7 Ways to Stay Positive in Engineering Life

Engineering is four years long. You have to study many subjects and appear on many exams. The competitive exams are the cherry on the top of your problems. Some students fail to cope up with engineering life due to faulty strategy. They get very much tensed and stressed. Stress shows up on their performance. One becomes an average student who used to be a bright student throughout school and college. This happens all the time.

Staying positive is key to success along with the right strategy. If you stay positive, you can absorb more knowledge and get ahead in life. Otherwise, you will whine and contemplate like a narcissist. There are a few ways to stay positive. 

(1) Course work: One should concentrate on studies and complete home works as per the deadline. This keeps you away from unnecessary academic pressure during these years. Irregularity & indiscipline in studies may lower or degrade your performance. Therefore, prevention by a continuous effort is better.

(2) Do not compare: We are surrounded by people. People influence us. There may be students brighter than you. But that does not mean less bright you. You should not compare. You have to introspect and work on your weaknesses by improving your strengths at the same time. Always one has to remember “slow and steady wins the race”. Besides, one should be careful of various social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. These platforms are filled with influencers backed by promoters who show a stupendous life. One should not try to copycat and lead a fake life. Furthermore, you will be tempted by your friends with nice posts on social media. You have to understand these traps and stay focus on the cause.

 (3) Associate with positive people & stay away from emotionally draining people: When you stay with good people, you will automatically feel the difference. Suppose, your roommates are very studious and toppers, you will automatically like to be them because of social pressure. Hence, positive people make you positive too. I have seen so many instances like these in Jorhat Engineering College hostels where students like to keep the name of the seniors and hostels. There are rooms of toppers. Students do this and that to stay in those rooms so that they can break the jinx of poor performance. Seniors too remind them frequently.

You may meet emotionally draining people in life all the time. They have very irritating personalities. I have seen people who ask for this and that all the time. They eat your brain piece by piece by their presence. Some people are very negative about everything and find fault in everything. These people can drain you mentally. Staying away from them is the best way. 

 (4) Exercise: Some regular exercise like jogging and light cardio can make you fit and healthy. Exercise takes off the stress and fills you with positive energy. In the first few days, your body will ache. Once you overcome this, you will be more likely to be happy like never before.   

(5) Taking the right opportunities: College campus could full of opportunities. You can participate in debates, workshops, conferences, etc. These extracurricular activities help developing personality and nourish leadership quality as well.

(6) Join a club:  You can join different clubs in college for your hobby. The hobby is something you do in your leisure or spare time. It should not take over your normal activities.

(7) Time for self: One should keep some lonely time for himself/herself. You can do meditation for peace of mind. It helps to focus on things.

You can read B.Tech Guide Book for more such stories

Peer Pressure? Is it good or bad?

Before 2018, I did not know what was peer pressure. I came to know it when I was asked to give a lecture on this topic by the college to newly admitted students mandated by AICTE. I did research online. I studied many texts and watched many videos online to gather materials. I could gather some points from the US state department that issued the video for school children. The points were powerful. It helped me a lot. I hoped students also liked it.

Peer pressure

In my view, there are two types of peer pressure; positive and negative. Positive one pushes you in the right direction to achieve more and negative one derails your life from the track. Why do we feel peer pressure? It comes to everyone naturally. We, humans, are social. We are impacted by society. Whenever we meet people or follow personalities, we are influenced by them to some extent each time. It may not be overnight but it happens slowly. We feel that we too need to do something like this like him. Once this comes to your mind, you are having peer pressure. It is something you get from your peers in a nutshell. Very simply, I can put this way. Suppose, you are very much impressed by the topper in the class. When you observe him, you too feel in the back of your mind that I need to gear up and focus on your academics. This is positive peer pressure. You are getting a little bit of jolt to perform well in the future. You want to have recognition like him. Positive peer pressure helps to achieve higher things in life. On the other hand, there are hundreds of examples of negative peer pressure. The negative ones do not help anything. Suppose you have formed a bike gang. Your friends force you to buy an expensive bike. You want to get into that gang of yours. You buy expensive bikes with your parents’ money. Otherwise, you make hue and cry. You drive at 100 plus speed without a helmet. You end up having an accident. You kill somebody in the accident. Thereafter, you live in guilt. We are humans. We need to rise with our deeds. There are many things to be explored and experienced. Whenever you feel the urge of doing something, you always check whether you are under positive peer pressure or negative peer pressure. You need to rethink your decisions. Always look before you leap.