How can students effectively manage their studies and hobbies?
Students often face difficulty in managing their study and hobbies. However, with proper time management, they can balance their academics and extracurricular activities. Let’s have a look at how to balance academics and hobbies effectively.
Selecting Your Priority
It is crucial to identify the tasks that are on priority. You must select your tasks as per the deadlines and urgency. For example: If you have to prepare for an exam, then definitely, it should be at the top of your priority list. You can pursue your hobbies later on. However, it also depends on where you want to make your career. You must ask yourself what is your priority and start moving in that direction.
Using Scheduling Tools and Apps
You can either use a diary or scheduling apps like Google Calendar that can help you plan or schedule your day, week, or entire month. This will be extremely helpful for you. Scheduling helps us to devote time to important tasks and we can prioritize our work accordingly. You can set your goals and achieve them through proper scheduling. This is one of the best ways to balance student studies and hobbies.
What Are Your Goals?
You must figure out what exactly you want from your life. Establish your goals for study and hobbies.
Like, do you want to pursue a certain hobby just for your physical or mental health or do you want to make a career in that field?
Establishing clear-cut goals will help you to become successful in life. In this way, you can prioritize your tasks (in which you are interested) and set the deadlines for the same.
Importance of A Routine
If you want to achieve something in life then you must develop a routine and perform that task regularly. Those students who come first in the class usually have a routine and stick to it religiously. They consistently work and achieve their goals. Daily routines help us to become a better version of ourselves.
Avoiding Distractions And Practicing Everyday
There are times when you will face certain types of distractions at school or home.
You need to ask yourself what is your priority. Why are you doing a certain task? You can avoid the distractions by prioritizing your work.
Suppose your friends are playing or watching a movie and you are studying, you may feel tempted to go and join them, but if you allow that time to them, then your work will suffer and ultimately, it will consume your extra time to complete that work.
Also, you can select a specific day that you can spend with your friends and play with them. Secondly, you must practice every day so that you become skilled in that work. Especially, if you want to become an athlete, then regular practice is a must.
Short Breaks Are Very Important
Taking a few breaks throughout the day can help you to relax and relieve you from exhaustion.
You can sleep or listen to music and unwind at that time. This is called the Pomodoro technique, where it is important to take short breaks that make you more productive.
Studying or doing any activity for longer hours can ultimately make you lethargic. So, if you are planning to study for 6 hours a day, then take small breaks in between to continue your studies.
You can also pursue your hobbies during the break time. This is a great way for to students balance their studies and hobbies.
Don’t Sit Idle
Never sit idle throughout the day. Make it useful by writing important notes and planning your goals and the entire day. Where do you want to see yourself in the next five years and how do you want to move forward in your career are some of the important questions that students must ask themselves. You can also read books on career and communication to get more ideas about career choices and communication goals.
These are some of the important ways that you can manage your time and manage your hobbies and studies.
How to divide time between studies, assignment completion, and recreational activities?
Students often find it difficult to organize their studies and divide their time equally between classes, assignments, and leisure.
Students can address this issue in several ways. Let’s examine these study and hobby organization methods:
Classes And Assignments
As a student, your time will be divided between school hours, tuition, and hobby classes. Also, you will have to devote time to homework, assignments, and projects. In such scenarios, it is difficult to become a multitasker. You can start by dividing all the tasks throughout your day, week, or month. You have to find out which are your daily tasks and which are the ones that you can do in a week or month.
Take Help from Teachers
Discuss with your teachers and parents. They can help you organize your studies and recreational activities. If you are not able to take time for your hobbies, you can alternatively pursue them. Also, you should put less pressure on yourself. It is important to divide your time and get help from your teachers and parents to get the best guidance and manage your studies and hobbies.
Allotment of Time
Make a list of the most important to the least important tasks. And then allow the timing to each of them. You also have to keep a check on your timing and distractions. So that you can complete your work at the designated times.
Wastage of Timing
Time is the most valuable thing for a student. You can learn, complete your tasks, and develop your skills. Do not confuse it with the time that you devote to resting and recreational activities.
But here, I am talking about the total waste of time, where you are not utilizing your valuable time at all and doing useless things like scrolling reels on social media, procrastinating, consuming mindless entertainment content, gossiping, and spreading rumors.
Instead, you can utilize that time for reading or doing some physical activities to maintain your health.
Don’t be too rigid
Sometimes, we make rigid schedules for ourselves and bite more than we can chew. Make realistic, easily achievable goals. You have 24 hours in a day. While making a schedule, keep this in mind: you have to devote some time to rest and your hobbies.
Now it is totally up to you to decide how much time you want to devote to rest and hobbies. And how much time do you want to devote to self-study and completing assignments and homework?
You have to be flexible while making your schedules. At times, you may have to immediately complete a task, so you have to make your schedule in such a manner that you can incorporate any new task.
So, these are methods that students can use for balancing studies and hobbies.
How can students stay motivated to fulfill their study goals and pursue their hobbies without feeling exhausted?
There are some tried and tested tips that you can follow to accomplish your study goals and pursue your hobbies simultaneously, and they are:
Track Your Progress
You must track your progress on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. It is because you will succeed or fail to keep up with your schedule and goals on some days. This practice will help you to stay more consistent, motivated, and determined in completing your academic assignments and also find time for your hobbies. Also, the more work you complete before the deadline, the more encouragement you will get to move forward in your career.
Set New Goals in Life
Once you have succeeded in accomplishing all of your tasks, try to set a new goal in life.
Students have so much to learn in their careers and personal lives. Instead of wasting time on entertainment junk, utilize your precious time to set new goals and achieve them.
You can learn a new language, computer code, or musical instrument.
There are numerous exciting options for you to explore. So, whenever you have completed your older tasks, make way for incorporating the new ones.
The Best Way to Motivate Yourself
There will be moments when you may feel an absolute lack of motivation to carry out your tasks. This usually happens when you are devoting a large chunk of your everyday schedule to a certain number of tasks. You may feel weary and fatigued.
At that time, take some time off and speak to your family or friends. Discuss what you are feeling inside. Sometimes, we need to communicate and express our thoughts with others. It helps us relax, and it takes the pressure off our minds.
Think about why you are doing a certain task and what importance it holds for you. If you think in this manner, then it will help you regain motivation. Another thing that can help you stay motivated is group study.
Sitting in your room for longer hours during study time may push you towards total isolation and loneliness.
You may easily get distracted from your studies and start doing unnecessary activities that will ultimately waste your time, for example, scrolling on social media apps.
Instead, take some time out and visit your friends for a group study session. You all can discuss your curriculum-related topics, plan how you want to proceed and complete your syllabus before the exams.
Stay With Positive People
You may have heard a famous proverb that says that we become what we eat; similarly, we also become the kind of people we interact with.
If you are spending your time with people who have a pessimistic outlook on life and those who waste their time on procrastination, then beware. There is nothing wrong with communicating for a short while with people who have a completely different perspective or set of habits in life.
However, spending too much time with those who are not serious or determined about their future will also hurt you.
Make sure to surround yourself with people from whom you can learn something, who can mentor you, and who can help you grow in life. People with negative perspectives may, at times, also have other traits like being dishonest, lazy, and lacking humility.
So, choose your friends wisely. Positive and experienced people can help you stay motivated in your career.
How can students deal with academic and personal obligations and also devote time to hobbies?
Organizing and planning studies and hobbies could be a demanding task, especially when you have to keep track of their implementation every day. There are chances that sometimes you may slip from your everyday schedule, and that’s ok. Don’t be too harsh on yourself. So, here we will highlight some academic and personal obligations that the students face. And how they can devote time to their hobbies.
Personal Obligations and Academic Obligations
Students, you may have experienced this scenario in the past as well. Suppose you have to prepare for your exams, complete your assignments, and also focus on your passion; say, some of you are interested in sports.
And while organizing your studies and passion, you are also required to show up at a family occasion. Now, even though it is a hypothetical scenario, it is something that many of you have experienced.
So, what can we do in such situations?
First of all, break down your tasks into smaller, more achievable goals, and then take up those tasks that are high on your priority list. Suppose your exam is tomorrow; then obviously, you have to compromise and skip the personal event, or you can show up for a very brief time, say, for an hour, and then leave the venue.
Another situation could be that you have an important test match and your exams on the same day. Then, as a student, you must prioritize your academics. Education helps you become independent in life. You must complete your schooling and then decide what you want to do with your life. If you want to pursue your hobby as a career, then choose it.
Sometimes, we have to make difficult decisions in life, and we do not need to leave our hobbies as well. But the point here is that you must complete your basic education and then choose where you want to proceed further.
And as far as personal obligations are concerned, you can devote some time to them and then resume your studies. This is the best way to organize and plan your studies and hobbies.
What are the advantages of planning and organizing student studies and hobbies?
Let’s have a quick look at the advantages of planning and organizing student studies and hobbies:
- If you consistently balance your studies and hobbies, then you will excel in both of them. Many students are extremely passionate about their hobbies and want to pursue them as a career in the future. And they are not very keen on taking the academic route. So, for them, studies may feel burdensome; however, education opens doors to many more career options in life. Whatever field you choose in life, you must keep learning and becoming skilled so that you excel in that field.
- There are so many things you learn from planning and organizing studies. Like time management skills, consistency, determination, and sincerity.
- While preparing for studies, you can take up hobbies like public speaking, arts and crafts, or any sports. Participating in these hobbies can enable you to represent your school at inter-school or inter-state levels. Schools are not only about studying; they also shape a student’s overall personality through various extracurricular activities. By properly organizing and planning your studies and hobbies, you can excel in both fields.
- Balancing your academics and passion can help you become immensely disciplined in life. This practice will help you further in life when you start working in an organization.
What did we learn?
You can balance your studies and hobbies together through proper time management skills, prioritizing, and consistently implementing your tasks. You must track your progress through various mobile or desktop apps that can also help you to be more consistent with your everyday tasks. You should not waste your time on unnecessary things if you want to focus on your studies and also balance your hobbies and passions.
In the article, I have mentioned several ways through which you can balance your studies and hobbies and how to deal with personal and academic obligations and manage them. These are some of the most useful tips that you can use in your daily life, and succeed.
Read the article to know more.
