Balancing school and work

If you are like me and my friend Andrea, you will understand the difficulties of being a working college student. I have created this podcast for all you lovely students so that Andrea can share her experience as a college student that works as well.

My personal advice to you all is if you want to work and go to school that is perfectly fine BUT!!!!... make sure you are able to balance work and school and know that no matter what school should always come first. I know this semester I had to figure it out the hard way. I was working 45 hours a week and trying to balance out classes and cheerleading practice. The works " a wreck" did not even come close to what I was. I completely stressed myself out, had no me time (which is super important), and I fell behind in all of my courses.

Now that I have cut down my time and caught up, I can finally breathe. Never put yourself in that position. It is not worth you falling behind.

Procrastination, procastination

The worst thing you could do is procrastinate (coming form a student who procrastinates all the time) when it comes to home work. If you are the time of person to work on things the last minute,  try and get out of this habit! If you don't procrastinate, keep it that way. I cannot express how much stress me and my friends have had this week because we waited until the last few days to begin our production. You want to be stress free and not have to cram a million things into your schedule. You become angry, frustrated, and eventually you fall into self-loathing because you stuck thinking "why did I wait so long!?"

Here are some tips that might help you break or keep away from this habit.

1. Set a plan for specific times to do homework while prioritizing which should be worked on first.

2. Give yourself some homework goal. Determine which assignment you want to finish by a certain time.

3. Make sure you have extra time to add-in  just in case something comes up.

4. Avoid being a perfectionist. I know you should always put the bets into your work but be sure to not go over board.

5. Most importantly, do not wait until midnight to begin your work! Begin the assignment at a reasonable time so you are able to focus and but your best work into it.

PLAN PLAN PLAN!

School. Homework. Go to work. Making it to group meetings. Practice. Is there time for sleep??? I know i'm not the only one who's stressing. It can be hard sometimes to manage your time, especially when you have a million things on your to do list. For me, I cannot make a set schedule even if I wanted to. What I have found to be useful are planners. It can be a book planner or even an app on your phone, but trust me when I tell you IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!! As a college student you always on the go, whether its getting class or production homework out of the way, and as any other person can do, we tend to forget. We forget deadlines on projects, to post discussion questions (guilty here), and sometimes we even forget to eat! I was never the type to plan ahead for take note of when I had something to do and now i'm literally drowning in school work.

So after 3 weeks of driving myself crazy with school, work, cheer-leading, life, ect..... I finally decided to stop with "i'm going to remember mentality" and get on the ball with this. I am team Iphone :) ( Iphone does wonders), so  do what most people do these days when they need something to make life easier. I looked for an app to download. I found some pretty good planner apps ( Ihomework,Task PRO, IstudiezPRO) that are designed to help out students. Amazing right?! Well, I downloaded all of those bad boys and let me tell you they really make a difference. As a full time employee, student, and student athlete I am on the go nonstop. My days can be hectic sometimes and the nights can be long but planning ahead and having a plan to look at helps me when i'm just too busy. Setting reminders on due dates for projects and upcoming events saves me a ton of stress. I can't explain how happy I am now that I know i have my app to keep me up to date and in check with everything that is going on in my schedule. I strongly recommend you give it a try! The last thing we need as students is stress. That what midterms and finals are for! Plan ahead and minimize the stress :)

Life as a college student

I am currently in my senior year of college abc I cannot believe how much time has flew by! It's feels just like yesterday I was filling out applications and sending my day scores to everywhere and anywhere.  I enjoyed so much  the experiences I've gained being in college, especially dorming on campus for the first time,  but I can't help feel a bit deprived of what could of made I even better, or even less stressful!

Looking back I wish I had known the things I knew now first going into the university life, like learning how to fill out a FAFSA application, which I know plenty of us have had a heart attack at least once or twice trying to fill out that sucker.

It's nice to have someone who can show you around the ropes, so that's what I hope to do with my blog. Whether you are a freshman or senior in college, you could always use some tips, or even give some tips to help others based on some experiences you have had. 

Feel free to share any ideas, experiences, or opinions on my posts!!! Sharing is caring :)