growing up? staying young?
Random Observation/Comment #231: I wonder what my status updates are going to be when I’m working. I hope I maintain my enthusiasm for life. I deem this one of my more insightful comments.
From my current schedule, I have loads of free time to do the things I love doing, yet I still find time to do other things that aren’t on my to-do list. I’m not even sure if I have a to-do list anymore – just things I’d like to do. I don’t even want to know what’s going to happen when I’m given a less thrilling job, and I have the unlimited power of the internet at my finger tips. Hopefully the regulation from my first part will help me.
My work-life balance is basically 100% life and zero work. Of course, I have a few things to do, but it’s not under any immediate deadline or are there consequences for missing those deadlines. I’m under zero pressure and it’s awesome. Obviously, this will be disastrous for work, so I will take the necessary efforts to stay employed.
As this is a method of “weaning me back into reality,” I understand that the flip into working will be a difficult one. Thus, I am prepared to follow a schedule that will help me be more productive. I will be my own drill sergeant.
- Sleep early, wake at 7, and zero naps. My sleep schedule is so messed up for no reason. I stay up because I have no reason to be asleep so early. On the other hand, I should be sleeping because I have no reason to stay up either – it’s just random stuff that I could do the next morning since my schedule is fairly lenient. So why? I have no idea, but it needs to be fixed or I’m not going to make it. Fix: Two weeks before work, wake at 9. One week before work, wake at 8. Sounds simple, but this requires less partying or less sleeping. Tough choice.
- Regulated Internet Surfing. That overflowing tab syndrome needs to be controlled or I won’t get anything done. Fix: Reduced time spent on internet surfing random stuff from those side-tracking stories in Google reader. Two weeks before work, only 3 hours total. One week before work, only 1.5 hours total. This can be separated into 15-minute-per-hour break times.
- Productivity Bar. As mentioned in the earlier post, I have a few activities that need to get done this month, so a new plan will be set forth to complete these tasks on time. Fix: Bi-weekly milestones will be created and met. The scheduling will start off lenient (and I’m only expecting to start with a 5-hour work day at first) but hopefully it will eventually increase to 9 hours. Since this is stuff that I like doing, like making websites and writing, I should be able to last much longer than… whatever I’ll be doing at work.
- Multitasking. I remember juggling 10 things at once and finishing all of them on time – those were the days. The vacation has made my brain – well I wouldn’t say slower – but it’s definitely more ADHD. I used to complete assignments before the class ended, and now, I feel like 30 minutes isn’t even enough to write an email. Fix: Incorporate small tasks (like writing these blog entries) with tight deadlines with larger tasks (like writing the book). Diverting all my attention to finishing the smaller tasks could be unwise since future projects will exist that may not only depend on my efforts. This Fix will force me to schedule and plan ahead so I could complete everything efficiently and fill in those large project break times with smaller tasks.
- Legible Handwriting with note taking. I don’t remember the last time I used a pen and paper to take notes. It’s definitely been more than 6 months. I have used the keyboard so much, that my handwriting is absolutely horrific. It was nothing beautiful to begin with, but now I think it’s just a bunch of scribbles. I remember the notebook I used for doing the news reporting and it was illegible – I think it would make elementary school teachers vomit. Fix: Take notes on TED talks. It sounds silly, but I really need to use some ink for this and remember how to pay attention so I could stay awake during meetings.
It’s a small list of things, but I think they’re of grave importance for the job. I should be able to pick up where I left off like riding a bike, right? I need a vacation…
~See Lemons Revert to Study Mentality
