Power Hour

So I have designed a new time management technique - the Power Hour. Here's the deal:

Instead of doing one thing at a time, I break all the things I need to do into many small pieces. So for example, instead of saying, read 50 pages tonight in my textbook, I'll say, read 10 pages this HOUR.

Then I include a bunch of other stuff that I need to get done. For example, the first power hour I had today, I applied to 1 job, studied 2 pages of review for my class, wrote 4 measures of music, sent out sheet music, looked at research on currencies, read a chinese article, and sent a friend a message. True, each individual task was quite easy, but in the end I felt like I got more done during that 1 hour than I sometimes do in one entire day.

So essentially, the whole point of the Power Hour is that it makes you really motivated. You see a list of 7-10 EASY tasks to finish (that you basically told yourself, just do this little, and you'll be good). Note: this time management technique won't exactly help you when you're in the deadline for something big, like a midterm, where you need to really bog down and study for 3-4 hours. But if you instead do a bunch of power hours that include a little bit of studying during the times when you have a lot of free time - they can really add up.

So Power Hours are not just a time-management tool - they're a life-management tool. Instead of trying to fix yourself up with an insane schedule, instead, plan a couple of power-hours per day, and see how that works.

How to keep working

Goodness gracious. First of all - I quit playing games. Forever. I still get tempted everyday, every minute. I watch some game videos online. But no, I'm never letting myself sucked into those games again.

I'm at Maryland right now. Woot. I'm so happy to be seeing my family again, to be in the peaceful state that is Suburban America. Being at home is a fantastic feeling. I never want to go outside again.

So now I have really thought about a few things, but I still have trouble motivating myself, overcoming that laziness. It seems that every time I think of a new thing to do, I have a habit of immediately thinking to myself, I can't do it. Is it a habit?

If so, I need to overcome it. I've always wondered why, after all these years, it was so much easier for me to do those "jobs" on those games, than it was for me to do them in real life. Maybe it's because those jobs are easier. Maybe it's also because using your brain is hard. Maybe it's also because the rewards that you get in those games are much better than just doing a task in real life and seeing no reward (in the short period).

So how do I motivate myself? I know that, this has always been my problem. I feel that if I can motivate myself to do anything at any time that I want to, I will be able to achieve ANYTHING. So why haven't I done this yet? Am I too scared of failure, of using my brain, I mean come on...

Here's to hoping I can overcome this newfound laziness. I feel like it has been something that has contaminated me for all these years, and its aftereffects will be felt long after. In order to fight... I have to really put my mind into it. It's going to be hard.

I wish I had a personal trainer... but I don't. I have to do this myself, I have to overcome all of my fears, by myself.

Let's go.