It is a common horror story for college students everywhere, being a full time student and maintaining a job. Although having a job isn’t the nightmare because you get an income it does cause a few mental breakdowns along the way.
I go to school in the mornings, and once my classes are done for the day I am running to the parking lot, snapping my seatbelt on and heading to work. Getting homework, papers and intense group work done is then affected because my schedule is so tight that it raises the question of “Do I really have any time for anything, ever?” And overall makes me feel as though I just don’t want to do anything at all.
It might be easy to feel like your life is spiraling out of control, there is hardly any time to do anything. But it all comes down to managing your time.
1. Use your breaks wisely
Unless you pack your days with classes, everyone has at least a one hour break. Use this time, it is so valuable.
When I first started college I had difficulty with using my breaks wisely. I always gave in to the temptation of watching videos, or scrolling the internet. I then faced the consequences of my decisions when I got home from work that night because all my homework had piled up.
I now know how valuable my time is, I have so much on my plate that I would rather have time to do whatever I would like when I get home rather than knowing that I need to sit down and do homework.
2. Treat yourself
When you work hard you feel much more deserving of your rewards. You have some time to yourself, or it is the weekend and you want to binge watch your television show, watch movies, go out, read a book, or sleep in? Well you can because any work that is due soon is done, and you’ve been working very hard. So yes, you do deserve this.
Giving yourself time to do something fun also helps you succeed, everyone needs to step away from work from time to time to give the best effort possible.
3. Plan what work you will do
it is very wise to keep a planner in college, it allows you to keep all your important dates and deadlines in one place!
If you have a break in between classes and you know you’ll be doing work you should figure out what it is you’re going to start with. Prioritize, is there any homework that is due sooner than another? Is a certain assignment going to take you longer? If so, you could start the harder assignment after finishing your easier assignment, that way you will have at least one assignment done before sitting down with the hard assignment for a long time.
4. Train yourself
It can be hard to break bad habits but if you don’t try, and try hard, you will not be able to get anything done when you say you will. Try out a new routine for getting your work done ahead of time, or on time, and you will begin to notice how much better it is to have some extra time to yourself.
It’s possible!