Plan With Me for a New Semester || Tips for Balancing School & Blogging

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I am so excited for today’s post! After receiving a question about how I balance school with my blog, I thought it could be fun to combine some of my thoughts, tips, and advice into a post! I am by no means an expert and still have a lot to learn, but hopefully sharing some of my organizational strategies can help someone else in a similar position. If you don’t have a blog, don’t worry! This post is for anyone with a side hustle, hobby, creative outlet, or general interest in learning more about the blogging process – grab some coffee, a cup of tea, or a snack and let’s get started!

The Key: Establish a Routine

I feel like I talk about implementing good habits and developing routines in a decent amount of my posts. However, a solid routine can help you to manage your time more effectively and is the key to balancing your busy schedule. Now, you might be saying to yourself “Ok, Shannon that sounds great and all but how do I actually do that?” – there are two simple tools I use to help me throughout the process:

1. Use a Planner

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s an essential! I always use my planner, even when I’m not in school. Throughout high school, I used Lilly Pulitzer Planners and absolutely loved them! When I got to college, I needed more space and switched to a Day Designer planner from Target which features each day on it’s own individual page. I love these planners, but with classes still being held in an online format this semester (along with a lighter course load), I don’t need anything super detailed or complex. Instead, I picked up this cute planner from Staples which is much simpler!

Regardless of type of the planner you use, it is so important to set it up in a way that works best for you. I personally like to color-code and assign a different color for each class, my blog, and general/personal reminders.

From here, I will go to the monthly calendar and fill in any important information including assignment deadlines and exam dates from each class syllabus, meetings, or any responsibilities that I know of in advance. I have also found it helpful to develop a posting schedule for Instagram pictures and blog posts to include on the monthly calendar as well! I typically reserve the weekly pages of my planner to make to-do lists and write down my homework assignments for each day.

Being able to see everything in front of you ensures that you can keep track of things and will reduce the chances of scrambling at the last minute or feeling overwhelmed. However, it is also important to maintain some level of flexibility – things are always subject to change which is why, in addition to my physical planner, I also use some digital resources to plan out the more specific details of my daily routine.

2. Utilize Google Calendar

Google Calendar is great way to plan out what I like to call your “week at a glance”. You can easily change your schedule and move things around without worrying about constantly erasing or using white-out all over your planner. Although things like exam dates and the things you included on your monthly calendar could still change, they usually don’t change as frequently as some weekly activities can. The amount of work you have can fluctuate, and you could have different responsibilities on a week-to-week basis (a part-time job, babysitting, tutoring, etc.) that you may not know the specifics of too far in advance. I have created an example for you below:

I will plan out a very rough outline of what I would like my week to look like (you don’t necessarily have to plan in great detail or to the hour if that doesn’t work for you but I just used this as an example 🙂 ). I start with the aspects of my routine that remain relatively constant over time – when I want to wake up, what classes I have, and the workouts I’d like to do. I then fill in any important events specific to that week.

Once you have a rough draft of your weekly schedule, you can easily see your remaining blocks of free time and devote them to homework, content planning, taking pictures, spending time with family and friends, relaxing, etc. By doing this, you can take steps to mitigate the feeling of having too much to do and not enough time. Think of it as a guide – you have things in mind that you’d like to (or have to) get done but if something comes up, that’s ok too! You at least know that you have some sort of general plan.

For Bloggers: The Game Plan

One of the biggest pieces of advice that I could offer to someone looking to balance blogging or some other hobby with their main responsibilities of school or work is to have a game plan. In addition to planning out your posting schedule, it is also very helpful to know what outfits you are going to take pictures in, the location of these pictures, and when you will take them. If you are taking the pictures specifically for a blog post, you may find it helpful to write the post ahead of time so you know exactly how many pictures you will need and what you would like them to feature. Here is an example:

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Additionally, take advantage of the planning features on social media platforms! On Instagram, I like to save drafts of my posts so all I have to do is press “share” when I’m ready to. LIKEtoKNOW.it and Pinterest also have similar features where you can schedule your post to go live at a certain time of day. I highly recommend this strategy as it is perfect for those instances when you are in class, in a Zoom meeting, or busy with some other activity in which you can’t be on your phone.

That’s It!

That’s pretty much all I do! It may seem simple or obvious, but these techniques have helped me so much over the past couple of months. I started The SK Way closer to the end of the school year so when my classes started up again in the fall, I was worried about maintaining consistency and finding a schedule that allowed me to put my focus towards my school work, while making time to write posts, plan pictures and truly enjoy the blogging process! As time has gone on, I have found strategies such as these to help me manage my time more efficiently.

In short, by:

• Developing a manageable posting schedule that works for you
• Using a planner to make to-do lists and keep track of assignments
• Creating a “week at a glance” in Google Calendar and
• Having a game plan for content (blog post topics, social media posts, pictures to take, etc.)

you can establish your own unique routine that allows you to accomplish the tasks you need to complete, while dedicating time to do the things you love!

I hope this post was helpful for you in some way whether you are a student looking to find new ways to improve your time management skills, a fellow blogger looking to balance your business with other responsibilities, or someone who does both! If you have any further questions, decide to try these methods yourself, or just want to chat, feel free to reach out– I would love to hear from you!

Thank you so much for reading – I hope you have a great rest of your day!