By: Ellie Evans, Megan Reda, Taylor Schneider, Tyler Whartenby

We all have to deal with stress, whether from work, school, or our daily lives. It affects us mentally and physically and can affect our overall well-being. Fortunately, we have found different ways to cope. We've been told to try yoga or meditation, change our diets, and drink more water, among other things. However, journaling is one low-stakes and time-efficient way that has been proven to help reduce stress (Scott). Through the power of journaling, people have unlocked a world of increased energy, focus, and positivity, leading to a brighter and more fulfilling life (McAlpine). 

Our class conducted an exciting experiment to discover the potential impacts of journaling. By journaling once a day for a week, we explored the transformative experience associated with this practice. After the experiment was over, we collected valuable insights from the participants about their journey, the obstacles they faced, and the positive changes they experienced. Through this journey, we discovered the incredible potential of journaling to promote mental and physical well-being.

Journaling was proven to be a highly effective tool for personal growth and development. In our survey, we had 21 participants who actively journaled an average of 4.6 days per week. The results showed that journaling made them feel happier, more productive, focused, and clear-minded than usual. Many of them found it helpful to reflect in the morning or at night and believed it allowed them to manifest their thoughts. The survey results were consistent with the benefits reported in other articles. Furthermore, the respondents felt that journaling provided clarity and helped them in their work, studies, and personal lives. Although some participants felt guilty for missing a day, they continued to use this tool, recognizing its potential to help them become their best selves.

Unlock your potential with the power of journaling! According to the in-class survey, keeping a journal is an effective way to reduce stress and build healthier habits without a significant commitment. Unlike other traditional methods that can take a toll on your body, finances, and time, journaling is an active practice that can help you achieve personal growth. So, pick up a pen and start writing to see the positive impact it can have on your life!

Tips & Tricks: 

1. Keep the journal by your bed. 

• Students said this helped them visualize and reminded them to write in the morning or before bed. 

      2. Add it to your schedule. 

• Respondents with busy schedules found this helpful for consistent journaling as they made time for it.

      3. Buy a fun journal 

• Some found this made journaling more enticing and were more drawn to it.

      4. Do not pressure yourself to journal every day

• Those who did not give themselves the added pressure to journal daily did it more often, as it did not feel like a chore. 

      5. Start with a few sentences 

• Writing a few sentences helped some people ease into journaling, and they worked on becoming more comfortable with it.

Works Cited

McAlpine, Suzi. “The Art of Leadership | A healthy dose of (eu)stress in the workplace never hurt anyone – here’s why.” Suzi McAlpine, 2023, https://suzimcalpine.com/a-healthy-dose-of-eustress-in-the-workplace-never-hurt-anyone-heres-why/.

Scott, Elizabeth. “The Benefits of Stress Journaling.” Verywell Mind, 2023, https://www.verywellmind.com/the-benefits-of-journaling-for-stress-management-3144611.

   In a world where comfort often breeds complacency, my College of Charleston classmates and I embarked on a transformative journey fueled by the principles of personal growth and resilience. Drawing inspiration from a PositivePsychology.com article “How to Leave Your Comfort Zone and Enter Your Growth Zone,” as well as insights from a LinkedIn article titled “What Talent Professionals Need to Know About Gen Z in the Workforce,” we recognized the inherent value in embracing discomfort as a pathway to resilience and enhancing our leadership skills (Page, 2020; McLaren, n.d.). Of particular note, the LinkedIn article highlights how risk aversion among Generation Z implies a reluctance to venture beyond the familiar, making our endeavor even more significant. This reluctance suggests that my generation may not readily try things outside their comfort zones, reinforcing the importance of our experiment in challenging these tendencies.  

  Our experiment explored a popular trend aimed at personal development to build resiliency: challenging ourselves to step beyond our comfort zones for seven consecutive days. This trend captured the belief that meaningful change occurred outside of our comfort zones. By embracing discomfort and willingly subjecting ourselves to new experiences, we, as Generation Z college students known for our risk-averse nature and comfort, defied stereotypes and demonstrated our willingness to take risks in order to grow. We aimed to build resilience, adaptability, and a growth mindset, both personally and professionally.  

  The entire class took a week to try something out of our comfort zone. Whether it be waking up early, cutting down on coffee, exercising, or anything else, we took the opportunity to challenge ourselves and be placed in a situation where we could potentially fail. We tested ourselves independently and then used Flip, a video discussion platform, to record the results. Each of us posted a short video reflecting on what we tried that was frightening, how the experience changed if we tried it again, how writing down the positives impacted trying different things, what went well, whether we think we "try" enough things in our daily lives, if we feel more resilient, and what we will take with us for the future. 

  Sixteen participants took part in the survey, with the majority saying they successfully completed the trend on an average of 4 out of 5 days. Many participants expressed that on days when they challenged themselves to try something new, they felt more productive and experienced a boost in confidence. The impacts varied, many felt feelings of stress, fear, and discomfort. Several participants mentioned stepping out of their comfort zones, facing stress and fear initially, but ultimately feeling more confident and witnessing productivity improvements. The qualitative responses went deeper into the specific experiences, feelings, and perspectives of the participants. For example, several participants reported experiencing fear at first, but after stepping beyond their comfort zones, they felt empowered and wanted to keep pushing themselves.  Furthermore, our experiment revealed that participants experienced a heightened sense of self-awareness and a greater appreciation for the importance of pushing beyond comfort zones, suggesting a potential long-term shift in mindset towards embracing discomfort as a catalyst for growth, a result not explicitly discussed in the articles we read.   

      After analyzing the various challenges undertaken by individuals in the transcripts, it can be concluded that the trends of stepping out of comfort zones and trying new habits are indeed worth following. These endeavors have resulted in personal growth, increased resilience, and a deeper understanding of oneself. Here are the conclusions for each item tried:  

Trend                                           Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down 

Journaling                                          👍 

Time blocking to-do list                        👍 

Reducing overbooking                                   👍 

Waking up earlier                                           👍 

Attending professional events                      👍 

Trying new exercises                                      👍 

Engaging in professional networking       👍 

Eliminating Starbucks coffee                     👍 

Setting bedtime routines                   👍

Trying new gym equipment                   👍

Going for runs                                             👍 

Participating in rallies                                 👍 

Opening up to others                                 👍 

Overcoming the snooze button habit       👎 

Balancing routine with spontaneity           👍 

Overall, the majority of the challenges have led to positive outcomes, including increased productivity, improved mental health, and expanded comfort zones. However, the challenge of overcoming the snooze button habit proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Despite this, the data suggests that stepping out of comfort zones and trying new habits can lead to personal growth and resilience, making these trends worth following.  

Works Cited 

McLaren, S. (n.d.). 6 gen Z traits you need to know to attract, hire, and retain them. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/how-to-hire-and-retain-generation-z  

Page, O. (2020, November 4). How to Leave Your Comfort Zone and Enter Your ‘Growth Zone.’ PositivePsychology.com.  

  Daily affirmations are like a mental gym session for your self-esteem. At first it may feel awkward or challenging to compliment yourself on a regular basis, but sustained positive self-talk boosts “your outlook and self-esteem while combating negative thoughts” (Babcock, 2023, para. 2). Daily affirmations can be used to help with anxiety, low self-confidence, trouble sleeping, and other negative psychological processes (Moore, 2023). Although not clinically proven, daily affirmations have been shown to improve chronic health conditions (Moore, 2023). Babcock (2023) says that self-affirmation can improve problem-solving, decision-making, motivation, and anger management. Enhancing these qualities can aid in career and academic performance (Babcock, 2023). Effective affirmations are “positive, present tense statements” (Babcock, 2023, para. 12). They are also personal, specific, emotionally engaging, and repetitive (Babcock, 2023). 

In our Leadership Capstone this Fall, our twenty-three person class decided to test the daily affirmation trend and see whether it had these impacts on us. For this trend, students were encouraged to give themselves daily affirmations throughout each day of the week. At the end of each day, students were tasked with logging how they felt (even if they forgot to self-affirm). At the end of the week, a survey recorded the personalized impact of daily affirmations through a series of multiple choice and open-response questions. Students also expressed their experience via Flipgrid and in-class discussion. 

Twenty people responded to the survey. 35% said they remembered to do self-affirmations four days out of the week. 20% said three days, 15% said five days, and 10% apiece said seven, six, and two days.  

 Respondents described a variety of ways for remembering and achieving self-affirmations. The majority of respondents used reminders and tips to help achieve their goals throughout the day. Some respondents used sticky notes, some wrote things on their mirrors, and others set alarms: “Re-Writing them daily on my mirror”, “putting a sticky note beside my bed” and “setting a reminder and creating a routine”. Although these were the most popular trends that we saw among the respondents, we also found that some found it helpful to “repeat the phrase/daily affirmation over and over again to remind myself” in addition to using basic/achievable affirmations. 

Respondents also detailed the obstacles preventing them from performing daily affirmations. Most frequently, we found that scheduling, being overworked, and experiencing self-doubt were the biggest obstacles to achieving this goal. Prime examples were: “Having a lot to do” and “Just being busy and not being in my room”. 

The overwhelming majority of respondents reported that when they performed daily affirmations, their days improved. 84% reported that after performing self-affirmations, they felt in a better frame of mind than usual. 68% reported that they felt more positive than usual. This data - despite the small sample size - demonstrates strong support for the idea that self-affirmation has a beneficial effect on how a person approaches their day.  

70% of respondents reported that they felt little-to-no negative impacts on days that they reached their affirmation goal. Of the remaining 30%, most respondents chose not to answer. Two contrasting responses are worthy of discussion. One said: “On one day, I was up against the clock while typing an essay. I was frustrated...and when I started to pump myself up, I grew violently angry.” The other said: “If I am already in a bad mood, saying affirmations can sometimes feel sarcastic and go the wrong way.” These experiences violate the expectations of daily affirmations and prompt questions for further research. 

 On days where respondents did not perform self-affirmations, 50% said they felt no physical change and 30% reported feeling unwell, tired or anxious. Common responses included: “I felt more lethargic and less confident in my ability to complete everyday tasks like school, completing homework and making food for meals” and “tired and less energetic”. Only one respondent said they felt physically better. 

60% of respondents reported that they felt mentally worse on days they did not perform affirmations. As expected, responses contained words like “negative”, “bad”, and “self-conscious”. Surprisingly, 20% of respondents reported feeling good, better or confident. One respondent said they felt “more confident and bold”. Another said: “Definitely more ‘ready’ to start my day”. 

 When comparing our sources that prompted the trend with our data, we find that they do not acknowledge that self-affirmation can have the potential to exacerbate poor preexisting moods. In two separate responses, respondents reported that when they performed self-affirmations while in a suboptimal mental state, it caused them to grow “violently angry” or they felt “sarcastic”. Do these responses represent outliers influenced by specific situations, or does self-affirmation only demonstrate efficacy when individuals are emotionally stable?  

In conclusion, our data suggests that this trend is worth following. In our study, 85% of respondents said that daily affirmations had some level of positive impact on their life. The psychological benefits of daily affirmations are numerous, and are shown to have a positive impact on career and academic performance. Daily affirmations cost nothing, and are an easy way to improve mental health. Embrace the power of daily affirmations- they are the gateway to a brighter tomorrow. 

Works Cited 

Babcock, J. (2023, May 23). The power of affirmations: Harness positive self-talk for personal growth and success. Leaders.com. https://leaders.com/articles/leadership/affirmations/  

Moore, C. (2023, October 2). Positive daily affirmations: Is there science behind it?. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/daily-affirmations/  

Do you make your bed every morning? According to a 2018 survey by the National Sleep Foundation, 71% of Americans make their bed every morning. Making your bed can be a polarizing topic with some passionately espousing the benefits and others regarding it as a waste of time. One of the biggest public advocates for making your bed is retired Navy Admiral William McRaven who went viral for his 2014 commencement address on the topic. When speaking to the graduating class at the University of Texas at Austin Admiral McRaven makes the bold statement that, “If you want to change the world, start by making your bed.” He believes that making your bed makes you more productive because you start your day accomplishing something and that this will encourage you to continue accomplishing tasks throughout your day. He also claims that it pushes you to focus on the details, equipping you to make sure you do all things right. On days when things go wrong, it will also provide a moral boost when you return to your made bed.   

Additional benefits often discussed around making your bed are better mental health, increased energy, and better organization. In an article posted to LinkedIn, Dr. Karima Hana-Meksem explains that making your bed is a way to build your willpower which she claims is an essential element of successful leadership. According to Dr. Hana-Meksem, by making your bed, you will feel productive and exercise discipline which will lead you to feel more energized and happier while making you a better leader.   

In testing this trend, our class was seeking to evaluate if the reported benefits of making your bed daily were true and looking to understand how making our beds would impact our performance and leadership. For seven consecutive days, the students in our twenty-three-person class participated in the "Make Your Bed" challenge. Each day we were encouraged to make our beds, whether it be as soon as we woke up or sometime throughout the day. The students were asked to write down each day a brief reflection on how making their bed (or not) made them feel, what helped them achieve their goals, or any obstacles they may have faced. Throughout the week, in class, students were given the opportunity to discuss whether they noticed improvements mentally and physically, if they were more productive and energized, or experienced any negative experiences. By the end of the week, each student was asked to fill out a survey, including multiple choice and short response questions, to log their results of the challenge. After each student completed the survey we concluded the trend with a discussion in class to describe our overall feelings and thoughts on this trend.    

Twenty-three students responded to the survey and the average bed-making rate was 5.6 out of seven days. For seven respondents, making their bed daily was already a habit and they did not notice any new impacts however they generally had positive feelings about the habit with one student stating, “I think making your bed has such a large impact on mental and physical health every single day, it will always make me feel more structured and happier.” The majority of the students reported feeling more productive on the days when they made their beds with one participant noting that they got more work accomplished at the end of the day because they were less tempted to go into their made bed. Sixteen students felt more energized on days when they made their bed and others reported feeling happier and having a sense of accomplishment.   

The biggest hurdle students faced was finding time to make their beds. Students who did not regularly make their bed reported having to get up earlier to have enough time to do so. The other common hurdle was students forgetting. In both cases, setting reminders and making their bed as soon as they woke up helped participants the most to achieve their goals. While all students reported positive impacts when they made their bed, on days when students did not some reported feeling sad and disappointed. This led to feeling less motivated.   

A unique aspect of our test was that as college students, we spend a significant amount of time completing our work at home. This data showed that we are more productive, especially in the evenings, on days when their bed is made. This could mean that it is especially beneficial for students and people who work from home to make their beds.   

Every student found positive results when making their bed. On days when the students were successful with this task, they felt more productive, motivated, and overall happier. On days when the students were not successful with this task, they felt less motivated, more tired, and disappointed in themselves. Making your bed is a simple way to start out the day strong, boosting your productivity and happiness.   

Do you make your bed every morning? According to a 2018 survey by the National Sleep Foundation, 71% of Americans make their bed every morning. Making your bed can be a polarizing topic with some passionately espousing the benefits and others regarding it as a waste of time. One of the biggest public advocates for making your bed is retired Navy Admiral William McRaven who went viral for his 2014 commencement address on the topic. When speaking to the graduating class at the University of Texas at Austin Admiral McRaven makes the bold statement that, “If you want to change the world, start by making your bed.” He believes that making your bed makes you more productive because you start your day accomplishing something and that this will encourage you to continue accomplishing tasks throughout your day. He also claims that it pushes you to focus on the details, equipping you to make sure you do all things right. On days when things go wrong, it will also provide a moral boost when you return to your made bed.   

Additional benefits often discussed around making your bed are better mental health, increased energy, and better organization. In an article posted to LinkedIn, Dr. Karima Hana-Meksem explains that making your bed is a way to build your willpower which she claims is an essential element of successful leadership. According to Dr. Hana-Meksem, by making your bed, you will feel productive and exercise discipline which will lead you to feel more energized and happier while making you a better leader.   

In testing this trend, our class was seeking to evaluate if the reported benefits of making your bed daily were true and looking to understand how making our beds would impact our performance and leadership. For seven consecutive days, the students in our twenty-three-person class participated in the "Make Your Bed" challenge. Each day we were encouraged to make our beds, whether it be as soon as we woke up or sometime throughout the day. The students were asked to write down each day a brief reflection on how making their bed (or not) made them feel, what helped them achieve their goals, or any obstacles they may have faced. Throughout the week, in class, students were given the opportunity to discuss whether they noticed improvements mentally and physically, if they were more productive and energized, or experienced any negative experiences. By the end of the week, each student was asked to fill out a survey, including multiple choice and short response questions, to log their results of the challenge. After each student completed the survey we concluded the trend with a discussion in class to describe our overall feelings and thoughts on this trend.    

Twenty-three students responded to the survey and the average bed-making rate was 5.6 out of seven days. For seven respondents, making their bed daily was already a habit and they did not notice any new impacts however they generally had positive feelings about the habit with one student stating, “I think making your bed has such a large impact on mental and physical health every single day, it will always make me feel more structured and happier.” The majority of the students reported feeling more productive on the days when they made their beds with one participant noting that they got more work accomplished at the end of the day because they were less tempted to go into their made bed. Sixteen students felt more energized on days when they made their bed and others reported feeling happier and having a sense of accomplishment.   

The biggest hurdle students faced was finding time to make their beds. Students who did not regularly make their bed reported having to get up earlier to have enough time to do so. The other common hurdle was students forgetting. In both cases, setting reminders and making their bed as soon as they woke up helped participants the most to achieve their goals. While all students reported positive impacts when they made their bed, on days when students did not some reported feeling sad and disappointed. This led to feeling less motivated.   

A unique aspect of our test was that as college students, we spend a significant amount of time completing our work at home. This data showed that we are more productive, especially in the evenings, on days when their bed is made. This could mean that it is especially beneficial for students and people who work from home to make their beds.   

Every student found positive results when making their bed. On days when the students were successful with this task, they felt more productive, motivated, and overall happier. On days when the students were not successful with this task, they felt less motivated, more tired, and disappointed in themselves. Making your bed is a simple way to start out the day strong, boosting your productivity and happiness.   

Works Cited  

National Sleep Foundation. (2018). (rep.). Bedroom Poll (pp. 19–19). Washington , D.C. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/NSF_Bedroom_Poll_Report_1.pdf  

McRaven, W. H. (2014, May 19). University of Texas at Austin 2014 commencement address - Admiral William H. McRaven. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxBQLFLei70   

Karima Hana-Meksem, P. (2018, March 10). The most successful leaders make their bed every morning. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/most-successful-leaders-make-bed-every-morning-hana-meksem-phd-1/   

Do you drink enough water? Pause for a second and ask yourself that question. If your answer was yes, how much water do you drink on a daily basis? Regardless of your answer, did you know that medical professionals recommend that each person consumes 120 fluid ounces of water each day? That is nearly sixteen cups! Additionally, just under eighty percent of the United States does not drink enough water on a daily basis; with nearly forty percent of the country populating the “far below” (0-3 glasses) territory. Fascinated by these numbers, our colleague Lucy Lapeyrouse suggested that we put this number to the test to see how it affected our mental health, physical state, and daily routine; both positively and negatively.  

 Our generation, Generation Z, is the least healthy in terms of water consumption outside of the elderly. Intrigued by this statistic, we decided to set our test number at a happy medium of sixty-four ounces (1.89 L) each day. This allowed our participants to consciously increase their water intake without completely disrupting their daily routine. All twenty-three members of our capstone leadership class agreed to take part. We asked participants to track their daily water intake for a week and what effects (if any) this consumption increase had on them. At the conclusion of the week, all participants filled out a survey about their success with the challenge, the overall impact it had on them, and any suggestions they had to help others complete the task.  

Our results were certainly notable. 83% of our participants said they felt better both physically and mentally after increasing their water intake and felt noticeably worse on days when they did not complete the task. Participants noticed an increased in energy, a smaller appetite and a happier mindset when faced with everyday tasks. Respondents who did not feel this way reported no difference in feeling; meaning that no participants felt any negative effects from increasing their water consumption. Despite many of our respondents feeling better after increasing there water intake, there were certainly some challenges and feedback regarding the tasks. Frequent bathroom breaks became extremely annoying and “brutal” for many participants. One went as far to remark, “what’s the point of drinking all this water if it's going to come right back out?” Inconvenience was also a frequent challenge of our participants as most people are not taking time out of their day to drink more water. This ranged from accidentally leaving a water bottle at home or simply not being satisfied with a water bottle refilled with “room temp water”. Any slight change to the busy routine of a college student can cause quite the ripple effect and that was certainly clear in our survey. Many felt annoyed having to constantly fill up a water bottle throughout the day while others simply forgot or were distracted due to busy work and class schedules. “This is something I wanted to do, but just could not seem to make it happen”, one respondent shared. Our last piece major feedback was the jarring effects that an increased water consumption can have to one’s body. Participants were faced with challenges such as mental fog, physical discomfort, boredom (wanting other drinks), and the aforementioned uptick in bathroom usage.  It is also important to note that less than 10% of our participants drank sixty-four ounces of water on all seven days. It was just quite difficult to make this big of a change in this small amount of time but not impossible.  While drinking more water than normal may be inconvenient at first, the long-term health benefits are extremely beneficial, and we strongly recommend you increase your own intake. To ensure success, setting daily reminders to drink water and making sure that your water bottle is clean are helpful tips when it comes to a challenge like this. Participants found it beneficial place their water bottle on their bedside table so they could kick start their water drinking first thing in the morning! What seems like a simple task will take some hard work, consistency and discipline at the beginning of it all. But like all things that take time, it will soon become a healthy habit that will be extremely beneficial to your mental, physical and emotional health journey.