Homework or relax?

3 Ways to balance work time and down time.

Being able to manage your time and have a life outside of school or work is something that most people struggle with. I am a part of that group of people also. I did not realize how important it was to make sure you sustain a balance between work time whether that is school, or job related, and down time for yourself or with friends and family until I entered college. I am now in my second year of college and have learned from mentors and peers how to keep track of the time you spend with schoolwork and without schoolwork. Creating a planner, setting boundaries and not being too hard on myself or creating unreasonable goals for myself have improved my time management the most and understanding that down time is important. 

I used to think planners were only necessary to keep up with your assignments or things that you needed to complete or remember. After I began to use a planner, I realized though it helps you remember things you must do it also effectively helps you visually see what time you have available throughout your days. After analyzing your journal, you can realize how little or how much time you have set aside to do nothing at all or do something fun and that interests you. With a planner you can increase or decrease the number of hours in the day you have set for worktime. A planner has numerous purposes and it helped me efficiently analyze hours in my day so that I can focus on things to do at my leisure.  

https://s1.r29static.com/bin/entry/8f1/0,466,2573,1351/x,80/2124026/image.jpg

Setting boundaries is another tactic I learned mainly from my peers. By setting boundaries I mean being strict on when you are available to do work related things. Whether it is simply telling yourself you are not doing homework after 8pm on weeknights or telling others you are not available during certain time frames because that is time for you to spend with yourself, family, or friends. It is okay every now and then to make exceptions of availability during those times or work at those times because you must get it done but it should not be a common recurrence because down time is a necessity for yourself physically and mentally. 

https://southafricatoday.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/5-Ways-to-Spend-Quality-Time-With-Friends.jpg

Lastly, I learned I should not be too hard on myself. I am an individual who has always held myself to high standards due to how I was raised and the standards I am held to by other individuals. I realized that it is not always good to hold yourself to high standards and unrealistic expectations. When we make a mistake or don’t do well on an assignment, we often try to punish ourselves by saying we don’t deserve something because we didn’t do well or reach a goal that we had set for ourselves. When you do this, you begin to become harder on yourself and then take away things you enjoy or that gave you time to relax and replace it with work causing an undesirable amount of stress.  

Creating time to spend doing things you enjoy, or love is the key to creating an environment with less stress while having responsibilities with school and work. Three ways I believe effectively help me do this are creating a planner, setting boundaries, and not being too hard on yourself or setting unrealistic goals.