Can there be a healthy balance between school, social life and jobs for students?
Student jobs are the most popular way among teenagers and young adults to earn money. In fact, many of us students opt to find part time jobs even during the school term as a means of saving money, possibly for a college degree or just to have extra money to spare.
But maintaining balance in work and life as a student can be a difficult task. Plus, you might be sacrificing your social life, which may alienate your friends and your new found love. But the good thing is, you don’t need to sacrifice much. There are ways that allow you to successfully juggle work and school and even have enough free time for fun in your life.
Simple ways that help achieve the right balance in your social life and student jobs
1. If you’re still doing your student job search, consider taking a part-time job. This will give you more time to spare for school work and friends, but at the same time allows you to earn the money you want. Also, in looking for your student job, try to get one close to home or school to cut the time spent on commuting back and forth. You should also try to find a job that’s fun or a job that focuses on something that interests you.
2. If you can, try to arrange your classes so that you wont have to go to your school campus more than once a day. If you think you can do it, then try to arrange it so you’ll have your classes straight in the morning or afternoon, leaving an hour vacant to take lunch or a snack break. This way you’ll have longer free hours which you can spend on your student job and social life.
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3. You should get a day planner and write down all planned activities, starting with your school work, deadlines, exam schedules and other planned activities for the semester.
If you don’t know them yet, then plan your school work as far ahead as you can so you’ll be able to avoid any conflict that may arise. You shouldn’t also forget to incorporate a few hours for all the readings and maybe even research you will have to do.
You should also consider writing pre-deadlines on your planner to remind you of the work you will have to put in to meet any upcoming deadline.
4. Add your part time student jobs schedule, and work deadlines too if you have any depending on your work. This way you’ll be able to tell the what free time you’ll have for your social life. If you can, try to leave a big chunk of free time each week, the whole of Saturday or Sunday which you can use to relax or be with your family and friends.
5. Put in the fun stuffs you have planned or, if you haven’t made any long term plans, at least you’ll know which days you’ll be able to squeeze them in.
6. Lastly, never forget to use your time efficiently. If you ever find yourself doing nothing, like when you’re on a bus or you have down-time at work, then you should use these times to read, study and maybe even do your school work.
Remember that school work takes priority than anything else, so you should pay attention and be ready to do some changes for any other deadlines that may come up during the term. Other than this, you should learn to stick to your schedule to avoid conflict from arising.
You can even encourage your friends to follow your example so it’ll be easy for you to coordinate with each other regarding your free time. This way, you wont have to sacrifice school or your social life by earning money from your part time student jobs.
