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Mormon. Husband, and Father. Graduate student pursuing a Master's in nutrition.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

My 50 Hour Workweeks

This Fall I'm taking 3 classes: Genetics, Organic Chemistry, and Calculus. Two of which have 3 hour labs. The other is my all time weakest subject. All of this, along with welcoming the birth of our son.
If I can't have more hours in a day, I'm creating the perception of more time by dividing my day into 15 minute sectors. There are only 24 blocks worth of hours in one day, but there are 96 blocks worth of 15 minutes. Take that, time!
I'm deciding to actually utilize the functions of a phone. After spending hours in excel, I went onto iCloud and typed up my schedule in the calendar with corresponding alarms, told it to repeat certain classes and study sections, and made it stop on the last day of school. It was then automatically sent to my phone. The result is a pocket receptionist who diligently directs my day keeping me on track.

Here's my new schedule in excel:

And here's a section of my new schedule in my phone:

Another view finishing off Tuesday:


I have it set up so that alarms transition me from task to task. Example: I'm studying O. Chem, and an alarm that says "Lunch" will go off. I know to close my O. Chem book, and begin walking home for lunch. I will get home within 15 minutes, just in time to begin lunch. 45 minutes later, another alarm will go off saying "Genetics", and I know it to mean lunch is over and it's time to walk to school getting me to class about 10 min. early. M-F is dedicated to school, while the weekends are left open for the sake of family, friends, and sanity.

If this looks crazy, that's because it kind of is. It's just under 50 hours of lecture, lab, and study. I've seen different references as far as average work weeks go for Men in the U.S. all ranging from 40 to 50 hours/week. The point isn't to be the "average man", rather, the point is that weeks like this have been done by many people, so maybe this isn't too ludicrous. I've asked for a priesthood blessing this Sunday to give me the strength, drive, and counsel necessary to keep up with it. As Thomas S. Monson once stated, "Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks".

Here goes...

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