I hear combining working and acquiring an MBA will eventually be a rewarding experience, *sigh*. I do hope that this is the case for me because it has been a truly challenging and demanding experience. it has taken all my self-will not to give up on this pursuit. I am weeks in, and it seems like I have been at it for years. The pressure of juggling work responsibilities, assignments, course work demands and studies coupled with the feelings of self-doubt; constantly asking yourself if you are meant to be in this program and the imposter syndrome when you listen to what you are expected to know, requires a considerable amount of time and perseverance which can ultimately culminate in stress, anxiety, and a constant feeling of being overwhelmed.
To be fair acquiring an MBA is a great way to advance yourself and especially your career, and realistically you may not be able to quit work for school at this point in your career especially if the work pays for the education as is the case for most of us. The trick will probably be finding a balance that helps you stay committed to your job while also being committed to your school, Easier said than done! It requires strategy like never before. However, there are a few things I have tried to do to help me cope and hopefully succeed. They have been working (not perfectly) so far but I thought I should share.
- Set Goals: One thing I did was to list all the school and work tasks I had and then set achievable goals for each. For example, you can say by Wednesday I will be done with this, and Friday I will do this, just make sure they are realistic and don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t achieve all. Just try to ensure the urgent and important ones are done. Some of the goals are the same every week for recurrent tasks while others change depending on what I must do, especially for work tasks.
- Create a schedule: When I realised that I was so overwhelmed and it seemed like I was struggling catch up with everything in my life and in school, I had to pause and create a schedule for myself. something unique to me and that worked for me. Nothing elaborate, just simply checking all my commitments and deciding on when I was going to do what. One thing the schedule did that I was not expecting, was to help me see what was important and what was not.
- Another important thing I did was to ensure I told my employer what I was doing and how it may affect my time and the flexibility I required. Lucky for me I have an employer that seeks employee development coupled with the fact that I have a good track record of not slacking on my tasks, so it was easier for them to understand and allow me make changes in my typical work schedule.
- Talk to people and ask for help: This has helped me so much, actually talking to family about the stress I was under helped me tremendously because of the support I received and also talking to people who had been through this before, the encouragement as well as the “tips and tricks” has been of great help.
Having done all this, I would say most importantly it is essential to take care of the impact on your mental health and prioritize self-care and pacing oneself. Have downtimes when you shut down and relax, do stress- reducing activities, whatever that is for you. It can be as simple as taking a day to watch movies and just not do anything school related and then get your mindset right
The best mind reset that that has worked for me is telling myself as I always do that my money cannot punish me and I will eventually be fine. A lot of people busier than I am have gone ahead of me and done it, so if they can do it, then I certainly can do it too.
