Fullerton College Tutor A work-life balance in college

Fullerton College Tutor A work-life balance in college Tips from a Fullerton College Tutor: Establishing a Work-Life Balance in College Tips from a Fullerton College Tutor: Establishing a Work-Life Balance in College A work-life balance is becoming more important to a young adults well-being yet, at the same time, more difficult to achieve. Its important to remember that a work-life balance is something that is learned and refined over time with consistent practice. College students cant just wake up and set a goal to have a life balance and achieve that goal in a couple of weeks. There are a few things students can learn from the previous generations in order to help them enter the working world prepared to set aside time to relax and unplug. Below are five work-life balance lessons from a private Fullerton academic tutor. 1. Technology is both your friend and your enemy Technology can keep us connected anywhere. It allows us to chat with colleagues and get essential work done while traveling. It lets us take a work-at-home day when we are not feeling 100%. It also prevents us from having a chance to disconnect and enjoy our personal lives. Most current college students have been using technology to enhance their lives since elementary school and haven’t experienced a time before constant connections. However, working adults who experienced a pre-internet world can offer some great advice on how to practice balance. First, work ends when you leave the office. Unless you are self-employed or run a business, you should be able to shut off your work email when you leave at 6 pm. If you are in school, study ends when you have successfully completed an assignment. Set a goal to unplug when you dont need to be online (READ: 5 Reasons to Learn a Second Language in College). 2. Family and friends are best kept in person Technology is beneficial in that it allows us to keep in touch with family and friends who live far away but it becomes a detriment when we are texting a friend or roommate one room away. If friends are right next door make an effort to get up and go visit them in person. When people spend time together face to face, they create better relationships and experience more genuine communication. Technology should keep us together when we cant see each other, not all the time. 3. Work has a definite end time Although not everybody can stop working at 5 pm, its crucial that work has a definite end time. The same holds true for college students. Studying until 3 am won’t help a student perform well on a test because their mind is exhausted by the morning. Rather, pick a reasonable cut off time. Perhaps studying until 8 or 10 pm is reasonable for a student who goes to bed at midnight but an early bird may need to call it quits by 7 pm. Outside of finals week, students should also schedule in me time or down time at around four hours a day. This time might be spent cooking a delicious meal, going for an afternoon run, or having a cup of joe with friends. The specific activity is irrelevant as long as the student isnt thinking about school and assignments during those hours. 4. Ask yourself, can it wait until tomorrow? (and if not, why not?) Many workers and students will think of several last minute things that need to be done right now, and simply cant wait, or at least it feels that way. People who are working until the wee hours of the morning scrambling to get things done usually wake up tired and unprepared to start the next day. Its essential to figure out why these things just cant wait. Did you forget something thats due tomorrow morning? Are you usually running late in the morning hours? Or, is it something that could absolutely wait until the morning but you simply cant relax until its done? A little bit of stress can keep people on their toes and help them stay motivated. However, if non-essential tasks are keeping students up at night, they won’t experience a work-life balance. Try using a checklist to go through earlier in the evening to prevent forgotten tasks or create an electronic secretary to remind you of important things that are due by noon. In this case, more organization usually equals less anxi ety (READ: Irvine College Tutor Tips: 5 Ways to Boost Your College GPA). 5. Learn to love the vacation reply In order to have a work-life balance, people need to have vacation time. Its really tempting to check email on the weekends and spend unnecessary hours worrying about academic tasks. Students who are on break as well as employed adults should learn to love the vacation reply. If you work Saturdays and have Tuesdays off, let people know that and avoid work-related materials on that day. Communicate to people that you will get back to them when youre in the office so they know you are on top of things but need to enjoy that day off. Our experienced Fullerton private college tutors are here to help with more than just improving grades. Our college educated tutors know what it takes to be successful at a higher level. Book your Fullerton tutor today. All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us write.