Different people have different reasons for mixing school with work. Some do because they have no one to sponsor their education. Others do because they need money to support their student loans. And there are those who do because they need the extra funds to support their daily needs.
Whatever your reasons are, I want you to know it is not impossible to work full-time while schooling full-time.
There are many students out there who run eight-hour jobs daily and still find a way to manage their academics. They didn’t lose their mind; neither did they lose their jobs.
If they could do it, why can’t you?
This article wants to share with you tips on how you, too, can manage a full-time work life with full-time school life.
Sit tight and learn.
Essential tips for schooling and working full time
These are all the tips you need for success in no specific order.
1. Consider online learning first
First and foremost, I recommend you find an online course or program that’s well-suited and reputable enough to offer the degree you seek?
It will be very much easier to work and school simultaneously if your schooling activities are online-based because most online courses and programs offer much better flexibility than traditional campuses.
However, if your only option is to attend a land-based college or institute, then keep reading.
2. Keep your eyes on the prize
To stay organized and prepared for the challenges that come with working full-time and schooling full-time, you’ve got to constantly remind yourself the reasons why you’re doing what you’re doing. Otherwise, you may find yourself dropping out of school or quitting your job once the pressure becomes too hot to handle.
To constantly motivate yourself, you can stick some motivational notes on your home’s walls or set monthly reminders on your phone.
3. Improve your reading speed
Since you won’t have too many study hours every day, you’ll have to maximize the few you can get. Most people don’t know that they study slowly, but you can quicken things up with these few tips:
- Minimize the number and duration of fixations per line
- Eliminate regression and back-skipping (going back to things you’ve read too often)
- Avoid distractions
- Use a book or sheet to cover words that you’ve already read
- When studying courses you really understand, time yourself
- Practice speed reading using novels and online articles
4. Maximize assignments and special projects to up your grades
If you’re lucky to be in a school or course where special projects and assignments are counted as parts of the overall semester grades, you can use these extras to your advantage.
You wonder how.
Whenever you have an assignment or a special project, outsource it to a professional essay writing service that’s guaranteed to do it expertly. This way, you’re sure you’re getting the best results from your assignments and projects, which will eventually help your bottom line.
5. Carefully draw out a reading plan and try to adhere to it
In order to ensure you don’t lag behind in your studies, you’re going to need to devise a study plan, one which will guide your everyday reading.
For example, if you have 100 pages to read in a week, calculate how many study hours you will have available for that week. If you will have ten hours, then it means you must read at least 10 pages per hour to meet up.
6. Turn commute hours into study periods
If you are the type who commutes to work, you can use those hours to study, too.
For example, let’s say you go to work by train; you can bring out your books to read while waiting at the station for the next train, or even while the train is in transit. You can do the same with buses, too.
If you drive to work, you can convert your study materials into audio files and listen to them as you move.
7. Maximize every spare hour
Obviously, you’ll have breaks at work. Utilize these periods to study. It doesn’t have to be every day, so you don’t have a mental block. But once in a while, ensure you use every spare minute that comes your way productively.
Additional tip
Ensure you keep your boss in the loop: unless you’re your own boss, you should let your boss at work know that you’re managing two engagements at once. If they’re considerate and supportive, they will allow you seasonal breaks and free periods so that you can study more.
Story by Uday Tank