How I balance school and work life
Throughout my final year of high school, I worked a part-time job at the mall. Before starting my first year of university a few months later, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to continue balancing a job and completing my educational responsibilities at the same time. I always believed that university life would be an overwhelming load of duties where I wouldn’t have the time to be home and relax. Today, I’m a commuter student attending the Journalism program at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) who has continued to work, and I think that I’m doing just fine.
I’m grateful to be in a program where I’m not constantly drowning in school work and can make the most out of my personal life. Although it does get extremely stressful at times, it’s still possible to have a part-time job while attending university. Here are my tips for finding balance!
Always schedule around school
I try not to base my school schedule around the days that I have to work. Rather, I do the opposite. One thing that I always do is try to take morning classes so that I’m free in the evenings. I never forget to put education first as it’s the pathway to my future.
When I continued working at the mall throughout my first year at TMU, I made sure to only take weekend and closing shifts. I left the weekdays to complete all of my assignments and other extracurricular responsibilities. Since I attended school every weekday except Tuesdays, I worked mornings on that day so that I could spend the evenings with my family and friends. I also finished class early on Fridays, so I would commute home to work a closing shift. Additionally I only worked Saturday mornings, and left the rest of the weekend free.
I now work a remote Career Boost job at TMU as a content writer. I love writing blogs for you to read on the Future Student Blog, and you’ll sometimes also catch me in your inbox. Be sure to sign up for our emails! This position is primarily online with bi-weekly meetings on campus. I highly recommend applying to work at TMU, whether the position is remote, hybrid or on-campus.
Give yourself a day to do nothing
It’s hard to set boundaries when I feel like I have so much to do in such little time. Even now, I find myself constantly checking to see if I should start my assignments weeks ahead of time. When I try to distract myself, my brain is still running through ideas, like an introductory sentence in my new blog. I’m in the process of developing a habit where I leave one day of the week to not think about school or work — it’s usually Sundays. If I don’t do this, I get burnt out and lose motivation to do anything.

I get to draw for fun on slower days. I love reconnecting with hobbies that I step away from when times get busy.
Set realistic goals
Prior to starting work-related projects, I make sure that I’ve completed my most important school assignments. Leaving the smaller tasks for later makes the workload more feasible and keeps me organized.
I also create a daily schedule — it’s as simple as writing down my duties for the week in my phone’s notes app. I have set expectations for schoolwork that I hope to complete every day, and if I don’t complete those goals, I push them to the next morning. Creating a schedule ensures that I meet my personal deadlines successfully.
It’s important to have a healthy mindset while balancing your work, school and personal life. There’s no point in stressing over things that you’ve been able to get through before. For myself, it’s better to keep busy than to do nothing at all. I also know that TMU offers great mental health and wellbeing support and services. Our university is number one in Ontario for student services, and a good place to start exploring what’s available is by visiting the Student Wellbeing website. Here you’ll find information about Academic Accommodation Support, Counselling and more!
Bye for now,
Hadiqah
Thumbnail image: Ivan Samkov via Pexels (external link)