Working Without Direction

30 hours a week. I was told that 30 hours is the amount of time each week I need to be spending to be doing homework and studying outside of class in order to be successful. I’m lucky if I get to 30 hours a month!

I wake up just after 8am each morning, including weekends, and I spend the majority of my day out, engaging with the community.

Take today (Monday March 31) for example:

8am-9:30am: wake-up, dress, breakfast

9:30am-10am: studying

10-11am: class

11am-noon: meeting, quick snack, emails

noon-1pm: lunch meeting

1pm-4pm: class

4-5pm: emails, informal meeting

5-6pm: dinner, emails

6-8pm: meeting

8-11pm: emails

11pm-1am: homework and studying (unproductive, in my room, exhausted)

Note: underlined indicates time at home

Today was a fairly a typical day. I’ve observed when I don’t make appropriate change that allow me to study productively. I stack my day with commitments and large chunks of time where I physically cannot study. The time that I do have to study, I fill by catching-up on last minute class work or responding to emails to stay ahead. The battery on my laptop is an indication of that- always low by the time I go to bed.

I usually forget to pack enough snacks to stay mentally fueled, and when I do remember, I do not do a good job remembering to eat them. Instead, I go home and mentally crash. I need to remember to eat healthy foods every 2-3 hours every day so that I have the energy and mental focus to work during the day. I need to clear my head and exercise regularly because I enjoy it and I need it to manage stress. I need to remember to get enough sleep so I can approach each day fresh; and when I’m exhausted, I need to turn-off entirely and recharge.

My study time today, like most days, was at the end of a very long and mentally tiring day. I have a lot on my mind and my head has been spinning with all the little organization things that I should have written down and set aside, but instead, stay in my email’s inbox and sent folder. How am I to keep up when I get more than 30 emails each day requiring action? It’s a full-time job for me just to keep my inbox contained, sorting junk from important information and working on associated tasks. It’s easier to work on something that I am familiar with and have mastery of (email) rather than difficult and ‘new’ academic work. In order to meet my goals, I will need to remember to shift my response when I see a flooded inbox. Rather than sitting down during the day to reply to emails, I need to work and study. I can set a time at the end of each day to respond to emails.

I’m lucky. I have several different teams of supportive peers around me and a family that cares about me. I have learned to delegate, and I am developing this skill. But remember, neither my peers nor my parents will be able to get me to my goals.

My goals are two-fold:

1) take care of myself mentally and physically by getting 6+ hours of sleep per night, exercising 3+ times per week, and eating healthy (whole) food every 2-3 hours.

2) perform at a higher level academically and conserve energy while doing it by studying 30 hours per week. The majority of studying should be done using natural daylight and/or by studying on-campus in spaces where energy is already being used regardless of my presence.

It looks like I have a lot of work to do if I want to work on these goals concurrently.