What are you doing with your time?
Obviously, you will be spending some on daily tasks such as shopping, cooking, eating, showering, cleaning, exercising, watching Netflix, seeing family, playing with children, walking the dog, washing the car etc. If you can work out what you are doing and whether you might be able to take just 5 hours of these 58 hours of time and repurpose it for studying, this can be a really useful exercise. Try it out, calculate your ‘spare’ hours and see if you can work out where they are going. If you need to restrict yourself to one or two hours of internet browsing or series watching per day to gain back some time, it is worth it to make sure you get your qualification. It’s better to make small sacrifices consistently than to end up missing out on a major event at the last minute such as a family wedding because your dissertation is due in on Monday.
But a degree takes up so much time…..
If you are on your HE degree course for three years, that’s around 120 weeks of study (you do get some respite breaks between semesters/years!).
That’s only about 3% of the average human lifespan.
Surely it’s worth a bit of extra work in that 3% so that you can make the change needed to start to shape the rest of your time into a life you want to live?
Doubling up
Work out if there are any activities where you could double up. For example, if you are commuting you could listen to podcasts or audio books or you could rehearse your presentation content while on a walk.
Share your story
I truly want this resource to grow with your input. If you’re a working parent studying in HE, or if you simply resonate with these challenges, I invite you to make contact. Share your story, your unique experiences, the strategies that work for you, and any advice you have for others. Together, we can build a stronger, more supportive community for adult learners.
