Rob Sepich

Rob Sepich 12/8/16 meeting

 Stress management work, clinic work, and student-help based work

 For first years –

o Need certain amount of stress in order to do well, do not eliminate all stress

o Bell-shaped curve correlating stress and performance – moderate stress is

correlated with peak performance

 Pay attention to yourself when you feel “in the zone” and not based off of what other

people tell you

 “Don’t believe everything you think” – 40k-50k thoughts per day and most of them are

not helpful

o the amount of energy we try and use to suppress those thoughts makes things

worse, more bad thoughts come and more energy is wasted creating more

anxiousness

o you CAN control what you say to yourself about your current problems

o you do NOT face problems, you face challenges that can be overcome

 coping but not over-coping – over-coping will result in the diminishing

area of no returns

 nervousness about interviews (TED Talk by Amy Cuddy)

o about what you communicate to yourself

o make yourself big – do not sit crunched up, spread out and get comfortable

o reframe whatever you are feeling as motivation or energy

 know your flaws and the faults you think might happen so you can be

prepared for them, and then if they happen use them positively and

embrace it and play it off in a different way

o have some butterflies but use them positively

 most successful athletes or performers interpret everything positively – if you believe

the negatives then they will become self-fulfilling prophecies

 Do’s and not-do’s to set yourself up for success

o DO NOT

 Set up double-negatives – do not say things like “this time I won’t screw

up” or “don’t let this happen” because it WILL happen

o DO

 Pay attention to what is in your control – say things like “I’m going to the

library” or “I want to study for a little bit” rather than “I HAVE to go to the

library to study”

 Think about how privileged you are and realize that things could be

worse and embrace what you have

 SEE WEBSITE FOR HIS TIPS FOR TESTING SHEET or email for a copy –

rtsepich@uhs.wisc.edu

o Break studying into small blocks of time instead of studying for multiple hours at

a time – break could be only a few minutes to be effective

o Be effective with all of your time, do not waste useless energy

o Turn in a paper or an exam, then step back – do not say things like “I should’ve

looked over that again” or “I should’ve studied more”

 Its in the past and there is nothing you can do about it now so spend

more energy now on the next thing and not grieving about what you

can’t control

o Step back and gain some perspective about the future and what you can control

o Healthy ways to maintain balance

 Be gentle with yourself

 Find ways to adapt to new situations

 Mountain pose – feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, arms and

shoulders relaxed, let hands relax, and imagine yourself dodging all things

that make you panic being thrown at you

 Contrast to clenching fist and shoulders tensing and locking your

knees, this is the natural stressed pose!!!!

 “Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional” – it is a losing battle if you

think that you will avoid all pain

 difference between healing and curing

o United States in general is awful at self-care – relaxation, gratitude, mindfulness,

THINGS WE ARE IN CONTROL OF

 Not focused on because it can’t be billed for, so it needs to be a priority

for the individual

 Relaxation exercise

o Link is https://www.uhs.wisc.edu/wellness/relaxation to all of his exercises

o The one we did was muscle relaxation​