My job as a mental health professional includes telling people how to look after their mental health. But what if you just don’t feel like you have the time to be adding mental health practices to your life? Maybe some study routine upgrades could do the job?
Because I work in mental health promotion, my life is structured around wellbeing. I read about it, I write about it, and I teach it. Essentially my job enables me to experiment with the kinds of things I recommend to others: meditation, journaling, and reflective practice.
But I often lose sight of the fact that for readers who are juggling degrees, jobs, and life, this stuff often just feels like work.
And the thing is, I know exactly what that feels like. I’ve followed fitness influencers who have unintentionally made me feel worse about my own health. Why? Because they have dedicated their entire lives to physical optimization, and I haven’t. Trying to copy their routine without their lifestyle just leads to time pressure, self-criticism, and perfectionism [editor’s note: ultimately why I decided to commit to a life of sloth and indolence]
When we try to “add” wellbeing to a busy life, we can easily fall into three common traps.
Trap #1: The “Add-On” Trap – This is the belief that wellbeing is a separate list of chores you must do in addition to your actual life. If you view wellbeing as something that competes with your study time, you will eventually resent it. You feel forced to choose: “I can either look after my mental health, or I can get my degree.”
Trap #2: The Context Trap (The “What” without the “Why”) – This one is often the fault of wellbeing professionals. We see scientific evidence that a practice (like mindfulness or gratitude) works, so we tell you to do it. But we often fail to explain the historical or philosophical roots of that practice. We give you the mechanics (“Close your eyes and breathe”) without the meaning. Without that context, you are left doing something that feels hollow or weird, because you don’t really know where it came from or how it aligns with your beliefs. You’re just following instructions, rather than engaging in a practice that makes sense to you. [shout out to my philosophical mate Tom Cochrane, who alerted me to this common dynamic]
Trap #3: The Motivation Trap (Intrinsic vs. Instrumental) – This is an extension of the Context Trap. Because we aren’t sure where a practice comes from, we aren’t sure why we are doing it. Specifically, we confuse Intrinsic Value (doing it because it feels good) with Instrumental Value (doing it because it helps us function). Take running. Some people run because they love the wind in their hair and the runner’s high (Intrinsic). Others hate running but do it so they are fit enough to play soccer on weekends (Instrumental). Both are valid. The trap is trying to force yourself to “love” a wellbeing practice. You don’t have to love meditation. You might find it boring. But if you recognize it has instrumental value – that it upgrades your brain for studying – you may find you can stick with it without needing to “enjoy” it.
One Possible Solution: The “Integrated Workflow”
So, let’s stop adding new things to your to-do list.
Let’s assume you are convinced of the value of your degree. That is your current “Mission”. And you’d like to devote as much time to that mission as you can, whilst obviously keeping the other pieces of your life moving forward.
A sensible way to tackle wellbeing in this context is to look at how wellbeing science can inform changes to that mission. The goal isn’t to stop studying to do wellness activities (i.e. have them separate). The goal is to upgrade your study workflows so that that they are psychologically protective and sustainable. To honour the wellbeing practice AND do so within the boundaries of the work you need to get done.
So how might you go about this?
The GVE Framework
Back in 2020, we built the Good Vibes Experiment (GVE). It is a campaign that introduces people to the types of practices that build and sustain positive mental health.
As part of building it we drew on two high quality psychological wellbeing resources (GGIA and Be Well Plan) to identify 20 evidence-based tactics that promote positive mental health – things like Awe, Self-Compassion, Gratitude, and Deliberate Practice.
I challenged myself first, and then an AI assistant to answer one question: “What do these 20 tactics look like if we embed them directly into a study session/workflow?”
We came up with the menu below of ideas. Don’t worry about the number of suggestions here. Just have a browse through and see what you think. There is a guide below the menu on how to use it.
What it does show however is that there are many wellbeing-centric upgrades you can make to a study routine.
The “Study Well” Menu
1. Meditation & Mindfulness
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The Transition Breath: Start each study session with 1 minute of mindful breathing. It acts as a psychological “login” to your work mode. Do the same when you close your laptop to “clock out.”
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The Check-in: Set a timer for the middle of a study session. When it goes off, ask: “Am I actually focusing, or just staring?”
2. Seeking Awe
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The “Wow” Factor: At the end of the day, jot down the one thing you learned that was most fascinating.
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Shoulders of Giants: Take a moment to realize you are learning concepts that took humanity thousands of years to discover. That’s pretty cool.
3. Meaning & Purpose
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The Mission: When you write your daily to-do list, call them “Missions” rather than “Tasks.”
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The Beneficiary: Connect the topic you are studying to the person (client, patient, future student) who will one day benefit from you knowing it.
4. Future Orientation
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Visualise It: Get a wall planner and put it up in your study space. Seeing the roadmap reduces anxiety.
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The CV Bullet: When learning a new skill, write down exactly how you will phrase it on your CV/Resume in 3 years.
5. Understanding Yourself
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Strengths Based: Complete the VIA Character Survey. Stuck on a problem? Ask: “How would my strength of [Curiosity/Perseverance] solve this?”
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Chronotype Sync: Study when your energy is highest. If you aren’t a morning person, don’t force yourself to do statistics at 7am.
6. Gratitude
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The Reference List: When writing a bibliography, take a split second to mentally thank the researchers who did the work so you didn’t have to.
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The Wrap Up: End a session by noting one thing that went well (e.g., “I didn’t finish, but I understood the core concept”).
7. Connection
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Parallel Play: Turn solo study into parallel study. Sit with a friend or join a “Study with Me” online room. You don’t have to talk; just knowing someone else is working helps.
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The Study Pact: Text a friend your goal for the next hour. Accountability is a form of connection.
8. Self-Compassion
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The Friend Test: If you have a setback or get a bad grade, imagine it happened to a close friend. Talk to yourself the way you would talk to them.
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The “Rough Draft” Permission: Give yourself permission to write a messy, imperfect first draft.
9. Forgiveness
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The “Procrastination Pardon”: If you wasted the morning, verbally forgive your past self so your present self isn’t weighed down by guilt for the afternoon session.
10. Kindness
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Digital Kindness: See a question on a class forum you know the answer to? Answer it. Helping others solidifies your own knowledge.
11. Seeking Help
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The Bookmark: Bookmark the Support Page in your browser now, so you don’t have to search for it when you’re stressed.
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The 15-Minute Rule: If you are stuck on a problem for 15 minutes, you must reach out for help or switch tasks. Don’t drown in it.
12. Learning & Teaching
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The Influencer: Use your social media channels to share one interesting thing you learned today.
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The Rubber Duck: Explain a complex concept out loud to an empty room (or a rubber duck). If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t know it yet.
13. Healthy Lifestyle
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The Ergonomic Check: Treat your posture as a study tool. Adjust your screen and chair. Physical comfort = study endurance.
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Hydration Cues: Keep a water bottle on the desk. Drink every time you hit a new paragraph or finish a page.
14. Nature
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The Green Gaze: Every 20 minutes, look out a window at a tree or the horizon for 20 seconds to calm your nervous system.
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The Walk-and-Talk: Listen to a recorded lecture while walking outside.
15. Having Fun
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Gamify It: Imagine the concept you are learning is a board game. What are the rules? How do you win?
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The Playlist: Pair a specific study block with a playlist you genuinely love.
16. Facing Fears
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Submit and Run: Practice hitting “submit” on an assignment without checking it for the 100th time.
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The First Step: Commit to doing just the first 5 minutes of a scary task.
17. Deliberate Practice
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Focus on the Hard Stuff: Don’t just review what you know. Identify your weakest area and target it intentionally for 20 minutes.
18. Productivity
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Monotasking: Identify your distractions (e.g., phone, tabs) and block them for 45 minutes to create deep focus.
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The Experiment: Research one new productivity strategy (like Pomodoro) and trial it for a week.
19. Expressive Writing & Art
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The Doodle Summary: At the end of the day, draw a quick diagram or doodle that summarizes what you learned.
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The Worry Dump: Anxious before an exam? Spend 5 minutes writing out all your fears to get them out of your working memory.
20. Thinking about Thinking
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The Attitude Check: Ask yourself: “Is my attitude towards study today helping me or hurting me?”
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The “Yet”: Catch yourself saying “I can’t do this.” Force yourself to add the word “…yet.”
How to use this list (without stressing yourself out)
Please, do not try to overhaul your entire set of study workflows at the same time. Trying to create the “perfect” study workflow is a trap; the stress of trying to achieve perfection will counteract any positive benefits.
Instead, look to incrementally upgrade your workflows over time.
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Experiment 1-at-a-time: Scan the list and pick one tactic that resonates with you.
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Set a start date: Decide when you will start (e.g., next Monday).
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Set reminders: Put a cue in your calendar, diary, or on a post-it note in your study space.
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Trial it: Test it for 2 weeks to 1 month.
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Review: If it helps, keep it. If it doesn’t, drop it and try another one.
If you use a month as a test period (which is what I do for my own personal development), that still allows you to make 12 meaningful upgrades to your life in a single year. That is a massive amount of growth, achieved one small, sustainable step at a time.
Final Words
You will find a list of the 20 tactics in the Good Vibes Experiment on the GVE website.
Don’t like the study workflow upgrades that that I (or my AI) came up with? Try making a couple for yourself.
– What would it look like for you to add kindness to your study routine?
– What would it look like for you to add more fun to your study routine?
The answers to these kinds of questions may help you improve your study workflows (and hence your study outcomes) AND drop meaningful doses of wellbeing science into your day.
One main goal (academic success) but achieving it in psychologically healthy ways.
You might also find these articles from the blog interesting:
When ‘Good Advice’ Feels Bad: Why Generic Self-Care Doesn’t Always Work (And What to Do About It)