Managing Your Postgraduate Workload

Here are some tips for optimizing time management as a distance learning student. Learn the best way to manage your online courses and assignments.

Are you a victim of the endless loop of perfectionism and procrastination? Check out this resource which offers solid techniques to help you break free and get things done with the best of them.

Whether that perfectionism stems from a fear of judgment or judgments you have of yourself, the anxiety likes to convince you that if you can’t do everything and do it perfectly? You should probably do nothing at all. But inevitably, there comes a point when that avoidance has gone on for far too long — and just when it’s time to pull it together? You freeze. And along comes anxiety’s best friend: shame. Shame wants to constantly remind you that the task didn’t get done, only reinforcing your perfectionism… and perpetuating the cycle.

One of the greatest obstacles to a good life is the expectation of perfection. Other excellent video resources on this topic can be found here:
Procrastination and perfectionism • Brock University
Perfectionism holds us back. Here’s why | TED Institute

If you’re feeling anxious or stressed about your postgraduate study, you’re certainly not alone. In fact a study in the journal Medical Education said that mental health problems in need of treatment during the postgraduate year were reported by nearly 20% of students, with no gender difference – and lots of that is attributed to stress. Many will wonder where this stress comes from, while others won’t even realise they’re suffering. Here's some tips to help minimise your stresses.

And if you feel like you can't manage this yourself, you should talk to your mentor/lecturer or the student councillor who will be able to help.

Deadlines are looming, you’re broke, and student parties are a distant memory. Being a postgrad is tough at times, but you don’t have to suffer in silence.

Stress is a sign that something you care about is at stake—and that's a good thing.

Is it bad that I’ve only had three weeks of classes and I already want the semester to be over? No? Okay, good. Don’t get me wrong, I do love most of my classes and I feel like they’ll only get better and better, but I wish that were true of the amount of work I have to do! I definitely feel like I’m always doing homework, no matter how much of it I complete; when I finish one class assignment, I have to start preparing for the next. Ya know what I mean???? And if you have a packed schedule, it feels way crazier!

The team at GradSchool often have conversations with people taking on a postgraduate degree online, and get to hear great solutions to the challenge of completing studies outside the traditional classroom environment.

Here are three “nuts and bolts” strategies for online study success that we have based on suggestions current and former students commonly make – useful things to know before you get started, and handy tips that can assist current students too.

We hear a lot about work-life balance in the media. There are articles on how to find it, some that question whether it even exists and others insisting that as we get older an unbalanced life may actually be best. Whatever your view, it’s hard to deny that ‘finding balance’ has become a modern-day 'Holy Grail'. Trying to find that elusive balance between study, full-time work, and family and personal commitments, can seem overwhelming at times.

Reading at postgraduate level is not just about reading and committing it to memory, it is about reading and thinking about what you have just read. It is about forming your own analytical skills; forming your own academic opinion.

One of the differences between postgraduate and undergraduate study is the amount and depth of reading. You will never be able to read everything available, therefore you need to learn how to read efficiently and effectively.

Completing a postgraduate degree whilst managing a disability, illness or learning difficulty may seem tough, but it's far from impossible. In this post Chantelle offers some tips from her own experience.

With exams approaching, you should be thinking about how to get better at time management and organize your days so you can strike the right balance between home, work and university life. By taking the time to arrange your priorities, you can give yourself the best chance of staying on track and organized during the exam period, which in turn can help reduce stress levels, something that can be the difference between success and failure at university. Take a look at our top seven time management tips, so that you can do your best at university and also find moments to relax and even earn some money on the side.

In the darkest days of the graduate school “doldrums,” as you wade through readings and midterms and papers, it can be hard to recall why exactly you decided to go to grad school in the first place. Here are five tips for balancing your grad school workload with your personal life.

Our technology-rich world has proven to be both a blessing and a curse. While on the one hand we have access to information or people anywhere at any time, on...

Set SMART goals to clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, use your time and resources productively, and achieve what you want in life.

A communal space all about procrastination where you can share stories, insights, resources, good habits and tips for breaking the bad ones. Join in the conversation or grab some sage advice from your colleagues. IF YOU'RE GOING TO PROCRASTINATE, DO IT HERE!

I've been a psychology professor since 2012. I've witnessed students of all ages procrastinate on papers, skip presentation days, and miss assignments. None of them were lazy. Ever.

People with a growth mindset, as opposed to a fixed mindset, interpret failures as learning opportunities, thereby catalyzing self-improvement.