Managing Your Time While Taking Online Classes
Learn New Tips and Tricks to Manage Your Time While Learning From Home
Marquette, MI – April 3rd, 2020 – At this strange time in everyone’s lives, most of us have started to work and study from home. But what if you’ve never had to do this before? It can be hard to find a good balance between work and home, especially if you don’t have set work hours or specific class times to meet online. Everything from homework, projects, your sleep schedule, and free time are all to be thought about!
Importance of Time Management
I’ve found that using a planner or keeping notes on what you need to get done really helps. Even going a step further and planning what you can do that day with the time you have and how soon a project needs to be done can help make things less stressful and break up the work into manageable pieces.
If you don’t schedule your time in some way, it’ll feel like the work is endless, and it’ll be difficult to find a stopping point for the day. It’s important to find time to take a break, eat, and relax. Remember to treat yourself once in a while. If you don’t find time for yourself, it can really wear on your mental health. You’ll be more stressed, anxious, and have a harder time sleeping.
Transitioning to Distance Learning
The situation the world has been thrown into has changed everyone’s day-to-day routine. Students either have to learn remotely, or even put their education on hold. Some workers are fortunate enough to work from home and have to adjust to that, and others aren’t fortunate enough to keep working and are laid off for the foreseeable future.
Don’t forget to stay cool, calm, collected, and remember that everyone is in the same boat you’re in with adjusting to this new current way of life. It’s okay to find a friend to rant to, it can help release some steam. It’s even a good idea to find a good sleep schedule that works for you! A healthy amount of sleep every night can help make you more productive and less stressed during the day! You also don’t want to snack all day either. A regular and normal diet can help with productivity and well-being too! This isn’t a time to slack off though! Be sure to stay productive and work hard, so when the dust settles, the transition back from social distancing is as seamless as can be.
Tips and Tricks on Managing Your Time With Online Classes
I found that loosely sticking to the normal or usual routine helps. Whether it’s following your schedule to align with how much time you spend on a subject, or making sure you don’t forget a class altogether. Take full advantage of your professors for help, whether it’s stopping by their online office hours or emailing them. They want to help so don’t be afraid to ask more than usual in this crazy time.
Remember to also carve out time in your day for you! It’s important to stay on top of your mental and physical health right now. Once you’ve finished work for one class, take a break, grab some food, or watch an episode of your favorite TV show before jumping into the next project. You can also use this break in work as time for a reward of some kind. Say you have a favorite food or drink waiting but you can only eat it if you get your current project done well.
It can also be helpful to listen to instrumental music while working. Songs with lyrics might be too distracting, but instrumental music can help keep you brain from getting too distracted better than dead silence can.
Advantages of an Online Education
If you’ve never taken online classes, there are many advantages that come with them! Biggest of them all might be the fact that you don’t have to meet at a specific time for class. Now this might not be totally true if you’re classes meet together online, but if you miss a meeting don’t be afraid to ask your professors for a rundown of what was discussed in class! They understand that life is hectic for everyone, so again, don’t be afraid to be open and honest with your professors.
You can also do homework at any time of the day. Yes, this is also true with normal class time, but if you have a job, if can help to have that freedom to schedule when you can do homework around your work schedule. If you had rules against eating during class, there’s nothing stopping you now! Grab a snack and get ready to be productive!
Transitioning Back to In-Person Learning
None of us know when in-person class will be back in session, but once it is, it’ll be a good idea to remember the tricks you found that worked for you. It can help with general homework, studying, and any online classes you take in the future! Now you’ll be better organized for class and work! If you found a sound and healthy diet and sleep schedule during this crazy time, definitely stick to it, you’ll thank yourself later!
