Late nights in the library, all-nighters to finish assignments, sleeping through lectures – all items on an ever-growing list of increasingly normalised aspects of university life. Burnout is becoming the assumed position by week 11, and as a bright eyed fresher, I ticked off every item in the above list, thinking that it was just the way things had to be.
As a chronic organiser, I thought my army of systems and lists had me well prepared for time management at university. However, on week 3 of first term, I ticked ‘crying in Potterrow after a tutorial’ off the fresher’s bingo card as I realised I was working all the time and still couldn’t do everything I had to do. It was exhausting. Looking back, I thought I was working all the time – realistically, I was very distracted and had a lot of time off, but I didn’t relax during that time as I always felt I should be doing other things. By the time it got to the end of term, I was completely exhausted, somehow still behind, and feeling as though I’d hardly seen Edinburgh despite living here for four months.
At this point, I felt like something had to change.
This term, with Dolly Parton’s iconic hit as my personal soundtrack, I trialled the nine to five uni routine. My method was simple: Treat uni like a job, and work only from nine to five, Monday to Friday. I would get up early, go to every class, and do as much as I could during working hours. But most importantly, the rest of the time I would make sure I was able to enjoy the non-uni side of uni life.
As is often the way with such missions, my main obstacle was myself. I’m a perfectionist by nature and if I break a perfect habit, I find it hard to keep going – just ask Duolingo, who I neglected for four years after breaking a month-long streak at the age of 14. With the nine to five, I found it incredibly difficult to keep on track when, after just two weeks on the clock, I did my first hour of work after 5pm. There have been many similar blips along the way, but I’ve stuck with it – and I’m glad I did.
My key takeaway from this experience is that the nine to five has to be a mindset, not a rule. The results, despite putting in a few hours in lieu, are that I got all my reading done, assignments in, and most importantly, had so much time for myself. I’ve been able to have nights off and weekends away without worrying about piles of readings or lectures that await my return. I’m still very much in need of a holiday, but I look back on this term with much fonder memories than that of my first – and with more to show for it. So next term, you may want to consider joining folks like me, on the job from nine to five.
“group work space, Stephen S. Clark Library” by University of Michigan MSIS is licensed under CC BY 2.0