Many students have jobs. Whether it’s work-study or serving three nights a week at a restaurant on the Hill, the bills need to be paid. Between rigorous academic requirements and a part-time to full-time work schedule, how do you keep from pulling your hair out?
To effectively manage time between work and school, there are three core concepts that can help you maintain your sanity: planning, communication and downtime.
Planning:
Proper planning prevents poor performance. It is important to proactively schedule your many engagements before they schedule you.
First, buy a planner or a calendar. Next, mark down the times you work a week in advance, or as soon as you know. Then look through each class syllabus and write down when each big assignment is due. If you’re struggling to finish all your written assignments on time, look up the best essay writing service reddit for help.
Process through everything you have written down and find the engagements that interfere. For example, find the days where work conflicts with exam-study time.
If your work schedule isn’t available so far in advance, mark the days of your big tests and papers and make a note to get the day before off. Make a list and give it to your employer for future reference. They know the obligations of college students and will usually be lenient.
Remember that studies come first.
Communication:
Making numerous lists and becoming almost painfully organized is actually the easy part.
Looking at your planner multiple times each day instead of chucking it somewhere under your bed is the tough part. You have to work to integrate your planner into your life.
To be a proactive planner you have to communicate.
For example, if it turns out that you are sick or an exam is rescheduled, immediately email your professor or call your boss.
Both your boss and professor will understand if you let them now in a timely and efficient way. Being able to assert yourself and communicate when there is a problem shows a sense of maturity.
Downtime:
With a whirlwind schedule it can be easy to get caught up in everything that you need to do. It is easy to want to do everything and it is ambitious to try. However, it is also easy to overextend yourself, which will almost undoubtedly lead to a crash landing.
To avoid letting your schedule run your life, schedule some downtime. Plan on about 30 minutes a day, or an hour if you can, to be completely and totally useless. Set an alarm and just breathe.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Emily Sturges at emily.sturges@colorado.edu.
