I remember doing my degree while I was employed, managing my team, carrying out my day job and trying to study was no easy job!
So when I decided to do my masters, I thought being self-employed would help so much. Being totally in control of my time, I was sure I could make this work. Little did I know, not having a team of people and a company paying you a regular paycheck, definitely makes it a harder process.
All of my courses run over a weekend (about once a month, sometimes twice if my modules cross over) and attending those are the easy part. The hard part is putting ‘real’ work on the back burner so that I can research and create business reports for fake companies. While I know I am learning valuable tools that will help in the future, the immediate need to keep the business running is critical.
Real work is what pays the bills and being self-employed means I am the only person that can do the ‘real’ work so how do I split my time? If you are hoping for a silver bullet – you are in the wrong place. This is much more practical.
- Plan your time wisely – I know you are saying easier said than done! – but honestly, this is the key. I found that research could take days but I always felt distracted if I thought I should be doing other work. So the new strategy is that I do 2 important work tasks in the morning and then set aside the afternoon for research and studying. This has proven to be much more effective!
- Unplug – hard when you have your own business, but very vital. When I am researching I turn off my emails. The amount of distraction one junk email can cause as it pops up in the corner of your screen is worth the shutdown. I get some much more done in the time I have and so far the world hasn’t stopped because I wasn’t checking my emails.
- Get someone to help. It is important to have someone to keep you on track and accountable. This can be a friend, family member or someone trusted in your network. The main task for this person is just to ask you how you are getting on and ask you why if you aren’t doing what you are meant to.
Studying is hard at any stage of your life but can add so much benefit to our capabilities, so if you are a business owner and already busy, try to find ways to make life a bit easier by using the steps above.
Please add any other helpful tips in the comments and happy studying from one student to another.