You’ve learned the value of time in college. And just like any commodity, you’ve wished you had more of it. Now that you’re in grad school, with all its harder subjects and taxing requirements, you wish you knew where and how to pull more time for your own. Just like how one learns how to budget money, managing your time should have been one of those things you’ve mastered right out of college. However, if you’re a working professional juggling grad school and a family, here are a few pointers that can certainly help you out.
List it down
Juggling a career with grad school? You probably tend to slack off in one aspect or the other. To combat this, make separate lists of things to do. Jot down the schedules for each activity and make a calendar of events. Getting organized allows you to see things more clearly, and you have an ordered set of tasks that you just need to go through. However, if a large volume of work happens to coincide with an important paper, devise ways to accomplish both. You may start doing the paper earlier so as not to miss out on that project at work.
Learn how to rank
After listing down important events at work, in school, or even in your social life, sit down an put them in order based on importance. Check the dates of each activity and see if one coincides with another. However, don’t miss out on social activities either. Put your activities in order by prioritizing events that would have significant effects on your work or studies.
Learn to strike a balance
In connection with ranking, one must learn how to determine which events or tasks to put more effort on. Though doing excellent in all fields is exemplary, there are just some things that can make do even with just a little effort. If you’ve gauged that a certain academic paper has a greater impact on your GPA than, say, a short article in an elective class, spend more effort and time on the paper.
Have room for flexibility
Though you’ve set yourself a calendar that just about lets you do things, other items might come up. To avoid your whole month’s planned activities crashing down on you, do your work or assignment as soon as you can. Instead of scheduling to do a certain project a week before its deadline, do it immediately. Not only will you have time for sudden events, you’ll have free time that you can use up in anyway you want to.
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