#& being able to 'set that boundary' or whatever without having to equate that topic to the person posting about it

[dykeogenes]

idk how people live without blacklisting tags. i love it. feature that genuinely improved my life on this site a billion percent

[eliteprepsat]

The concept of having a work-life balance refers to maintaining an equilibrium between one’s career and personal responsibilities. In a world focused just as much on our successes and upward mobility as it is on our mental health, achieving such a work-life balance has been the topic of much discussion in recent years. Companies have even gone to great lengths to create funded initiatives to ensure their employees have the best work-life balance possible. More balanced individuals are more productive employees, after all.

Unfortunately, though, when you’re in high school and college no such initiatives exist. Nonetheless, students share the same experience of competing pressures from both school and life. As a student today, one might even argue that a school-life balance is often more difficult to attain due to increasing demands placed on young people to achieve. But, the same holds true here as in the workplace: More balanced students are more productive students.

With this in mind, below are 8 tips for helping you reach a healthier school-life balance. If you practice these tips now, making them second nature, they will follow you into college and beyond into your career.

1. Set boundaries

With the amount of work that high school course schedules demand of us, it can become easy to give our entire lives over to them. While the hope is that such studiousness will eventually lead to great success, working so hard all of the time can actually be harmful.

Therefore, it’s important to establish boundaries when it comes to our school work.

Boundaries help to ensure that we don’t give all of our time to studying, but that we also leave room for other activities that we enjoy. This “down time” refreshes our bodies and minds, actually allowing us to be more productive when we do return to our school work.

To begin working within boundaries, study diligently throughout the week, but (if possible) take at least one day off from school work per week to do the things you especially enjoy. If you’re not in a position to take an entire day off from school work, try to leave at least a portion of one day free for enjoyable activities. During these designated “times off,” allow yourself the luxury of not even thinking about your school work at all.

On days that you do work, be sure to schedule in breaks. Rather than take work breaks at random, utilize the Pomodoro Method, which is a great approach for ensuring productivity without burnout. In this method, a series of timers are set to track periods of work followed by shorter periods of rest. There are many free Pomodoro Method timers online, but this one is especially handy (and cute!).

2. Focus on time management by establishing priorities and setting goals

You likely won’t be able to finish your entire research project today (at least not well!). But, you can plan to finish the last chapter of your chosen novel today, research the author’s life tomorrow, and begin writing your introductory paragraph the next day.

The point here is that when you procrastinate and then set out to complete an entire task in one sitting, that task is often overwhelming. But when you pace yourself by setting manageable tasks that you can complete incrementally, that same project doesn’t feel so insurmountable.

To help with time management, create a to-do list, placing tasks of highest priority at the top of the list and working your way down to tasks of lowest priority. If you’re a visual person, write these individual tasks out on stickie notes that you can crumple up and throw away once each one has been completed. Physicalizing your accomplishments in this way brings a sense of accomplishment that simply crossing items out on a list does not.

3. Then, reward yourself when you reach your goals

Beyond the implicit reward of simply accomplishing tasks, plan explicit rewards to accompany each of your set goals. Whether it’s with a break, a piece of chocolate, or an episode of your favorite show, treat yourself when you achieve a set goal on your to-do list.

Your goals needn’t be extravagant in every case in order to warrant a reward, either. Have you read 20 pages of your book? Put the finishing touches on your science project? Let the reward match the achievement. Whatever the case, it always helps to have something to look forward to!

4. Practice mindfulness by powering-down

The masses have long praised the idea of multitasking. Yet, we live in a time when this approach to productivity is being questioned. In fact, more recent research points to multitasking’s leading to negative effects, including increased stress and decreased cognitive functioning.

What’s recommended instead of multitasking is that you give your full attention to one task at a time. In other words, what’s recommended is that you practice mindfulness while at work.

In this article, Matt Tenney, author of The Mindfulness Edge, explains four ways that mindfulness improves productivity—including eliminating distractions and producing stronger work—by supporting his claims with evidence from an array of university studies.

One way to practice mindfulness while studying is to “unplug” by taking a break from technology. Reducing internet distractions—such as texting, social media, and even Google—can have real gains on your productivity.

5. Say goodbye to baggage

We are often reminded of the importance of extracurricular activities, especially when it comes to college admissions. Since this is the case, we tend to become involved in many extracurriculars, or we become so deeply invested in the few extracurriculars we’ve chosen that it seems they’ve taken precedence over our school work—and have even taken over our lives!

The important thing to remember is that extracurriculars are beneficial. But, they are only beneficial if they are enhancing and not draining your life.

So, do an inventory. If any of your extracurricular activities seem to be more of a drain on your time and energy than an enhancement to your current happiness and potential future success, drop them from your schedule. Place this saved time and energy into the activities you are benefiting from, and you will likely see an improvement in these areas.

6. Upgrade your study hour

Another way to improve your school-life balance is to simply find a way to enjoy the school part of the equation more. This may seem like wishful thinking; but, if you can think of your studies less as work and more as play, then you are sure to approach this time with more balance.

So, what helps you get through hours of reading or studying for exams? Listening to your favorite music? Having your favorite latte by your side? Working with a big group of your best friends? Taking your work outside to the park or to the beach? Whatever the case may be, do yourself a favor by making study hour more enjoyable for yourself. This way, you will be less hardwired to dread your time spent hitting the books.

And if a place like the park or beach isn’t easily accessible to you, check out our previous article on Creating a Great Study Space.

7. Lean on your support system

When in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask for help—from friends, family, and teachers/other mentors. It can be helpful just to have friends and family who simply understand what you’re going through with the heavy workload of school. A shoulder to lean on and an ear to confide in can go a long way toward relieving stress. And a best buddy or an understanding parent can also be key to getting you out of the house (and out of your head!) after a particularly long and grueling study session.

Teachers/mentors, on the other hand, can provide more “practical” solutions for helping to alleviate the worry from school work. Whether by suggesting additional reading, offering personally-tailored study tips, or pointing you in the direction of helpful tutors like those at Elite, these trusted adults can be a great resource in your search for a better school-life balance.

8. Practice self-care by forgetting “perfection”

As modern students with such big workloads, it can become easy to neglect our own self-care. However, whatever this phrase (“self-care”) means to you—be it physical, mental, or emotional preservation—it’s important to maintain the practice even (and especially!) when a school-life balance seems the most difficult to achieve.

Forms of self-care are as numbered and unique as the people on Earth. You know what works best for you. But one thing is universal: To practice better self-care, try letting go of your belief in “perfection.”

In a time when social media has us constantly comparing ourselves to others, and life goals such as college admissions are increasingly competitive, it makes sense to dot every “i” and cross every t”—just maybe not 9 times.

Reaching for what you deem as “perfection” isn’t always beneficial. This is because reaching “perfection” isn’t always possible. Shoot for your best instead, and you are likely to feel more satisfied and balanced in the end.

Stacy G. is a writer and teacher who has taught composition, literature, and creative writing courses at a number of public and private universities across the U.S. She has also taught SAT, AP English, and Literature SAT Subject Test courses at Elite Prep. She likes poetry, dogs, and poetry about dogs.

[marsandchariot]

Saturn transiting Aquarius in the 12 Houses

Even if you have no natal planets in the sign of Aquarius, the sign still has a place in your chart, and its themes are activated by planets transiting whichever house it occupies. I have no planets in my 5th house, where Aquarius is. In my 4th, I have Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in Capricorn. For a while I looked ahead to the transition of Saturn into Aquarius—from earth to air—as bringing a potential for lightness, or even levity. I think this view reflected a kind of denial of what Saturn is, what Aquarius is, and what air is.

Over the summer I received a reading—my first ever—from Alice. This was a significantly emotional experience for me, and I am speaking as someone who has Mars in Cancer. I cried a lot, and most of the emotions that surfaced were in response to 4th house topics like family, ancestry, childhood, and belonging. I asked Alice what it could mean for Saturn to next transit my empty 5th house and they said it could describe the act of taking creation seriously.

This part of the reading was almost a postscript to the heart of what we discussed over the course of our time together. Though “taking creation seriously” may seem like a fairly straightforward translation of Saturn (limits, constraint) in the 5th house (fecundity, reproduction, art, pleasure topics), the idea has continued to resound in my mind months later as a powerful and enigmatic imperative. So last night I went outside to see the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, which to me looked like a bright lovely dot, and I decided I wanted to think about this notion of taking creation seriously for whichever house is receiving Saturn right now. I love the idea of people being able to take themselves seriously as creators, to have conviction in the time they spend making something, in whatever medium to which they feel drawn. I hate the idea of people giving up on their capacity to create because they don’t see “the point.” I want everyone to see the point in their individual practices, and to have the luxury of belief in the value of what and how and when they practice, even if they’re working in total privacy or obscurity. 

 As another guiding range of archetypes I consulted the Materia Prima tarot deck from Uusi, which I am a bit intimidated and totally fascinated by. I read the houses using a modified variation of the Churchyard spread, since it involves one card to represent the querent plus 12 more cards. So you have an idea of the aesthetic, here are three of the 12 cards I drew. 

 Find where Aquarius is in your chart. Again, even if you have Aquarius in an empty house, that house is now hosting some very important guests. The joy of the empty house, in my opinion, is the way new occupants allow you to examine what’s being incited in an area of your life in which you were previously less interested, or you weren’t very aware of. This spark of interest or awareness is how I am interpreting at least the beginning phase of seriousness, setting the scene for development of this theme over the course of the next three years. 

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 1ST HOUSE 

 A synonym for this transit might be someone willingly or unwillingly “bearing the brunt” of something, or the feeling that one’s priorities must be deferred because the burden of responsibility to others is too great. This querent thinks it is normal for them to do all the heavy lifting without help, because if they don’t, who else will? It may be that this querent is explicitly depended upon, but they may not see the ways in which they constantly carry these burdens results from a lack of boundaries, of thinking they cannot assert their interests or position at all, and they must drop their lives in order to fulfill responsibilities to their community, no matter how abstract or distant that community may be. They think that when everyone is taken care of, they will finally focus on themselves. They allow the needs of others to set their own boundaries, and so the boundary is never set. Rising air signs, please understand your limitations. Please respect your own boundaries and personal priorities at least half as much as you work to attune yourself to and respond to the signals of others. Set aside some time to let the world go on without you. I think you will be surprised at the space you are able to create for yourself, and the way you are finally able to get your own things done. Alternatively, if the bearing of burdens feels against your will, you may be made to feel like the scapegoat in one or more of your communities, and so the erosion of your time and energy arises from your effort to free yourself from this position or to dispel the collective belief in your deserving of this position. It may be possible to change collective opinion with time, but it is not your responsibility to do so, and the effort it takes will not serve your own energetic health.

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 2ND HOUSE 

 Thanks to the pandemic we’ve all got new stuff for all the new things we’re doing. Interests require tools and subscriptions and memberships and Zoom classes. Investing in new materials, especially when they are technically “productive” materials, helps us justify the way we use our time to spend money. Eventually you will have to use your possessions, though, in order to justify the acquisition of them, or else they are just an idea of creation, an aspiration or intention to create. I drew the Arsenic card for this transit; you can see its relationship to The Magician and its connection to equating material mastery with experience and execution. It’s a reminder that we cannot make the idea of creation into an idol; we can’t manifest our intentions through possession of material as a substitute for the activation of ideas. At a certain point you need to look at what you have, and use what you’ve got, or else your material intentions of creation will serve to isolate you from the generative power of your own creative process. 

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 3RD HOUSE 

 Carve out time to work on your creation. Period. It doesn’t have to be every day, but by developing even the consistency of once a week or month you demonstrate a dedication to your own ability to produce something that cannot exist without your attention. Anyone practicing without professional recognition knows how difficult this faith is to maintain. I have been watching a lot of writer interviews recently. One constant piece of advice they give is to be consistently present for the work—make the space of routine, don’t wait for other peoples’ recognition or respect to justify making time for your creative process. It can feel especially hard to tell people what you’re up to when they aren’t used to taking non-professional practices seriously. But, you know what, fuck them. Your time belongs to you, and the things you want to do, even if you’re not a seasoned professional expert at that thing, are important. Don’t let fears of other peoples’ skepticism run your private life. Advocate for the consistency of your practice. If people can manage to go to church every Sunday, you can manage to write or paint or build or do whatever at least once a week. 

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 4TH HOUSE 

 A lot has happened to you. A lot has happened to everyone, of course, but you may be sitting on or hoarding those experiences, waiting for the “right” way to use them. But now is the time to activate the impressions or residue of what you’ve experienced so you can understand what those experiences are teaching you. You’ve got to start piecing it together, like clues, to make a cogent shape, because there isn’t going to be an a-ha moment that shows you what it all means. You might want to process with the people closest to you, people who know you really well, about the ideas you’re working through. They may have an insight that brings the pieces of the past together in a way that helps you see the larger picture. You may worry that you take in more than you’re able to reflect, which can feel as if you’re stuck in a more passive or accumulating phase. You may worry that by acting “too soon” you run the risk of using up the resource of the past. But the past has more than a single purpose; it continuously replenishes. Begin using it now. You will always have more later. 

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 5TH HOUSE 

 It can be hard to get going when you’re simultaneously trying to predict and interpret the meaning of your creation, then producing into those expectations, then getting stuck when it doesn’t seem like you’re fulfilling those expectations you’ve set for yourself. If you fall short of the expectations of your own practice, you may see yourself as failing; as not being serious enough, or not knowing enough. You may retreat from your practice in order to prepare, re-group, plan. Something that can be difficult is the need to assert the purpose and meaning of your creation in order to justify your work on it. People rarely feel comfortable saying, “I’m working on something, but I don’t know what it’s about,” or “I’m working on something, but I don’t know what it is.” The need to envision the finished product (and to be able to claim that what we’ve made is valuable and worthwhile) presents a serious hindrance to one’s artistic practice. How can you do your thing if you’re constantly worrying whether the thing you do is living up to your expectations? Think about kids whose parents constantly projected their own values onto their child, who made their child feel as if they couldn’t deviate from these expectations. Don’t be that parent! Raise a happy child with lots of options. Don’t crush your creation under the weight of your own expectations, which are often just internalized anxieties of not being good enough in the eyes of a nightmare amalgam of different authority figures. Treat your creation like a child whose psyche you’re not trying to pulverize through micromanagement. Ask where it wants to go, what it wants to be, and allow these impulses to run their course, trusting that for your creation, even what you don’t understand has a role to play in your process. 

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 6TH HOUSE 

 If you are feeling uninspired, or unsure of where to “begin,” this is an excellent time to cultivate a divinatory system or some other system that you use as a visionary tool. Any system to which you gravitate, and which you learn to use in a dynamic way that serves your purpose beyond rote memorization, that answers your questions and creates proposals for your work will, in some way, serve your creative process. I often imagine the 6th house as a grid. To place a grid onto any single surface transforms that surface into many parts. The division of something into parts allows us to deconstruct and rearrange what previously appeared to be a single coherent material. I don’t want to say that your selection of a system is arbitrary, but any consistent method by which you can take stock of the familiar in a way to defamiliarize it will show a way forward in terms of rethinking what’s available to you. Take things apart. Put them back together differently. Isolate elements of the familiar in order to make them strange. You have ideas, you have passions, you have interests. As soon as you take the care in grouping them, tracking them, mapping them, you are seeing more lucidly the unconscious connections you have been making all along. 

SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 7TH HOUSE 

 Saturn transiting the 7th may speak to a seriousness on the level of commitment or partnership. It could also mean cultivating a kind of faithfulness to a project. If you are working on multiple things, maybe commit to a precious few, so you are better able to devote your attention to these before moving on to another smaller group or single creation. Partnership requires a mindfulness to the other in which we simultaneously do not lose ourselves. Says Carl Jung, “Emotional relationships are relationships of desire, tainted by coercion and constraint; something is expected from the other person, and that makes him and ourselves unfree.” It is important that in our commitment to something or someone, we do not give up our freedom; focus and attention are not the same as imprisonment. For this placement, I pulled the Iron card, whose equivalent is Mars. During WWI, the phrase “I gave gold for iron” articulated the incentive to donate jewelry to the war effort. With gold as the alchemical equivalent of the Sun, the ego, the sacrifice can translate to mean giving up one’s self in service of one’s expression. The creation is not the self, but it draws from the self in order to come to life. It could be that this transit asks for more to be given to creation, or that firmer boundaries are drawn between the self and creation, to better prepare the creation to become a discrete and substantive entity in its own right. 

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 8TH HOUSE 

 Invite contact, invite collaboration. There is the pressure to protect one’s creation from interference in a way that may harmfully shelter it. I don’t think I need to re-hash Colin Craven and the whole point of The Secret Garden, but it is possible to be too precious about your process and your creation, shielding it from the potential of growth. It can withstand more than you think; it is more distinctive than you think; it is more valuable and admirable than you give it credit for. It is possible to shelter your creation so intensely that you even stop working on it, because it’s never the right time, or you haven’t got the perfect idea, or you’re not in the right mood, or you’re not well-versed enough in what you’re trying to do or say. You need to persist for the sake of making your intention manifest, without fear of judgment. You need to bring your creation to light without worrying about its vulnerability to alteration and death. This preciousness may also speak to a kind of purity, where you feel stuck but are loathe to move forward by introducing unexpected elements to your process, out of fear of changing your creation on the core-level. I doubt this kind of “damage” will happen, even if you introduce elements that feel opposite of your original intention. The strongest reactions occur between things that are not like one another. Furthermore, fusions or combinations between unlike elements don’t occur from hesitant proximity; they occur through repeated direct, intentional engagement. Don’t be afraid to bombard your process with the outside world, with new ideas and techniques. It can handle it, and so can you. 

SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 9TH HOUSE 

Stop looking for an institutional position that reflects everything you offer, and instead find ways to satisfy a fuller spectrum of those offerings in ways both within and without the institution. What you offer as a “full package” is important but often professionally or commercially invisible. This can be an especially difficult way to make a living, and you may have to select a position you don’t feel encompasses your entire range of abilities in order to practice those abilities in a way that is compensable. If the institution doesn’t recognize your full capacity, don’t push. Stop giving everything away to prove you are capable of giving. It doesn’t have to be about money, but you need to develop a personal system of limits or regulations so that you yourself can keep track of the value of what you expend. Just because it comes naturally to you doesn’t mean you should give it away for free. 

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 10TH HOUSE 

 What you’re looking to create may not be a material form at all, but a role you play in the world. It may be a role that is yet undefined, but something you are looking to articulate in simultaneously meaningful and ephemeral gestures. It’s less about a permanent professional station and more of a mutable approach to a unique offering or service. It will take time. Document your process, even if it doesn’t reflect the outcome. You will see traces of the outcome even in areas of the process that don’t “feel significant.” Your work is one of accumulated intentions, diversions, fleeting pieces. Self-illumination is not a single beacon but many spectral lines of emission and absorption. It shows nothing but the portion of the path that’s visible. Air signs linger in distances, in liminal or invisible connections. To play a role in this area may require a mobile or roaming form. You don’t need to produce a final act; show the ways in which any occurrence can continue forward; in which a thing that happens is always happening. 

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 11TH HOUSE 

 How do you want to share with people? Where are the people you want to talk to? How do you want to make space for them to respond? Building community and systems of shared values is an elusive process, subject to trends of culture, language, and technology. It’s important to see beyond strategies of loud and dominant message projection (marketing) in order to value the content you wish to share. Fears of being unheard have the effect of changing what it is we actually say, imparting instead a message that is shared only for sharing’s sake, not because the messenger any longer has conviction in the import of what is said. It is important to maintain the integrity of your creation so that it reflects something that would serve you, if you were in need of it. Don’t treat your creation as if it’s bait designed to lure the most amount of people (or capital). Make available your process of creation—what are the qualities that you resist and embrace in yourself, and how has this process led you toward the creation of something which you truly believe, not just something you believe will “sell”? Often, the most valuable materials are both rare and common. It is a mistake to strive for just one or the other in order to appear uncomplicated. To be comprised of a single element is to become a brand. Brands are clean but they have no souls. If signs of your struggle and honest experience are missing from your creation, then you are only showing half the picture, and there is more to be done. 

 SATURN TRANSITING AQUARIUS IN THE 12TH HOUSE 

If you feel you don’t have the energy to work on your creation, it’s because you don’t. If you feel like there isn’t time, it’s because there isn’t. Sometimes we can’t just add our creation to the list of other tasks we’re doing that day, between walking the dog and picking up groceries and filing our taxes. That just may not be where the creative state is able to situate itself in our lives. If when you think about working on your creation, you feel the same dread as when working on projects you’re compelled to do for professional or academic purposes—if something feels more toiling than generative—it’s a sign to try a different approach. This may require a recalibration of intention. Intention does not have some inherent buoyancy that allows it to surface with explicit clarity into our conscious awareness. You may have to enter a state of sublimation in order to find its articulation. By entering unconscious or semi-conscious states, we can better observe our conscious actions in order to envision a way forward. There are many people who experience the majority of their process in this state of sublimation, only to transition to the material aspect of their process in a burst at the “end.” Make space in your awareness for your emotional experience of your creative process. Don’t attempt to make your labor visible in a way that “looks” like work. Compulsive labor is not the sole determinant of progress. Discomfort is not the sole determinant of labor. Find the executable intention in yourself and cultivate instead a willingness to meet it, being open to all the ways available to you to do this.

[eliteprepsat]

The concept of having a work-life balance refers to maintaining an equilibrium between one’s career and personal responsibilities. In a world focused just as much on our successes and upward mobility as it is on our mental health, achieving such a work-life balance has been the topic of much discussion in recent years. Companies have even gone to great lengths to create funded initiatives to ensure their employees have the best work-life balance possible. More balanced individuals are more productive employees, after all.

Unfortunately, though, when you’re in high school and college no such initiatives exist. Nonetheless, students share the same experience of competing pressures from both school and life. As a student today, one might even argue that a school-life balance is often more difficult to attain due to increasing demands placed on young people to achieve. But, the same holds true here as in the workplace: More balanced students are more productive students.

With this in mind, below are 8 tips for helping you reach a healthier school-life balance. If you practice these tips now, making them second nature, they will follow you into college and beyond into your career.

1. SET BOUNDARIES

With the amount of work that high school course schedules demand of us, it can become easy to give our entire lives over to them. While the hope is that such studiousness will eventually lead to great success, working so hard all of the time can actually be harmful.

Therefore, it’s important to establish boundaries when it comes to our school work.

Boundaries help to ensure that we don’t give all of our time to studying, but that we also leave room for other activities that we enjoy. This “down time” refreshes our bodies and minds, actually allowing us to be more productive when we do return to our school work.

To begin working within boundaries, study diligently throughout the week, but (if possible) take at least one day off from school work per week to do the things you especially enjoy. If you’re not in a position to take an entire day off from school work, try to leave at least a portion of one day free for enjoyable activities. During these designated “times off,” allow yourself the luxury of not even thinking about your school work at all.

On days that you do work, be sure to schedule in breaks. Rather than take work breaks at random, utilize the Pomodoro Method, which is a great approach for ensuring productivity without burnout. In this method, a series of timers are set to track periods of work followed by shorter periods of rest. There are many free Pomodoro Method timers online, but this one is especially handy (and cute!).

2. FOCUS ON TIME MANAGEMENT BY ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES AND SETTING GOALS

You likely won’t be able to finish your entire research project today (at least not well!). But, you can plan to finish the last chapter of your chosen novel today, research the author’s life tomorrow, and begin writing your introductory paragraph the next day.

The point here is that when you procrastinate and then set out to complete an entire task in one sitting, that task is often overwhelming. But when you pace yourself by setting manageable tasks that you can complete incrementally, that same project doesn’t feel so insurmountable.

To help with time management, create a to-do list, placing tasks of highest priority at the top of the list and working your way down to tasks of lowest priority. If you’re a visual person, write these individual tasks out on stickie notes that you can crumple up and throw away once each one has been completed. Physicalizing your accomplishments in this way brings a sense of accomplishment that simply crossing items out on a list does not.

3. THEN, REWARD YOURSELF WHEN YOU REACH YOUR GOALS

Beyond the implicit reward of simply accomplishing tasks, plan explicit rewards to accompany each of your set goals. Whether it’s with a break, a piece of chocolate, or an episode of your favorite show, treat yourself when you achieve a set goal on your to-do list.

Your goals needn’t be extravagant in every case in order to warrant a reward, either. Have you read 20 pages of your book? Put the finishing touches on your science project? Let the reward match the achievement. Whatever the case, it always helps to have something to look forward to!

4. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS BY POWERING-DOWN

The masses have long praised the idea of multitasking. Yet, we live in a time when this approach to productivity is being questioned. In fact, more recent research points to multitasking’s leading to negative effects, including increased stress and decreased cognitive functioning.

What’s recommended instead of multitasking is that you give your full attention to one task at a time. In other words, what’s recommended is that you practice mindfulness while at work.

In this article, Matt Tenney, author of The Mindfulness Edge, explains four ways that mindfulness improves productivity—including eliminating distractions and producing stronger work—by supporting his claims with evidence from an array of university studies.

One way to practice mindfulness while studying is to “unplug” by taking a break from technology. Reducing internet distractions—such as texting, social media, and even Google—can have real gains on your productivity.

5. SAY GOODBYE TO BAGGAGE

We are often reminded of the importance of extracurricular activities, especially when it comes to college admissions. Since this is the case, we tend to become involved in many extracurriculars, or we become so deeply invested in the few extracurriculars we’ve chosen that it seems they’ve taken precedence over our school work—and have even taken over our lives!

The important thing to remember is that extracurriculars are beneficial. But, they are only beneficial if they are enhancing and not draining your life.

So, do an inventory. If any of your extracurricular activities seem to be more of a drain on your time and energy than an enhancement to your current happiness and potential future success, drop them from your schedule. Place this saved time and energy into the activities you are benefiting from, and you will likely see an improvement in these areas.

6. UPGRADE YOUR STUDY HOUR

Another way to improve your school-life balance is to simply find a way to enjoy the school part of the equation more. This may seem like wishful thinking; but, if you can think of your studies less as work and more as play, then you are sure to approach this time with more balance.

So, what helps you get through hours of reading or studying for exams? Listening to your favorite music? Having your favorite latte by your side? Working with a big group of your best friends? Taking your work outside to the park or to the beach? Whatever the case may be, do yourself a favor by making study hour more enjoyable for yourself. This way, you will be less hardwired to dread your time spent hitting the books.

And if a place like the park or beach isn’t easily accessible to you, check out our previous article on Creating a Great Study Space.

7. LEAN ON YOUR SUPPORT SYSTEM

When in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask for help—from friends, family, and teachers/other mentors. It can be helpful just to have friends and family who simply understand what you’re going through with the heavy workload of school. A shoulder to lean on and an ear to confide in can go a long way toward relieving stress. And a best buddy or an understanding parent can also be key to getting you out of the house (and out of your head!) after a particularly long and grueling study session.

Teachers/mentors, on the other hand, can provide more “practical” solutions for helping to alleviate the worry from school work. Whether by suggesting additional reading, offering personally-tailored study tips, or pointing you in the direction of helpful tutors like those at Elite, these trusted adults can be a great resource in your search for a better school-life balance.

8. PRACTICE SELF-CARE BY FORGETTING “PERFECTION”

As modern students with such big workloads, it can become easy to neglect our own self-care. However, whatever this phrase (“self-care”) means to you—be it physical, mental, or emotional preservation—it’s important to maintain the practice even (and especially!) when a school-life balance seems the most difficult to achieve.

Forms of self-care are as numbered and unique as the people on Earth. You know what works best for you. But one thing is universal: To practice better self-care, try letting go of your belief in “perfection.”

In a time when social media has us constantly comparing ourselves to others, and life goals such as college admissions are increasingly competitive, it makes sense to dot every “i” and cross every t”—just maybe not 9 times.

Reaching for what you deem as “perfection” isn’t always beneficial. This is because reaching “perfection” isn’t always possible. Shoot for your best instead, and you are likely to feel more satisfied and balanced in the end.

Stacy G. is a writer and teacher who has taught composition, literature, and creative writing courses at a number of public and private universities across the U.S. She has also taught SAT, AP English, and Literature SAT Subject Test courses at Elite Prep. She likes poetry, dogs, and poetry about dogs.

[eliteprepsat]

The concept of having a work-life balance refers to maintaining an equilibrium between one’s career and personal responsibilities. In a world focused just as much on our successes and upward mobility as it is on our mental health, achieving such a work-life balance has been the topic of much discussion in recent years. Companies have even gone to great lengths to create funded initiatives to ensure their employees have the best work-life balance possible. More balanced individuals are more productive employees, after all.

Unfortunately, though, when you’re in high school and college no such initiatives exist. Nonetheless, students share the same experience of competing pressures from both school and life. As a student today, one might even argue that a school-life balance is often more difficult to attain due to increasing demands placed on young people to achieve. But, the same holds true here as in the workplace: More balanced students are more productive students.

With this in mind, below are 8 tips for helping you reach a healthier school-life balance. If you practice these tips now, making them second nature, they will follow you into college and beyond into your career.

1. Set boundaries

With the amount of work that high school course schedules demand of us, it can become easy to give our entire lives over to them. While the hope is that such studiousness will eventually lead to great success, working so hard all of the time can actually be harmful.

Therefore, it’s important to establish boundaries when it comes to our school work.

Boundaries help to ensure that we don’t give all of our time to studying, but that we also leave room for other activities that we enjoy. This “down time” refreshes our bodies and minds, actually allowing us to be more productive when we do return to our school work.

To begin working within boundaries, study diligently throughout the week, but (if possible) take at least one day off from school work per week to do the things you especially enjoy. If you’re not in a position to take an entire day off from school work, try to leave at least a portion of one day free for enjoyable activities. During these designated “times off,” allow yourself the luxury of not even thinking about your school work at all.

On days that you do work, be sure to schedule in breaks. Rather than take work breaks at random, utilize the Pomodoro Method, which is a great approach for ensuring productivity without burnout. In this method, a series of timers are set to track periods of work followed by shorter periods of rest. There are many free Pomodoro Method timers online, but this one is especially handy (and cute!).

2. Focus on time management by establishing priorities and setting goals

You likely won’t be able to finish your entire research project today (at least not well!). But, you can plan to finish the last chapter of your chosen novel today, research the author’s life tomorrow, and begin writing your introductory paragraph the next day.

The point here is that when you procrastinate and then set out to complete an entire task in one sitting, that task is often overwhelming. But when you pace yourself by setting manageable tasks that you can complete incrementally, that same project doesn’t feel so insurmountable.

To help with time management, create a to-do list, placing tasks of highest priority at the top of the list and working your way down to tasks of lowest priority. If you’re a visual person, write these individual tasks out on stickie notes that you can crumple up and throw away once each one has been completed. Physicalizing your accomplishments in this way brings a sense of accomplishment that simply crossing items out on a list does not.

3. Then, reward yourself when you reach your goals

Beyond the implicit reward of simply accomplishing tasks, plan explicit rewards to accompany each of your set goals. Whether it’s with a break, a piece of chocolate, or an episode of your favorite show, treat yourself when you achieve a set goal on your to-do list.

Your goals needn’t be extravagant in every case in order to warrant a reward, either. Have you read 20 pages of your book? Put the finishing touches on your science project? Let the reward match the achievement. Whatever the case, it always helps to have something to look forward to!

4. Practice mindfulness by powering-down

The masses have long praised the idea of multitasking. Yet, we live in a time when this approach to productivity is being questioned. In fact, more recent research points to multitasking’s leading to negative effects, including increased stress and decreased cognitive functioning.

What’s recommended instead of multitasking is that you give your full attention to one task at a time. In other words, what’s recommended is that you practice mindfulness while at work.

In this article, Matt Tenney, author of The Mindfulness Edge, explains four ways that mindfulness improves productivity—including eliminating distractions and producing stronger work—by supporting his claims with evidence from an array of university studies.

One way to practice mindfulness while studying is to “unplug” by taking a break from technology. Reducing internet distractions—such as texting, social media, and even Google—can have real gains on your productivity.

5. Say goodbye to baggage

We are often reminded of the importance of extracurricular activities, especially when it comes to college admissions. Since this is the case, we tend to become involved in many extracurriculars, or we become so deeply invested in the few extracurriculars we’ve chosen that it seems they’ve taken precedence over our school work—and have even taken over our lives!

The important thing to remember is that extracurriculars are beneficial. But, they are only beneficial if they are enhancing and not draining your life.

So, do an inventory. If any of your extracurricular activities seem to be more of a drain on your time and energy than an enhancement to your current happiness and potential future success, drop them from your schedule. Place this saved time and energy into the activities you are benefiting from, and you will likely see an improvement in these areas.

6. Upgrade your study hour

Another way to improve your school-life balance is to simply find a way to enjoy the school part of the equation more. This may seem like wishful thinking; but, if you can think of your studies less as work and more as play, then you are sure to approach this time with more balance.

So, what helps you get through hours of reading or studying for exams? Listening to your favorite music? Having your favorite latte by your side? Working with a big group of your best friends? Taking your work outside to the park or to the beach? Whatever the case may be, do yourself a favor by making study hour more enjoyable for yourself. This way, you will be less hardwired to dread your time spent hitting the books.

And if a place like the park or beach isn’t easily accessible to you, check out our previous article on Creating a Great Study Space.

7. Lean on your support system

When in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask for help—from friends, family, and teachers/other mentors. It can be helpful just to have friends and family who simply understand what you’re going through with the heavy workload of school. A shoulder to lean on and an ear to confide in can go a long way toward relieving stress. And a best buddy or an understanding parent can also be key to getting you out of the house (and out of your head!) after a particularly long and grueling study session.

Teachers/mentors, on the other hand, can provide more “practical” solutions for helping to alleviate the worry from school work. Whether by suggesting additional reading, offering personally-tailored study tips, or pointing you in the direction of helpful tutors like those at Elite, these trusted adults can be a great resource in your search for a better school-life balance.

8. Practice self-care by forgetting “perfection”

As modern students with such big workloads, it can become easy to neglect our own self-care. However, whatever this phrase (“self-care”) means to you—be it physical, mental, or emotional preservation—it’s important to maintain the practice even (and especially!) when a school-life balance seems the most difficult to achieve.

Forms of self-care are as numbered and unique as the people on Earth. You know what works best for you. But one thing is universal: To practice better self-care, try letting go of your belief in “perfection.”

In a time when social media has us constantly comparing ourselves to others, and life goals such as college admissions are increasingly competitive, it makes sense to dot every “i” and cross every t”—just maybe not 9 times.

Reaching for what you deem as “perfection” isn’t always beneficial. This is because reaching “perfection” isn’t always possible. Shoot for your best instead, and you are likely to feel more satisfied and balanced in the end.

Stacy G. is a writer and teacher who has taught composition, literature, and creative writing courses at a number of public and private universities across the U.S. She has also taught SAT, AP English, and Literature SAT Subject Test courses at Elite Prep. She likes poetry, dogs, and poetry about dogs.