Sleep. The Time-Management Equalizer? Or Personal Nemesis....?

OK, really, how much sleep do we need at night? I've heard of people who are totally great after 4 hours a night. (Y'know, those presidents of Fortune-500 companies, millionaires with well-rounded lives, and other mythical creatures...) I've heard as well that you can get your body to get by on less sleep, training it to be more efficient.

Me? I think it's all a bunch of hype. I need 10 hours of sleep. How do people survive on less? Not that I want to get all rant-y on you here, but really, I've been doing 7 hours (average) this semester, and dying because of it. Last night? (Since you asked...) A whopping 2 hours. (And don't think it's because I've got a life. Hah.)

And beyond the physical possibilities, there's the time-management conundrum: If you've got something incredibly important to do (of course on a nearly impossible deadline...), is it better to sleep and be rested to more efficiently finish the remainder of it, possibly running out of time in the process, or to sacrifice your sleep to ensure the job is completed on time? --The latter reminds me of all those war movies where the soldiers urge each other on by saying, "You can sleep when you're dead!" Not entirely comforting. And really, personally, I'd like to sleep while I'm still living.

And of course, if you're like me, and you've got 60 zillion things to do, you're inundated by those things while you sleep. Always fun. Did you ever dream the one where the Calculus professor keeps repeating, "F of x plus h minus f of x, all divided by h. F of x plus h minus f of x, all divided by h. F of x..."

Well, at least for that dream I'm not naked in class. Gotta look at the bright side, here...

Momentum (and its Evil Twin: Break)

Ah, momentum. Easily one of my greatest allies. Or foes, if I let it be.

Case in point: Last week was Fall Break. Was it just me, or was the 'go! go! go!' suddenly turning into 'aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.....breeeeaaaak...' a difficult transition while still trying to stay productive? I mean, did anyone else basically do absolutely nothing until about Wednesday?

I started out with the best intentions: I had about a 6 page list of things I had been trying to get to - but too busy for - from the last month or so (consisting of items like laundry (yikes), dishes (double yikes) and finally getting a haircut (hippie yikes)), but could I even get out of bed the Saturday starting Fall Break? Ok, well, I did get out to raid the fridge and pop in another DVD. (I think I went through half my DVDs and half my fridge that first day.) I had ZERO motivation to move.

Same with Sunday. No matter how much I stared at that giant list of things I really did want to accomplish, pretty much nothing in the world could get me off of the couch. (Well, at least I moved out of bed.)

By about Tuesday I was thinking, 'This is ridiculous! I want to have clean clothes and a non-toxic kitchen. Why can't I get moving?!'

---

My answer? Momentum. (Tricky little bugger.) I've noticed over the last few years that one of my biggest challenges is starting something. Anything. Whether it's a homework assignment, getting to classes on time, or even just getting up to shower (especially on days when I technically don't have any pressing events I have to get ready for).

But get me going on things? I go and go and go and do and do and do until I stop. And stay stopped. It seems to be all or nothing for me. (Probably not the healthiest of approaches to productivity.) Either I'm riding on momentum, or stuck in the 'break of momentum.'

And Fall Break? I reeeeally stopped. Boom. Finished. Caput. Game over, man. Getting going again, even if it was just to get up and say, "Okay. Really. I have no clean dishes left. It is time to wash one at least," was tantamount to moving mountains.

Of course, maybe exhaustion and decompression had parts in keeping me immobile last week, too. My previous momentum felt very similar to plunging-off-a-cliff-can't-stop-now, and yes, stopping kinda felt like smacking the ravine floor at 300 miles per hour.

Anyone else feel like Wile E. Coyote in those RoadRunner cartoons?

Here's a guy who's figured it out...

K if you've got some free time and want to know how the masters do time management...check this out.

It's a NOVA special on Karl Iagnemma, a full-time MIT roboticist who is also an acclaimed fiction writer. Click here to watch or read the transcript:

Profile: Karl Iagnemma - PBS Airdate: October 3, 2006

This guy has time-management down to an art form.

My favorite part of the interview is at the end when his friend is describing how he'd describe himself if he were Karl:

STEVE ALMOND: If it were me, if I was doing this stuff, I would be like, "Dude, I've got a robot going to Mars. What did you do yesterday? And that was before lunch. Then I wrote a great short story in the afternoon. Then I hung out with my beautiful Swedish wife. What'd you do?"

What did I do before lunch today? Hm. Well... I threw out that container in the back of the fridge that was growing fuzz. Does that count? Then I showered. I think that was it. Yeah.

Well, it is fall break - it took an effort, people.

Okay, okay, back to work...

Multi-tasking - Friend of Foe?

So a lot of the sites I've visited list out tips for better time management. And while there is a fair amount of variation depending on your goals, they do all run in basically a parallel path. With perhaps the exception of multi-tasking.

Some sites claim that multi-tasking 'dilutes' your focus on both task, making the time you spend on the two of them that much more drawn out and ineffective. Other sites claim that the best way to get the most out of the day is to not limit yourself to just one task when two are possible.

Now, I don't want to open up a total can of worms here, but there's also the viewpoint that it might be a gender thing. I'm not sure that I agree, but I have heard from many many MANY sources that 'Oh, I can't multi-task, I'm a guy...I'm focused,' or 'How can you just sit there and not be doing something else? That goes against the laws of motherhood!' or etc. etc... But maybe this is a part of the discussion best left for some other blog...

There definitely is something to be said for both multi-tasking and not. If you don't multi-task, you are concentrating your effort on one thing and one thing only. No distractions, no apologies, no excuses, you're on top of that one thing. On the other hand, if you're mind is wandering while you're doing a task, could you fill that wandering with another task? Like watching TV and folding laundry, or walking to the bus-stop and reading a book (um, this may not be advised if you're particularly engrossed. There's cars out there, people...), or playing Halo while you're listening to the last tape of your biology lecture? (Actually, a friend of mine swears by this. I don't quite get it, but to each his own.)

I say I'll try anything once.

(Halo, anyone?)