By Alina Dizik

Setting aside time for both school and work can be a stressful endeavor. Meeting constant demands is difficult and prioritizing can become complicated as time-sensitive projects are bound to arise for both.

But there’s good news: As more employers become aware of the benefits that employees receive from continuing their education, you can expect a great understanding of the demands on your time. While you’ll undoubtedly have to work some weekends and late nights, with enough planning it’s possible to balance your work with the demands of school. Though if you’re really feeling overwhelmed, it may be useful to decrease the amount of courses you’re taking at once or hours worked per week in order to be more productive in both endeavors.

Here are a few time management tips to help you get through the challenge of balancing work and school:

1. Take Assignments With You
Since you likely don’t need to be at your desk or computer to finish all of your tasks, be sure to take advantage of things you can do on the go. “Carry your school or work tasks with you to take advantage of pockets of time as they become available,” says Natalie Gahrmann, a coach who specializes in work and life effectiveness. For example, a book for a certain class can easily be read while you’re commuting or even waiting at the doctor’s office.

2. Don’t Cram
Balancing a job with schoolwork can make you feel like you’re always on deadline for something. Starting early on long-term assignments can allow you to save time in order to deal with the unexpected issues that tend to arise at work, Gahrmann says. “Be aware of deadlines, important meetings, and assignments and pace yourself rather than cramming at the last minute,” she suggests.

3. Manage Stress
It’s easy to get stressed out when life gets busy so it’s even more important to think ahead when managing stress, Garhmann says. “By understanding what triggers your stress, how to identify your symptoms and how stress affects you, you can more proactively manage it,” she says. Additionally, meeting up with friends or following an exercise routine can help you turn your focus away from work or school, which can drastically improve your quality of life.

4. Communicate With Your Managers
As she completes her three-year long part-time MBA degree, Betsy*, a senior financial analyst at an insurance company says she tries to communicate her schedule to her managers. She lets her managers know about her expected school tasks and when she plans to do her work-related tasks. Being upfront about what else is required of her, helps keep everyone on the same page, she says. She makes sure her managers know that school doesn’t interfere with, but rather helps her personal and professional development.

5. Use One Calendar
To stay organized, it’s important to keep a central place with all of your deadlines. Whether it’s just a book that you carry with you or a calendar that’s part of your email it’s important to visually see all of the different deadlines you have coming up. Peek at the calendar before establishing upcoming due dates. Also, use your calendar to spread out flexible deadlines, which can also help in balancing your time.

6. Make Accurate Estimates
When setting aside time for school or work-related tasks it’s important to be as accurate as possible about how much time is actually required. Determining correct estimates will prevent you from getting behind throughout the weeks and help you stick to a schedule. For example, if you’ve designated three hours to prepare for a work presentation but it really takes seven, your schoolwork or other projects that you meant to complete over the week may suffer.

* Last name withheld at person’s request.