How to Balance Study and Personal Life

Balancing a college curriculum or an online course of study is a difficult task and becomes even tougher if one’s hands are tied with jobs, family, or household chores. The big question, then, is how to strike a balance between studies and personal life.

Many start studying, but soon become victims of fatigue, stress, or lack of time. Quite often, the responsibility at work will push the studies back, and then we are left wishing that perhaps we were able to control it. The truth remains that with a little patience, understanding, management, and planning, one can strike a balance between studies and personal life.

Let us now see how the balance can be pursued in detail.

1. Adopt Online Courses – Freedom of Time and Location

If you don’t have time for the college, then an online course is the best option. The best thing about this modality is that you can study from anywhere during a convenient time for you.

How Will It Help:

• You can wake up earlier and study for an hour.
• You could finish up small assignments during the office lunch break.
• You can also listen to the lectures at night after all daily household chores are done.

Example:
If you are working and going home every day at 7 PM, it is easy to complete your lectures and practically keep up with your course by scheduling just one hour every day of online classes.

The online study gives you an option to balance your studies with taking care of people and responsibilities at work.

2. Build a Strong Support System

It is not easy to carry on studies alone; a little support from family and friends becomes quite crucial.

What to do:

• Make your study plans known to your family, friends, and boss.
• Request your life partner to assist you with chores.
• Remain in touch with your classmates and professors.

Example:
If something important is coming up, family members can chip in with housekeeping duties until you finish exam preparations, thereby allowing you to minimize worries and study better.

3. Designate Fixed Study Times – Along the Lines of Advance Planning

From the time you are given your syllabus and timetable at the start of the session, go ahead and put your timetable in place.

What will help:

• Make good use of the holidays right before the exams.
• Find a quiet and comfortable study environment.
• Don’t study just one subject for too long – take breaks and change subjects.

Example:
If you are doing four subjects, give 30 minutes to each subject a day. This will not be boring and will allow you to pay equal attention to each subject.

4. Realize that Time Is Everything – Precious

A student’s real wealth is really time. If you learn how to make use of time, then there is no way you will be able to juggle studies and personal life.

What to do:

• Do a weekly plan for study, rest, and family time.
• Limit time to be on your social media and TV.
• Break down larger tasks into smaller ones.
• Set small goals to accomplish every week.

Example:
If you must write a research paper in a one-month time frame, rather than writing it all in one sitting, write 2-3 pages every week. It will ease up the work and be less stressful.

5. Be in a Quiet Place to Study – Do Not Be Distracted

Distractions are generally a bane when studying from home.

What to do:

• Tell your family not to disturb while you are studying.
• Mute all the notifications on your mobile.
• Organize a small corner for study with all the books and notes in one place.

Example:
If the kids are too rambunctious during the afternoon, studying early in the morning or late at night would be beneficial, as it is quiet then and would greatly enhance focus.

6. Attend Online Classes Daily – Do Not Get Behind

A common mistake with online study is the attitude of “I’ll do it later”. Before we know it, work piles up and becomes difficult to handle.

What to do:

• Log in to your class portal every day.
• Submit assignments on time.
• Do not skip lectures, videos or notes.

Example:
Spending 30 minutes daily participating in the online class keeps you free from being stressed out with backlogs.

7. Do Not Procrastinate – Last-Minute Work Never Pays

We often say, “I will do it tomorrow!”, and end up overloading ourselves just before the deadline.

What to do:

• Set your own deadlines for every assignment.
• Review topics as you progress.
• Never postpone what you can do today until tomorrow.
• Complete your work in small chunks.

Example:
If a project is due in 3 weeks, rather than waiting until the last week, work a little each week.

8. Take Care of Yourself – Self-Care is Important

In between jobs and studies, we often forget about ourselves. But if you want to think of studying, your mind and body should be at their best.

What to do:

• Sleep a minimum of 7-8 hours each day.
• Eat healthy and keep hydrated.
• Practice light exercises, do yoga, or just stroll.
• When done, indulge in music, read a book or meditate.
• Share with friends or family when stressed out.

Example:
If tiredness keeps coming your way lately, then it’s time for you to take a break. It could be a brief walk or just listening to light music that would uplift your day.

Conclusion – It Is Rather Wise to Maintain Balance

Achieving equilibrium between studying and personal life is not a matter of a day or two; it is a long journey that takes huge effort, patience, and well-laid plans.

If you work, look after a household, or both, scheduling the activities and giving yourself short breaks once in a while will enable you to juggle studies and life with ease.

Getting a degree is no longer enough. What you need is a life that leaves you physically and mentally fit to fulfill your dreams.

Set this goal to obtain not only a degree but also a happy, balanced life!