How to Study and Work at the Same Time

We all have multiple activities. Studying and working are perhaps the most common, but we still need tasks like taking care of children. Then the question arises, how to reconcile all this?

The answer, as complicated as it may seem, is simple. Have discipline and create time for each thing you are going to do, in addition to having a lot of focus .

How to study and work: Where to start?

How to balance work and study for the competition? Evidently there are many obligations from which we cannot free ourselves. The slogan then becomes a priority.

Imagine your day is like an empty box. Every day you start filling this box with the activities you have undertaken. The problem starts when most people don’t realize their time constraints.

This way, they don’t have to worry about what to put in the box. You end up kind of cluttering everything up. Add a little work, a little family, some dirty dishes, maybe some reading, a late series and so on.

When there is an imbalance, sleep occurs during study sessions , for example.

This is the scenario that represents most people’s lives. Maybe you started to realize that this model no longer works for you and that’s why you came looking for this information (that’s good!)

What I recommend is that you keep in mind what we are going to talk about here and adapt it to your reality, as long as you maintain the essence of the ideas.

Be realistic and define your moments of high and low productivity

There is a limit to what you can and cannot do on a daily basis. There’s no point in thinking that it’s a robot and that it will be able to do 1500 activities in the same day and with the same quality, it won’t.

You need to be selective. If everything is important, it ends up that nothing is important. So choose here what you will do now and what you will leave for another time in your life.

My productivity is much higher in the morning. So I try to schedule everything that is most important for the day precisely in this window of time.

Without a doubt, the ideal is not to postpone anything, but, if you have to do that, the most important thing has already been accomplished.

At this time (in the morning) I try to give 110% and do everything possible in the shortest amount of time possible. I try not to pick up my cell phone or do anything that takes my focus away from the most important things.

I try, as much as possible, to have no interruptions and, ideally, leave fun things until the end of the day, as a way of rewarding myself for a productive day.

The middle of the day for me tends to be less intense, so I fit activities that don’t cause harm (or bring less) to this time.

Knowing which times are most productive for you is a way for you to understand how you can make the most of your day. Many people end up putting what is most important at a time when they can produce less.

If you do this, without a doubt, your performance will be far below what you could offer, especially if you are studying alone , so start adjusting your schedule accordingly.

How to study and work: Define your priority and optimize your activities

See life like a scale: sometimes things weigh on the side of work, other times they weigh on the side of studies.

Between one thing and another we still have to think about the family. This is exactly why it is important to be aware of this dynamic and understand that you will not always prioritize the same activity.

Look objectively at your daily activities and see what can be changed. See the activities that can be postponed until another time in your life and those that can be done remotely.

Another point is to make a geographic grouping of your activities. At the time this article is written we are in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, but obviously this will pass and we need to be ready.

We know how expensive it is to travel in big cities. Still, many people end up living in one place, working in another and studying in another, all very far from each other.

Are there any of these things that could be closer to another and save you some time and/or energy?

If it’s not possible to stay in the same place, is it possible for them to stay on the path, so that you don’t have to go to points that are very far from each other?

Coinciding with logistics travel, your life improves. Research shows, for example, that living close to work is equivalent to having an extra month of vacation a year. Imagine this over the years.

Organize your day and accomplish what you set out to do

We know that there are times to do everything. This, despite being simple, is one of the points that most complicates our lives. But, at the same time, it is a necessity for people who want to put several activities in that metaphorical box of the day.

We already have time to eat, to sleep, to brush our teeth, now it’s time to add time to your routine to do those things that move your life forward.

Audit your entire day. Write down what you currently do each hour. Seeing how your day is distributed is very important for you to understand how to add the demands of studying.

What you really need to do after you have all your current activities, including work, college, everything you have, is look for a time when you can fit in another hour or two of study.

You need time to view the content, and you need to know that viewing this content without review and without questions is not studying.

We need time to develop independent study, which is when we really learn.

Of course, plans are not fixed, nor written in stone. They change, whether out of necessity, because we slip or something in the dynamics of our lives. The goal here is not to be perfect, but to be as less imperfect as possible.

After all this work, all you need is to fulfill the determinations you established for your life. Now, keep in mind that studying is hard, hard and competitive, but it’s worth it!

I’m sure you’ll have a different life, the life you and your family deserve, just take it one step at a time, without giving up. We believe in you!