Digital Life

Something that's helping me out a lot right now is the technique of pre-scheduling. Because sometimes just keeping track of deadlines isn't enough.

Yes, I wasted an entire day playing Tokyo Jungle instead of doing things that needed to get done. In my defense it's also that time (ladies know), which makes me grumpy and generally sloth-like for 2-3 days. Thus slacking off majorly instead of actually keeping to "The Plan".

To make up for it I have now pre-scheduled the rest of my week by setting down a list of tasks that must be completed each day. If I keep to it by the end of the week I will be exactly where I need to be in terms of schoolwork. And housework, actually, cause I slacked on that too. I wrote the entire thing down into my TMS (Task Management System) notebook ahead of time so it's all laid out nicely.

I am working in 60-90 minute blocks of time, since it's been proven that it's about the max a human attention span will last. Games and such are something else, I'm talking straight productivity. So I started with a one hour wake up/breakfast period. Then one hour of housework and setup for my main tasks. What was supposed to be a 90 minute block for my first chunk of schoolwork ended up being two hours because Blackboard sucks, but it's done. Then ten minutes to finish off my housework, now a one hour lunch break. That will give me a remaining two hour block of time with which to do the second chunk of homework. It will probably take about the same amount of time, given that it's a very similar assignment. Add in half an hour for tea/work prep and that takes care of the entire day.

The only problem with doing it this way, and why I normally don't, is because it gives very little wiggle room. If something takes longer than planned to complete, or anything unexpected comes up, I can very easily lose my momentum and the whole week will fall apart. That's why I generally keep things flexible and only track deadlines.

Yeah, I could give up my breaks if I felt it necessary. I still need to eat, though.