It’s hard to be a mom juggling parenthood, family life, and trying to finish school. You might think it would be impossible to find any time for yourself, but many time management strategies can help you with this! In this blog post, we will discuss eight tips for moms who are still studying and working towards getting their degree.
Here’s our list of the best time management tips for moms still going to school…
Time Management Means You Must Prioritize Your Tasks
You don’t have endless hours in the day, so you must learn how to prioritize tasks and use your time more efficiently. Prioritizing doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does require a lot of discipline. As you go through your day, make sure that you spend time on the tasks and activities that will produce quality results rather than wasting time with low-priority items or doing things quickly instead of well.
You also want to make sure that you are spending time on the most important things. For example, if your schoolwork is less urgent than getting dinner ready for your family or helping with homework, it should take a backseat to these tasks. If you have trouble prioritizing by yourself, ask trusted friends and teachers what they think are your top three priorities right now.
Be Flexible with Your Schedule
You should also make sure that your schedule is as flexible as possible to accommodate changes and unexpected events without too much disruption. If you have a day job or other commitments outside of school, try to build time into your study hours to deal with anything that comes up during the week (e.g., if you have a child who is sick and needs extra care).
And if your schedule changes each week, consider doing some of your studying in advance. If you’re unable to predict what kind of time commitment will be required from day to day, it may also help to study more frequently during the course rather than trying to get through everything at once.
If you get the opportunity, vary your study location throughout the week so that different areas of your brain get to be engaged (e.g., kitchen table one day, coffee shop another day). This will help you avoid getting stuck in a rut where it becomes too easy to fall back on familiar study habits.
If possible, do not accept too many extracurricular activities. Your children need to see their parents during this crucial developmental stage in life; however, it will be challenging to keep up with your school schedule if you are taking care of everyone except yourself.
Set Realistic Goals For Yourself
Keep your goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. You don’t want to set a plan that is too easy or difficult to make at the right level where you can succeed and push yourself. You should also set achievable goals. This means, don’t try and learn a whole semester in one night if it isn’t possible. Instead, break up your studying so you can work on learning different things at once and pace yourself over the entire week or month. This will help motivate you because if something isn’t happening the way you want it to, you can reevaluate and set new goals.
Try To Do As Much Online As Possible
Another way that you can save time is by doing as much online as possible. For example, create an email address specifically for school and other academic purposes so that it gets separated from your emails if possible. That way you won’t have to travel all the time, which saves a lot of money and time! You could also sign up to take courses like the master of nursing online.
Try To Do The Hardest Assignments First
You can also try to do the most challenging assignments first. This will allow you to get them out of the way, and then you will not have anything else hanging over your head as far as school goes for that day or week. You could even break down each assignment into sections so that completing the project seems more manageable.
If you can, try to do your work when everyone else is asleep or not in the same room as you are. This will allow you to focus better on what needs to get done without any distractions.
Try To Get Enough Sleep At Night
You could try to get enough sleep at night by going to bed a little earlier each night and getting up slightly later each day as well. You can even set your alarm for the same time every morning so that you know when it is time to go back to bed if you happen not to be tired enough to sleep yet.
One thing you could try is to cut back on your caffeine intake. Try going from drinking one cup of coffee a day to just half a cup and seeing if it makes any difference in the amount of energy you have during the day and how well you sleep when nighttime comes around again. This will be helpful because if you are tired, you will find that it is more difficult for you to study.
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help to Help You With Your Time Management
As a mom, you are expected to be a “Superwoman” and do everything yourself. When it comes to studying, though, sometimes asking for help is the best thing you can do! If your child’s school offers tutoring programs or has an after-school program where they have someone available to help students with their homework, then take advantage of it.
Remember that you are not alone. There is a community of moms who can help and support you to achieve your goals!
Don’t Compare Yourself To Others
This is something that no one likes doing, but it’s so easy for moms to do when they are studying or have a career. It is crucial not only for your mental health and well-being but also because you want your children to see their mothers as strong women who can accomplish anything they put their minds to, not as mothers who constantly compete with others.
Your child will learn how important it is to study based on your example! They may be too young to understand what you’re doing, but they do notice when you take time out of your day or week to hit the books or do some extra studying.
Time management is a significant challenge for many moms who are studying. When you add the other responsibilities of motherhood to your schoolwork, it can seem impossible to find time to research and complete assignments on top of taking care of children and running household errands. However, with the right strategies and a little creativity, moms who are studying can find time to get their schoolwork done.