Story about The Man who Excelled at Work, Studies, and Fitness Despite a Busy Schedule

You find a time if needed, but some tips and tricks are essential

It’s a real story about myself five years ago. The real inspiration for writing this article came from hearing from many friends that they don’t have time for anything besides their jobs.

Any time I hear this story, I can’t understand why it happened like this. I thought people were too lazy, but the real reason, as I understood, is much more profound.

With a goal and understanding why you need to achieve it, you can find the time, energy, and other resources to accomplish it.

That’s why, in this article, I want to share with you a story about the boy who had the following things in parallel during the same period:

• Working eight hours in the office
• Studying at the University with the necessary attendance
• 12+ hours per week for English courses
• 6 Hours per week for the gym
• Meeting friends
• Having hobbies

Above, you may see my regular weekly schedule for 2018. It isn’t enjoyable, and I have a much easier schedule now.

But I want to show you you have as much time as needed. And if you add something to your life, you will find a way to do it.

Now, let’s look at how I could implement it and what helped me do it.

Studying at The University

Everything started from the University. Like many students at the start, I didn’t have a job or any additional courses, and the main focus was on the University.

In 2016, I entered a university and found that it is much easier than a school from a psychological perspective.

No one cares if you attend lectures. You have your own time, and you decide how you use it. Exams and practice have deadlines to track and do everything on time.

I found that you have much more control at the University. As I remember, in school, teachers told us what we had to do every day and what tasks for tomorrow, and we had almost no flexibility in spending time.

In the University, there were many ways to pick their strategy. Some deadlines were several months, so we had to learn long-term planning.

Those students who decided to relax, forget about the work for months and then do everything in the minute often lost.

You never know what may happen at the last minute.

That’s why it’s essential to find all possible risks. If you start working ASAP on any work you get, you will find questions and blockers you must solve.

It’s better to start earlier. Additionally, if you finish everything earlier, you get more free time, and your head will be free of worries and thoughts about unfinished work.

To get a good plan, you need to do the following steps:

• Write all possible tasks you need to work on
• Write deadlines
• Prioritise work
• Find additional resources and people who can help you
• Overview each task
• Start working

Additionally, you may use any productive tool you want. For example, it may be the “Pomodoro Technique,” “2 Minutes Rule”, “First Eat a Frog,” etc.

So what I’ve learned from the University is that you need to be more active. Be bold and ask questions and say that you need help understanding something. People will help you if they see that you are genuinely interested in a question.

Also, you have to work on communication skills. At University, you will often have to communicate with teachers and students. Your communication gives you 80% of the final result.

At this point, I may underline the following essential skills you need to learn and improve to be successful at studying:

• Communication
• Planning
• Time Management
• Risk Management

Above, I have underlined the most critical skills that helped me succeed at studying. You may find more productivity tips and tools on the Internet. Also, please share your approaches in the comments to this article.

Full-Time Job in The Office

The next step in my life was finding a job. It started in the second grade of the University, and I had to visit an office.

This job was similar in schedule to any other person — five days per week and eight hours in the office.

At the same time, I had to study at the University, so this time, it became tricky.

Fortunately, my coworkers understood that I was a student and had to attend University sometimes, so I could go to the University during my workday and then return and continue working.

At this time, I had to plan more and watch my schedule better. Studying is much easier in the 3rd year of University than in previous years.

Still, I had exams and labs, so I had to spend my free time preparing and studying.

It’s an outstanding school of life when you have separate areas of your life that you need to support and stay productive.

Time wasn’t unlimited, so I had to decide what lectures to attend.

Additionally, I had to communicate with my teachers about alternative study plans and employers about university attendance.

All people are people; remember that your employer was a student, and your teachers were looking for a job in the same way as you. So, usually, people understand you and will try to help. But sometimes you may find those who will not agree with your parallel studying or working. In these cases, you need to find a working approach that will give you a deal with this person. I got worse marks with some teachers than I could, but that resulted from my choice. The latest decision is on your side. Decide what’s essential for you, what your goals and priorities and look for all possible solutions.

For those thinking about getting a first job while studying at the University, you will start working and communicating with other people and get more practice and knowledge. The actual job will teach you many things about real life.

At the same time, remember the University. Even if you don’t need that knowledge, remember that University isn’t only about understanding. You do group work there, communicate, negotiate, and learn new things from others. Sometimes, you may even meet brilliant teachers and professors who will give you the knowledge you won’t be able to find anywhere else. Respect this opportunity and never miss it. Finding a job and then finding a way to do it while studying and working will significantly benefit you in the future.

12+ Hours per Week on English Courses

English courses were the third big thing that took many hours during the week while I was working and studying at the University.

I work in IT, and as a person from a country that doesn’t have English as a first or second language, I had to learn it to get more job and life opportunities in the future.

In the fourth grade of University, I understood that 2 hours of English per week wasn’t enough.

I had already used many smartphone apps like Linguist and Duolingo to learn new words and grammar, but I still needed help with hearing and talking.

My coworker recommended great courses in my town with a vast amount of speaking practice that was a real benefit for those studying English.

Everything was looking amazing; the only thing was that I had to visit these courses three times per week, and each lesson was 3 hours (Additionally 40 minutes on the road to the dorm).

The good thing was that I had two lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, and the third on Saturday. So, I only had two weekly work days to attend these courses. Also, they were in the evening after my job, so I didn’t have a conflict between the University and my career.

Also, on those days that I hadn’t courses, I had to do a tremendous amount of homework that usually took 1–2 hours.

How did I find time for this course?

It’s a good question. First, I wanted to visit this course, which would greatly benefit me because I could improve my English often. And after years, I don’t regret my choice.

Also, as I said previously, I had set up my studying and working system perfectly, so I had no debts or unfinished work. I have a habit of finishing any task as soon as possible.

This one small habit allowed me to get more time and energy to learn something new. That time, it was English.

Also, as I regularly admit, we have 16 hours each day if you sleep 8. Many people sleep 8 hours or even less, which means that almost each of us has 16 hours or even more during the day.

Let’s say you spend 8 hours per day on your job. Then you still have 8 hours during your day. It’s your time, and you decide how to use it.

If you are on the road, you can do the following activities:

• Read or listen to a book
• Learn study materials
• Plan your workday
• Write emails or chat with coworkers/classmates

During your free time hours, you can optimize everything you have in your life. For example, if you want to start reading, you can read on the road or for 5 minutes in the morning or evening.

If you want more sports activities, walk more and exercise regularly at home for 5–15 minutes.

You have hours, so spending several minutes on sports or education will be good. Many people watch TV and movies and scroll socials for hours during the day. To become productive and successful, you must find ways to use your free time (even minutes) to benefit yourself.

Scrolling for 5 minutes on Instagram will help you become innovative or successful. Or won’t 5 minutes of reading make you smarter?

Five minutes is a minimal amount of time. But if you do something consistently daily, those 5 minutes become 30 hours per year (5 * 365 = 1825 minutes).

And if we take an honest look at the fact that people usually waste not 5 minutes but 20 minutes or even an hour, we may say that we lose 200–300 hours per year.

Do you want to waste your time?

You are right; we only have a little time. But at the same time, it doesn’t mean that we can’t find that time. If you have a genuine desire, you can easily change your life starting from those 5 minutes and how you use them.

Do you have a goal to read two books during the month? Then, read every day for 10 minutes, and you will read at least one book. Set tangible goals and accomplish them.

Be careful with your time because it looks like we have a significant amount of it during the day, but at the same time, it’s straightforward to lose.

Today, I did a short meditation session, which was 3 minutes. If you ever meditate, you can understand me; these 3 minutes were too long.

But at the same time, I could open YouTube or Instagram and spend 30 minutes there, and after this, I wouldn’t even notice how much time I’ve spent.

That’s why you need to control your time and pick the right actions you want to do. Remember to consider small actions because they are the bricks of the bigger ones.

Sport Activities

The last thing I want to add in this article is a sport. You need to do sports activities if you want a healthy body and brain.

Previously, I said that I had parallel three things:

• Full-Time Office Job
• University
• 12+ Hours of English Courses

Additionally, I want to have sports activities. At that time, I had a gym near my dorm, so I could visit it without spending much time on the road.

Usually, I have visited it three times per week. But depending on the schedule, sometimes I had to miss some days and do something instead.

There are a bunch of activities you can do at your home. For several months, I was doing a plank exercise. It’s a sluggish activity that takes only several minutes.

Additionally, you can do push-ups, squats, yoga, stretching, etc. These activities are great because you decide how much time you can spend on them.

For example, this morning, I wanted to start working ASAP, but before, I wanted to do a quick sports activity. So, I did a 7-minute exercise that included 12 exercises, each 30 seconds long. They are called high-intensity interval training.

I love these exercises because they take little time, simultaneously fill you with energy, and support your body’s health.

Yesterday, I didn’t have much free time and energy, but in the evening, I turned on a timer on my phone for only 1 minute and did push-ups. By the end of the exercise, my arms were burning, so I felt the results of the exercises.

Of course, if you want to become a bodybuilder or achieve significant results in the sport, you will need to spend much more time. But if your goal is to have a healthy body and support mental health, then you can spend that time on the sport. The only thing you need is to do it regularly.

Summary

This story was a natural part of my life. I got an idea to remember it and share it with you. I felt inspired and developed new ideas about the benefits of planning, strategy, and communication.

If someone asks me what to learn first, I communicate because we may learn many things from others. And at the same time, we must be good at planning and strategy.

Time management is essential, and it depends on how well you control your time and what actions you will take.

You can only do some things you want during your day. But if you decide to start doing something new and put your focus into it, you will easily find additional several hours.

If you need time on something important, you will find it. It’s much easier than you think. Nothing will stop you if you have a goal and a reason.

Control your time, actions, and decisions.