Personal priorities
As I said a couple of posts ago, I’ve gotten much busier lately, which has forced me to make some personal sacrifices regarding the use of my time. But there are some things I won’t sacrifice, which is what I’m posting about now.
When you are getting busy and stressed, think about your priorities. Give up what you don’t need, but don’t give up too much. Here’s my list of “inalienable” activities, things that I’m not going to give up for academics no matter what:
- sleep at least 7 hours per night. (Preferably 8.)
- play bridge at least 2 hours per week. (Preferably 6 or more.)
- play soccer at least 2 hours per week. (Preferably 6 or more.)
This is all. Sufficient sleep is highly critical for productivity, health, and happiness. Same with having a minimal amount of regular exercise. And doing some social stuff, some things for fun, is necessary for sanity. But I’m having to give up some of my other activities, like
- Writing and blogging at length
- Reading tech news and recent scientific articles
- watching old House episodes and random movies
- going to dinner discussions and lectures about stuff not related to my coursework
- spending a long time at meals talking to people
- reading for pleasure
- playing computer games and puzzle games
- cooking
Well, there it is. A lot of things that I like to do but don’t have time for, and a few things that I won’t give up no matter what. And that’s the way it is. Right now, things aren’t so bad that I can’t do any of the stuff on the second list at all (obviously, as I’m blogging right now), but it may get to that point soon (and I have already given up most of the things on that list).
Random comment: I love soccer. I played 2 and a half hours of soccer today and it was awesome! I feel great. My body feels terrible; my legs are sore and my back hurts and I’m still dehydrated so I have a headache. But it was awesome!!
The main point that I suggest you take away from this is: don’t give up your sleep! If you have a lot of work, sleeping more might actually be more time-efficient, because you will work more productively during your waking hours if you are well rested! This is especially true if you are a student — I’ve read numerous scholarly articles lately about how sleep deprivation either before or after learning disrupts the consolidation of memory and makes it much harder to later recall the things that you learned.
