Project Materials

How to Effectively Combine Work and Study

While the best option might be for students to just concentrate on their studies and give it all their time and energy, the issue of money and funds to manage school demands can be a reason why some students take jobs along with their studies so they can be able to meet up with financial demands. Plus there are students who have families of their own, they have to take care of themselves and their growing family, there will be no likely basis for such not to work along with their studies if situation so demands. The issue then comes to how to balance the time, resources, energy and attention given to work and to study. If not properly managed, the situation can lead to one thing suffering and the other doing fine or can even affect both. None should suffer at the expense of the other, while one may seem pressing and important, it will only take some consideration to discover that the other is important as well. It is therefore important to know how to effectively combine work and study in a way that will enhance balance and success. If you happen to be a student with a side job or you are considering one, then the following points can be of help to guide you in effectively balancing the two ends.

1. Do a Combinable Work

Get the right kind of job, be sure it’s a kind of job that is feasible, such as you can combine with your studies. If the job is going to leave you stressed out and unable to do other meaningful things for the day, then you may not be able to combine such a work. If you have perhaps been on a full time job before, and now you are going in for study, you might want to consider talking to your boss about changing into a part time staff, this will enable you have more time on your hands to attend to your studies. You can as well try to get information about side jobs which are available in your institution, probably designed for students, this may be a better option.

2. Plan Properly

Failing to plan most times is planning to fail. In instances like this when it is even more difficult to keep track with everything on both sides (work and study), you will need a good plan that is workable. Don’t just assume that you’ll be able to put everything together somehow without a solid plan, make a good and fool-proof plan that you can follow to keep you on track on both sides.

3. Do an Online Course

If you think you have to work while studying, then you might want to consider taking an online degree programme instead of the normal face to face system. The way online courses run allow for flexibility and you can better manage your time by yourself. Especially if it’s a programme that you can have some level of control over how and when you take lectures, you will be able to plan everything according to what suits you.

4. Harness your Free Time

Being able to effectively combine work and study will demand that you are able to make the best and wisest use of your free time. You cannot afford to have all the relaxation like others do since you are making the sacrifice to make ends meet. In fact, if you are able to draw out a good timetable to help you keep track, that’ll be fine and you ensure you fix in something productive in those periods, especially study.

5. Inform your Boss

You should make your work and study style agenda to your boss in your place of work, this will likely help him/her to understand your peculiarities. But in spite of this, ensure that you do not take any allowance given to you for granted, do your best to be at your duty post as much as possible. If it is a kind of job where you do shifts, if possible, then you may work around your shifts in such a way that you can meet up with school demands. Don’t hide the fact that you are studying and working from your boss, you never can tell what could happen if eventually he/she gets to know, make it bare and know what’s obtainable already.

6. Make Use of Online Resources

There are many online resources you can harness either for your assignments, seminar presentations or personal study. There are text documents you can download, there are YouTube videos, power point slides that can be helpful one way or the other and enhance your academic performance.

7. Develop Good Network

This is important on both sides; you should build good relationships with your colleagues at work and in the school. There may be times you will need to quickly confirm an information and you will need to get in touch, you may even need someone to help you quickly do something in school, good rapport with some members of the class can make this easy to do. In your place of work, you may need to make adjustments to your time sometimes or need someone to exchange time with you, you should have a good network with people in your working place too.

8. Take Care of Your Health

While trying to joggle between work and school, it is possible that you are so fixed up you no longer take good care of yourself, if this continues, you may break down. It is therefore important that you are very conscious of keeping soul and body together in a healthy way. Feed well as much as possible, plan your time in such a way that you have good space for your meals and budget your money well to feed well also. You should also take time to rest. Don’t try to cheat nature by just working and working without taking necessary rest. Your health is your capital for success both at work and study.

9. Deal with Procrastination

In order to meet up with deadlines on both sides, either at work or study, keep at the back of your mind that you don’t have all the time like others have, therefore you don’t have much room for procrastination. Don’t push things forward when you can attend to them immediately, be prompt as much as possible and avoid too much pressure on yourself that could come from accumulated undone tasks. Seek out ways you can deal with procrastination if you have a strong tendency to do so.

10. Use Free Hours at Work to Study

If you happen to have some not-so-busy hours at work, then you can harness those hours to do some studying. Don’t let time just keep passing without doing something tangible.

11. Do a Business

If you really want to earn while you are studying and you think taking up a regular job might be too demanding, why not consider starting a small-scale business? If you have a business you are interested in, find a way to get some capital to start and begin. When it is a business you are in charge of by yourself, then you can control the time you put in and when you do what you do.