How To Balance Work & Life: 10 Top Tips For MBA Students

MBA students often understand that they are committing themselves to a lengthy and often challenging course when they sign up for this qualification, but this doesn’t mean they are prepared for the challenges ahead. There are those students who quickly find that they cannot keep up with their home and work lives, so one tends to suffer because of the other. While students will most likely find an MBA to be challenging regardless of how they go about it, there are certain tips that they can put into practice to help them in balancing these two facets of their lives. Jump to 50 Affordable Online MBAs.

Choose The Right Location

The first thing any prospective MBA student will need to consider is the location of their school, because this will affect how easily they get to class and back, as well as the length of their commute time. Sometimes, the difference between passing or failing a course could end up lying in where the school is based, so students will want to make sure that they take this into consideration when enrolling. Ideally, a student will want to choose a school that is located close to their home or work so that they can perform all of the necessary duties within this radius. Saving time on a commute means that individuals will have more time to study, be with their families or even work.

Be Realistic

Students are often so excited when they sign up for their courses that they often convince themselves they will be able to do a lot more than is humanly possible. The course hours will usually inform a student of how long they can realistically expect to spend on each subject. There might be some people who move slower or faster than this, but it is recommended that individuals take these credit hours into consideration when they are choosing a course. Some people find going back to school something of a shock, so it is usually a good idea to start out slowly and increase your hours as you go, rather than the other way around. In instances where a student is taking on one or two large electives, it might be a good idea to balance these with some simpler ones.

Take Care of Yourself

While some people might be able to function for a certain amount of time on no sleep, junk food and little or no exercise, this isn’t something they will be able to keep up for long. Because an MBA student might be expected to juggle home life, work and their studies as they go about completing their MBA, they will often find themselves struggling to find time, and one of the first things to suffer will be their self maintenance. Individuals need to remember that by caring for themselves, they will be able to put much more into every other facet of their lives, and this can often make all of the difference.

Turn Off The Television

The television wastes countless of hours that could have been better spent doing something productive, so it is generally a good idea that individuals limit the amount of time that they spend in front of it. It is recommended that individuals only turn on the television if there is something that they really want to watch, otherwise they should make the most of the sudden extra number of hours they have during the day.

Focus Your Attention on One Thing at a Time

When a student is attempting to balance an MBA, work and family life, they might find themselves getting distracted by all the things they don’t have time for, or by the things they are expected to complete. It is important that students focus on the activity that they are involved in at any given time, because this will allow them to invest more effort into the exercise. If someone is spending time with their family, they shouldn’t be thinking about work. If they are studying, they shouldn’t be thinking about the ballgame they are going to this weekend. Distractions end up wasting a lot of a person’s time, and this is generally unhealthy for the entire setup.

Don’t Try To Overachieve

Individuals who have unrealistically high expectations for themselves might often find that they aren’t happy with anything they do, regardless of how much time and effort they put into it, or whether they were successful in achieving their goals. Juggling different aspects of a person’s life isn’t easy, so students need to understand that there might be times when they simply won’t be able to perform as optimally as they would like.

Limit Travel Jobs

MBA students might want to consider positions that don’t require them to travel very often, if at all. Students who spend a lot of time away from home will find it even more challenging to balance their studies, work and home lives, and so opting for a local position might give them a better chance of getting through their studies before they start applying for these sorts of positions further down the line.

Family Planning

Professionals often advise that individuals who are planning to have children try to plan it so that the child arrives around the time they will be graduating. This sort of plan usually simply allows individuals to focus on their goals and spread out their responsibilities just a little bit more.

Teamwork

If an MBA student is a part of a family unit that consists of two parents, it might be a good idea for them to organize to have certain periods “off” from their responsibilities. This is something that both parents could get and it allows the student to focus solely on their studies or their work during certain periods, without distractions.

Balancing work, studies and family life can be daunting, but it is something that many MBA students are being expected to do, and what is more, it is something that is more than possible when people set their mind to it.

References:

• https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/articles/2012/11/12/10-work-life-balance-tips-for-mba-students
• https://myyouthcareer.com/10-top-tips-for-mba-studentsbalanced-work-life-structure/
• https://www.thesocialfirm.com/blog/news/work-life-balance-tips-for-mba-students