For all the hard workers

[Miia]

... please give me some insight on how you manage it, and how you balance your work with other areas of your life, or if you don`t then tell me how you managed to brainwash yourself into neglecting everything else for working:P And, has anyone here ever succeeded in sticking to their timetables, not just the working hours, but play-hours as well?

My problem:

1. I got to school for 4 days a week this semester
2. I have to study 7 days a week to graduate
3. I probably should drop sleeping but it`s not an option (who the hell made us like this, what a time waste)
4. my current time-schedule for four days a week: wake up at 6am, be on a bus by 7.30am, be in the library at 8am to study, be in school (seminars) from 12-8pm. Be home at 9pm, go to bed at 10-11pm. From Fridays to Sunday I get to go home (my real home) and study. no time limits except for Sunday when I again have to go to bed early because of Monday.

Is it possible to continue that schedule without burning out? I`m a person who`s not used to working so hard, or rather, I hate routine and have never in my life been so disciplined. I`m just scared that by the end of October I`m so sick of it and will start putting things off. I need lots of laughter and play How will I manage that need?

[Aleksander Krstic]

Search Steve's site for time-management techniques and polyphasic sleep.

[Miia]

My first reaction was - I don`t have time for it. lol. But I guess I will have to make time for it... at the moment I feel bad for even writing this post... Afraid to put my energy into something else than school-work right now. Thank you, I will look it up.

[FazK]

The most important thing is too just accept that you need to work this hard / long to get what you want. You better make sure that you are working towards something that you really need and want or you will burn yourself out.

[garentee]

take a day off now and again. It makes far more sense to take the time off and rest or ENJOY yourself then it does to work all the time. I work many seven day weeks in the summer. This summer due to crazy weather patterns I worked more or less 8 weeks with out a full day off. I always function better if I have at least one day off per week. Not sure what I would do if I got to have a 5 day week.. but I am pretty sure I still would not be bored..

[sheffy4]

Make sure to schedule time to have fun and screw around, and stick to your schedule, whether it's 10 minutes or 2 hours, or a whole day of play. If you don't schedule fun time, you will decide to take impromptu "fun time" breaks that will cut into your important tasks.
You do have time for fun, and you will make time for it whether you consciously schedule it or not.
When I neglect my fun time, I notice that after a while of working hard non stop, I go a little nuts and think, "I deserve a break! Ten minutes of surfing the web won't hurt anything..." but the ten minutes is always longer. For me, it's actually more efficient to schedule breaks and take them. Then I don't have a reason to go crazy and procrastinate on my other responsibilities.

[Thekla]

I agree with Sheffy4 and garentee. Time spent studying does not automatically equal the amount of learning and study actually accomplished. If you incorporate a little more laughter, play and just time to be YOU into your schedule, you might find that you can actually get MORE work done in the time you do still have allotted to scheduling. Sometimes the amount of time it takes to accomplish something simply expands to fill the time available. You've given all your time-- but if you give yourself less time, you may find that that challenge will make you more efficient at your studying and the recreation will make you so refreshed that you yourself are just more efficient

You could experiment, if you choose by giving yourself half an hour in the mornings to do something relaxing and good for you -- perhaps some exercise or meditation/prayer if either of those are things that appeal to you? And perhaps you could give yourself a larger chunk of time off each weekend, such as half a day off each week. It might sound scary, but you will never know if you have time for it without giving it a try and seeing how it affects the rest of your time, work and energy.

I also find that personally, changing up where I work helps me enjoy things more and this was true when I was a student as well. So, sometimes instead of studying in the library or at home I might study at a cafe, or in a park. The change in environment made it more fun and more relaxing.

Good luck!

[sidsavara]

Wow Miia, that is quite a hectic schedule

To me it sounds like you could possibly try to squeeze in time for friends between 8-12 depending on how long it takes to study (thuogh that's questionable). The only other option I see is socializing a lot on the weekends =)

I know it can be done though - I was working 40+ hours a week while I got my master's degree. There wasn't any magic to it - it was just old fashioned hard work. It wasn't always easy, an there were times I wasn't very motivated to do it . Honestly looking back, it was a very difficult experience, but I think I am better for having gone through it

I find exercising also helps, I don't know if you have a way to work that into your schedule - it's definitely true for me that when I work out, I mentally have an easier time concentrating. There is some research I have read that backs it up as well, but I need more research before I am convinced of the exact mechanisms =

[Conan Stevens]

Balance it why balance it?

I love my work, my work is my hobby, oh no I am up at 2am building my dream, makign new contacts, building website traffic (and therefore income) and gaining exposure.

I have to make myself go to bed at times.

[Scipio]

Use an SRS like Anki to review the information you study, otherwise you will have to re-study all the information you slowly forget: Anki - friendly, intelligent flashcards

An SRS builds the information into your long term memory. By the time exams come, you can just sit back and relax.

[ssandra]

Find some time to do things for yourself. It does not have to be very long, as long as it is very consious.

For example... you have 30 minutes on the bus. Read a book for fun, listen to some ipods for fun. Do absolutely nothing besides starting out of the window and enjoying the ride.. Make a list every day on how great the day is going to be (on the way back, make a list of how great the day was..).

What do you do for food? You could make that another study-free time period to really enjoy.

On the weekend I would set aside 3 parts of the day, one each day, just to have fun.

For example, friday afternoon is YOU time. You take a nice bath, go shopping, relax and read etc. saturday evening, go out, do something active, see friends etc. Sunday morning, relax, sleep in, read some more, spend time with your family.

You will not loose too much study time if you do this, and the study time that you still have will be much more efficient.