Worst week of my life

Is it really? I doubt it. Is it probably? I can't think of a worse one. The bright side (the scary side) is that I don't really care. I'm almost looking forward to the relatively positive light it will cast everything in and it's not like there was nothing redeeming about the week. Next week? It'll probably similar to this week. What happened here? (You can tell that it's going to be a good post, right?)

I have a paper and three exams monday and tuesday. Sunday I kinda have to not be around all day and then I have to come back to work a shift I can't work properly without my password generator. This is a terrible rant.

Well, another bright spot is that everything will look good in comparison to this week. When everything goes well, everything looks bad, right? On to the enumeration. First, I fail to do not one but two programming assignments. Then, I don't fall asleep in class for a day! What a suprise. Then, I have a decent officers meeting. Apple goes up 10 dollars since my sale (yay! [note sarcasm]). I have a decent exam experience. I lose my keys, usb memory key, and password generator for work. I have a nice walk around suburban New Brunswick looking for it and talk to my mom. I find out that I have a $1000 extra dollars to spend dropping my meal plan next semester (good for when I get fired or resign from my job). Oh, I also took the taxi within a 1 mile radius of Rutgers 4 times!!

updated 12:42 same day

On waking up...

Now, regarding waking up in the morning. How many close calls and missed classes/flights do I have to experience before I learn? Phone alarms are not trustworthy and staying up all night may be the only way. That or planning ahead and getting enough sleep or something else.

A major close call was when I had work the day before and Will McG woke me up to go to our last regional tournament for table tennis. Then I missed my flight coming home from Texas, although luckily catching a standby seat on the next flight. Then I miss the second algorithms lecture in a row right before an exam...

BTW, the scarcity of posts here in no way represents a decrease in mistakes... and in this case, no news doesn't necessarily mean good news :/

MORE INSIGHT ON PROCRASTINATION: Removing things from your "stack" of things to do ASAP is not merely a preference, but essential to getting things done on time.

Post exam analysis

I was burned this week from 3 exams that were all much easier than they could've been. Why? Asides from the class that I was really behind in, I thought I understood concepts I didn't really have a good grasp of. So the lesson is that you don't know it until you can prove it. Eh.. whatever... the real lesson is study in advance and don't fall asleep in class. There's always the finals, right?

Update concerning procrastination: it's not only possible to underestimate the time it takes to accomplish tasks, it's almost certain to happen. Compound these miscalculations with interruptions and set-backs and you're surely screwed.

Boring post again... but this is for my own good anyway.

Up there on the list of worst ways to procrastinate

is 'To blog about procrastination.' Let me just warn any sympathetic soul who might be reading this that this will not be the last post about procrastination.

Yesterday was move-in and last-minute packing day. Onsite key pickup lasted until 4:00 PM and I get there at 4:00 PM. I waited until the last minute to pack and needed the help of my entire family to gather and prepare everything I needed into the back of our minivan and couldn't have made it without them. Not that I made it in the sense that I got my key at 4:00 (I didn't), but had the housing people still been there at 4:00 PM, I wouldn't have missed my opportunity. And that's what this is about. Missing opportunities.

But before I discuss further, let me just explain how I didn't get in any trouble. The housing office itself is operating on extended hours, which means the deadline was actually an unmissable 8 PM (which is why when I succeed, luck is a major factor). Had I known this, I may very well have dragged my feet even longer and have gotten locked out all night as my roommate went home after moving his stuff in.

What have I learned? Well, this kinda happens every time I move in... so let's see if blogging about it will help. I should add that I've actually read the first half of a book on procrastination. The read the parts explaining why people procrastinate and stopped after I got into the 'here's what we're going to do' part.

1. Be realistic! Although real tragedies occur if tasks with no actual deadline are then delayed or put-off indefinitely. There are always deadlines: your life is finite. If a task cannot be put off forever (obviously none can), doing it early is better than doing it late!
2. Some days your luck just runs out. Others you miscalculate how long things will take, often failing to take into account logistical and time-consuming steps.
3. The only sure way to trump luck or miscalculation is to do things earlier than they actually have to be done. That means they'll be done without the adrenoline rush and you won't get last minute help from family and friends (btw, thanks to my friends for helping me carry stuff up to my room).
   
4. Enlisting the help of family and friends can help you achieve your goals faster.
5. Simulate that adrenoline rush (or otherwise biochemical surge) if necessary. Coffee (effect too weak) and a red-bull analog (effect too strong) haven't served me very well. If you're hard-core enough (and don't have a heart condition), watch this extremely scary commercial to give you a shock and to wake you up. I'm certainly not often motivated enough to watch this video. Trust me, I fell off my chair when I saw it. (NOTE: I did not actually make sure the link worked because I don't want to watch it again. Yeah, I'm a coward, but I intend to go to sleep soon. Let me know if the link is broken or wrong. Again,please do NOT watch this if you have heart problems or you have a family history of heart problems. If you are a feed off fear, let me know if this is not as scary as it sounds.
   
6. Anything else?

It's important to make a note that chronic procrastination often stems from underlying fears —fear of success, fear of failure, or other anxieties— that would lead you to put something off. Dealing with these fears, debunking their logical foundations, and questioning their legitimacy in inhibiting your actions will help deal with the source of your procrastination problem. This is of course is much less apply if you're only lazy about trivial tasks and do not procrastinate from doing important ones.