In this post, I will show you how I organize myself, what studying methods I used and overall is it possible to have a full-time job and go to college.

A little background from me, I came here to Spain 4 years ago, didn’t know how to speak, didn’t know anybody…So I searched for a job, I liked here and decided to do my university studies while I work here

First things first and my first rule is “if you want you to make time”.If I want to catch up with you and drink a coffee or I want to get certification I will make time for it. Nothing is impossible it all depends on you. Let’s organize ourselves a little bit.

We have to work 8 hours, and sleep 8 hours that’s 16. We have our household chores, we have to get to work and back, do some cooking and cleaning, get the kids to school…etc.I calculated 4 hours on that, in the comments you can agree or disagree with that, but it depends on the person and his/her circumstances. So now we are at 20 hours, we have 4 hours left to grow, study, train, have fun…etc.

These four hours are all yours, you can spend them any way you want. If you have a bad day, slept bad or discussed with your wife just play some video games, go for a walk, or watch a movie. That’s my second rule: “Everybody can and will have a bad day”.Take advantage of these days and reflect on yourself, have a rest and the most important thing: Find a way to charge up. There are a ton of things which make us tired, and just a few which help us recharge our battery and move on. Find them and use them whenever it’s needed.

Also, you can have a bad week or a bad month. Everybody has their ups and downs. The best advice I received to get out of them was simply hanging in there. Try to survive the days, do little things that make you feel happy or things that help you move. These things can be as simple as washing your teeth or taking out the rubbish. Little things, but more than nothing and if you are down then these are the things that help you to move on.

How do I apply these rules?


All these are cool but how de we apply these rules and (i will use a very technical term here) stuff?

The answer is I don’t know, I don’t know your circumstances neither you. But I can show you how I use these things in my everyday life.

It depends on my shifts but I usually get up when I can, wash my teeth, drink a coffee and sit in front of my PC to play some videogames. When there is no more coffee left in my cup I start to study. I tried the Pomodoro method, giving myself treats when I accomplish something but nothing worked to motivate me. The material is bland and teaching means giving us a book with 300 pages and reading it on the webinars for some people. Who wants this, no?

What I do is think about what it can give me. if I am studying Active Directory or programming I am thinking about how these can be secured, how can be misconfigured, and how can i attack or defend these systems. I do this every day more times and helps me a lot.

After this, I eat something and do some household chores and I usually have one more hour left to study before going to work. At work when I have some time I organize my thoughts about what I have learned during the day and what I felt. So I can remember better and can take care of my mental health also at the same time.

When I come home I eat, take a shower, and go to sleep so I will have power for the next day.

And that’s all, hope you enjoyed my post and remember the rules:
If you want you can make time.
Everybody can and will have a bad day.
Find a way to recharge your mental battery.

And last but least you can achieve everything if you are willing to for it!