Question of the week from: FeelingOverwhelmed –
Midterms are coming up, and I’m finding that there is just not enough time during the day to get all my homework and studying done. I don’t mind studying throughout the weekend, but I still want to have a social life without feeling guilty about getting behind on studying. I’m completely overwhelmed, and just don’t know how to balance my work and social life. Help!
Her Advice:
Feeling overwhelmed in college is completely understandable. Between classes, extracurricular activities, meetings, and studying, there just is not enough time in the day to get everything you want done.
My week involves going to class, splitting my work hours between the writing center and athletic department, and attending meetings. By the end of the week, I’m too exhausted to even consider going out, so you aren’t alone in finding trouble keeping up a healthy social life.
If you’re anything like me, I like to have set plans and know exactly how my day is going to go and how much work I’m going to get done. But after two and a half years at Miami, I’ve realized something that has probably kept me sane:
There actually aren’t enough hours in the day to squeeze everything in.
This may sound like a depressing reality, but it will probably release some of the pressure you’ve been putting on yourself. We’re only human, and while school is incredibly important, you can’t succeed in college if you don’t take care of yourself and make sure you don’t burn out early.
Here is how I keep myself from completely losing it when I have about a bazillion things to do:
First, I prioritize. Get a daily planner and write down all the assignments you have for that week. Then split up the work based on what is most important. If you have a paper due Tuesday, put that assignment at the top of your to-do list for Sunday and Monday. If you have an exam Thursday, make sure that is the next thing you need to do Monday after classes, then make it your top priority Tuesday and Wednesday.
It takes some practice getting to know how much work you can handle daily, but eventually you will have it down to a science.
Besides prioritizing, you absolutely need to spend an hour or so every day unwinding. You cannot go through an entire day of nonstop work because you will burn out. I usually spend an hour every day exercising: I run, lift weights, and change up my workouts so I don’t get bored. If you like going to the gym, try running on the track, or taking one of the kickboxing or spinning classes the recreation center offers. Yoga is another great way to let go of all that stress you’ve been carrying around all day. If you’ve never done yoga before, attend Her Campus’ yoga night in March and watch the tension drain from your body!
Finally, what’s a girl without her friends? No one ever said you needed to go out every night, so listen to your body. If you’re too tired, stay in with a friend and watch a movie. If you’re feeling good and don’t have the patience to study, go to a hockey game or hang out with some friends at Orange Leaf. You’ll know when you need to turn down the fun and get to work, so just listen to your body and let yourself unwind a little bit each week!
His Advice:
College can be a great and amazing time in your life, but at times it can also be exactly as you described, completely overwhelming. I am here to tell you that it IS possible to get good grades and have a social life! All it takes is some planning and discipline.
My first suggestion is to portion out your time appropriately, so you can both get assignments done on-time, and have time left over to spend how you like.
Remember high school? While you may or may not have fond memories of the place, we can use it to learn about better time management. If you went to a typical high-school, you probably got up somewhere between 6:00 and 8:00 a.m., went to school for about six hours, did some homework, and then that was it. This sort of schedule is a great way to get work done, and have evenings and weekends free to spend how you wish.
So for example, if you have classes on Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., spend the time between your last class and about 5:00 p.m. working on projects, assignments, or just studying. Maybe classes on Tuesday go from 3:00 p.m. till 7:00 p.m.? Do the same thing that you did Monday, just do it backwards; wake up around 10:30 a.m., work on school stuff until class starts, and then your entire evening is free to spend how you like.
Having a good time schedule only goes so far though. The time you set aside for schoolwork every day must be good, quality work.
That means stay off Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or whatever it is you do to pass/waste time. Lock yourself in your room if you have one to yourself, or buy ear-plugs if your roommates are distracting while you work. Setting aside a few hours every day to work on things is more effective than procrastinating and spending six straight hours through the night working on a project that’s due the following morning.
Stick with this type of attitude and work ethic, and before long it will be a habit, and you will have more time for things you actually want to do. If you think there is nothing for you to do during your “homework” time that day, you are wrong. That test that is in two weeks? Study for it. The project that was just assigned that day? Start to work on it. There is always something that you can at least begin to work on.
If you can’t help yourself from wasting time on distracting websites, download an application to block them from you for a specific amount of time; here is one for Macs, and here is one for Windows users. And if you really can’t stop yourself from hanging out with friends during the time you have set aside to work every day, then walk to the library or an academic building, bringing only the things you need to work on, turn your phone off, and do some work.
If you follow these tips, not only will you get assignments done on time and do well on tests, but you will also have more than enough time to spend with friends during the evening and on the weekend. Good Luck!