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Maintaining a good work-life balance in today’s world may seem nearly impossible, especially if you’re attending school while working and committing to your family at the same time. You may need to squeeze time to check your work emails and finish off reports in between making dinner and preparing lunch for your kids; or you may need to make future schedules with your children on the dinner table, and do your homework after your put them to sleep.
It is not easy at all. You get stressed out from keeping up with your work while attending new educational programs in order to further your career, and you don’t want to disappoint your children at the same time. Having a good balance between various tasks in our lives can be hard, but it is still possible to achieve a work-life balance. We all have 24 hours a day, as long as you mastered the artistry of time management, you will always stay happy and confident in life. Here’s how you do it:
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Create a flexible schedule, make use of every piece of time
Some parts of your schedule are going to be inflexible, such as class times, work days, or your children’s dental appointment. But you can always fit homework and study sessions in when you’re not in class, at the office, or at your PTA meetings.
The secret of having a flexible schedule is that you need to put all your loose time pieces in use – your 1 hours subway commute home, the 30 minutes time interval while you wait for your slow cooker to boil, the 45 minutes wait while your kids attend pottery class – you can easily finish your assignment and meet the deadline for your work projects while utilizing small pieces of time in your life.
As a working adult student, you have to be ready to adapt to new assignments, unexpected work projects, and sudden family crises that need to be addressed immediately. Make use of every piece of time in your everyday life so if something comes up, you can still study in another loose time slot during the week.
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Prioritize your tasks, and make sure you complete them efficiently
Busy, successful people understand what they can do each day, how they use their time, and what can realistically be accomplished. Learn from their techniques and you can do the same. Plan all your tasks ahead of time and make sure you are aware of different deadlines for different tasks. Prioritize your tasks by their level of importance or urgency. Write out what you need to accomplish each and every day on your calendar. When you accomplish a task, check it off with a pen. This way you’ll be able to still see how much you’ve accomplished, while keeping your future tasks organized.
Once you have your schedule planned out, beat procrastination by breaking down massive projects into manageable blocks, and start with small tasks to get the ball rolling. Assign specific time slots to complete important tasks, and set time limit for each task to prevent it from spreading into the rest of your day. Make sure you have all the resources needed to successfully complete this task beforehand, and make sure you have buffer time for any inevitable interruptions.
Finally, once you’re in the zone, note any good ideas that pop up in your head and move on. If you came across a good idea for your company’s product release conference, quickly write it down and move on with your study. Don’t let your work thinking distract you from your revision, but also make sure you record any new ideas so you can elaborate on them later.
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Plan your academic path, learn the smart way.
Figure out what you should do next, and how many steps further for you to get to where you want to be. How many more courses do you need to finish a program? How many tests and exams are there each semester? Know your program inside out, and create a multi-year schedule to fit your specific goals inside. Talk to an academic advisor at your school and get them to help you map out your entire program, so you know what to expect and how to arrange your schedule around it.
Take great lecture notes for each class. Focus on information your instructor repeats frequently, and try to summarize the learning materials in your own words. Keep your school materials organized and in one place for easy access when you need help. Mark upcoming deadlines on your calendar and start school projects early to allow sufficient time to complete them. If you’re taking several courses at once, don’t spend all of your time on one course while other deadlines approaches.
Spend time to review your materials on a regular basis. Don’t put it off to the last minute and try to cram a semester worth of work into a single study session. Your brain won’t be able to process and retain all that information in one try. The best way to memorize all learning materials is to study frequently and in short bursts; this way your absorb the knowledge gradually and you will be able to memorize it on the long run.
As the largest career college in Canada with 50 campuses across the country, Academy of Learning College attributes the growth in our success to identifying the gap between the formal education available and the realities of the working world. We fulfill the needs of learners by developing customized programs for each student, while meeting the requirements for convenient and effective training at an affordable cost. Browse our program list by province and find the best program that suits your needs!