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Ever since I decided to study law at secondary school, I’ve been told that I’d eventually have to learn to balance my time. 

Everyone tells you to ensure to make time for yourself but everyone also tells you that getting good grades requires dedication hard work and long nights.

So how are students meant to strike the balance?

I’ve tried every life hack trick and shortcut into doing this (after all I’ve been a student of law for a long time) and I’ve found some tricks that work for me. They might not work for everyone but hey, it’s worth a try! 

Timetable

Yes, I’m as sure that you’ve all heard this one before and a lot of you will be bored of people saying it. But hear me out, the traditional timetable isn’t for me. I’m not a fan of big, long pieces of paper with every day, time and element of your life planned. No, thank you. 

However, ensuring that you have a plan for each day and the things you wish to get done is useful. Placing them on a scale of urgency is my new and improved method. I also find that writing each thing on a post-it note is helpful, so I can move it to the next day if I need to. 

Classes 

Whether you’re into the gym, painting, running, cooking… anything. There’s usually a class for it especially if you’re living in a city for university. Because classes have non-negotiable times on specific days you have no excuse not to go, switch off and take some time for yourself. 

For me this chosen activity was yoga and although the meditation was way more relaxing than the actual yoga it helped me to ensure that I was making time for myself each week.

Prioritise sleep

I learnt this one the hard way. In order to work to your full potential you need to sleep more. It’s so easy to stay out or go to the pub or go clubbing but, in reality, sometimes you need to be staying in and getting a full night’s rest.

The more you sleep the less stressed you’ll be and the quicker you’ll work the more focused you’ll be, which means the more time you’ll have to do things you want to do outside of work or university – it’s a domino effect.

I won’t overwhelm you by adding to this list for now. Just know these were my top three non-negotiable which allowed me to ensure I was still able to have some balance while completing my law degree.