[Sethro117]

So for those that know I have a fulltime job, 40+ hours a week, goto school fulltime and recently started my own business which got bigger than I had anticipated really fast. During this time, my fulltime job and school were being thrown to the side and lacking to the point where I didnt get enough credits for a term and wasted the money for that and excessive tardies and absents at work because of being stuck at a client site or just being to tired to go into the office. So much in fact, I decided to put my business on hold for the time being to focus on everything else which I think will pay off in the end.

How do you guys balance everything? I know some have school, work and a family and let me say I salute you guys. Theres no way I could handle all that right now.

This post has been edited by Sethro117: 24 March 2011 - 09:45 AM

[hookiethe1]

There's no trick, you just keep going, and accept that you don't get days off or weekends, and you don't get to stay in bed just because you're too tired to get up.

[AdamSpeight2008]

Set priorities.
Set boundaries.
Have disciplines.

Stick to them.

[Craig328]

Also: sleep is overrated.

BTW, what's yer business do? If it's being successful, are you sure abandoning it in favor of school is the right move? I mean, I'm normally the guy who says "get an education" but 99.99999% of the time that's in the absence of existing superior prospects. You're going to school so that you may get a decent paying job, you know. If the business you have is doing well, you can always go back to school later or do it part time.

Just sayin'...

[Sethro117]

Good points Craig. I done IT consulting, IT staffing, and both onsite and remote system and network administration. I also took over a couple small businesses that another local IT shop had because they to were being overwhelmed. I think in the long run having a degree would pay off. I mean I have thought about dumping the fulltime job to stay and do the business but I have benefits there, they are giving me tuition reimbursement and I just feel I should take advantage of that while I have the chance. I'm still young and hopefully I'll be able to in the future get it back up and going. My school allows me to accelerate my degree meaning if I kno0w the stuff and pass the final I get credit for the class. So with that and being able to refocus I'm hoping to knock it out by mid 2012 instead of Jan of 2014.

Thanks for the advice though, I can understand what youre saying. Trust me, I dont want to work for someone else my whole life so stopping my business is kind of a step back. Right now though it just feels right. I still plan on doing some projects here and there and have told several clients already I'd be able to pickup stuff here and there depending on what kind of other stuff I have going on.

[Craig328]

Ah. There's something. Mid-2012. See, that's what, 15 months away at worst? All through life we need to make decisions between doing the right thing and doing the least difficult thing. Sometimes one of the larger determining factors is "how long will it suck" if one of those choices is harder, less comfortable but has an end date. You can put up with almost anything for 15 months as long as the payoff is there at the end.

As for the FT benes and such, yep, that's not to be overlooked. Perhaps for you the best move is to not quite let your business die but try and keep it on life support whilst you tackle the things you'd like to (school) and the things you need to (the FT job with benes). Course, you're in the best position to decide such things.

[Core]

Having college and other extra projects I am working on, I can say that the best skill one can acquire is time management. It takes a while till you get used to strictly separate time spans for specific tasks - once you manage to do that, you're golden. Outlook, scheduling apps - whatever works. Here you can also apply Adam's suggestion - discipline.

[lordofduct]

drugs, lots and lots of drugs.


joking aside. I'm with Craig about having to make a choice.

It's not an easy choice so us blindly telling you which way to go certainly won't help (and you're a smart guy and I bet you probably know that already, hence the direction you took the topic). Personally I'd sit down and do the math, I'd estimate some quantifiable limits of my stress, estimate values for each stressor/destressor (for instance future oppurtunities is a destressor like degrees and money). Run some example scenarios I know to make these estimates as accurate as possible, and then project a numeric estimate for each permutation of choices you can make in the current scenario. If the best numbers are to close to call, I then just fly with my gut.

It's how I became a programmer... it's also how I ended up in LA ready to kill people. It's not perfect, but I regret neither.

This post has been edited by lordofduct: 25 March 2011 - 02:42 PM

[Choscura]

I can't speak for you but in your position, the decision I made was to do my own business, keep school on the sideline (although I suspect my motivations in school and yours are much different) and keep the business going as my only work. There have been difficult times and times that I thought about giving up, but those times are few and far between. Doing your own business is vastly more rewarding than working for somebody, because, among other things, you don't end up being paid just enough to keep you happy and working: you earn what you're actually worth.

[Jstall]

While I am still very new to the industry and feel I am not in the best position to give advice I do know something of having multiple taxes on my time and energy and trying to cope with it. I feel it's important to be self aware, and that includes knowing ones limitations.

There are times when we just have to plow through and grin and bear it(the last three months of my life,excluding the past two weeks, has been like one long sleepless nightmare) I would typically rather do two things very well than barely scrape by doing three.

Without knowing the exact particulars of your situation I would say you made the right choice focusing on school. And congrats on the business taking off! I intend to shlub away at a job for a few more years, get some experience and learn as much as I can, and start something of my own. I too do not want to work for someone else for the rest of my life .

Hope things work out for ya.

[no2pencil]

AdamSpeight2008 is spot on. Only you can determine what is most important to you, & only you can stick to those priorities. With no priorities set, this type of an active lifestyle will consume you. But if you can get it on paper 1st, then all the rest is really just details to the overall picture.

Hire a 1099 at your business, & make money putting others to work.

[Creecher]

I follow the 7 P's

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

[elgose]

NeverPool, on 29 March 2011 - 05:59 AM, said:

I follow the 7 P's

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

This.

That's basically what I plan to say, although not so eloquently. From my experience juggling FT school, FT job, time with family and girlfriend (seems like another FT position!), I've found the difference between overdoing it, stressing out, and eventually burnout is planning.

I'm an avid fan and user of FranklinCovey planners, I've been using them ever since high school, and when used properly you can get so much done. The thing is prioritizing your tasks, and laying it out so you have a conscious idea of what needs to be done, when, and how long you've really got for everything. For me, juggling it in my head or a simple to-do-list wasn't enough, but laying out a schedule with a priority based task list seems to do the trick.

Eventually, you'll see if it's a time-management issue, or a holy-crap-I-really-am-doing-WAY-too-much issue.

Only other tip - experiment. What works for me might not work for you, and vice-versa. Let us know what you settle on!

[RetardedGenius]

Just took a quick look at your website. Under "Skills" you list "Attention to Detail", yet you have several grammatical errors throughout the rest of your site. Most notably, under "Interpersonal Skills", "I'm a ble to"...

Apart from that I really admire your tenacity, I would advise holding your business off temporarily and making your education your top priority. Only work as much at work as you need to to pay your overheads/debts, etc.

[Sethro117]

Thanks for the replies everyone. And thanks for pointing that out RetardedGenius, I havent updated much of anything on there but looks like I need to go back and read over everything.