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Rank: Newbie
Groups: Member
Joined: 1/4/2008
Posts: 1
Points: 3
Location: UK
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Hi,
How do you maintain your work/life balance if you are both studying and working? I'd be interested to hear how other people manage this.
Do you set aside specific times for your studying (e.g. Tuesday evenings and Sunday afternoons)? Do an hour of studying each day? Take time off work to study? How do you make sure you have time to study without it taking over all your free time?
What works for you, and, more importantly, what doesn't work?
Kirsty
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Rank: Member
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Joined: 1/4/2008
Posts: 14
Points: 42
Location: Philadelphia, PA
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Hi! Where are you going to school? I did my first MA at UCL in the UK and that was essentially my whole life; I did my MS-LIS in the US and balancing full-time work, library school and an infant was very easy by comparison. I simply did my assignments on my lunch hours at work and went to class 1-2 evenings a week; I rarely if ever had to do anything beyond that, but again, I suspect that will vary by program and location. I would caution against taking more than 1-2 classes at a time if you are working full-time, but beyond that, I didn't find any special tricks to it apart from a stream of good babysitters. Good luck!
Lisa Grimm Assistant Archivist Drexel University College of Medicine Archives & Special Collections on Women in Medicine and Homeopathy
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 1/2/2008
Posts: 5
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Location: New York City
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When I was working full-time and working on my MLS (in an online program), I set aside certain times to work. My classes all ran on a Monday to Sunday schedule, so I'd devote Monday and/or Tuesday (commute plus as much of the evening as required) to the week's reading. Then I'd try to make inroads on projects and writing on Wednesday evening--my motivation was that we have friends who usually go out Thursdays after work, and I wanted to be free. Then I'd finish up on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. This worked pretty well except when I had group projects, since other people had different schedules. It helped that my workload was fairly constant, and the tasks were fairly predictable--I didn't find myself unexpectedly "stuck" the way I have when studying other subjects.
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 1/3/2008
Posts: 6
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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I worked full-time the entire time I was working on my library degree. I generally had class two nights a week, so I tried to set aside time on the non-class nights to check email and keep up with reading (with varying degrees of success since some classes required more reading than others). Saturdays were devoted to catching up on email and completing assignments and projects (with laundry, cleaning, and planning the week's meals in between). Sunday afternoons were a "catch-up" time if I didn't finish everything on Saturday (which was most Sundays unfortunately). Friday was my night to do nothing (no school work at all!).
Of course, every semester was different, but it did help me to have some schedule and to make a to-do list each week. The biggest thing that worked for me was to have a good calendar/planner with lots of room to write on each day. At the beginning of every semester, I took all my syllabi and wrote every reading assignment and all due dates on the calendar. I would also keep up with all group meetings, my to-do list, etc. for all my classes, too - along with all my other "life stuff." This way I could see at a glance that one week may have more work than another so I could adjust as needed.
It was always a juggling act, but it worked out.
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Rank: Member
Groups: Member
, Work/Life Balance - Moderator
Joined: 1/2/2008
Posts: 5
Points: 15
Location: New Jersey
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I'll be starting to do this, myself, very soon. I'll be taking 2 courses this summer, followed by 1 or 2 courses/semester during the school year, until I'm done. I will have either 6 or 7 courses to complete within 2 years.
I have balanced work plus extracurriculars for a while -- involvement in the NJ Library Association & YALSA, presenting at conferences, co-writing a book -- but I suspect this will be a different kettle of fish, so I am very keen to hear what worked (and didn't work) for you all!
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