Blame

I blame chronic sleep deprivation for absolutely everything.

Holidays

The holidays are here. Whoever doesn’t look forward to holidays? I look forward to holidays as much as I look forward to weekends. It’s interesting though, how holidays work better than weekends.

I might have mentioned this before, but I’ve come to realise the best part about weekends is the fact that they exist. It gives me a sense of security and safety. No matter what work comes along the way, the number of late nights to endure, the weekend would come at the end of those 5 days and life would be good again. The knowledge of that keeps me sane during those late hours and I suppose it is possibly the most powerful part about weekends. The weekends themselves don’t usually matter that much. They generally disappear the minute you hit it.

Holidays on the other hand, are slightly different. Much as they often disappear almost as quickly, they stay around a tad longer. That, however, makes a huge difference. Firstly, and most importantly, there is no school to blame for being tired or anything. Though having a holiday means you are supposedly  given the license to bum excessive, there is often homework to be completed during this break. After the first few days where I argue with myself how much I deserve this break, a sense of guilt creeps in and I do at some point force myself to sit in front of the computer to stare at my homework. And then the horror begins.

Those are the times I prefer school. Ai, a perfect scapegoat it is.

WILLPOWERRR

Yes, willpower. It’s something I lack. Willpower, I reckon I’m absolutely devoid of it. And as such, I’ve had to come up with ways to deal with myself and get myself back in line. They’re not flawless but I’d like to discuss them today.Have you ever told yourself you’d stay up all night finishing ALL your homework such that you can go to school and scoff at your classmates? Have you ever pulled through and succeeded? Most likely not. There have been innumerable occasions where I have planned to finish all my homework in one night (no not to scoff at my friends tomorrow) but gone to sleep at 2am after finishing the homework for the teacher I know would scream at me the loudest tomorrow. Ah, I’ve found the solution to this. It works like this

1.  Create a todo list and prioritise the work that needs to be done (Refer to any GTD book/website on tips for this)
2. Turn your list upside and read the list from bottom up
3. Do the last item first (the one with the lowest priority which is not due tomorrow)
4. At 12 am, make yourself a cup of coffee
5. At 3 am, start doing the homework which is due tomorrow
6. at 6am, pack your table and go to school

I’ve tried this plan and it works! I managed to pull an all-nighter that night. However, please note that productivity levels may differ for you depending on how well you work under conditions of sleep deprivation

 

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Yay another point. 

 

Are you always late? Are you never able to make yourself get up from your seat 5 minutes earlier despite the warning of your watch as the second hand ticks? Well, that has got to be me. I’ve adopted what my Father taught me ages ago, to set my watch 5 minutes fast such that I would always be early if I were to turn up for an event planned at 8am by 8am on my watch. Evidently, this is a trick many people have tried using.

 

 Most recently, during an overtly boring lesson, I decided to reset my watch. It is now 5 minutes SLOW. Now this works better than being 5 minutes fast because when my watch was 5 minutes fast, I always thought “I’m early, my watch is fast, I’ll never be late” and won’t be able to muster the willpower to start moving a few minutes early. With this watch 5 minutes slow, I will be constantly late and constantly rushing and hence productivity will increase! Yay! that’s all we need in this day and age. More productivity

 

In a few years time, I reckon I will once again set my watch 5 minutes fast. Let’s see how many times I can trick myself!