on how you can best spend your time, energy, and money.

3. Execution is the doing of your plan in order to reach your goal.

School Example:  Going to the store to get supplies for your project and studying for your tests on Tuesday from 6 to 8pm at the coffee shop

Video Game Example:  Using your spell abilities during stage 2 of the boss fight as discussed with the group, or the healer healing the group before they get below 50% as agreed with the group.

Life Example:  Going to the grocery store with the best deals on ice cream on a day and time that nothing else is scheduled.

4. Review/Debrief is the moment that you are looking for!  This is the moment of celebration or the opportunity to learn and grow from failing.

School Example:  You aced that project!  You aced that Spanish exam!  Yeah!  Get a bowl of ice cream!  Or, dang it, you didn’t do as well on the Spanish Exam as you thought you would.  That sucks.  What might be some tricks you could use in your Prepping and Planning to help you Execute better to meet that goal?

Video Game Example:  This is when you celebrate and scream YEAH! with your raid group!  This is the victory moment when that boss dies and you get to sit around and talk about what happened with your friends and enjoy your victory!  It could also be the moment that your group all dies, and you sit together to review a new plan since the other one didn’t work so well – but no hard feelings.  You guys make a new plan and try again because you learned new things about the boss fight.

Life Example:  Putting up all the groceries and feeling satisfied that you have everything you need to feed your family for the week, or putting up the groceries and realizing you forgot to get milk, so you review how you could do better to get it on the list next time or you simply go get milk!

How we handle life stress is up to each on of us.  Being rude, blaming, or refusing to do your work is unacceptable because it hurts you and others around you.  These are negative coping skills because of how they hurt people.  Imagine what would happen if you were with a raid who doesn’t execute the plan that you’ve made together. 

How does it feel when your healer keeps letting you die over and over again and then blames you for getting hit too much? 

What if your tank just went AFK during a boss battle, and then told everyone they just needed to get over it? 

Those people are using negative coping skills to handle their stress or issue, whatever it may be, and are likely not to be invited back to the raid.  Don’t be that guy. Figure out what works best for you and then go for it. Overcome that boss battle!