Balancing Work, Life and Master’s Studies: Strategies for Success
Work-life balance is defined as the number of weekly hours spent working compared to those spent with family, relaxing and in this case studying. Graduate school involves immersive commitment to academic work, research and individual growth. Maintaining work life balance is instrumental in ensuring one’s physical, mental and emotional health is at check. This sets base for creativity, better social relation and future academic and professional success. Easier said than done!
Some of the factors that lead to work life imbalance include, but not limited to:
- Culture: Most students are known to be fully dedicated to their studies that they end up overworking themselves. This may result in stigmatization as none of them can openly admit they are suffering, else they be deemed weak or lacking dedication.
- Academic pressure: There is immense pressure to excel, especially for graduate students. This may inhibit their ability to share with others their challenges, lest they be termed unable to handle the course.
- Lack of awareness: Very few institutions, or none, emphasize on the need to establish a work life balance. Resultantly, students suffer the repercussions due to lack of sufficient information around this subject.
- Competition: It is the nature of students to compete among themselves. This may lead to one being overwhelmed by the pressure of excelling more than their peers. Subsequently, they suffer work-life imbalance since they cannot openly admit that the unfair competition is affecting them personally.
- Expectation: These are preset targets set by parents, individuals and institutions regarding the standard of their academics. In order to achieve these often high expectations, one may fail to adhere to work-life balance in the quest to prove a point.
Strategies to attain Work life balance:
- Set realistic goals and expectations.
- Effective time management.
- Try to be flexible and adaptable to different situations.
- Effective communication with employer(s), professors and relatives.
- Self-care and Mental Health: Check in with yourself often.
In the pursuit of academic excellence, it is necessary to ensure your personal life is well monitored as well. Mental health issues have become rampant as a result of work life imbalance. Therefore, it is essential to avert these challenges that may become a nuisance in future. One such technique that is highly recommended by psychologist is Ikigai, as illustrated below:
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Role of Professional Academic Help in Ensuring Work life balance:
In the quest for establishing an effective work life balance, it is inevitable to seek external support. In this case, consult with professional tutors that have a proven track record of delivering quality. This way, you can be certain that your research, projects and assignments are well handled to the required standards.
In summary, developing work life balance is essential in ensuring that a student is physically, mentally, emotionally and academically fit. Work life balance ensures that all pertinent aspects of a student’s life are adequately attended to and fulfilled. It is not only necessary in ensuring academic success, but also in effectively stabilizing one’s mental health. Therefore, don’t pressure too much with academics and leave out the other aspects of your life, and vice versa!
