How To Overcome The Challenges Of Working And Studying

As much as working and studying at the same time has its own advantages, it also has challenges. Yes, it is true that you will be making money while you are working towards achieving your educational goals, like getting your first-degree or post-graduate degree. You will be relieving your sponsors of the burden of having to pay your tuition and other costs.

It is true that you will be getting on-the-job experience. Especially, if you are working in the field of your study. It is also true that working at the same time as schooling, will give you the opportunity to develop and improve your management skills since, you will be working and attending school simultaneously. It will be a platform for you to learn effective time management.

Still, there is no doubt about the fact that there are some difficulties to be encountered, when you multi-task. Here are some of the challenges you will have to face, when you work and study at the same time and how to overcome them:

Lack Of Sleep

If you combine work and study, you are likely to suffer from Insomnia. That is, not being able to get the amount of sleep needed, to keep you active and refreshed all through the day. This is because, you will be working during the day and doing most of your studies during the night. After a while, this practice becomes a routine.

For instance, if your alarm rings in the middle of the night, everyday, between the hours of 12 am and 3 am. To wake you up so that you can study. It will get to a time when, even without the alarm, you will wake up at night by the usual time. Whether you want to study or not. Once your body system becomes familiar with not sleeping at night or sleeping for a limited amount of time, you may develop a chronic condition of lack of sleep.

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In order to prevent this, you may have to vary your hours of study. So that, you don’t get used to not sleeping at a particular time. Assuming, you already have a time table for studying at night. You can give yourself breaks in between the days of the week. That is, instead of all the days of the week, you can just pick two or three days of the week for the purpose of studying at night, and on the other days, you can make out time to study during the day.

You can even squeeze out time at work (maybe during break time) to read. Also, you can study early in the morning, before going to work or when you get back from work in the evening. After you do your homework, you can take out time to read for a while, before going to bed. The point is that, you should not deprive yourself of sleep for too long or make an habit out of not sleeping. As this will negatively affect your health.

It is important to note that, our brains need time to process all of the things we learn daily. This is done at night. That is why, sleep is very important. Because, aside from making you feel refreshed and well rested, everything you have learned during the day, will register in your brain while you sleep.

It Leads To Burn-out

Working and studying at the same time could result in a Burn-out condition. Burn-out is an advanced stage of stress. It is a situation whereby, a person feels mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted, as a result of stress. Burn-out is a condition when you feel bored most of the time and you feel that no day is a good day for you. It will drain your energy and affect your productivity, negatively. When you feel overwhelmed, worn-out and helpless because of all the stress involved in studying and learning, then you are possibly suffering from burn-out.

This condition is not good for your health and it will definitely affect your performance in school. So, what you need to do at times like this, is to recognize that you have this condition, first. Then, you can go about how to manage your stress effectively. After which, you should create time for yourself and seek medical support.

Low Grades

When issues like, lack of sleep and mild depression hit you, as a person working and learning simultaneously, it will affect your grades. Because, your level of concentration will decrease. When you lack concentration, you will find it difficult to understand the subject of your study and it will in turn affect your grades.

But, if you are able to take the steps above in addressing the issue of lack of sleep and burn-out, it will in turn affect your grades in school, positively.

Poor Social life

People that work and go to school at the same time, tend to have a poor social life. Their lifestyle will be a like a routine of going to work and coming back at the same time everyday, eating and studying at the same time everyday. No time to have fun or hang out with friends and family members. No time to go for shopping, parties or to involve in sports activities like football and the likes.

Working and studying will take up all of their time. Such that, they will not have the time to do all of the things they used to do with their leisure, before they started working and studying.

If you find yourself in where your social life is uneventful as a student, you need to revive it. Balancing your social life plays a vital role in your learning process. All work and no play, makes jack a dull boy.

Your work is important to you as a person, same as your education. That is why you need to balance the two such that, the one will not encroach on the other. You can be sure to succeed, when you are able to continuously prevail over all of the challenges of working and studying at the same time.