Starting school only two weeks ago had me thinking about this topic a lot! I find myself having a difficult time trying to find the perfect balance between school and work. With both of these being extremely important in my life, I knew I had to develop a process that would help me be successful in both endeavors.
I am sure many college students are experiencing the same issue I am, and this is why I decided to write about what I do to achieve a workable balance. My intention is to show you my personal process with the hopes that you can adopt some of my practices to make your life easier.
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Create a separation between work and school
Initially in the beginning of the school year, I had one planner that I wrote everything in. Overloading my planner with both school and work made me feel like I was preventing myself from separating the two. I think it is important to separate both school and work and look at your tasks separately. This has helped me allocate my time and prioritize my tasks. At the end of each day, I look at both planners and decide what has the highest importance and then complete those tasks. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, when you are looking at a copious amount of things you need to complete and the stress that creates can prevent you from actually doing those tasks.
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Use your free time to get ahead
If you have any spare time, use it to get ahead in both work and school. This is something that has helped me immensely. You never know when something might arise, but when you work ahead you can focus your attention on the homework assignment or the pressing deadline at work. By doing this you are also eliminating potential stress and basically just making your life easier.
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Dedicate time to relax
Just because you have a busy day doesn’t mean you can’t relax. I am a strong believer in breaks throughout the day. I personally think that if you don’t give your brain time to relax, you won’t produce quality work. When I don’t dedicate time to relax, I find myself over- thinking, second guessing myself, and not focusing on what is in front of me.
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Know what works best for you
You have to know what time of the day you thrive and crash in. For example, I am not a morning person, and because of that I don’t try to schedule classes or meetings early in the morning. Yes, I could probably work on my sleeping patterns but regardless I just don’t work as efficiently early in the morning. I know that though, so I work around it. I find the times I work best in and that is when I focus on my highest priority tasks.
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Use the spaces in between
I used to believe that when I started a paper, a blog post, math homework etc. that it had to be completed in that chunk of time. I have come to find out that I was wrong. It is okay to use the 15 minutes between classes to start on your math homework. The small things are important, so let small accomplishments add up.
As Blogger and budget aficionado, Tara K. helps students across the country enhance their knowledge about money management and everyday life. She is constantly looking for new ideas to transform into great advice for you. Pursuing a journalism major, Tara K. has a passion for the art of inquiry, which is conveyed through her writing.