As the fall semester is in full swing and classes have begun to pick up in pace, students have begun to struggle with keeping up with their school work and managing their time in hopes of still maintaining a solid work-life balance.
The Institute is notorious for its competitive nature and heavy workload. Many students forget to prioritize their well-being and have trouble keeping up with all of their work.
Here are some tips to help you get through this bustling semester. Whether it means club meetings in the late hours of the evening or hours of coding to complete, finding ways to manage your work and responsibilities is crucial here at Tech.
Get a Planner
I can’t stress how much writing down my homework and tasks has helped me get through every week.
Before I wrote down my work, I was consistently forgetting assignment due dates and skipping important meetings and events.
While paper planners get the job done, they are not for everyone. Students can use anything from Google Calendar to Notion to Apple Notes. Try different platforms out to see what works best for you.
Completing a task and being able to check it off my daily to-do list is the most rewarding feeling It keeps me motivated and reminds me of everything I have to complete.
Pursue a Hobby
Part of maintaining a good work-life balance is finding passions outside of your academics. At a stem-focused school like Tech, it’s very easy to lose track of your hobbies and interests that don’t involve your major.
I think it’s important to find ways to keep your creative spark alive here.
The Institute has such a wide range of opportunities for students to get involved that you should have no trouble finding your niche here.
You may even want to try writing for the Technique!
Get Enough Sleep
One thing that students tend to neglect is getting enough sleep. Sleep is important to both a person’s mental and social well-being.
Students will stay up all night working on homework in the library and will often forget that they need enough hours of sleep to function the next day.
Setting a specific time to aim to go to bed by will help you regulate your sleep schedule and allow you to maintain consistency in your day-to-day routine.
Find a Routine
To keep yourself in check, you can create a schedule or routine to stick to. This can include everything from the time you wake up, to eating three meals a day, to reading a book before you go to bed every night.
Without a schedule, students struggle to stay consistent and fall off track.
I would also suggest writing your schedule down to hopefully hold yourself accountable. Coupled with the other provided tips, sticking to a routine helps students.
Take Breaks
In order to make sure you don’t overwork yourself, you should make sure to take breaks and allow yourself to relax between your heavy workload. This will help reduce burnout and increase overall emotional well-being, which is a key factor in self-maintenance.
Mental health and physical health are vital aspects of overall academic success. If students are not feeling their best, they will not perform to the best of their ability.
Some suggestions can include hanging out with your friends, going to the pool or watching a movie.
Self-care is not always pretty but is always worth it. You got this, Jackets!