Gotta love Engineering
Some people say that some weeks are crazier than others. When you’re in Engineering, every week is crazy. An example of this is this week: I have over 25 hours of class, 10 hours of work, an exam, and four assignments. Not to mention a monthly beer tasting that I volunteered to host before I really looked at my schedule. Added on to that is a student union meeting that I’ll probably end up missing, a CBC website usability study that I strangely agreed to, three job interviews, and another meeting that I may skip. I haven’t been to the monthly meeting for the Web Committee for Dal Libraries since November. To be fair, I told them I probably wasn’t the best student for the job due to the fact that the meeting is during the day and I have class.
On top of all of those things that have a fixed schedule, I have flexible things. Four assignments that take an average of 7 or 8 hours each need to be considered. I’m writing this post rather than working on one that needs to be handed in tomorrow. We’ve estimated 12-15 hours to complete this beast, and I used the nicest weekend of the semester to do it. Basically, my fixed time (class + work) is 35 hours, plus 32 hours for assignments. If it takes 9 hours to get ready for bed, sleep, and wake up/shower each day, I’m down to 45 hours to eat, work out, relax, exercise, buy groceries, and do things like job interviews and beer tastings.
The lesson that I *should* be learning from this is time management. Instead, it’s cram-cram-cram, rush-rush-rush, then go out and drink hard/play trivia on Fridays. Perhaps someday I will learn the lesson. I’ve heard an entrepreneur should plan to spend 50-60 hours per week working on a new venture. That’d be a nice break from my current schedule!
Slowly, my planning is getting better. I’m getting more of my assignments done in advance, but there’s still too much cramming going on. When I get back on my work term this fall, I will be relieved. Maybe I’ll plan wisely and come out of the term refreshed and ready to survive my winter semester. I doubt it. Time management is a skill, sadly, it’s a skill I clearly have yet to master.
