How to Juggle Both Work and School

Now, turn your attention to center ring where Alice attempts the death defying act of juggling life, work and school. This act may not be suitable for youngsters!

When going back to school after working the typical 9-5 job for so many years, sometimes it’s hard to juggle both time consuming activities. It is possible, however, with proper preparation and motivation.

The jugglers in a circus go through years of preparation. From basic training to advanced tricks, they dedicate their lives to keeping up with the trends and providing memorable performances. In all honesty, life isn’t that different. We train for years in a grade school setting, preparing us for the real world. We keep up with our job and provide to be amazing workers. But what happens when more is added to our plate?

Nowadays, plenty of people have learned how to take on both work and school. Here are some tips that effectively help people learn how to balance the two activities.

• Manage Time Efficiently – Create a schedule that you can stick to. Whether you’re pursuing online education or in class schooling, schedule your work and class time slots first. Then, schedule homework and study time around that. Try to stick to the schedule so tasks are completed regularly. Make sure your schedule is flexible enough to incorporate emergencies, important tasks, work trips or large projects.
• Stay Organized – Keep all school work organized in one place. Mark on a calendar when important tasks are due. Get projects done early if important meetings or company wide events are coming up.
• Communicate – Make sure your employer knows that you’re pursuing school part time. Likewise, make sure your professors understand that you’re working. There are additional responsibilities that come with both school and work – make sure people understand the demands you’re undergoing.
• Manage Stress – Stress is inevitable when combining both work and school together and although it’s hard to prevent it, there are many ways to lessen it. For one, make sure to take breaks. Give yourself time to collect your thoughts and breathe. Make sure you follow a healthy diet and stay active. Daily exercises along with healthy meals help your body stay calm. Last, take time off. On the weekends, take one day for yourself. See a movie, read a book, visit a museum, do anything that doesn’t revolve around work or school. Give yourself You time.
• Keep Yourself Happy – Remind yourself constantly why you’re taking on such a heavy load. Remind yourself that it’s worth it. Know when too much is too much and relax your body. And, most importantly, keep reminding yourself that it can be done!

Taking on both work and school can be a daunting task, but with proper preparations and care, it could be over sooner than you know it. Just keep yourself focused, organized and happy. Know which club is coming at you next and just like the talented jugglers, you’ll easily make the perfect catch.

Moving On

My grandfather had the same job his whole adult life. After high school he joined the army; after fighting for our country he was hired into a very boring business. He worked 40 hours a week pushing papers. He met with clients, he had important business lunches and he came home every night to his wife, completely exhausted. After so many years, he was given the gold watch and retired timely.

After quitting my first job after college he was aghast. Why would I give up such a good job after only one year? The thing is, my grandfather still has the old world mindset. If you have a decent job, you keep it until you can’t anymore. You don’t move on, even if you’re unhappy. For years he didn’t enjoy what he was doing, but he couldn’t quit it, oh no, that wasn’t the way.

Nowadays it’s easier to move on to another job or even another field. People go from accounting to advertising daily with no questions asked. The big question is…how does one make that jump?

The best way to improve within the job market, or to make your resume more impressive, is to have the proper education within the field. Experience is one thing, but knowledge is another. Most employees look at that first: whether you have a degree, what field it’s in, etc. Employees are impressed to see that and nowadays it’s almost essential in certain companies.

Of course at certain ages, some may feel foolish going back to the classroom setting with eighteen year olds, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are so many ways to get an education nowadays that it’s silly not to! Countless amounts of schools offer short day classes, night classes or even online classes in many different fields. They also offer masters programs in case you want to keep going!

Changing a job is not easy, but with the proper educational background it could be done. Because no one wants to work for sixty years at the same company. We want to change and grow and with schooling, we’re able to.

I Got My Degree by Sitting on My Butt

So maybe you can’t literally sit on your butt because you still have to do a lot of hard work to get a degree. You want to keep your job to pay the bills, you have kids to take care of, dinner to cook, and laundry to do. You’re probably thinking that sitting down after a long day sounds great but how can you achieve a degree that way? Simple. Consider an online degree.

Because of the design of online degrees, anyone can earn one on their own schedule. Unlike a university or college you don’t have to lengthen your courses to fill four years. You can take as many classes as you like that adhere to your time frame. Not only are courses open for learning 24/7, but by logging online to your classes you are learning different technologies that are almost required for every company nowadays. Using the Internet and communicating via the Web will help you in the corporate world.

My favorite aspect of online degrees is that they are much less intimidating then sitting in a classroom. There is anonymity over the Internet and teachers therefore don’t have the ability to pick favorites based on race, gender, or who sits in the front row of the class. This allows you to take your time answering questions and levels the playing field for everyone to have a chance to speak. If you are shy in classroom settings then online learning will allow you to participate more in discussions.

Attending class in the cyber world might be one of the best ways to finally go back to school and get that degree you’ve been waiting for. Online degrees offer flexibility, quality, and accessibility in the convenience of your own home.