The Art of Balancing School, Work and Life

First, let me set the record straight: it is unrealistic to expect that life can be completely balanced. Life is fluid and ever changing and what is important to us today, might not be as important tomorrow. Being present in life is to understand what is important and develop strategies to achieve it.

With today’s crazy schedules, instant information, technology noise and constant competition at home, school or work, we often find ourselves craving a balance in our life. Balance can be defined as school/life balance, work/life balance or personal/professional balance. For the sake of this article, I will refer to these as simply "balance".

The topic of balance often arises from the context of stress. What stresses you out the most? Is it the lack of time to get things done, lack of achievement at the end of the day, ridicule from a significant other or spouse because you are not present physically or mentally, not enough personal time to yourself, immediate desire to earn more money, buy a bigger house, get a promotion, or graduate while really enjoying college life. Many of us might say all of the above.

Striving for a balanced life should include the feeling of control, happiness, accomplishment, ability to dream and sense of enjoyment. It has been my experience that without a balance of achievement and joy, life can be a grind. Without achievement and joy, even successful people are unhappy, feel unsatisfied or are always longing for something more and miss the simple concept of the happiness that life can bring.

As I was preparing this article, I began to list all of the things that I do to help me balance my life. Here are some ideas to consider:

1) Personal satisfaction: Enjoyment, fun, sense of belonging, happiness, love, celebration

2) Professional growth: Accomplishment, Learning, growing, experiencing new things, stretching, goal setting

3) Financial Reward: If you are happy and growing, money will follow

Success Leaves Clues

Throughout the years, I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with some fantastic, well accomplished college students. I have always been amazed at the level of energy, enthusiasm and their ability to get things done, yet still enjoy the college social life.

One of the most important attributes common among successful college students is the ability to stay organized. It has never been easier than today, to remain organized by leveraging technology. Document your weekly activities in a planner / outlook calendar including each assignment, task, group meeting or social activity. Develop a list of daily activities and keep them with you to revel in the satisfaction of crossing items off when you’ve completed them.

Once organized, you should leverage each gap in your weekly schedule to do school work to keep larger gaps of free-time for social activities such as all-day on Saturday. In addition, encourage your friends to follow a similar plan, so you can coordinate your social time with them. It is important to approach each semester with a goal to balance school, work and social life. Determine your priorities and say “no” to everything that doesn't fit within them.

Develop study habits that maximize your efficiency. You might develop a strategy to study in the mornings, limit yourself to studying a chapter per day, kick-off each study session with a strong dose of coffee or schedule naps right before you study. I have also heard strategies such as writing on yellow legal pads for better recollection and eating cough drops to clear the sinuses. Whatever works for you, make it a ritual. This will give you more free time in the long run.

Protect your free time and school time religiously. Successful people protect their personal time, communicate this fact to friends and expect others to respect it. Time is a limited resource. There are only 1,440 minutes in a day. Think of your minutes as money. Assign a monetary value to your time. Apply a real dollar value based on your current job or simply make up a dollar figure for each minute or hour. You will soon realize how much less of it you're willing to waste on unimportant things. Calculate how much every activity cost you. Watching TV will become very expensive for instance.

Change the way you manage your time and you will dramatically impact how you balance school, work, and life.

I hope this short articles helps. There are many resources for you to leverage in an effort to balance your life. Here are some examples that you might read:

"Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is NOT laziness. This is hard for most people to accept, because our culture [American] tends to reward personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity." Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week

About the Author: Brother Timothy Augustine (Beta Pi) is a Business Owner, Entrepreneur, Author and Professional Speaker. His most recent book titled: How Hard Are You Knocking? Has been featured on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC and reviewed in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, LA Times and the Chicago Tribune. He has made numerous radio and television appearances and has presented to over 350 organizations and 100,000 people throughout the United States. He is a contributing writer to Inc. Magazine, Fast Company and Monster.com on topics pertaining to career development and people strategies of successful organizations. His newest book titled "How Hard Are You Knocking, Landing a Job in a Rebounding Economy" is due to be released in July. To learn more about Tim, his books and seminars, please visit www.howhardareyouknocking.com, Facebook or contact him directly at 248-447-2005.