2.17.2011

Low Efficiency

I have been having one of those days.. make that 5 days. I have a long list of things to do: taxes, going to the bank, fixing my car, getting my hair cut, letters of intent, talking to profs, making calls to people all over campus.. im applying for the Masters program in Geography so I THOUGHT I had a bunch of shit to do with little time to accomplish it. Last sunday, i woke up early after working til 5 the night before. And early for me is noon so I eat breakfast quick so I can get lunch before 2. After deciding what is most important on my list I head over to my parents house to make some copies and print some paperwork so I can start checking things off my list. I get all my paperwork done for taxes and get half of what I need to get to Professors ready to go. But the clock is ticking and I grab a bit of food before going home to chill a bit before work. Another close shift and Sunday has vanished before I get anything crossed off my list.

Thats ok, Monday has potential. I have 3 or 4 hours to run up to campus and finish off the Masters paperwork. Good plan... up until I sleep til 2 and have to work at 430. No time for campus so I just skip monday as far as productivity goes.

Tuesday rolls around and laundry calls so that kills a good two hours before I have class. So by noon Im up to campus for 5 hours. By the time I get done with listening to 4 hours of lecture all I want to do is eat. After eating I realize I have actually gotten nothing accomplished all week. I have been acting like making a few edits on my tax forms would take hours but it literally takes 5 minutes but cant manage to get anything else done. I had to work close so I took a nap and called that good enough for today. Work 10 to 4AM. Things are actually going to be accomplished... tomorrow.

Wednesday. My day off from work and school. I set my alarm for 12 noon and by 130 I am at the bank making a much needed deposit and the Post office to send some mail that has been sitting at my desk for a week. I go up to campus to meet with a couple profs but when I get there, I find out that I had read the office hours incorrectly and neither of the professors are there. I make good use of my time by actually printing off the rest of paperwork. But that is boring so I go home to get some quick food, and in another hour I am playing racquetball and an hour after that on to Volleyball. Wednesday. Nice work, almost.

Thursday. Class at 1. But my car needs to get fixed before that and the only computer time available before that is 8-10. So because my sweet major uses really awesome computer programs, we only have 1 computer lab on campus that will actually work. Which means we GIS students are at the mercy of the schedule. So a day after I go to sleep at 5 AM because of work, I get to wake up at 7 AM because of school. Dont worry my efficiency is beginning to rise and my list is shorter. I finish my schoolwork in an hour and I actually get a nap in before dropping my car off and heading to campus. Thursday is lab day in class so I am free to wander around the Geography Department talking to people I should have talked to week ago. But its OK I have all the paperwork and its in their hands now. I walk in and talk to Carol, the Geography Secretary, and she informs me that there was some confusion about my application... REeeallly long story but I didnt actually need to apply to the program because I apparently already did. So all of the running around I had been doing, the copying of paperwork, the letter of intent, the meetings with professors was a complete waste of time and energy. I couldnt believe it but was actually relieved that I could check everything off my list, completed or not.

My list on sunday was comprised of about 10 things and now is finally finished. Total time occupied by checking things off that turned out to be irrelevant about 10 hours. Total time spent checking off the rest... about 3 hours, if you count laundry which took 2.5.

Procrastination... On sunday it didnt bother me, time was no big deal. Monday was a wash because I didnt care. Tuesday I made some progress but once again got nothing checked off. Wednesday got some things done but still couldnt finish. Thursday all ready to check everything off then figure out most of it was just stressful and time consuming. So a lesson learned? Hardly. One week done, next week is midterms so as true to college student form, more procrastination. Because with everything checked off my list, the only thing on my mind is a bottle of wine and what time I have to set my alarm for tomorrow. I will worry about whatever later because if I really wanted to stress out well... I wouldnt have to look to far ahead.