“Work-life balance” isn’t just about your job. Setting firm boundaries between your personal and professional lives is essential for maintaining your mental health. Feeling like you don’t have enough time to devote yourself to your home life or to your work can leave you feeling stressed, and stress can lead to a host of health issues down the road.
This is also true for your education. Going back to school can take up a significant amount of your time. It’s not just the class time but the reading and studying on your own that can wreak havoc on your schedule. Figuring out how to partition your time so you can achieve some balance is important for your personal wellness and for your success as a student: after all, if you don’t have enough time to study and process what you’re learning, how will you develop the skills you need to finish your coursework?
Read on as we break down some good rules of thumb to use to manage your class work-life balance.
Know Your Priorities
We all have multiple obligations that weigh heavily on our time. Work, family, exercise, friends, household care, hobbies: all of these things can take big bites out of our schedule. If you’re not careful with how you prioritize and allocate your time, you can end up neglecting something important. That’s why it’s important to understand what’s most important to you right now and arrange your days around those things accordingly.
As an old labor saying goes: “eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what you will.” If you spend eight for work and eight for sleep, you have eight left to divy up between self-care, maintenance, personal relationships, and education. Is there something in your life that you could put on the backburner to devote more time to your classes? Could you change your personal habits, commute, or combine responsibilities to free up more time for you to learn?
One thing that will help keep you on an even keel with your time management is to accept that this is a fluid and ever-changing issue. You may face a sudden pressing deadline for work that will eat up more of your time or maybe a family emergency calls for you to be more focused on the homefront. When these demands on your time happen, give yourself some grace and don’t feel guilty about having to pivot. This is also why you should acquaint yourself with your school’s drop/withdrawal policies in the event that you need to step back from your class.
Make a Study Schedule
As you consider your priorities, take a look at your class work and list them out in order of complexity. Which classes will require more of your focus and time? Use this ranked list as the base for creating a study schedule. Set up specific blocks of time throughout the week for each subject, allocating time based on the difficulty of the material. Be sure to schedule breaks in as part of your study schedule; give yourself at least 5-10 minutes after an hour of studying to stretch, get something to drink, have a snack, take a quick walk or do a bit of at-home exercise to burn off nervous energy and relax your muscles before diving back into the material. Resist the urge to cram: your brain can only take so much prolonged activity before it needs to rest, and forcing yourself to memorize large chunks of material all at once when your brain doesn’t have the bandwidth left for memory retention is counterproductive
Schedule Around Peak Hours
We all have times of the day where we’re at our most energized and mentally alert. It’s like how some people are early-to-rise while others thrive as night owls. Do you know what time of day you’re at your peak? You can optimize your studying by taking advantage of that knowledge. If you need to devote some of that peak energy to your work or home life, try and schedule your study sessions or more demanding classes to happen on your days off where you can devote those peak hours to them.
This principle also works in reverse: we have times of day where we’re not at our best. Save that time for more low-effort activities and tasks that don’t require your full attention.
Communicate Your Needs
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or need help, don’t suffer in silence. Ask for help! If you need more time on an assignment, you’re better off asking your instructor for a possible extension than forcing yourself to finish something in a state of duress. If you need help at home and live with family or roommates, be honest to them about how you feel. The people who love you will be more willing to pick up your slack and give you understanding if they know why you’re struggling.
It’s important to share your priorities with your friends and family if you think that you’ll be spending less time with them to focus on your education. You don’t want them feeling like you’re blowing them off or neglecting them off for no good reason. Telling them why you might be less available for the near future also means that they’ll value their time with you more when you can be there for them because they know you’re making a conscious effort.
Say No
It doesn’t matter how good your time management and communication skills are if you have poor boundaries. You need to be comfortable saying no to things that will throw you off your path or eat up too much of your time. It can be hard to say no to a fun night out when you need to study for a final or to help someone with an errand but there will be times where you need to be a stick in the mud.
Setting boundaries also applies to yourself. Don’t take on more than you can handle. Don’t push yourself too hard. Take breaks and enjoy life; you don’t always have to be doing something. Your mind and body needs time to recharge. Be realistic about what you can achieve. One of the fastest ways to burnout is to put too much on your plate and feel dejected when you can’t clear them off.
Need Help?
Don’t forget that Rio Salado offers counseling services. Give them a call at 480-517-8785 for more information. You can also check out our Student Success Tips videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkIx0mYStTo&list=PLgZIJ1OaKljFrzjOEsXLGvj5QNjs1V87W
Article by Austin Brietta
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