I've recently been asked about how I balance life as a student-athlete. The truth is, it's not easy. In fact, Stanford has an entire class for its freshmen student-athletes focusing on the "dash." Literally, the dash between student and athlete. It represents a juggling act between class and practice, studying and recovering, academics and athletics. Today's blog post is dedicated to that dash and what I've learned throughout high school and my first quarter of college about balancing school and sport.

#1: Know Your Priorities

"Have your priorities straight." You've likely heard this one before, probably from a parent or grandparent. Well, my teammates don't call me mom or grandma for nothing, hehe! Seriously though, knowing your priorities sets you up for success. Whenever I feel the most stressed out with school and sports, it's because I have so much on my plate that I don't know where to start. That's where priorities come in to help. When you know what's most important to you, you can allocate appropriate attention and time to it. If it helps, you can think of priorities as destinations. Having an end goal in sight prescribes the path we need to take to get there. So, if my priority is to run 53 seconds in the 400m, that goal directs the steps I take now (months before), like hitting my splits in practice. Okay, that was an easy example, but that's kind of the point. When you zoom out to look at the big picture, it simplifies the little things that might be piling up.

The same thing applies to the dash. On an abstract scale, it can be overarching goals like bringing up your grades or bringing down your times. Or, to be a little more specific, your goal can be a certain GPA or a certain time. To be even more specific, you can go week by week, day by day. "This week, my priority is to [fill in the blank]."Maybe it's an A on a certain test or to PR in the weight room. If your priority is a big test on Tuesday morning, maybe you lift on Tuesday night instead of Monday night. It's the little things like this that slowly dissipates the overwhelming feelings of busyness that we get as student-athletes. When we have a priority guiding our steps, the steps become a little more bearable.

#2: Write It Down

Most of the difficulty that comes with balancing school and sports can be summed up as "too much to do, too little time." This brings me to my final two tips (for today) on the dash. When I'm feeling stressed out, I find it helpful to write everything that I need to do and when I need to do it by. Sometimes, seeing my tasks written out on paper makes me realize that there really isn't that much that needs to be done. Or, if there is a lot to be done, having a list helps me visualize a plan to accomplish it all. Breaking up an insurmountable challenge into smaller pieces makes your workload feel more manageable. Plus, there's nothing more satisfying than crossing things off of a to-do list!

Going back to the priorities, I have also found that it helps to write down goals. Our sprints coach had us write down short term and long term goals at the beginning of the season, and my planner even has a slot where I can put my priorities for the week. Having goals and priorities somewhere visible keeps things in perspective and can serve as a valuable reminder when it comes to picking and choosing which tasks to take on first.

#3: Time Efficiency

Too little time. Ironically, I don't have enough time to elaborate on time management as much as it's needed, so stay tuned for more blog posts on time-saving tips. Until then, I'll touch on the big stuff: work when you can and don't procrastinate. I've never been a procrastinator, so I have a hard time understanding it enough to offer suggestions, but I would just say to take advantage of any and all time you get. I've touched on the value of routines and planners before, so I will try not to be redundant. Write out your daily schedule and find blocks of time. Then, look at your assignments or your to-do list from #2 and allocate each block of time to a particular assignment. Even if you don't finish the assignment in the designated block, it is a practical application of the need for writing down priorities.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

The student-athlete balance is such an important topic, and I've barely scratched the surface. For more on the dash as well as my life, subscribe by clicking the yellow button!