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Once you've started career training — while managing your current work and family responsibilities — one of your biggest challenges is finding time to study and using it effectively.  Valley College of Medical Careers has been helping adult students balance their busy lives for a long time.  Here are some quick tips:

Be Realistic. Do not think you can study every moment that you're not at work.  You can't dedicate all your free time to studying — you need to relax, you need to recharge, you need to eat.  Write out a schedule of your time-locked responsibilities, the ones that, like a job, have to happen at a set time.  Then look at your floating responsibilities — the things like laundry and grocery shopping and spending time with your kids that have to get done, but don't have to be done, for instance, from 5:15 to 6:30 every day.  You need to account for that time, even if it's not tied to a fixed schedule.  Once you have an idea how much time you need to commit to responsibilities (and sleep!), see what's left, and think about how much of it you can reasonably commit to your education — in class and study time, and how much you'll need to meet your goals. 

Be Organized. Have a space and time for studying in which you won't be distracted.  Clear a place at home where nothing distracts you (not the same room where your husband is watching TV) and family members won't disturb you.  If that's hard, try to make at least some of your study time happen at a library or coffee shop.  The important thing is that you have time, a place, everything you need, and nothing that you don't.  Turn off your phone for that hour. 

Be Creative. It's hard to find time to study when you've got a job, family, friends, a home to manage.  But you can find the time.  Use your lunch break at work twice a week to fit in a half-hour or 45-minute study session, even if it's just reviewing class notes.  If you have a long work commute, tape record your lectures and listen to them on the commute (you can get a digital recorder and play the MP3s on an iPod or some cell phones).  If you tend to be the one who cooks the family dinner, declare the half-hour after the meal your private study time — while someone else does the dishes. 

Be Disciplined. Yes, sometimes there will be important interruptions — your child will be sick, the kitchen sink gets clogged — but if something's not on fire, don't let it interrupt you.  If you've set aside time to study, and explained the schedule to your family and friends, don't be tempted from it.  It doesn't matter what show's on TV, what movie they're going to see tonight, or if it's all-you-can-eat seafood at your favorite bar and grill.  Stick to your plan, and keep working toward your goals. 

Be Focused. Use your study time effectively.  Review your class notes, filling in parts you didn't have time to write down during class.  With assigned reading, make sure you understand the material.  Highlight key sentences, and take notes that put the most important facts into your own words, so you'll remember them.  Don't just let the words float in front of your eyes.  When something really doesn't make sense, write down your questions and ask them of your teacher or a study partner next time you're in class. 

Lastly, don't forget to be in a positive frame of mind.  Studying is not a horrible chore to be suffered through.  At VCMC, we try to help students adjust to their new course load and prepare to find their first jobs in their new career.  But even with all that, it can be frustrating.  Just remember:  It's part of your carefully set plan to build a better future for yourself, and it's an opportunity to learn the information and skills that will make you more successful in your life and a better support to yourself and your family.  Look forward to it! 

Next time:  Study tips for actually learning all that course material!