Think Big

I just finished laying out my study plans for the weekend for my coworker (She asked. What a nice lady.). After all was added up, I had blocked out approximately 18 hours of studying to get done between now and Monday.

Eighteen hours. When I think about that number, it strikes me as completely nuts. Who studies for eighteen hours in two days? But then I think about my backlog of homework, my missed lesson from last night (burnout avoidance--took a long bath, cooked a good meal, and finished a novel), and the full-length diagnostic coming up on Sunday and suddenly 18 hours seems almost conservative. And I will do it.

Most people, I think, would just throw up their hands and say F-it. Then do maybe 4 hours, max, then go enjoy the gorgeous late summer weather or see a movie or whatever. For the purposes of this post, I'll call this "thinking small."

I have never really been able to think small. I try to make every day big. When I was teaching, I'd get up most mornings at 5 to work out, get to school by 6:30, make copies and set up class by 7:30, tutor kids or socialize for half an hour, and then start the day. After that, I'd do more work until 5 or so, at which point I'd get sick of being surrounded by tables, chairs, overheads and markers. Then I'd get home, cook and work again from about 7 or so until 9. Then I'd read a book or study LSAT for an hour, talk with the lady friend for a bit, then fall asleep on the phone around 10:45. Wake up and do it all over again.

The upside of keeping crazy hours and doing more than is comfortably possible in a day: you learn to maximize your time and make a lot happen. You are productive.

The downside: it's easy to become an over-caffeinated, sleep-deprived grouch. Missing last night's class was grouch-prevention. I've gotten 7 or 8 hours of sleep the last two nights and I feel like a new person. Maybe I should start thinking. . .medium.