How to balance your school and social life and not die trying
You may think that all you have is school. You study hard, take the cleanest, organized notes, hand in your assignments on time, and be a straight A student, or as in our school straight 100’s. On the other hand, you go for the motto “you only live once” and rather have an ambitious social life. But you have to remember there is something called future and not everything is for the moment, and sacrifices have to be made in order to achieve certain goals in life. Such as my father says ”exercise, eat, work and invest for your older years.” So, how to balance your school and social life? and not die trying?
that you should work for 25 minutes and take a break of 5 minutes. Performing your tasks at the expected time or as soon as they are delivered can help you get more free time to enjoy yourself, a good party, or an entertaining movie.
Most of us have a clear view of the path we want to follow, but there is a stone in the shoe that keeps us from getting along with our goals: procrastination. Procrastination is leaving for tomorrow something you could have done today. It´s a “disease” that many suffer from, including me. To stop delaying your assignments you have to realize that procrastination isn't about being lazy, it is about the way you handle your negative emotions. Fear of failure, anxiety, depression, among others. To overcome it you should identify your distractions or temptations. Such as when you are on a diet and there is the most delicious dessert ever, but you have a goal to achieve so you have to resist. The same has to happen in procrastination terms. The second step is to plan and divide your assignments. If you are old style you can have an agenda or a planner, but if you prefer technology you can use your phone calendar or applications such as Notion. Notion is a project management and note-taking software platform in which you could plan your whole life. The third step to get rid of procrastination is giving you breaks between tasks. There are methods such as the “Pomodoro technique”.This technique states
There is time for everything. Even for partying even when it seems impossible. It´s true that if we want to excel academically we have to do some extra work at home, but the idea is to work smart, not harder. In order to have free time it is important to go to school to actually study, yeah it is hard, because I also like to procrastinate in school. Paying attention in class and being focused on the topic is a fundamental factor, plus finding an efficient technique to take notes, to make revising easier. There are different note methods such as the list, outlines, concept maps, and the Cornell method. After an important class, writing a summary paragraph may be brilliant since you have fresh ideas from the class and is useful for studying.
Learning to say no is a quality that many of us don't have as developed as we wish. It’s hard and it gives us feelings of disappointing someone and uncertainty. When you are saying “yes,” when your mind is screaming to say a resounding “no” you're dealing with being a people pleaser. When it comes to your academic life being a people pleaser could be your worst nightmare since you are risking your academic responsibilities. Learning to say no has several benefits you may not realize at first because you are living the moment. But how to say no? You have to keep in mind that “no” is also an answer and an acceptable one. The only way of saying no is to establish your priorities and boundaries with yourself and others. Keep in mind that a negative answer could bring long-term benefits.
As students, we have responsibilities and a future to work on. Nevertheless, we are teens, and spending all of our young years chained to a desk isn’t the most exciting plan. Performing your tasks as soon as they are delivered and avoiding procrastination will help you not get behind with your goals. Making your best effort in school and taking advantage of school hours, plus including efficient revising techniques in your extra work time could help you to work smarter not harder. Setting boundaries and prioritizing yourself will make you have a balanced life in which you construct your future and enjoy the moment.