Striking a Balance between Life and Work in Grad School

There is no question graduate school can be extremely time and energy consuming. It is a time of balancing increased responsibilities, such as assignments, reading (lots of reading), writing, research, deadlines, grading, working, networking…and the list goes on! The struggles and stress tend to mount when determining which tasks take precedence and which must wait, and as many grad students know, it is often the social activities that take a backseat to academic obligations. While this is understandable, it is not necessarily recommended. Yes, academics are why you are in grad school, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun along the way! Striking a balance between life and work will not only keep you sane, it can also make the entire experience much more enjoyable. Here are some suggestions of things you might want to try to help increase your sense of balance in your life during grad studies.

• Be realistic. While there may be high expectations and heavy workloads, you need to decide how much of your life you are willing to devote to this endeavour. Try not to overextend yourself; you wouldn’t want to burn out before your degree is complete! Try not to compare yourself to other students – this is your degree after all, so set your own pace and stick to it.
• Manage your time effectively. Break your day into manageable segments and be realistic about the timing of tasks. Distractions and interruptions may arise, but try your best to avoid them. It is also important to know when it’s time to stop so rather than overworking yourself, take time to break, recharge, and come back to your task with a fresh set of eyes.
• Organize. It is crucial to maintain organization, both in terms of short-term and long-term tasks, commitments, and goals, as well as in terms of the physical space in which you work and live. Stay on top of what you need to accomplish (i.e. with the help of to-do lists and calendars) by making time for what is important and cutting out what is not.
• Set priorities. It is beneficial to get involved in extracurricular activities during your time as a grad student, however it is equally beneficial to be selective in terms of which activities you partake in (i.e. clubs, committees, part-time work, volunteering, etc.). Will it fit with your goals and priorities? Will you benefit from your participation? Take time to decide and never agree to anything out of guilt.
• Set boundaries. It can be very helpful to maintain a clear line between school and your personal life. Try implementing small changes, such as not answering e-mails after a certain time every evening, not completing school work in bed, or not multitasking when eating. Although these may be small changes to make, they can make a world of difference in maintaining boundaries between ‘school’ time and ‘you’ time.
• Sleep. This may seem like a common sense idea, but it is essential for success in grad school. Yes, there may be times when sleep doesn’t seem like an option, but remember you can get more work done in forty well-rested hours than in sixty bleary-eyed ones. Adequate sleep will not only help you to feel more refreshed, it will help you fight off potential sicknesses more easily too.
• Develop social networks. Because grad school can often feel like an isolating endeavour, it is important to ensure you maintain some level of socialization. Whether this is with family, friends outside of academia, or your fellow students, it helps to know that their support exists and will be there if you need it.
• Make time for yourself. ‘Free time’ won’t magically appear – you have to make it for yourself! This can be anything from reading for pleasure to exercising to having dinner with friends; make sure you take time to break from your studies to do something that makes you happy.

Information on work-life balance resources for graduate students at the University of Guelph can be found at the following link:

http://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/assistance/learning_services/graduates/individual_consultation.cfm

This post was adapted from College Cures’ ‘How to Maintain a Work, Life, Grad School Balance’ by Erica Moss (http://www.collegecures.com/2012/how-to-maintain-a-work-life-grad-school-balance/), Balance in Me’s ‘Achieving Life/Work Balance While Attending Graduate School’ by Kate McKenzie (http://balanceinme.com/worklife-balance/achieving-lifework-balance-while-attending-graduate-school/), Grad Share’s ‘Wellness: Coping with Studies, Work, and Family Life’ by Bonnie Ann Cain (http://www.gradshare.com/advice.html?id=634), University of Minnesota’s ‘Graduate Student Work-Life Balance’ (http://www.cs.umd.edu/~oleary/gradstudy/node5.html), and CRA-W’s ‘Balancing Graduate School and Personal Life’ by Andrea Danyluk and Tiffani L. Williams (http://www.cra-w.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=94jZ65lgTDU%3D&tabid=74).