Taking It Easy Is a Skill. Not Easy to Take It Easy.

By: Vaishnavi (Vaishu) Myadam Somewhere between sprinting to class, sprinting to coffee chats, and sprinting to bed (to undo what the last two sprints did to my body), I decided to run one more experiment:

What happens if I just… stop running for a bit?

The Three-Week Experiment

Each week, I decided to “give up” one big area of MBA life:

• Week 1: Recruiting

• Week 2: Social events

• Week 3: Academics (I did attend all classes but stopped obsessing about perfection)
  

The logic seemed simple. Everyone says, “Just take one thing off your plate.” But here’s what I found: giving up one thing doesn’t really work. Because there’s always something else ready to fill the gap. When I dropped recruiting, I filled my evenings with social events. When I skipped social stuff, I over-indexed on coursework. When I tried to chill academically, my brain invented new worries about whether I was “maximizing” my MBA experience. Turns out, the issue wasn’t my schedule—it was my mindset.

Why Taking It Easy Is Hard

At Kellogg, we celebrate drive, ambition, and high performance. We measure ourselves by how full our calendars are, not how full our hearts feel. Even “rest” becomes a to-do item. Take a break! Meditate! Journal!

We chase optimization, even in relaxation. Yet the more I tried to “solve” my stress, the more I realized how uncomfortable I was simply… being. Social media doesn’t help either. Instagram and Slack channels showcase the highlight reel: offers, trips, panels, dinners. It’s easy to forget that everyone else is also tired and uncertain—just like you.

What helped was talking to second-years, not just about recruiting tips, but about life. Hearing how they found perspective in year two, how the tunnel eventually opens up, reminded me that this isn’t just about grades or offers—it’s about building endurance for a longer game.

Sleep, Sanity, and the Bell Curve

Because I’m a nerd (and because procrastinating productively is still procrastinating), I ran a quick poll of MBAi students: “How many hours of sleep do you actually get on a weeknight?”

Takeaway: Sleep is the most underrated differentiator of performance and mood. A 30-minute difference can feel like night and day—literally.

The Skill of Intentional Ease

Taking it easy isn’t about doing less; i’s about choosing rest intentionally. It’s a form of time

management, energy budgeting, and self-respect. Here’s what’s been working for me and others who are trying to “ease” without losing momentum:

• Touch grass (literally). Step outside between classes. It’s the cheapest therapy in Evanston.

• Micro-breaks. Ten minutes between meetings = take a walk, stretch, or breathe.

• Deep breathe in class while listening.

• Intentional conversations. Force one five-minute chat a day that’s not about school or recruiting.

• Practice JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) or ROMO (Relief of Missing Out). You don’t need to be at every event to belong.

• Network like a human. Talk to 2–3 people, step outside, jot notes, and return. You’re

• interviewing the firm, too.

• Invest socially, not transactionally. Have people you lean on for each “category” of life—academic, social, personal, professional.

• Ignore other people in class. No, really. The person behind you might be job hunting, the one in front might be curating their Halloween costume, and someone’s probably typing up thank-you emails. None of it matters—you’ve got your own thing to do.
  

Mindful in Motion

MBA life isn’t divided neatly into categories. Recruiting, academics, social, and personal lives overlap like a messy Venn diagram. Stress leaks from one circle into another. The goal isn’t to eliminate a circle—it’s to manage the overlap better. When I finally stopped chasing perfect balance and started aiming for intentional imbalance (being fully present in one area at a time), life got lighter.

Taking it easy isn’t laziness—it’s leadership of the self. And at Kellogg, where every minute feels scheduled, learning to pause might just be the most valuable skill we can take into our careers. So this week, try one small experiment: Breathe deeply before class. Take a walk without your phone. Ask someone how they’re really doing. Because life is happening while we’re finishing our to-do lists.

Note: There are plenty of official Kellogg wellbeing resources out there—but sometimes, it’s the small, practical things that keep us grounded. Start there.