Wednesday 23 January 2013

Max Productivity

As January comes to a close I want to see if I've worked as much as could have. Honestly, I think I have. At the moment my schedule consists on nothing but afternoon classes. And on most weekday evenings I'm working at my fast food job. With a schedule like this, I would have taken the mornings off, and just slept in. Maybe stay up later in the night to goof off.

Not anymore.

Ever since I've started seriously working on my projects I've been devoting as much time as possible on them. And that's where my mornings have been spent. Slaving away at a computer.


Unfortunately I can't be trusted alone at home. Knowing me, I'll end up going back to sleep in my nice warm bed. The University is not a good work environment either. Honestly, you can work somewhere comfortable and loud OR uncomfortable and quiet. Or even better, uncomfortable and loud.

But, thanks to a questionable handy coupon code I found, I've managed to snag some office space in the downtown area. Ok, it's not really my own private office, I can't afford that. I only have lounge and communal cubicle access. But there's a secretary who knows me by name and I have free unlimited complementary coffee, tea, and wifi.

Meanwhile, as I'm working on Projects Pitch and Derp there are two men in suits who have traveled from across the country. And they're standing maybe 3 meters from my cubicle discussing business deals.

Needless to say, I feel very out of place as I type on my laptop.


But that's good! It motivates me to stay on task and not run off to Reddit or take a nap. It feels like a busy office nearly all the time with people coming and going. Entering and leaving meetings. I'm chugging as much complementary caffeine as I can to stay focused. I'm in a professional work area, I need to maintain some semblance of productivity.

Then around noon I head back to Campus for whatever classes I have. Then it's off to work at my fast food job. Then I head back home to force myself to keep working on whatever it is I have left to do before I pass out.

Rinse and repeat.

Or morning or whatever.

It took a while to get into the groove of things but this week I've been churning out over thousand words per day, my most productive week yet. 500+ in the morning at the office, 500+ in the evening when I get back home.

It's been snowing really badly over here and that's driven away most of our customers at work. So to be more efficient, I've been typing up things between customers. I sometimes can get half an hour of nothing that I can use for myself. I might not have internet, but since when do word processors require that?

The reason why I'm pushing to get these projects rolling so badly is because I don't want to get distracted or demotivated again and have them stagnant. Plus, midterms will be starting soon and I'll have to start allocating even more time for my studies.

And replace my computers with a textbook.

I've also picked up another project which I'm dubbing Project Cold 2.0. It'll serve the same purpose as the older version but it's actually feasible and more ethical. Unfortunately, I'll be dealing with real people and I have to leave my room.

I've broken it down to two phases. I'll give more details about it later when I give an update on my projects. I start on Saturday so that'll be fun. I hope the snow melts by then.

And now if you'll excuse me, I have more work to do.

34 comments:

  1. So much talking about taking naps in this post. Now I feel like I want to take one. Oh well.

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  2. Ethical and dealing with real people? Well good luck with that one. I find it can help to work in a busy environment, it does keep you wanting to do more yourself and you have a pretty sweet deal there. I'd say don't kill yourself with this work but it sounds like you've gotten in to it and it's not so bad a drain on you as it probably should be.

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  3. This month has been quite the ride. next month will be better. it only gets better.

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  4. That sounds really...professional.At least no one can ever blame you for not trying your best!
    All the very best with your projects and studies as well!:)

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  5. Sounds like you're doing great, keep it up! :)

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  6. Good for you! It feels satisfying to be productive

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  7. ah, the busy student years..... I remember I felt like a zombie throughout the college.... work-school-work=-school-studying-work-sleep-work-school... that is how it was... no time to eat or rest or have sex or anything .... sad years....

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  8. Yeah hope the snow melts too. damn you are really staying on task, great job. The office kinda thing is a great idea to help out, now as said go work and don't lurk.

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  9. Reddit and my big comfy bed are the bane of my productivity. Reminds me of that quote from Jim Gaffigan, which happens to me way more often than I care to admit: "You ever have so much to do you just took a nap?"

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  10. Good for you! Work, work, work! It'll prepare you for a lifetime in the labour force.

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  11. It is rather shitty now but it will all pay off one day. Just try not to burn yourself out - I know that's rich coming from me who finds it hard to stop working.

    Goodluck!

    :)

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  12. Self-discipline is the key :) Sounds like you've gotten yourself into a good groove.

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  13. It is a little questionable actually like you say that you got your own little office from a coupon, not that it matters though my man, just make sure you make the most of it I guess. Enjoy your work buddy, if telling somebody to enjoy their work isn't a paradox, I know it can be for me at times haha!

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  14. Woah, I didn't know it was possible to rent out office space like that... How nifty!

    Again, best of luck with your projects! They sound intriguing!

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  15. All the work you are doing sounds too much like....well, work!

    Good luck with your projects and keep that motivated attitude!

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  16. Way to kick some ass. Maybe i need to find office space to keep myself productive...

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  17. wow. what busy days. hope you do get to chill out every now and then.
    :)

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  18. That's cool that you have a kind of office! Stay determined ;)

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  19. Great motivation and cool about the rented office space. "semblance of productivity"...yep that sounds about right.

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  20. Well using computers to do my homework has rarely been productive for me, but hey if it works for you, go for it!

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  21. Man, you sound pretty motivated. Good job!

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  22. my college life getting busier too! good luck with ur work yea

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  23. ooooo...busy guy !!!

    Its good to keep yourself busy all the time.Well I'm enjoying my holidays but yeah missing my work too !

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  24. Young one I am most impressed by your rush of productiveness. Hopefully you'll be able to keep it up, thereby insuring less stress come mid-term time.

    Double bundle kiddo.

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  25. my goodness you are busy! Congrats on finding a great workspace.

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  26. Wow, you sound busy.

    Hope your projects work out the way you want them to!

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  27. Wow! Quite impressive. I feel lazy.

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  28. We got two inches or so of snow today. the people of Philadelphia have lost their frikkin' minds. Buy eggs! Buy milk!! Buy bread!!! Buy plywood!!!
    Keep up the good work!

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  29. Wow, I envy your drive these days! I can barely keep myself motivated to get laundry done at this point :) Keep it up!!!

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  30. Congratulations. This post has just exhausted me. Excuse me while I get my own cup of caffeine, won't you?

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  31. I was never nearly that driven in college or grad school. I always went with the "enough to get by" plan.

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