nevver: How to Work Better

Let it be known, I’m feeling pretty damn good right about now. Here’s hoping my week continues to be this productive… I’ve got a feeling inbox zero won’t last for long, though. Alas, such is life!

It’s that time of year again, when my life goes from being just abnormally busy and ridiculous to absolutely-mind-esplodingly busy and ridiculous. Yup, school starts back in just under one week.

I’ll admit, I’m already feeling the pressure a little–which is odd, given that I haven’t stepped foot back in a classroom yet. It’s mostly mental, and it’s not necessarily bad, but that extra responsibility for my six (6!) classes is going to be a kick in the butt for the next few months. Thankfully my work schedule will calm down soon (cutting my hours almost in half), and with a little luck the weather will get nicer, leaving me a little less exhausted at the end of the day than I have been in this heat.

In fact, I’m kind of excited for my classes this fall (and yes, I know I say this every semester, and by the end I’m about ready to bang my head against the wall). I’m done with general education requirements, and really, based on course descriptions and syllabi alone, I’m not expecting this to be that difficult of a semester. And well hey, I slogged through six semesters and a summer course already, surely I can manage two more, right?

The biggest thing hanging over my head is the amount of ongoing projects I still have on my plate. I’m designing not one, but two websites (both of which will likely extend throughout the semester) and I have a fair amount of blogging responsibilities. Bad thing? Not really–in fact, blogging and designing are kind of nice, relaxing escapes from the textbooks and assignments I’ll be facing over the coming months. But they’re still more to do, which means I’m going to have to put a little more hustle in my step to get it all done.

Probably my biggest ongoing project–and I’m really regretting not getting this all done and out of the way in June–is my spring capstone project. While the content is finished, the website is not. And I’m contemplating turning it into an e-book, at the prodding of @amandamogul and @riethja.

But it’ll all get done. A little positive thinking and perhaps a teensy bit less sleep, and I know I’ll make it through just fine. Will it be a little stressful? Sure. But then again, I seem to kind of thrive on this stuff. And if all else fails, I know I’ve got an amazing community of friends–online and off–to turn to for a little extra moral support.

In fact, I woke up at 3:30 because my poor roommate had managed to lock himself out of the building when he ran back outside to look for something he thought he had lost (he works late nights). We ended up talking for about 20 minutes, then I found that–surprise, surprise–I couldn’t go back to sleep. I’d gone to bed at a shocking (for me, especially), 11 p.m. last night.

I stayed up and read part of Netherland by Joseph O’Neill (which is an absolutely fantastic read so far, by the way) until about 4:30 a.m. Then napped and snuggled with the kitty (don’t diss it) until about 5:00 a.m. Then I got up for real.

So what’s the point in me describing my morning to you so far? It was early, and I love it. And I feel like I’m in a constant struggle to establish a morning routine that I enjoy.

Too often, I’m waking up at 7:45 or even 8:00 a.m. and then forced to rush through the whole morning getting-ready process. No breakfast, quick shower, brush the teeth and out the door. By the time I get to work not only am I not awake, but I’m irritable from having to rush and even more tired from all the rushing. No fun at all.

This week I’ve been waking up around 6:00-6:30 a.m., and it’s nice. It’s given me a little more time to get ready in the mornings, grab a bite of breakfast, read the paper, catch up on e-mail, and prepare for the day. But I’m finding that 5:00 a.m. is really my sweet spot. Waking up that early gets me genuinely excited about being awake. There’s something incredibly special about enjoying those last minutes of darkness, watching the sunrise, experiencing the city still slumbering around you.

But waking up at 5:00 a.m. obviously isn’t easy to do. Every once in a while, like today, I can pull it off, but obviously it’s much easier to do when I crashed at 11:00 p.m., as opposed to my normal midnight, 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. bedtime. I’ve tried all the tricks: leaving my alarm on the opposite side of the room (even in an entirely different room, in fact), drinking water before bed, drinking water as soon as I wake up, jumping immediately in the shower… you name it. More often than not I wind up back in bed, at some point, and find myself groggily rushing toward the door when I finally snap out of it.

So what’s a busy college student to do? I’m not sure I have much of an answer. I need to work on going to bed earlier instead of staying up to do work, I think. I find that I’m not only more productive early in the mornings, but I’m happier while I work, too. At night I’m tired and sometimes a little irritable and well, I’m probably not getting much done.

And I suppose I’ll keep trying the tricks, and seeing if I can start finding this morning routine. Getting into a pattern of sleep at 11:00, waking at 5:00. A good six hours of sleep (more than enough for me, generally) and a nice fresh start to the morning. Wish me luck.

Oh, and in about five minutes I’ll be getting another badge on Foursquare. Because by golly it’s after 3am on a school night and I want that school night badge. Yes, I am a hopeless social media addict.

One thing I noticed today was that, in the light of South by Southwest (#sxsw) I’ve found myself saying “I’m jealous” a lot of people attending the conference–and even people not attending. People who aren’t as busy as I am. People who had a chance to see Avatar. People who have more time to watch their favorite TV shows. People who have nice weather. People who have awesome jobs.

I really need to stop it. I have no reason to be jealous. Honestly, life is pretty great right now. Do I have a lot going on? Sure. Is it stressful? Yea, a little bit. Is it totally fun and worth it? Absolutely.

I’m learning more in school right now than I ever have. My internship has already taught me more about traditional and nontraditional communication strategy than I thought I’d learn all semester. I have some of the best friends around–in real life, on Twitter, and all over the world (thanks y’all, you rock). And I feel that sense of opportunity… always. There’s so much to learn, so much out there to experience, and so many doors just waiting to be opened. Or kicked down.

Anyway, enough for now, but that’s my message for the night: be productive, don’t be jealous, appreciate every opportunity.

American University

So as you may have heard, D.C. has been absolutely trounced by snow this past week. And it doesn’t look like it’s over yet.

Now the National Weather Service is predicting 10-20″ tomorrow and Wednesday, to add to the two feet plus that we already have on the ground. Insanity.

The federal government was shut down today and likely will be tomorrow. D.C. public schools were closed yesterday (despite our Mayor at first declaring a two hour delays) and now are closed tomorrow, too. Almost every other school system around the Washington metropolitan area, in both Maryland and Virginia, is closed until at least Wednesday–although with this newest storm they’ll likely remain closed all week.

American University, my school, was closed today. Still wondering if we’ll have class tomorrow, but if the storm tomorrow night is as bad as expected, no class Wednesday (and possibly Thursday) is almost guaranteed. We shall see.

For now, I’m doing my best to stay productive. So far doing alright for staying on top of schoolwork (and got lucky, one exam was pushed back to next week) but there’s always more to do. Also, I’m trying to keep up with blog posts–be sure to check out my post from earlier recapping the Gibraltar Associates social media event from Thursday and discussing how to create a new “need-to-share” culture within governmental agencies.

Now on to more work. Got one more part of a paper to write, a few blog posts to draft, and then lots-o-reading to do. More updates soon and, as always, on my Twitter.