productivity

The Wonder of the Weekend

Why would you want to treat the weekend as the weekend?  Saturday and Sunday are boons for productivity.

photo by mcleod

The week is a great time for fun at uni and things often slow down at the weekend.  It’s not always the case, but you’re likely to find precious little happening over large chunks of that time, so it’s perfect to get on with your work and catch up on the stuff you don’t want to think about when everything else is vying for your attention during the week.

Look at Saturday and Sunday as a two-day week.  Let Monday to Friday be the weekend instead!  Okay, so there are lectures and it won’t be work-free.  But how often do you manage an entire day where it was exclusively fun, laughter, decadence and delight from start to finish?  Exactly!

Normally, the weekend is an excuse to chill, or a time to go back to the family home, or catch up on sleep and washing (if you parents have stopped letting you bring your dirty stuff home…).  However, you have the prospect of achieving a whole lot more if you’re proactive on campus.  While others go home and Saturdays are naturally quieter, you can focus on more important matters.  And for those who stay on campus at the weekend, you can get up early on a Sunday while everyone else stays in bed catching up on lost sleep or nursing hangovers.

I recently saw this quotation from ‘How to be Idle‘, by Tom Hodgkinson:

“To be truly idle, you also have to be efficient.”

The weekend is the perfect time to do most of the work you’d expect others to do in the week.  Then, when the normally busy weekdays come along, you can spend a lot more time idling and a lot less time worrying about your workload.  Good times, here we come!

Even if you have sporting events at the weekend, meet up for a weekend activity, or go to church on a Sunday morning, there should be no trouble incorporating it into a packed routine.  There should still be plenty of weekend ‘dead time’ to be proactive in.

I’m not the only one who made the most of this valuable time.  Cal Newport has long been an advocate of a ‘Sunday Ritual’.  It’s great to get up as early as possible on a Sunday (even if it had been an eventful Saturday night…) and enjoy the peace.  For me, early mornings were spent walking around the quiet campus, catching up on reading, getting a few boring chores out of the way, writing drafts of essays, going to a practically empty library and making the most of the facilities, and all sorts of other things.

photo by patkisha

While everyone else slept, I worked with ease and without distraction.  Once friends started to emerge from their beds, I’d been up and about for hours.  It was bliss.  Seriously.

Some people thought my workload was nothing compared to my friends.  It looked like I was doing much less than anyone else.  And at that precise moment in time, it was probably true.  But if they’d noticed how much I’d achieved while they weren’t looking, all would make sense and it would be clear how much effort I’d really put in.  I only made it look easy.  Doesn’t mean it was a breeze.  A relaxed effort, yes.  A half-hearted effort, no.

What does the weekend mean for you?  And how much is that time worth?

When “Just Do It” Doesn’t Do It

We worry too much.  All too often, we look everywhere but the blank page and our own ideas.  We obtain reams of paper and gigabytes of data, only to feel like we’re missing something crucial.

One short, hard-hitting piece of advice to bring you back on track is “Just do it”.  It’s not a bad piece of advice.

But it’s not enough.

On its own, “Just do it” makes sense, but it’s too cold a command.  For someone with a lack of inspiration, how can an obvious three word sentence set off a spark?

photo by mushi_king

photo by mushi_king

Lack of inspiration can manifest in many ways.  It may stem from a lack of confidence, a cautious attitude, no trust in your research findings, or even the opinions of your friends and study group.  But it doesn’t have to eat away at you until you realise there’s not enough time to make a half-hearted attempt at goodness.  Here are some short thoughts on getting on with it:

  • Surround yourself with positive people who can give you drive and enthusiasm in everything you do.
  • Replace caution with a “let’s see what if…” approach.  It’s similar to “Just do it”, but with more overview to change what you’re doing if it isn’t working.
  • Prepare to find your best moments in flashes of spontaneity and inspiration, rather than through lengthy research and reading processes.
  • Note down your own brief ideas and work around what’s missing that way.
  • Don’t spend too much time planning your next moves.
  • Leave doubting for later.  MUCH later.  If you question your ability, you destroy creativity in the process.  Don’t close down by questioning yourself; open up with ideas and interest.
  • Don’t listen to your Internal Editor!

Moving to a positive position helps make “Just do it” feel less commanding and more uplifting.  And when “Just do it” becomes “Done”, the world seems an even better place.  What are you going to do today?

What’s getting in the way of your plan?

How much planning is too much planning?

If you like to plan ahead, but still don’t feel organised, there’s a danger in spending even longer getting your act into gear.  You can obsess over stuff for a week, or even a month, with the intention to plan ahead for every last second of time.

Then, to your annoyance, something comes between you and your plan.  Then another thing gets in the way.  It could be something small, like an important phone call when you mean to be writing.  Or it could be a big deal, like you get flu and can hardly move for a few days.

They aren’t your fault (unless you meant to turn your phone off, perhaps…).  But less important matters also tend to get in the way.  Sometimes we don’t even notice.  Without warning, a whole day has whizzed past and nothing’s been done.  Fast forward a week and you wonder just how the time has flown by.

photo by woodsy

photo by woodsy

Even the most organised person doesn’t have to stick rigidly to their schuedle.  They probably can’t. After all, life happens.

The idea is to work out what activities get in the way, so you’re more aware for preparing future plans.

Each time something unexpected or unplanned gets in the way, write it down and note how long it took before you were back on track with the planned list.  Whether it was self-induced or totally unavoidable, mention it.  Don’t be shy.

This will help you discover:

  • Tasks you hadn’t considered that are part of your regular routine;
  • Necessary time-wasters, such as using the toilet, getting dressed, standing in a queue, waiting for a computer to log you in to a network, and so on (be as brutal as you like…it’s your time that’s being managed!);
  • How disciplined you are in your approach;
  • Stumbling blocks.  Things you thought you could do without, but that you would rather keep as part of your life;
  • The amount of time you want to dedicate simply to relaxation;
  • A more realistic outlook of time and an idea of where you need to start managing time better.

The exercise helps on a number of levels.  You may even realise that the enthusiasm you thought you had could be cranked up a notch. Or you may find a passion you didn’t even know you had.

Time is a strange thing.  There’s never enough, yet we seem to have more time than ever for leisure.  That’s why an exercise like this is vital in understanding just where your time goes.

When you’re done, was it a satisfactory result?  Or is it time to change?

I do this every now and then.  I don’t remember a time when it didn’t make a change for the better.

Freshers – Work seriously to find more fun

This is one of the most common things I hear from Freshers:

“The first year doesn’t go toward your final degree award, so you might as well just pass the modules and leave the proper work for later…”

Not true.  That attitude creates more work, not less.  Desperately cramming more fun in the short term causes less fun in the long term.  What’s the point in that?

Now we’re into 2009 and Freshers are pretty cosy in their ways now, I’ve been hearing a lot of these comments.  One person recently said to me, “I didn’t know the marks didn’t matter until the other day.  Someone could’ve told me I didn’t have to work so hard on everything!”  This coming from someone with straight-As at A-Level.  Perhaps it’s an image thing, but that leaves a lot of people trying to give the same image.

The first year of university is definitely meant to be a time for fun and enjoying the social whirl.  It’s also about finding your feet, settling in, and getting to grips with what’s expected of you.  Your study is important in all these things.  That’s the very reason why the essays and exams don’t usually go toward the final degree marking.  You’re being allowed the opportunity to find a voice, to make mistakes, to understand how to craft a winning essay.

That first year is the ultimate time to further your ability and push things up at least one grade the following year, if not more.  It might not seem that way, but early on in your degree could be the best moment to strike.

What do you think?

gear-man (photo by dlnny)