an off week

no clue how, but i spent the entire weekend doing mostly nothing. i watched tv on hulu, watched late night movies in bed with my husband and cats, did not cook a single meal or buy groceries (but ate a lot of take-out), loafed on facebook which is something i seriously rarely do, and updated both of my personal (private) blogs. i'll admit i did do a bit of reading, but very far from my usual amount. i typically spend at least one weekend day at a cafe studying, but it's 5pm on sunday, so i am coming to terms with the fact that my typical weekend study routine is unlikely to materialize this particular weekend. and yes -- posting on this blog is another attempt to waste time.

in any case, i'm trying to think of some tips on how to get work done (literally, like, i want to blog about them and then somehow do them right now):

pre-planning and follow-through
the kind of pre-planning i typically do is really important, i think, for people who are short on time. a lot of the folks in my program have full-time jobs, so nights and weekends are huge for getting work done. at the same time, you can squeeze homework into morning commutes and coffee breaks. but the big thing that helps to actually get it done is focus and determination, i.e. planning to study and then doing it.

the only choice
one thing i do during the semester is take all of the non-school books out of my purse and replace them with shit i have to read. this way, when i'm in the mood for a book (for example, on the trolley in the morning), i am definitely going to read something for school.

blocking out time and going public
i also block out time on my calendar for reading/studying/etc. once that time is blocked out, i just have to follow through. i find that getting out of the house really helps me to get work done. when i'm in the house, i'm so distracted by my cats, my husband, my computer that i end up just hanging out and having fun all day. and i know this kind of sounds like a good thing, and it's true that you can never have too much fun, but by monday morning, if all i can show for my weekend is how much fun i had, i know i'm screwed. when the 9-5 hits, it's hard for me to stir up the energy to get anything done. basically, that's what i have to look forward to tomorrow if i don't get some shit done today.

pretending work is fun... or something
i list zenhabits.net as one of the blogs i read on the regular. leo, the writer of zenhabits, has written a couple of posts about re-tuning your mind to think of work as fun. this is especially useful for people who procrastinate... if you reframe work as something you're excited to do, then you're more likely to get to it and get it done. i haven't tried that hard at this one, but the idea that you can pretend something is fun until it really becomes fun actually makes sense to me, so i am definitely going to try it soon.

anyway, writing this hasn't really inspired me to do anything, so i'm going to go watch a movie with my husband and eat some pizza. i'm almost ashamed to post this, but you know what, everyone deserves an off week...