My Advice for Balancing Work, School, and Play

Have you ever heard of the saying, “Good grades, social life, or sleep: Pick two”? Well, I’m here to tell you that you can do it all and more! 

As a UCSD student who gets good grades, has a social life, gets eight hours of sleep (almost) every night, works a part-time job, is on the executive board of two clubs, AND works out regularly, I can safely say that picking more than two is possible. The key to success is simply prioritizing. I’ve written a post about time management before, but in this post, I’d like to talk specifically about prioritizing. 

Everyone has different priorities, and prioritizing will look different for everyone. For example, I am very strict about getting eight hours of sleep every night (although while abroad I’ve let go of this one a little bit). Therefore, this was always a top priority for me whereas for some people, this isn’t as much of a big deal. Regardless, I think I can shed light on some tips for prioritizing that will help everyone.

Assignments

For starters, writing down what you need to do is essential. I like to write down my assignments in the order that they are due so I know the top is the most urgent and the bottom is the least urgent. I also like to create a running list of chores separately. I used to write them in the same list but this made me feel like I had so much more homework than I did which made me more stressed. Putting your laundry in the washer isn’t homework, if anything it’s a five-minute study break. Having a clutter-free list of things to do is essential for getting more done.  

Set Realistic Expectations

You are more likely to get everything you set out to do done if you set realistic expectations for yourself. For a while, I would write my to-do list for the day as all of my assignments for the week. I never got it all done in one sitting, which isn’t very shocking. Once I started assigning myself two or three assignments per day and completing them within the time I gave myself, I felt much more accomplished. 

Social Life

If you’re anything like me, you may have a fear of missing out aka FOMO. This makes it hard to say no to social events. While my FOMO has diminished as I’ve gotten older, I still prefer to spend time with my friends than sitting at home and studying. But, as much as I hate to say it, school comes first. My advice for prioritizing here is that if you procrastinate less and hone in on your work during your scheduled study time, you can make plenty of time for your friends. 

Another thing is to prioritize the big events so you don’t miss out on anything important. Maybe it’s your friend’s birthday or you have a concert coming up. The only thing to do here is get your schoolwork done ahead of time. There have been plenty of weekends that I had a formal to go to or a weekend trip to take and I had to make sure that when I went to school on Monday, I had everything I needed done. This also makes for a stress-free weekend. 

Scheduling and Routine

The way that I see it, routine is roughly the same weekly, and scheduling is what you change each week. For example, sleep, working out, class schedules, weekly meetings, and work schedules (more or less) are the same each week. I also typically have social events on the same days (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday). I’d consider these things part of my routine because I can expect them to be the same next week and so on. All of my other time is filled with weekly scheduling.

I have a planner with a timetable that I like to utilize. I fill in all of the recurring events that I mentioned above first. Then I fill in any extra events that I have scheduled for that week like a birthday party or dinner with a friend. Lastly, I fill in when I’m going to get chores done like grocery shopping the day before or the day of. Basically, I fill things in based on how I rank their importance. Most important and habitual, then events and such, then the little things.

Of course, it’s essential to factor in study time. I tend to set this time aside in between my classes or directly after. It depends on my class schedule for the quarter. Something you should know about yourself though is what time of day you are the most productive. I know that I do not work well on homework at night so I need to get things done early in the day or even wake up super early in the morning.

Conclusion

Overall, I’d say the two most important things here are planning ahead and creating a routine and schedule that works well for you, and being super productive during the time that you set aside to get work done. Once you’ve completed all of your homework and additional responsibilities, you’re able to do the things that are fun for you and make you happy. Working hard and filling your time wisely allows you to do the things that you love! 

I hope I was able to share some helpful tips with you. Even though some of these may seem obvious or redundant, refreshing your mind on how to prioritize and reminding yourself of what works for you is crucial.