The concept of “work-life balance” has become quite popular these days, particularly after the pandemic hit us. With the state of crisis that impacted the whole world, most of the people struggled to keep a healthy split between their never ending office work and “living within the four wall” personal life.
That’s when the organizations started emphasizing on achieving work-life balance to ensure the good health and happiness of their employees. Now for those who are working full time and also trying to pursue higher education alongside their work, it makes more sense to talk about “work-study-life balance”.
While there is no doubt that it is possible to pursue your studies goal while working full time, it can prove to be a lot demanding and challenging at the same time. So, let us look at a few tips around how to achieve both – work full time and pursue your higher education.
Opt for online course instead of full-time degree course
If you are full-time employed and do not want to quit while pursuing your higher education, it makes sense to pursue an online masters degree rather than going for a full-time classroom degree course. This would not just suit your personal ambitions, but also let you manage your work alongside.
Another pro of doing this is pursuing an online masters degree alongside your full-time job would help facilitate connections between theory and on-job learning, as opposed to the scenario where you consider taking a break for the professional world. So, gain experiences from your degree course and apply them in the real world to advance your skills.
Do not let the crunch times conflict happen
The shortage of time can take on various forms when you are trying to establish a balance between your professional and student life. This can either be schedule conflicts or an accumulation of tasks that are getting difficult to manage. For an instance – you have stayed up late for consecutive nights to finish your assignment as the deadline coincided with the day you had to submit your project report at work. So, it is the cumulative effect of these small coincidences that make everything so challenging.
Take complete advantage of your commute time
Most people spend considerable time in commuting. This commuting time is perfect for getting some work done for your studies. Simple tips such as downloading audio versions of the books that you can listen to while driving, or putting study materials on flashcards can come in real handy and helpful. You can even record the lectures and listen to them as you drive.
Multi-task during the activities that do not require brainwork
Try to close most of the tasks when you are not studying. This doesn’t mean you should not focus and just do the tasks for the heck of it. There are a lot of non brain activities that we all perform during the day such as cooking, bathing, working out – use this time to get in extra work done. For instance – listen to the audio lessons while working out or taking a shower.
Time management can be made a lot easier with simple tricks and tips. So, do not get overwhelmed – just keep calm as it is important for your brain to function better.
