Hey home skillet! So I'm not sure if you've ever taken an online class before as a part of your college experience but do ya have any advice? While my job as a translator with the Army will qualify as experience, most jobs I'll run into when I transfer into the civilian workforce will require a 4 year degree. So I figured online classes would work with the flexibility of work while not costing $$$ while wastin the tic toc of my two rice grain sized patience with the American Education system.
“would work while not costing $$$ while wastin the tic toc of my two rice grain sized patience with the American Education system”
THIS DESCRIPTION THOUGH iloveit. I’VE MISSED YOU HANNAH I’M SO SORRY REAL LIFE HAS DESTROYED ME
As to general advice for online courses I’ve replied to a similar ask here!
I’m currently doing the same thing - balancing online classes with full time work. A key advantage, as you’ve said is that taking online classes allow you to be flexible with your time.
The key is to be organised and to learn to prioritise.
In a practical sense, for me this meant:
Diarising everything, setting alerts on my phone etc.
Giving up a weekend or two
Learning to do work on the go
Stop being such a perfectionist - allocating a set amount of time to complete a task and submitting it.
Communicating with others/ my support network and managing their expectations (e.g. I wont be able to make dinner this week, but how about breakfast instead?)
Relying heavily on critical reading/ analysis, aka “I don’t have to read 10000 pages, if I can pinpoint the key 5 pages”
It’s still a steep learning curve for me though.
Cause at the end of the working day, the last thing I want to do is study. At the end of the working week, there’s nothing worse than sacrificing an entire weekend to study.
Because I’m fucking human.
Because I did that throughout high school and university.
I’m not going to make the same mistake with my professional life.
You’ll quickly learn that full time mon-fri work leaves very little time throughout the working week to sort through life admin lol.
Personally I’ve just had to set up some non-negotiables. Whether that be one evening per week, or having a ‘set appointment’ e.g. date night, or family dinner. I know that I need an evening, once a week (at least) to just rest and recouperate. I need to perform my best at work. To do so, I need to rest.
And I’ll admit it took me a while to adjust to this routine. Old habits of “fuck if I take this extra hour studying as opposed to going out for dinner, I can smash out another 1,500 words on my assignment!”
But I needed those breaks. I was happier once I made time for things outside of work and study. And I sure as hell made up for that time - I was more focussed, and found that a task that I set aside 2 hours for could be completed in 1 hour.
It’s all still an imperfect juggling act for me to be honest. But knowing my limits, asking for help and planning with others has really helped.
Good luck!!
