Nor Aziah Abdul Ghaffar

How to balance your academics and co-curricular activities and be outstanding You love sports. They make you feel alive. Dreaming of becoming the next Michael Jordan, you know you can never let go of your role in your school basketball team. Although your parents are proud of your co-curricular activities achievements, you know deep inside they want to see you do better in your academics. Their concern is becoming more apparent lately. They highly support you in your passion, but not at the expense of your academics. Being an average student in your academics doesn’t seem to satisfy them. You don’t want to disappoint them. What should you do? At a glance, academics are the main reason why we go to school. However, co-curricular activities have a role in shaping the personality and capabilities of a student. Colleges, universities, and organizations affirm this by making co-curricular activities participation one of their admission criteria. Well, reasonable enough. A student with a good brain but without soft skills, such as communication skills, leadership skills, teamwork, and time management skills, is challenging to work with. But, how can students keep up with their co-curricular activities without sacrificing their academic performance? Bearing this in mind, a student must plan carefully and set priorities and limitations to his activities. It is mainly about self-discipline. Follows are suggestions that may help: 1. Schedule regular study time Being consistent is essential. Making sure that you do your part in the academic consistently prevents you from falling far behind. No matter what, stick to your schedule. If you missed it, replace it with another slot of time. 2. Plan ahead When a tournament or an important match coming up, whereby most of your time will be spent on training, temporarily reschedule your study time. Find a few slots of time in a week to keep up with your study. Be committed. 3. Spread your tasks over the week If you have an assignment or a project to complete, make sure you spread the tasks over the week. Plan your work, chunk them down and keep on progressing. Accumulating all the burdens into one point of time can be overwhelming and put pressure on yourself. By all means, avoid that from happening. 4. Be organized From personal stuff to academic and co-curricular activities stuff, make sure you have them all organized properly. The objective is not to waste your time searching and digging through your belongings and tracking what you have done and what you need to do next. Everything must have a home. Your books, materials, equipment, and other belongings should always be kept in their fixed places. Also, make a to-do list to keep track of what you have done and what needs to be done. Always declutter your room immediately. Procrastinating will result in more clutter and end up in a mess. So, make being organized your habit. 5. Set your priority and know your limit Setting your priority is vital to ensure that you don't have your finger in too many pies. Be rational and learn to limit your activities. If you are already involved in basketball and swimming, forget about getting into the football team. 6. Get help from friends and teachers When getting ready for a tournament, you might miss a few classes or fall behind in your academics. Trying hard to catch up all by yourself will only stress you out. Instead, get help from friends and teachers. Learn from your friends about what you have missed and get further elaboration and hints from your teachers. 7. Pay full attention in class Your time is precious. Therefore make full use of your time in class. Pay full attention and ask questions in class. Try to get as much as you can in your head. Learn to take your notes properly and complete them there and then. 8. Use time between classes to catch up with your academics Use your time between classes to complete your notes or do your assignment or discuss with friends on academic work. You'll be surprised at how much you have completed if you use your time wisely. Choosing to build up your personality and quality through academics and co-curricular activities at the same time is a smart choice. Though it is not an easy thing to do, it can be done. Stick to these three principles. First, always be ready. Keep everything tip-top and smooth as much as you can. Prepare yourself for exams and important games consistently. Second, discipline. Stick to your schedule and plan at all times. No excuses. Third, be committed. If you happen to be off track, find ways to get back on track as soon as possible. Live by these principles, and you'll be on your way to being that person you want to be.