Updated Content 02/12/2025
Deciding to further your education can be an overwhelming experience at times, especially for students who must balance school and personal life. While it may seem challenging to manage school requirements with your personal responsibilities, a balance is achievable. Boardman Training Center is here to offer ten tips to help you balance school and personal life, which will help make your educational experience smoother and more successful.
1.) Make A Schedule and Follow It
Our first piece of advice is to create your schedule and stick to it. A schedule allows you to organize your time more efficiently and keep track of your responsibilities. Two of the most common ways to manage your schedule are using a physical planner or a digital calendar, like Google Calendar. These tools allow you to input important information like doctor’s appointments, work schedules, children’s events, school classes, assignment due dates, and other things you want to keep track of. Additionally, it can be helpful to color-code your calendar so you can tell which category the events fall in at a glance.
The most essential part of a schedule is following it. Your planner or calendar can only help you when you routinely update it and stick to it.
2.) Break Down Large Tasks
Our second tip is to make significant, daunting tasks less intimidating by breaking them down into several smaller, more manageable tasks. For example, an extensive research paper can seem like a challenge. By breaking the overall task into smaller tasks, you can have a starting point and progress through with a plan. Let’s say your research paper is due in two weeks. In that case, you can spend a few days conducting research, creating an outline, writing the paper, and then editing and finalizing the paper. By setting individual deadlines for each aspect of the project, you won’t be as tempted to procrastinate getting it done.
3.) Take Some Breaks
Our next tip is to remember the importance of purposeful breaks. Although the thought of taking a break with so many deadlines approaching may seem counterproductive, purposeful breaks – like reading a book or taking a walk – can help recharge you. Freshly reenergized, you can now get back to work at a more productive level.
4.) Respect Your Boundaries
Setting boundaries for yourself is one of the most vital steps to balance school and personal life. Do not mistake boundaries for being able not to complete everything you’re obligated to do. However, it does mean you can say no if someone tries to get you to do something additional, especially when you are particularly busy.
5.) Ask For Help
Similarly to respecting your boundaries, it is essential to make sure that you do not attempt to use asking for help as a way to avoid completing your responsibilities. It is perfectly acceptable to ask for help from your friends, peers, and instructors. Before asking someone, you must put in a serious effort to try to solve your problem.
6.) Set SMART Goals
Goal-setting is vital in getting the maximum value out of your education. Simply having deadlines is only part of it. Being able to meet the deadlines and complete everything is the other part. That is where goal setting comes in. Strong goals can motivate and keep you on track. We recommend using the SMART goal method, and our sister school, East Ohio College, has a blog about creating SMART goals.
7.) Be Organized
Although having solid goals and a schedule is vital, it will not be as effective if you are not organized. For example, you could have a plan for everything, but because you are disorganized, you might miss the due date for an assignment and have to turn it in late. That is why staying organized is crucial.
8.) Have Effective Time Management
Effective time management can make it possible for you to balance school and personal life efficiently. Unless you are taking a purposeful break, make sure to maximize all the time you have available. Ten minutes between classes may not seem like a lot to work on homework, but it adds up across the weeks. Check out our time management blog post for additional tips to help you make the most of your time.
9.) Minimize Procrastination
We understand this is much easier said than done, but it is crucial not to procrastinate as much as possible to strike the right balance. It starts to add up, even if it is only for a few minutes here and there. Also, it can break you from a rhythm you had set for yourself.
10.) Practice Self Care
The most important tip we can offer is to ensure you take care of yourself. Don’t be malnourished or sleep-deprived while trying to meet all the deadlines. Outside the apparent healthcare concerns, being tired or hungry can make you less efficient, leading to you spending more time on your schoolwork. This is why taking purposeful breaks and walking outside or ensuring you eat your meals is vital.
Find Your Balance At Boardman Training Center!
If you’re looking for a school that can offer a personalized learning experience while allowing you to balance school and personal life, Boardman Training Center may be for you. Get started today by Requesting Information.