Everyone’s heard of work-life balance, but is there such a thing as work-study balance?
Of course, there is!
While there are some advantages to working and studying full-time (maintaining a consistent income while going to school, for example), juggling the two can be challenging.
If you’re currently working a full-time job while studying for a degree, you may be experiencing some of these challenges yourself. Hopefully, in the paragraphs below, you’ll find some helpful ways to overcome those challenges.
1. Balancing Your Duties
When you begin working and studying at the same time, you effectively double your responsibilities and commitments. That can make it difficult to divide your time and give each the appropriate amount of attention. As such, you may find that one or both of your commitments suffer, or you start feeling burned out by the excess responsibility.
To remedy this situation, it helps to enlist the best online tutoring you can afford or consider going to a part-time class schedule to lighten your load.
2. Self-Motivation
Some people are naturally motivated and self-disciplined, but many are not. If you are among the “are not” group, you may have difficulty staying motivated to tackle all the things you know you must do.
For example, let’s say you know you have an exam coming up, and you should be studying, but hitting the sheets sounds more appealing. If you haven’t worked on discipline and developed some willpower, you’ll soon be telling yourself a compelling story about why you should give up and go to bed.
You’ll need to be mindful of this and push yourself to stay motivated if you want to succeed in your educational endeavors.
3. Isolation
Keeping a full-time job and a full-time class schedule can be lonely. For example, if you attend classes all day and then go to work all night, there’s not much time left for socializing.
The solution is to manage your time better. Keep a daily calendar, and always account for travel time, sleeping, and other easy-to-forget elements. That way, you’ll always know what you need to be doing and when. This will enable you to plan your free time, which is just as important as meeting your responsibilities if you want to avoid burnout.
4. Stress/Exhaustion
When keeping a busy schedule, you may find that you’re always tired and constantly under stress. Neither state of mind is healthy, so you must find time to relax and rest. Again, keeping a daily calendar will help you see where you might be wasting time that could otherwise go toward getting a good night’s sleep.
5. Lack of Self-Care
When you’re working full-time and going to school full-time, you may not have time for other essentials like taking care of yourself. You may begin neglecting things like showering, exercising, and eating to meet your deadlines. Being healthy is vital to the success of everything you do, so be sure to find time to take care of yourself first.
Many people see going to school full-time and working full-time as admirable. Others may think you’re crazy. The truth is that there are significant advantages to taking this path, so do what works for you, and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.
If you’re struggling with some of the challenges listed above, find a viable solution that helps you avoid dropping the ball, getting sick, or burning out. Doing double duty won’t last forever, so hang in there!