Balancing Life between College and Internship.
The balancing act is one of the most difficult things to master.
The balance between work and life is one of the biggest struggles many young professionals deal with on a daily basis. As students, we must balance school, a social life and work.
Internships are a crucial part of college life and as student interns, we must balance all of that plus an internship. Internships are a lot of work to begin with, but when thrown in with all of your other responsibilities, you will begin to feel overwhelmed. There’s no perfect way to balance everything in your life, but there are a few things you can do to make everything run smoothly.
Get organized
Nothing will ever get done in a timely fashion or done well if you aren’t organized. Organization doesn’t mean you need to color-code, file or plan your every step, but it means to gather everything you need to be successful. Find your perfect method of organization and master it. Make a to-do list for each project/organization that that you work for and cross things off as you complete them. If required - also color code a monthly calendar, so you can see everything in a monthly view.
Prioritize
Before you take up any new task, analyse how important it is and compare it with your current work and college schedule. Rank your tasks in order of significance to balance your upcoming obligations and tasks. Prioritize the tasks to complete them as per the order and to avoid confusions at a later stage. While giving your best in every work is essential, you need to ensure that your priorities are satisfied to meet your future goals.
Stick to your schedule
Creating a schedule always helps to complete the tasks easier. You should stick to the schedule that helps you to balance your lectures and part-time work. If you schedule your tasks well ahead, then you can avoid falling behind and slacking off in your commitments. How can you do that? Whether it is your lecture, your internship schedule or any other obligations, marking up due dates on a calendar help you to keep track of your deadlines.
Budget your time
Analyse the amount of time you need to spend on various tasks such as finishing an assignment or getting involved in a group discussion. You should keep enough time during weekdays to complete your college work because you will be busy with the internship during the weekend. To maintain a balance, make sure you give sufficient time to enjoy things you like such as playing a sport or spending some quality time with friends.
Set goals before the week starts
Whether you have to work on a draft for your research paper or develop a social media plan for your internship, you should make it a habit to prioritize the tasks right from the beginning of the week. This will help you to finish important tasks and plan accordingly based on your availability and difficulty of the tasks. If you have exams coming up or a research paper to finish, let your internship provider know your difficulties so that you can take some break from the work..
Give yourself some time to relax
One of the most important tips to balance college schedule and internship is to keep some time to relax and have fun. Never get exhausted by taking up too much of responsibilities in your hand. Indulge in things you enjoy such as hanging out with friends, reading books, picking up a new hobby, playing sports, or watching a favourite TV show. Getting involved in your favourite activities will enhance your working capabilities, which in turn help you to tackle responsibilities in a better way.
Balancing college life and an internship is not an easy task. However, if you set your goals by following a systematic schedule, you can accomplish all your tasks without sacrificing your education.
