A day in your life may look something like this: Wake up. Get ready for school. Drive to school. Some days attend clubs before school. Get through seven periods. Have a 30-minute lunch break. Stay after school for sports. Sometimes studying or clubs. Go to work. Come home. Do homework. Help around the house. Get ready for bed. Then sleep.
Here is a five-step process to help navigate a stressful segment of your life; finding that time to take a step back and relearn how to love forgotten hobbies.
Step One- Prioritize your tasks.
It’s important to understand what needs to be done first. Schoolwork should generally be a priority, especially when students are in dual credit or AP courses that may outweigh other classes. There will always be the importance of completing homework, but there will always be priority of mental wellbeing over a small grade. With mental health, extracurriculars and hobbies are also important for personal growth and relaxation.
How can I start this? Make a to-do list and ranking tasks by importance or deadlines. For example, if there’s an upcoming test or project, make sure you contribute enough time to studying before focusing on any extracurricular events or hobbies.
Step Two- Create a calendar.
A well-planned schedule can keep you organized and on track, helping make a visual of what your week or month looks like. By using these, you can block out different days for specific activities to help organize all the chaos. When making these, it is important to include breaks to avoid burnouts.
How can I do this? There are many types of planners: full size calendars, bullet journals, daily and weekly planners. There are many options to choose from. If those options aren’t available, there are so many different apps that can be downloaded.
Step Three- Set realistic goals.
Setting achievable goals prevents you from overloading yourself with too many activities. Even if they may be small goals, not only can they help teach how to delegate time and discipline, they can stop you from trying to accomplish too much at once.
How to do it. Break larger tasks into smaller, more manageable ones. For instance, instead of saying, “I’ll finish this whole chapter tonight,” say, “I’ll read and take notes on two sections tonight.” By separating your goals, information becomes more digestible. When it comes to hobbies, set goals that are meaningful but not overwhelming, like learning a new piece of music or completing a small project. Instead of trying to tackle a new skill all at once, try tackling smaller projects that can still incorporate the skill.
IMPORTANT LAST TWO STEPS
Step Four- Embrace trial and error.
When getting into hobbies, time is always hard to navigate. Once achieving that process with the tips previously mentioned, the next step is actually letting failure in that hobby.
How can I work on this? Try focusing on the true intent of finding a hobby, focusing on that enjoyment rather than immediate perfection. Celebrate the small milestones and progress even if it takes time. Always remember getting better at anything in life takes time, commitment and failure.
Step Five- Learn how and when to say no.
Taking on too many commitments can lead to overwhelming stress (this can be along the lines of taking on too much in a group project), negatively impacting both school performance and personal well-being.
How do I know? Understand your limits, be honest with yourself and those around you about how much time and energy realistically can be committed to. If an extracurricular or hobby is ever becoming too time-consuming or overwhelming, don’t be afraid to decline additional responsibilities or even put certain activities on hold temporarily.
