I'm currently working full-time, have a small family, working on a Master's through Georgia Tech's OMS CS, am very involved in my religion, and have a few hobbies I like to enjoy when I can. Between all that, I don't have much time. Scheduling work is easy. I need to get 8 hours a day, Monday through Friday. That's also a pretty high priority because it's how I provide for my family. Family time gets a little more tricky, but it's usually after work and before the children go to bed and as much time as possible on the weekends. My religious involvement is also pretty easy to plan. It's mostly just Sundays for most of the day and a few, scheduled meetings that come up occasionally. School is generally after the kids go to sleep and as needed on the weekends. My hobbies are the hard thing to schedule. Luckily I get to do a few of them at work (eg. Running Club or Disc Golf Club at lunch once a week), but when I can't do it at work it often takes a little time from something else.
The reason I'm able to participate in so much is that I have a schedule that doesn't change much from day to day or week to week and I stick to it. If I don't do school time at night, I get behind. If I don't go to work, I lose my job. If I don't spend time with my family, we're not as happy in the home and I risk putting my family life in jeopardy. If one part is out of balance, it usually affects the others.
So, prioritize what you want to do. Schedule the highest priority first. Write it down and stick to it. Accept that you don't have infinite time and some days you'll only be able to do a fraction of what you want, but that's okay. Doing something on an item that's important to you is better than nothing or doing something on an item that's not important.
Speaking of priorities... I better get back to school work!
I completely agree with this. Scheduling and prioritizing are key. What I do now is I loosely schedule my days to allow for some flexibility. For example I know from 5:30 to about 6:30ish I do some prayers. Then from that time on till about 8:30ish I work on my side project. And so on. That leaves some room for error for me if something comes up or I have to make a quick change. Great stuff.
I'd say prioritize, schedule it, and stick to it.
I'm currently working full-time, have a small family, working on a Master's through Georgia Tech's OMS CS, am very involved in my religion, and have a few hobbies I like to enjoy when I can. Between all that, I don't have much time. Scheduling work is easy. I need to get 8 hours a day, Monday through Friday. That's also a pretty high priority because it's how I provide for my family. Family time gets a little more tricky, but it's usually after work and before the children go to bed and as much time as possible on the weekends. My religious involvement is also pretty easy to plan. It's mostly just Sundays for most of the day and a few, scheduled meetings that come up occasionally. School is generally after the kids go to sleep and as needed on the weekends. My hobbies are the hard thing to schedule. Luckily I get to do a few of them at work (eg. Running Club or Disc Golf Club at lunch once a week), but when I can't do it at work it often takes a little time from something else.
The reason I'm able to participate in so much is that I have a schedule that doesn't change much from day to day or week to week and I stick to it. If I don't do school time at night, I get behind. If I don't go to work, I lose my job. If I don't spend time with my family, we're not as happy in the home and I risk putting my family life in jeopardy. If one part is out of balance, it usually affects the others.
So, prioritize what you want to do. Schedule the highest priority first. Write it down and stick to it. Accept that you don't have infinite time and some days you'll only be able to do a fraction of what you want, but that's okay. Doing something on an item that's important to you is better than nothing or doing something on an item that's not important.
Speaking of priorities... I better get back to school work!
I completely agree with this. Scheduling and prioritizing are key. What I do now is I loosely schedule my days to allow for some flexibility. For example I know from 5:30 to about 6:30ish I do some prayers. Then from that time on till about 8:30ish I work on my side project. And so on. That leaves some room for error for me if something comes up or I have to make a quick change. Great stuff.
Great advice!