Establishing work-life balance can be complicated enough, but when you’re a studying parent, juggling it all can feel even more out of reach. We take a look at the concept of balance and help you to understand why work/study/family/life flexibility might be a better fit and help you to take control of the juggling act!
If you’re new to the role of studying parent and are still trying to find your study/family groove, these tips might help both you and your family adjust to a new routine. To discuss how you can take advantage of the flexibility and support available to you at USQ, get in touch with your Student Relationship Officer.
Whether you work in an office, a supermarket or a service station, we've got the tips and tricks to help you make the most of a lunch break study session. From where and what to study, to snack ideas and tips to avoid distractions, this all-inclusive guide is all you'll need to successfully study during your lunch hour!
A key success factor for university study is your support crew. But, how can they help you if they don’t know what’s going on? Here is some advice to help you out.
Whether you work in an office, a supermarket or a service station, we've got the tips and tricks to help you make the most of a lunch break study session. From where and what to study, to snack ideas and tips to avoid distractions, this all-inclusive guide is all you'll need to successfully study during your lunch hour!
A key success factor for university study is your support crew. But, how can they help you if they don’t know what’s going on? Here is some advice to help you out.
You've decided you're going to go to uni and it's time to tell your friends and family. As a first in family student, this might be daunting, but we've got your back with the best ways to keep your cool during this potentially challenging chat.
8 helpful tips to kick start a fresh virtual academic yearRaviVerma537
A big shout out to all the parents! For successfully going through this year while beating all the odds of the academic year for your children.
Trust us, we all have been through this! You and your children deserve applause for the perseverance and calmness that you have tried to maintain.
A Parent’s Guide to Distance Learning is a user-friendly synopsis of best practice that links to videos on University of California Television (UCTV) and provides concrete suggestions for maintaining engaging and structured learning environments in the home.
ORAL PRESENTATION BY FORM FOUR STUDENTS OF SMK AGAMA (P) ALAWIYAH KANGAR. RELEVANT CONTENTS OF ARGUMENTS. Consider to correct the grammatical errors when using this material.
A presentation to a Foundations of Education class where the purpose was to provoke thought on if/why/when homework should be assigned in their future classrooms.
You've decided you're going to go to uni and it's time to tell your friends and family. As a first in family student, this might be daunting, but we've got your back with the best ways to keep your cool during this potentially challenging chat.
8 helpful tips to kick start a fresh virtual academic yearRaviVerma537
A big shout out to all the parents! For successfully going through this year while beating all the odds of the academic year for your children.
Trust us, we all have been through this! You and your children deserve applause for the perseverance and calmness that you have tried to maintain.
A Parent’s Guide to Distance Learning is a user-friendly synopsis of best practice that links to videos on University of California Television (UCTV) and provides concrete suggestions for maintaining engaging and structured learning environments in the home.
ORAL PRESENTATION BY FORM FOUR STUDENTS OF SMK AGAMA (P) ALAWIYAH KANGAR. RELEVANT CONTENTS OF ARGUMENTS. Consider to correct the grammatical errors when using this material.
A presentation to a Foundations of Education class where the purpose was to provoke thought on if/why/when homework should be assigned in their future classrooms.
suggestions for parents - staying patient with your teensGenZandu
Staying patient with your teens can be challenging, but it's crucial for maintaining a healthy relationship. Set realistic expectations, communicate openly, and actively listen to their concerns. Choose your battles wisely and avoid unnecessary power struggles. Foster mutual respect by acknowledging their perspectives and validating their emotions. Practice empathy and understanding, remembering your own experiences as a teenager. Celebrate their achievements and support them through their struggles. By staying patient and empathetic, you can strengthen your bond with your teens and guide them effectively through adolescence.
These are some of the tips that can be helpful for overcoming procrastination, but many of them have already helped thousands of lazy fellows. Find ones suitable exactly for you and soon the effectiveness of your work will grow and time of your procrastination will be minimized.
10 Steps to a Balanced Life - The Karmic Ally Way 2014Vatsala Shukla
Sharing an updated version of the 10 Steps to a Balanced Life that I had gifted to my subscribers and friends in 2013. Given the positive feedback and the fact that many of us struggle to find that perfect balance between work and family, I'm sharing it with love, gratitude and in the hope that my message, that we can have it all, will find it's way to you! Enjoy and share!
Entrepreneurship is defined as the starting of new businesses, usually by an individual who identified a gap in the market and trail blazed their way to success as sole owner and CEO. But you don’t have to share this passion of building your own business to see the value in utilising the same skills for your future career aspirations! We explore the relevancy of entrepreneurial skills for your career in this free one-hour webinar, and hear from a USQ student about how she found success by nurturing these skills and taking a chance.
When you hear the word resilience, what do you think of? Do you think of bouncing back from study let downs? Or perhaps maintaining consistent passion to reach your study goals with each new semester? By developing emotional intelligence, resilience can be a by-product used to help you through all of your study hurdles. This free, one-hour webinar will have you re-thinking your perception of resilience, open your mind to the importance of creating emotional intelligence and provide you with awareness of yours and others’ feelings to help ensure your career success.
Failure. It’s a taboo subject. When starting university, you may be overwhelmed with study support, extra assessment assistance and resources, as well as being provided with multiple opportunities to accept help from your lecturers. But what happens if you fail, or don’t do as well as you had hoped? What happens when you accept that failure without learning from it? In this free one-hour webinar, you’ll hear about why learning from different types of failure is important, how to positively reframe that failure for future success and how to incorporate strategies to cope with any study let downs you may experience in future.
All too often, we are advised to keep motivated in order to excel in our studies, but what does being motivated even mean? Why are we still struggling to find it, maintain it and identify its significance for our future careers? In this free one-hour webinar, join USQ research expert Dr Fein as he delves into the theory behind keeping motivated, and then discover how a USQ alumnus used it to pursue her dreams as a world record-breaking athlete and entrepreneur.
Be honest, have you heard of a student that hasn’t been stressed at some point during their time at university? In this free one-hour webinar, you’ll learn from local researchers and professional experts why managing your stress is imperative to your study success and how the power of positive reframing can influence your wellbeing. Take some time out from the books, watch along and start turning that stress, into a little more success! Presented by USQ Senior Lecturer in Psychology Dr Yong Goh and Registered Psychologist Cara Bricknell.
To see more from the Beyond the Books Online Series, visit our website. https://www.usq.edu.au/webinars
Looking for a way to separate yourself from the crowd? Taking on an intrapreneurship mindset may be just the answer you need. This webinar delves into what intrapreneurship really means and how developing entrepreneurial characteristics can be beneficial to your career success. The webinar is presented by USQ staff member, Dr Paul Newbury.
To see more from the Beyond the Books Online Series, visit our website. https://www.usq.edu.au/webinars
Looking to find work-life-study balance? This webinar delves into the challenges that students face when it comes to balancing study, work and family. With only 24 hours in a day, this one-hour webinar could help you re-prioritise and get your work-life balance back on track. The webinar is presented by USQ staff members Michael Healy and Stacey Dawson.
To see more from the Beyond the Books Online Series, visit our website. https://www.usq.edu.au/webinars
Discover the surprisingly easy ways to make small, but significant changes to your budget. From how to identify spending leaks, to what discounts, grants and financial services you may be eligible for as a USQ student, this session will equip you with the financial tools and strategies to help you make the most of your student budget. This webinar is presented by USQ staff members Clare Moseley and Robyn Idewa Gede who provide welfare and financial guidance to USQ students on a daily basis.
For more advice and resources to help with budgeting be sure to check out the following free resources.
https://social.usq.edu.au/tags/budget
To see more from the Beyond the Books Online Series, visit our website.
https://www.usq.edu.au/webinars
Your first semester of Uni can be overwhelming, especially when you start getting assessment. If you're feeling a little lost this guide will take you through the steps you need to take when approaching your first assignment.
This free, one-hour webinar goes beyond the basics of interview skills and dives deep into the details of how you can deliver informative, impressive and memorable responses in your next job interview. Our presenter, Michael Healy, is an Employability Coordinator at USQ, supporting students to progress their careers. In this engaging presentation, he shares his take on the both the common and unique challenges of succeeding in an interview.
For more free resources to help you excel in your career, visit USQ Social Hub or tune in for more Beyond the Books Online Series.
https://social.usq.edu.au/tags/career
https://social.usq.edu.au/tags/interviews
https://www.usq.edu.au/webinars
You’re dumb.’ ‘You’re not good enough.’ ‘You’ll never succeed at this.’
You’d never say these things to someone else, so why let your inner critic undermine your own efforts and accomplishments? Learn how you can use self-compassion to quieten your inner critic and stop holding yourself back from success in your studies, relationships and career. Having worked as a psychologist for over five years, our presenter Niamh Keane is used to demonstrating compassion for others in her professional career, but also understands how challenging it can be to turn down the volume on your own negative thoughts. Niamh explains what self-compassion is, why it’s important and how you can use it to quieten your inner critic.
For even more sways to combat your inner critic, check out the following resources on USQ Social Hub:
https://social.usq.edu.au/tags/mental-wellbeing
https://social.usq.edu.au/uni-lifestyle/2017/02/headstrong
For more free resources from the Beyond the Books Online Series, visit our website:
https://www.usq.edu.au/webinars
It can be difficult to balance family time with study time but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Use these tips to combine study with family time, no matter how old your child, and make the most of the time you have to achieve your study goals.
For more tips to help you be a successful studying parent, check out Jess’s blog How being a mum helped me become a better student or Shane’s blog 4 tips for tackling study as a new dad.
Are you a studying parent? Are your kids telling you they're bored when you're trying to study? We have created a template for you to keep your kids busy while you study.
At USQ we offer a range of preparation programs and alternative entry options as we believe everyone should have the opportunity to access tertiary education!
If you’ve considered studying a pathway program online, take a moment to review these webinar slides.
Effort doesn’t necessarily translate into good grades. If you want to achieve assignment success, you’re going to need a solid plan. Learn tips and actionable strategies to help you plan and write HD-worthy assignments, every time.
To find out more about how the the Beyond the Books Online Series can help you get ahead at uni and in your career, visit https://www.usq.edu.au/webinars/
When working towards achieving your goals (for example, getting a degree) it can be easy to become disillusioned when the going gets tough. Having a clear understanding of your values, often referred to as your ‘life’s compass’, can make it easier to tolerate short-term sacrifices or obstacles that stand in the way of your success and keep you motivated on the end goal.
In this webinar, registered psychologist Asha Honeysett will discuss how to align your goals and values in order to utilise them for life satisfaction and academic success.
For more information about the Beyond the Books Online Series, view our FAQs or email webinar@usq.edu.au.
Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?
Starting your own business can feel like a big risk. This webinar, presented by Jock Fairweather from Little Tokyo Two, will provide you with practical strategies and advice from someone who has found success in creating a business and who helps entrepreneurs reach their goals on a daily basis. By helping you understand common start up mistakes, this webinar will provide you with the confidence you need to forge your own path and reap the rewards of your successful venture.
We know that juggling everything at uni is no easy feat. The fear of missing out (FOMO) can be tricky to manage, but we've determined at least 4 times when you should get involved and embrace your FOMO. For opportunities to get involved with uni life, check out https://www.usq.edu.au/current-students/life.
Looking to upskill or reskill? Postgraduate study online is a great option. This webinar will equip you with the knowledge and tools for success in online learning.
If you're considering studying a pathway program online, this webinar is for you. By tuning in, you will be well on your way to discovering your online study options so you can start heading in the direction of your goals.
Welcome to the Program Your Destiny course. In this course, we will be learning the technology of personal transformation, neuroassociative conditioning (NAC) as pioneered by Tony Robbins. NAC is used to deprogram negative neuroassociations that are causing approach avoidance and instead reprogram yourself with positive neuroassociations that lead to being approach automatic. In doing so, you change your destiny, moving towards unlocking the hypersocial self within, the true self free from fear and operating from a place of personal power and love.
2. There’s no shortage of opinions or articles to
choose from when it comes to the discussion
of work-life balance. In fact, there are over
95 million results available on Google.
But when you try to find advice or tips to help
with the juggling act of work, life, university
study and being a parent or carer, the
conversation tends to come to a grinding halt.
3. As a studying parent, you’ve got a lot of things to juggle and there’s
always more responsibilities being added. You’re constantly being
thrown curve balls that need to be caught and it feels like for every
one you catch there’s another one hitting the floor.
You’re craving a solution to make the juggling act more manageable.
The answer must be this elusive
work-life balance. Right?
4. Not necessarily.
With so many formulas and strategies available, and balance still
remaining so hard to achieve, is it possible that there might be a
better approach?
Instead of balance, could work/study/family/life flexibility be a more
effective and, ultimately, more achievable, goal?
5. The idea of achieving balance is that the juggling act becomes
controlled. All aspects of your life and your many commitments are in
perfect alignment. Everyone’s needs and wants are met and nobody
misses out.
But in reality, we all know life doesn’t quite work that way. Kids get
sick, work commitments change and your study workload fluctuates.
The concept of balance doesn’t leave much room for curveballs …
6. The concept of flexibility, on the other hand,
helps you to reign in the juggling act by helping
you to prioritise what’s important, let go of
what’s not and decide which balls you can put
down or pass on to someone else. Flexibility lets
you catch the curveballs without all the others
hitting the floor.
8. The first step is to take a long, hard look at
exactly what it is you’re currently juggling.
What are the emotions, time commitments and social networks that
make up the balls you’re constantly trying to keep in the air?
Using the following three categories as a guide,
write down or think about your own juggling list.
9. Emotional needs and wants
You’re most likely juggling the stresses and
pressures of study and work with the emotional
ups and downs of raising a family. At times, you
may feel determined and proud of all you’re
working toward in your studies. Then, there might
be days when you feel immense pressure and guilt
for the time and energy study takes away from
other aspects of your life, such as your family.
Putting your own feelings aside, as a parent you’re
also trying to manage the emotions of your family
and loved ones, and provide them with the support
they need.
10. Time
There just aren’t enough hours in the day! It’s a
constant juggle to split your time between work
hours, study and the daily routine chaos of family life.
Kids need to get from A to B, meals need to be
made, clothes need to be washed and somewhere
in there you’re also trying to carve out time to
pursue your goals and maintain relationships. Not to
mention exercise, quality sleep or leisure activities!
Jot down everything (no task is too small!) that takes
up time during your day.
11. Social networks
As a busy mum, dad or carer, there are many
relationships in your life that you want to keep
healthy. Friends, family, colleagues and
acquaintances all make demands on your time,
and while you try to say yes to as much as
possible, it often feels like there’s someone
missing out or being left disappointed. Your
social networks are important to you, but
they’re hard to keep up with!
How many social commitments and
relationships are you juggling? Write
them down!
12. Now that you can see exactly what you’re
currently juggling (or trying to), the next
step in achieving some flexibility is to
prioritise what is most important.
13. When it comes to gaining perspective on the juggling
act, few have put it better than Bryan Dyson, former
President and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises.
‘Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You
name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit – and you’re keeping all of
these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop
it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit
– are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed,
marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You
must understand that and strive for balance in your life.’
14. Choose your glass
While we’ve already discussed the downfalls of balance,
and whether or not you agree with Dyson’s sentiment,
the overall analogy can be useful in helping you to
decide what on your list is most important.
What matters to you the most? Which ball do you
definitely not want to drop?
For many people, family is their non-negotiable and will
always be their top priority. For others who have spent
decades passionately pursuing their careers, work is a
glass ball they would find difficult to have to put down.
The most important thing to remember is that there is
no right or wrong answer to this question. What is glass
to you might be rubber to someone else. Your priorities
are entirely your own.
15. Lighten the load
Next, look at what you can let go of. (And what
parent is not familiar with the iconic phrase, ‘let it
go’?) What are the tasks, emotions or relationships
that are no longer necessary to be juggling?
For example, you might have negative relationships
in your life or commitments at work that you know
are absorbing more time and energy than they’re
worth. Given everything else you’re juggling, what
can you let go of?
16. Put down or pass on
This is where you start making way for
the curveballs.
From what’s left on your list, have a think about
what things only you can do, and what items you
might be able to pass on to someone else or
put down for a little while during busy times or
when unplanned events occur.
For example, nobody else can write your
assignment for you, but maybe you could pass
on the responsibility of cooking meals to your
teenage child for one or two nights a week to
help lighten the load?
17. By identifying your glass ball, letting go of what’s not as important
and looking for opportunities to share your load when needed, you’re
creating a flexible and resilient plan that you can adjust to suit life’s
changing circumstances.
Rather than aiming to achieve balance, the concept of work/study/
family/life flexibility allows you to pick up and put down the balls as
you choose and prepares you to deal with curveballs as they appear.
No matter what life throws at you, you know what your top priority
is and can let other commitments and responsibilities move flexibly
around it.
18. Flexibility is the key to juggling work, study,
family and life, and at USQ, we can offer you the
flexibility to help you succeed in your studies while
managing your other priorities and commitments.