I’m always asked, whether it be on social media or in person: ‘it must be so difficult to have a life when you’re studying law, how do you do it?’ To which I respond: ‘8-8-8.’
It’s a simple rule that has helped tons of people to find balance in their lives, and it’s something I’ve sworn by from GCSE level and now during my degree. The 8-8-8 rule represents your 24-hour day divided into thirds. Do this and you’ll never fall behind. This regime, proper organisation, and self-motivation will turn you into a productive machine. All you have to do is stick to it. In order for you to find true balance, split your day into three parts:
8 hours of sleep (1/3)
Anyone can tell you that to function productively you need to sleep. So why do you not get enough sleep? You’re a machine, and for machine to work effectively, it needs to be charged. Sleeping is your way of getting charged. Not only does a lack of sleep mean you’re groggy the next day, but comes with serious health risks. The NHS mention that regular periods of poor sleep put you at risk of serious medical conditions like: obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. And if this wasn’t enough, a lack of enough sleep can lead to a shortened life expectancy. You not sleeping will put a serious dent in your plans. How are going to take over the world, if you have a foggy brain?
8 hours of work (2/3)
For me, my 8-hours of work is spent studying. I’m currently a law student at Queen Mary University of London, so a large part of my day I spend on my degree. In this 8-hours there are 6 rules of thumb you should follow:
Make a To-Do List every morning: highlight all the tasks you’d like to get done in your 8-hours of study. Make sure these aims are reasonable, and can actually be completed by the end of your time slot.
Delegate: Make sure you don’t have too much on your plate. If possible, ask a friend or family member to help you. It’s unreasonable to think you can do it all by yourself. Ask for help!
Learn to say NO: it’s really to say ‘no’ sometimes, and I myself have found that I say ‘yes’ to a lot of things. These 8-hours you’ve set aside for work are your 8-hours. Make sure you don’t give them too easily.
Measure effectiveness: learn how to detect your strengths and weaknesses, and from that spend more time on what you improve on. For me, I measure if I have studied effectively by doing practice papers, once I finished studying a topic.
Remove time wasters: it’s really difficult but when you’re doing you 8-hours of work, you need to remove everything that distracts you from giving 110%. For example, switch off your phone!
80/20 Rule: this is known as the ‘Pareto Principle.’ This rule states that 80% of the results come from 20% of activities. Find out what works for you, and stick with it!
8 hours of doing whatever (3/3)
So, you’ve had your 8-hours of sleep and of work, and you have 8-hours left of the day. What do you do? Everyone likes Netflix, has hobby they like, spending time friends or family, so go do those things. These 8-hours are yours to do whatever the hell you like!
Try it out!
