Studying and Working

Yesterday morning I went to the post office to collect my CII study materials for the next exams that I will be sitting for in October of this year. More specifically, I will be studying Insurance Law and Business Practice. Each book is quite thick and there are also several assignments to be completed for each subject. The sheer amount of paper was enough to make me feel fairly worried about the amount of hours that would be required in order to remember so many legal cases and principles, not to mention the assignment-writing!
When I was at university, I normally had to read hundreds of pages and prepare various assignments over a three-month period. During that time, however, I was living in an apartment on my own. I was also single and did not have a job. Hence, I had the best possible circumstances to be able to focus on my studies.

Nowadays, as a full-time, married employee, the situation is radically different. At work, the amount of pressure to do countless tasks has been mounting over the past few weeks. As soon as I start working on something, one of the managers comes to my room to dish out the dirty work that he does not want to do. When I inform him about how much work I already have, he states that his instructions should take top priority. Having to deal with so many things during a typical working day leaves me feeling almost totally drained by the time I go home.

Upon getting home, there is usually always something that needs to be done. It is either a few products that need to be purchased or an urgent chore that has been postponed for several days. This adds to my fatigue.

At this stage, I should also mention that given the meagre lunch I eat at work (usually a toasted ham-and-cheese ftira), I normally get home in a semi-starving mode. Coupled with my fatigue, my physical state does not normally allow me to be in a very jolly mood. :)

I usually arrive home at around 6PM. Once all the day's errands are seen to, it is already almost 7PM. Feeling famished, something needs to be prepared for dinner. While my wife usually washes the dishes, the cooking is frequently in my hands. On a tranquil day, I really enjoy cooking. Having said that, it is not something that I look forward to after a hard day's work! :) Considering the fact that we try to avoid eating frozen foods, preparing dinner is often a relatively time-consuming task.

By the time, we have dinner, I am normally feeling so exhausted that I can barely summon enough energy to watch a 2-hour movie. Given that we tend to avoid sleeping late, I usually end up with hardly any time to read, blog, or write! It is this realisation that scares me when I ponder the several hours that are going to be necessary in order to pass the Diploma exams!!!

Yes, it can be very tough to study and work simultaneously. Just hope that I can work out an effective time management plan to get the best results. Of course, many social activities will have to be thrown out of the window. :( Well, forward I go, hoping that this sweat will contribute to a brighter future. :)


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