For many of us, studying from home while working and looking after others – maintaining a healthy boundary between work, study, and life is proving to be impossible! Our study and personal lives are suddenly blurred, and it seems many of us are headed for burnout if we don’t make some adjustments asap.
So for those of you trying to juggle your studies, life and lockdown
here are some easy adjustments for keeping a healthy study-life stability.
Schedule everything!
Scheduling is probably the most significant way of successfully managing any juggle. By organising all your tasks for the week ( including personal time), you can easily see what study needs to be completed by the end of the week; you can set realistic expectations and predict how long each task will take. If you know you’ve got a hefty week of reading or an assignment is due, you should allocate more time to study, or if it’s a quieter week study-wise, you could take a day or two off and engage in other activities you enjoy.
Don’t leave things to the last minute.
This goes hand in hand with scheduling. By planning and knowing when assignments or specific tasks are due, you can manage your study and life balance and your workload and stress levels!
Be as efficient as possible.
Multitasking is a myth – It divides focus and attention, leading to oversight and poor outcomes – so ditch the idea you can do everything at once and carve out time for each responsibility. Efficiency is all about getting the most out of your resources and time.
Use tech to help train your brain.
It’s 2021, guys! There are so many tools, apps, and work management platforms available to help you juggle, These innovative apps and tools are designed to help you reclaim your brain space, keep on top of your schedule, report progress, and our fav teach you to switch off.
Know your limits.
While studying from home shouldn’t mean you are putting in more hours, it is much harder to separate your work and life when it’s in one space. So be clear when planning your study times and stick to it. Then, when your day ends, put away your devices, pop on some music or a podcast you enjoy and turn your work mind into your mind.
Ask for help.
Most of us struggle to reach out and ask for help when we need it most.
But, asking for help is probably the best form of therapy when struggling with study workload or falling behind. Reach out to your teacher or lecturer and talk openly about your concerns. Part of their role is to give guidance. They will be happy to offer an extension or provide additional study tips that help you manage your time and workload better in hard times.
Enjoy the little things.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed by everything happening in 2021, be reassured you are not alone. With so many of us still working remotely and feeling disconnected from our regular lives, we all must practise some serious self-care. Self-care is unquestionably a popular concept at the moment and can easily be applied to your learning, too. So make time to focus on things you enjoy; take a night off here and there to do an online yoga class or for a walk with a friend or just sit back and binge the latest on Netflix.
Here are some immediate shifts to make today:
• Create your recipe for a successful day, both in work and life. E.g. morning walk, 2 hours of walk, short break outdoors etc.
• Set boundaries on your study time. Work fewer hours and make them productive.
• Invest time in family and friends through video chats, calls or messages.
• Try Meditating for just ten minutes a day as it’s proven to gradually rewire your brain so that you are naturally more able to focus on the task at hand.
• Create an at-home wind-down ritual that separates work from non-work hours.
• Prioritise sleep; to restore well-being and relax your mind.
