Most people tend to underestimate how hard it is to be a student. We have to get good grades while actively participating in extra-curricular activities, but still make time to relax so that we don’t melt our brains away. If you’ve ever browsed through Tumblr, your life can probably be summarized by this triangle:
And as most of us have experienced, just as the center of the triangle says, we usually only obtain two out of the three options.
Though it can seem extremely difficult to balance all three, it’s not impossible. Yes, you read that correctly. You can have a social life, good grades, and get enough sleep all at the same time. It’s just a matter of following these three simple steps.
#1 PRIORITIZE
You have to figure out what is most important to you and what you’re willing to make time for. Maybe you really love to dance, play volleyball, be on student council, and take five honors courses, but sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Decide which of these things really mean the most to you and dispose of things that you can do without.
This is a time in our lives where we’re trying to figure out what we want to do and what we’re good at. Therefore, we have a tendency to get involved with every activity possible. The problem with this is that we must remember that we’re humans, not superheroes, and just because you need to drop one or more of these activities doesn’t mean you’re incapable of doing these things. Plus, is it really worth all the stress you’ll face? Learn to separate what you want to do from what you need to do. And yes, that includes deciding that binge watching the next three seasons of Grey’s Anatomy the night before your midterm may not be what you NEED to do (even though it’s what we’d all rather be doing).
#2 PLANNING
Whether you use the calendar on your phone, computer, an agenda, a notebook, or whatever is convenient for you, list out what you’re going to do and when. This will be a great way to break down big, daunting projects into manageable tasks and make sure that nothing interferes with each other. It’s also a great way to ensure that you have time to hang out with your friends and just have fun.
Let’s say you have a 7-page paper due the same night as your best friend’s birthday party, break down your paper by trying to get a few pages done throughout the week. Plan it out so that you have the final draft done and ready a day before you plan to go out. Procrastination can seem like fun in the moment, but being prepared ahead of time definitely beats it.
Also, don’t forget to include time for relaxation! When you’re trying to be the busy bee that you are, we tend to forget to make time to stop and take a breather. You won’t be able to function well and efficiently, if you aren’t taking care of yourself first. So remember to pencil in a nap every now and then.
#3 JUST DO IT!
As Nike perfectly puts it, you have to “just do it.” Once you’ve chosen what you really want to stick to and created your plan of attack, you have to follow through with your decisions. It can be really easy to jot down all these ideas, but never actually follow the plan. The whole point of these steps, and the secret to balancing all three, is to minimize the amount of stress you take on and make the best use of your time. What most students don’t realize is that being able to balance your social life, school, and sleep isn’t impossible, it just takes a lot of time and effort. You have to put in the work to get your tasks done in order to reap the rewards of socializing and sleeping.
Being a student is never an easy job. We have to go through the struggle of juggling the million different roles we play: from team member, leader, student, worker, to best friend. Remember that although we may drop a few of our hats as switch from character to character, you can always pick it back up by knowing which scene comes next. So start this new school year with these new habits to ensure that you work hard, but play even harder.