The third part of my secret to survive college with three jobs and a full load of courses?
Use your time intentionally.
As always, my methods might not work for everyone, and it’s a good idea to blend whatever you think might be useful with you own personal style. For examination, below is my typical weekend.
Most Fridays, as soon as I was off work or out of class and it was officially weekend time, I was done. Fridays were laundry day, cleaning, light reading, small tasks, and TV. Fridays were for turning off my brain and getting some much needed, intentional rest.
One way to hurt yourself with it comes to rest is to meander around not doing anything and telling yourself you should be doing something. You end up just guilting yourself and then feeling terrible. If you’re going to waste time, do it, but acknowledge, “I am doing this so I don’t go insane and at 8:00 PM (or tomorrow) I am going to use the energy I get from turning off now and I am going to be extra productive.”
Anyway, so Fridays were for rest. Saturday I slept in, took the morning slow, ate lunch and then hit the books hard. Normally I took all my reading for the week (ALL of it, and I was an English major), found somewhere relatively student-free and quiet, and went at it.
Here’s a personal Alyssa secret: Over the weekend, I tried to knock out ALL homework for the week.
Of course, some stuff had to filter down into my evenings. But I literally was in class or at work 9-5 every weekday, every semester, and often doing work after 5:00. On top of that, I had events most evenings and sometimes spent 5-10PM running straight from obligation to obligation. The only way I could stay on top of homework and be involved in clubs or social life was if I started the week with as much homework done as I possibly could.
You’d be amazed by how much this lightens the load. I’d forgotten about my method when I first came back from studying abroad, and for a while I felt like I was drowning. I couldn’t figure out why I was so overwhelmed and drained and dead all the time. Once I started focusing in on my weekends, getting a ton of stuff done then and clearing my homework load for the week, everything got much easier to handle.
Normally I tried to lock myself in the study room from about 1-5 on Saturday, though sometimes less and sometimes more. A few tips for making this work:
- Bribe yo’ self. You hit a milestone in your afternoon goals? Go get a Reece’s from the vending machine. You’ve been reading for school for an hour straight? Take a twenty minute break and read that stellar novel you’re dying to get through.
- Get up and move. When you finish one (or a series) of tasks (especially when you’re about to switch from one subject to another), pack up the books and move to another building. The short walk is refreshing and being in a new environment helps you feel like you’ve done something.
I tried to keep Saturday night activity free and chill. I’m a big introvert and I tried intentionally to avoid human contact on Saturdays so I could refill.
Sundays I went to church, then hit the ground running again. Anything that didn’t happen Saturday happened on Sunday, again from about 1-5. If I felt up for it, I’d go to Bible study Sunday night, but if I was overdone or still had work to do I didn’t worry about it. However, the weeks when I made myself use those couple of hours in church really helped me feel more at rest during the week.
So that’s my weekend formula.
(Other tips: Keep a Calendar, Make Lists and Do the Occasional Crazy Thing.
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