5 Tips to Balance Work and Preparation for the MBA

Having an intense work routine and getting ready for the MBA is not easy. However, this is the reality of most candidates. What success stories have in common: commitment and time management.

1. SET PRIORITIES

You need to define fairly honestly what your priorities are and how much time you can devote to each of the activities you do daily. You have to be realistic and respect yourself in the process.

2. CREATE A ROUTINE (AND BE FAITHFUL TO IT)

You already know exactly what your priorities are: time to allocate time for them. It is extremely important that you use the time to set your priorities and create your routine to reflect and try to understand what works best for you. Do you work well with long hours of study? It’s best to focus all of the heavy workload for the weekends, then. Would you rather study by taking breaks and keeping your review up to date? So it’s good to separate some time before or after work for this during the week. It does not matter what your style: self-knowledge is the key word.

 

5 Tips to Balance Work and Preparation for the MBA

3. MANAGE YOUR FREE TIME

Assume that your preparation has a date to finish. So any and every option that looks like a loss, you have too. It’s okay if you’re late for that show, or if you have to leave the happy hour earlier with friends to ensure a night’s sleep before a dummy. All these small restrictions will be compensated when you enter the school you have chosen.

4. CUT OVERTIME

That’s right. Avoid leaving work after hours when it is not necessary. Be careful with your choices, and when you’re hopeless, make up for it. Reorganize your schedule and do everything to ensure that your study hours are not compromised.

5. INVEST IN ANNOTATIONS AND REVISIONS

Even when we do everything right, there are days when the tiredness wins and you feel as though you are yielding very little. One tip for those times is to invest in revisions. Have a notebook where you can write down everything that is useful: vocabulary, rules, important concepts, etc. This will help you keep your routine intact even on the heaviest days.