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someobscurereference · 5 years

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I just started to start studying for my GMAT for business school and I have SO MANY creative hobbies (not necessarily writing, but more so on the art/drawing/crafting side). In undergrad I did the dumb (but fruitful!) thing to give up all my hobbies (gaming too!) for good grades. I don't want that. Now that I've graduated, I have full time work and now this new self studying. I don't want to throw away more hobbies again. How do you balance work/life/hobby/school?

This is a difficult question, but I’ll try my best to help! (Though it should be noted that I’ve also been doing wayyy less writing than I would like to be doing lately because of the new additions of an internship, independent study project, and a part time job on top of my regular school schedule and thus just don’t have the time or energy to write most of the time lately. I should also be studying for the GRE and I haven’t started yet. So nobody is perfect, and I also should be taken with a grain of salt.)

However! You really don’t need to throw out 100% of your hobbies and things you enjoy to do well in school. I played video games, crocheted, and wrote fic during my previous semesters of university while still maintaining pretty good grades overall. It’s more about balance than throwing hobbies away outright. Actually, I really would recommend you don’t do that. Keep things that make you happy. Your overall mood and head space will be a lot better if you do. There were definitely days I could have gotten farther ahead in my work if I had studied but chose to make a doll or write a fic instead. But there were also times where I didn’t do either of those things for a week or more at a time because it was Crunch Time and I just couldn’t afford that. But I always came back to those things, and my grades were just fine in the end.

A full-time job is eating up most of your time already, I assume. And then you maybe come home and study for the GMAT after work every night. Plus cooking, cleaning, errands, friend/family invites, etc. Which probably doesn’t leave you with a ton of hobby/personal time at the end of the day, usually. Or so I’m presuming after watching my friend study for the MCAT for the past few months. But at the end of the day, balance is really important. It doesn’t have to be 100% studying or 100% hobbies. You’re going to have to actively carve times for both out for yourself, but it’s worth it.

Work is maybe unavoidable since those hours are probably pretty set. Plus you need to pay bills. But unless your test is literally next month, it’s probably a good idea to carve out a little more personal time than you are already. Because “me” time is super necessary! There needs to be time in your week where you sit and unwind a little. And if you unwind through creative hobbies and this isn’t a separate time you have to book for yourself, all the better! (I’m the type of person whose unwind time and whose creative time are two different things. Everyone works differently. If this is you also, that’s alright.)

So if you’re studying 7 days out of the week already, I would suggest making making that 5 or 6 days instead. Or however your schedule is setup. If you feel you can’t drop a day entirely, maybe halving your time on a certain day may help. (For example, studying for an extra hour on Saturday so you have extra time Sunday or Monday evening for you.) Taking a handful of hours (or even a day, if that’s your break day or something) can feel detrimental to your GMAT score. But you’re theoretically studying a few months in advance already. And you’re also going to get super burnt out if you do nothing but work and study all the time. I’ve been watching my MCAT friend go through the same thing. It’s miserable. Even if there’s an hour here or there you could theoretically spend studying rather than in front of the TV or with some paint or whatever you do for fun, your study habits are going to be way less effective and you’re going to retain way less if you feel like garbage because you never do anything you enjoy either.

Even if you’re not the schedule type, I would recommend making a schedule. Break your life down by day. What time is for work? What time is for studying? What errands do you need done this week? (That last one can be a sticky note next the schedule or something. You don’t have to say “laundry = 1 hour” or anything. This is just a reminder.)

Block these times off. Now you have your study time. Example: “Monday, 7AM to 5PM. Work. 7PM to 10PM. Study time.” Remember to give yourself time to catch dinner after work and whatnot in there. Set this schedule out according to your work and study needs. Look at where you could theoretically have Hobby Time.

Maybe your schedule doesn’t have to be that specific. My personal schedule is just a series of sticky notes that looks like:

Monday

Conversation HW

Lesson Plans (add Japanese and Print)

Teach English

Tuesday

Print Presentation Handouts

Finish Presentation

Reading HW

Etc.

These aren’t necessarily all things I do on Monday or Tuesday. These are things due by Monday and Tuesday. (Except for work, which is the day of). This is my reminder that I need to have these things done before Monday morning or else I’ve missed my deadline. And I have subsequent lists underneath that for Wednesday, Thursday, etc. Your schedule maybe has more specific times. Maybe it has weekly deadlines instead of daily. Your schedule doesn’t have to look like this. It should fit you and your needs.

Life is busy and hectic. It’s easy to get swept up in it and say you have no time for your hobbies, especially if you have more than one. The most difficult part is carving time out for yourself. But it’s also the most rewarding and beneficial.

And if there are days or times where you could theoretically be studying or doing a hobby but you’re just too tired, it’s okay to take a break. Your energy is finite. Don’t overextend yourself either. Just don’t let yourself get caught up in the easy cycle of putting off doing a hobby for the tenth time in a row either. I have trouble getting started writing after it’s been a while, but I also know it’s way easier once I force myself to just start.

One last note: If you really have “SO MANY” hobbies (not just 1 or 2), keep in mind that you may not be able to do them all as frequently as you’d like at the moment. Maybe pick one or two to focus on every week or two. Or cycle through them on a regular basis. Whatever works best for you. (For example, I haven’t crocheted anything in forever. But that’s the most time consuming hobby I have, and I like writing way more. So when my limited hobby time is available, I tend to pick writing more often. When I return to the US, I’ll probably pick up crochet again). If you’re trying to go through 5 different hobbies in the same week, that’s going to be really difficult. Pick one hobby and do a different hobby next week.

The GMAT isn’t forever! You won’t be studying for the rest of your life, thank goodness. I mean, when you get into graduate school, you’ll still be studying, yeah. But not for the GMAT. So hopefully that’ll be easier and you’ll get just a bit more breathing room then. Until then, be strong!

Good luck on your test! I know I talked a lot, but I hope this helps!

tl;dr I’d really recommend setting a weekly schedule for yourself and sticking by it because otherwise it’s way too easy to just let time slip by. You have to actively carve time out for your hobbies.

#my text #long post #asks #i'm a blabber mouth who says mostly the same thing always #but i hope this helps

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