School, Health and Fitness | How to Balance It All
February 14, 2018 -
Ok moment of truth: I had a really hard time figuring out how to balance my schedule this semester. I seemed to have it down last fall, and over winter break I was on a roll, but upon returning to school at the end of January, I completely fell off the train. My class schedule seemed impossible to keep up with, and I constantly felt like I was rushing from one place to another. On top of that, I cook most of my own food, so when I wasn’t rushing from class to class, I was scrambling to make sure I didn’t starve to death! Suffice it to say, I was completely overwhelmed by my new schedule, and needed to make some major adjustments…
Honestly I feel like a lot of college students can relate to the chaos that I was experiencing just a few weeks ago. Despite the fact that being a student is a full time job, lots of us have tons of other commitments, and it can feel completely overwhelming. While they may be insane, however, with a little bit of fine tuning even the busiest schedule can be finessed using a few simple tips.
Here are the four tricks I use to balance my busy schedule:
FIGURE OUT YOUR PRIORITIES
When scheduling your week, I think it’s really important to come up with two or three main priorities, and really focus on scheduling everything around them. For me, school, health and fitness come first, so I always make sure I have the time for those three things. Even on my busiest days, if I can just check those three boxes I feel much more productive.
GET AN AGENDA
If you don’t already have an agenda, go get one right now! Every Saturday/Sunday, I like to look at the following week, and write out exactly how I want it to look. I write down my classes, the work that is due that day, as well as other personal deadlines, workout times, grocery lists, etc. Writing everything down is my way of holding myself accountable, and I find that this simple exercise really does help me stay on track.
MEAL PREP
I’m not the type of person that has all of my meals for the week separated and ready to go on a Sunday night, but I have found that doing a little bit of meal prepping really does make a difference. When I cook, I usually make two portions so that I can have leftovers the next day, and I also like to keep lots of raw fruits, veggies and nuts on hand so that if I’m ever in a rush, I can have something quick and easy on the go. I’ve found that even the tiniest amount of prepping really does save tons of time.
HAVE A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
This is something that I cannot stress enough. Having something at the end week to look forward to is so important. I really try to stick to a pretty strict schedule on the week days, so on the weekends I like to give myself a break. Unlike during the week, I almost never go into the weekend with an agenda, and I really try to use these two days as time to relax and catch up on anything that I’m behind on. Two completely free days to recharge is the perfect amount of time for me, and by the time Sunday rolls around, I’m always energized and ready to dive into the week!
-sb
