ppOTD Experience Tips: Balancing School, Work & Life
As you consider going back to school to earn your post professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy, you may be concerned about maintaining a school, work, and life balance. After all, maintaining a good balance can help you get the most from your learning and application experiences, helping you grow as a student and an occupational therapist. Once you develop a system and find a rhythm you will be able to manage your professional life, personal life at the same time. Below are a few tips to help get you started:
1. Start with a calendar to help you understand your life, work, and school commitments. Add the key events…that soccer game, the Inspire conference, or your course assignment due dates. This will help you see how much and where you have time to schedule your course work and study.
2. Remember the big picture to help stay energized. There are a ton of demands on your time, take a minute to remember your future goals and why you are going back to school.
3. Set short-term, low-pressure goals to help you stay focused and motivated. Breaking the course work into smaller pieces that you can tackle and complete to keep you on track during the semester.
4. Plan & Practice flexibility. Sudden changes can happen, being fluid and flexible can make a huge difference to helping reduce your stress. Build in extra time for assignments and think about integrating short bursts of studying, such as 15 minutes during your commute.
5. Set your boundaries and communicate your needs to help you stay focused. Let your support network know what you can do, cannot do, and how they can help. After all “no man is an island.”
6. Celebrate you and your accomplishments big and small. Every accomplishment along your degree path was the result of your hard work. Reward yourself with that afternoon treat, a long hike, or special movie night.
7. Make space to eat, sleep, and be healthy to nourish your body and mind.
To learn more about the online, budget friendly post professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy please visit our ppOTD program site.
